Press Statement of KOE

[Translator’s Note: Yesterday the Cypriot parliament, surrounded by a huge demonstration, rejected, with 36 NO and 19 abstentions, the decision of the Eurogroup - which had been adopted last Friday following Germany’s demands. This unprecedented decision, to “bailout” the banks through a direct “haircut” of the citizens’ bank deposits, had initially been accepted by both the right-wing Cypriot government and the docile Greek tripartite government.]

The Communist Organization of Greece salutes the Cypriot NO and congratulates the Cypriot people, who are facing the catastrophic policy and the cynical threats of the Eurogroup’s and IMF’s loan sharks, for their Dignity. The new Cypriot NO, following the massive rejection of the imperialist “Annan Plan” back in 2004, is a proud response against the plans aiming at Cyprus’ economic devastation and pushing forward the transformation of the Republic of Cyprus into a protectorate.

The martyred Cypriot people, who have shed their blood in order to gain their Independence and are very well aware of what invasion and foreign occupation means, once again stand up and send a message of Resistance, Dignity and Hope to all the European peoples. It is in Cyprus that, for the first time, the blackmailing dilemma “Memorandum or Bankruptcy” is rejected. It is in Cyprus that, for the first time, the supposedly “almighty” Merkelist policy and the supposedly “omnipotent markets” receive a heavy blow.

Press Statement of KOE

1. The Communist Organization of Greece denounces the cynical blackmail of the Germany-dominated EU against the Republic of Cyprus and the Cypriot people. The Merkelists are testing in Cyprus an upgrade of the “tools” they have used so far, with a double aim: a) to fully dismantle the economic status of Cyprus, b) to achieve total political control on this exceptionally important, geopolitically and economically, island.

2. The Communist Organization of Greece denounces the Un-Holly Alliance of European usurers, also known as "Eurogroup", which attempts to strangle the independence of Cyprus using the Memorandum’s noose. Moreover, KOE condemns the slavish and complicit tripartite Greek government of Samaras, who had the impudence to declare that “stands by our Cypriot brothers” while obediently voted in favor of the disastrous decisions of the Eurogroup. As for the newly elect Cypriot president, mister Anastassiadis, there are no words to describe his criminal policy – especially as, just a month ago, he was reassuring the people that he will never accept any haircut on the citizens’ bank deposits, only to follow very fast his friend Samaras, who was the first to make a complete U-turn and submit to Merkel’s dictates.

Dear Comrades,

The Communist Organization of Greece / KOE, member of the Coalition of Radical Left / SYRIZA, is conveying to the 1st Congress of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party a warm message of solidarity and encouragement. Through this fraternal salute we also express the support and respect of the progressive Greek people to the struggles and sacrifices of the Egyptian people since the dark years of Mubarak’s dictatorship, culminating in the Revolution that started in 2011 and continues till today.

We have been honored and very pleased to meet Comrades from your Party in our international meetings here in Greece, and also abroad. Through your devotion to our common cause, we got to love Egypt and the Egyptian people even more. Thus, we share with you the imminent need to stand up to the historic duty of struggling for Genuine Democracy, which incorporates the basic political and social rights of the popular masses.

The Tunisian, Egyptian and other Arab uprisings since two years now have been a significant source of inspiration for us all. They set off a huge wave of popular demonstrations in the southern Europe’s squares, and they became examples for a multitude of different movements in many other, even more distant countries. Your spark started and encouraged the prairie fires in many parts of the world, where the peoples get to the streets and fight for Democracy, Freedom, Independence, Dignity, Bread and Emancipation.

Comunicado del KOE

[English text below]

El alma y el espíritu de la Revolución Bolivariana, el hombre que encarnaba las esperanzas y los deseos más profundos de su pueblo, el símbolo amado por cientos de millones de personas y odiado por la oligarquía y el imperialismo, ya no está con nosotros. La noticia de la muerte del Comandante Hugo Chávez causa un gran sufrimiento para todos nosotros. Es una gran pérdida para el pueblo de Venezuela, para los pueblos de América Latina, por todos los pueblos de nuestra tierra.

Sin embargo, como dijo el Compañero Nicolás Maduro, “Los que mueren por la Vida, no pueden llamarse muertos”. Estamos seguros de que el orgulloso pueblo de Venezuela se enfrentará a estos tiempos difíciles con la cabeza bien alta, se reuniero en torno a la dirección de la Revolución Bolivariana, sacando fuerzas de los triunfos históricos alcanzados hasta ahora bajo el liderazgo del Comandante Hugo Chávez. En esta difícil lucha, el pueblo de Venezuela y el liderazgo de la Revolución Bolivariana tienen poderosos aliados en el amor y la solidaridad de todas las fuerzas revolucionarias y progresistas, y de todos los pueblos del mundo.

La Organización Comunista de Grecia KOE, integrante de la Coalición de la Izquierda Radical SYRIZA, envía sus más profundas condolencias al gobierno, las organizaciones y el pueblo de Venezuela, y la familia del Comandante Hugo Chávez.

Comandante Hugo Chávez PRESENTE!

Atenas, 6 de marzo 2013

Statement by KOE:

The two messages of the Italian elections

First Greece, now Italy. Although the political scene in Italy has not changed in a way as radical as in Greece (where the two-party political system has suffered a heavy blow and PASOK disintegrates) the message is again crystal clear: the Italian people are opposing the policies that Germany is trying to impose on the European South.

The political parties in favor of these politics have been punished: this is equally true for Bersani’s centre-left, who never won the easy battle they expected, as for the “Merkelist” Mondi, who foundered. On the contrary, those against or appearing to be against these politics are winning: Bepe Grillo’s political influence has skyrocketed while Berlusconi, disguised as “anti-Merkelist”, resuscitates. At the same time the Left, attempting a "unifying" but colorless and odorless participation and avoiding to take a stand on the main issue of the electoral debate, simply disappears…

There is also a second message, regardless the blurring and the confusion provoked by the resuscitation of Berlusconi, the Italian High Priest of the business’ and politicians’ intertwined corruption. This second message targets the whole political system and the lack of democracy and of respect for the popular will. This message has been expressed mainly through Grillo’s “unexpected” percentage. The same message, in several variations, has been sent by the people to those in power in Greece, Spain, Slovenia, Bulgaria…

A delegation of KOE has been invited and participated in the Congress of foundation of SORTU, the new party of the Basque Patriotic Left. The Congress took place on February 23, 2013 in Iruña, Basque Country. Follows the greeting addressed by the representative of KOE to the mass political act after the successful conclusion of the works of SORTU’s Congress:

*****

Dear friends and comrades,

I am conveying to you all, the warmest greetings of the Communist Organization of Greece, member of the Coalition of Radical Left (SYRIZA), accompanied by the wishes of thousands of Greek progressive and left people, who know very well and support your decades-long struggles for Independence and Socialism.

Today it is a very good day for the Patriotic Left and for the Basque People. It is also a day of great inspiration for us, your international friends: This very moment, we witness the triumph of the democratic will of hundreds of thousands of Basques, who offer to the world one more proof that the repression, the prisons, the tortures, the calumniations are not able to strangle a proud and freedom-loving nation, nor its popular and progressive forces. The Patriotic Left is here, stronger than ever, paving the way towards the democratic resolution of the conflict and, thus, towards a Basque Country with social justice and dignity for its people.

The Communist Organization of Greece (ΚΟΕ) was founded 10 years ago, in the 1st Congress that took place in January 2003, after a long period of multiform preparation since the ’80s.

During this decade major social and political movements, national and international, but also popular revolts, have taken place all over the world. Huge political, economic and social changes occurred not only in the international matrix but also in our country itself. These changes altered the international balance of power and the political map of our country. The main focus of these changes has been the degree to which the Greek people have become a major factor of political change through a complex process of social struggle and political self-awareness.

All these years KOE’s approach has been to rationalize the political undergoing and the underlying causes that shape the people’s movement, and at the same time to articulate a course of political action that unifies the people’s struggle under a common perspective.

• For our organization, this has been a decade of ideological and social fermentation through participating in all new forms of struggle and the major political mobilizations of our people:
• KOE became active in the Greek and European Social Forum, the anti-globalization movement and a multitude of international meetings.
• At the same time, our organization has forged strong relations with major international movements and parties in an effort, on the one hand to make known their original characteristics in our country, and on the other to advance internationalist solidarity.
• KOE has also taken part in many solidarity missions in Palestine and elsewhere. Its members were on the first ship that defied the Israeli blockade of Gaza in 2008.
• Since 2008 KOE organizes annually the internationalist Resistance Festival, a meeting place for the ideas and the struggles represented by movements, collectives and militants.
• Recently it has strengthened its ties with various movements of the Arab Spring and has worked to enhance its position within the European Left.

Statement of KOE

The cold-blood assassination of comrade Chokri Belaïd yesterday morning in front of his house by “unknown” professional murderers sprung a new wave of justified and invincible popular anger. Fighting against the repressive forces, broad masses went out in the streets of Tunis and other cities all over Tunisia, shouting once again the revolutionary slogans of the 2011 uprising. The Popular Front, joined by the other parties of the opposition, left the Parliament and announced a general strike demanding the overthrow of the government.

Now, more than ever before, it is evident to the whole world that the actual government has tragically failed the expectations of the Tunisian Revolution. For this reason, this government became in its turn the target of the brave Tunisian people, who have broken once and for all the barrier of fear that was dominating Tunisia during decades. The sons and daughters of the Tunisian people, who offered their blood in order to overthrow the dictatorship of Ben Ali, could not but continue the struggle for Dignity, Justice, Bread and Democracy. Yesterday evening, under the popular outcry and thanks to the uncompromising stance of the Popular Front, the government was forced to retreat and promise new elections.

The Communist Organization of Greece expresses to the Popular Front, to the people of Tunisia and to the family of Chokri Belaïd the most sincere condolences for the loss of a dedicated revolutionary who lived his whole life in the service of the people. Chokri Belaïd, head of the Democratic Patriots Movement and vice president of the Popular Front, was jailed and tortured repeatedly in the dungeons of the pro-western dictatorship, actively participated in the 2011 uprising and contributed in rallying the Tunisian Left. We pay tribute to his memory.

The Communist Organization Greece salutes the Tunisian people, who are writing History once again, thus honoring in the most dignified way the assassinated leader. We hail the comrades of the Tunisian Workers’ Party and of the Popular Front, who are in the frontlines of their people’s struggle. A few days after the mass protests of the Egyptian people, the spirit of the much calumniated Arab Spring, which inspired the progressive people in the whole world, returns proudly in its original cradle, Tunisia. The spirit of the Revolution mocks its own weaknesses, but mainly jeers at those cynic “observers” that derided the Arab Spring, considering the peoples as pawns of supposedly omnipotent foreign powers. And the spirit of the Revolution shouts again with booming voice: The Peoples Have the Power to Impose EVERYTHING!

Athens, 7 February 2013

Communist Organization of Greece

Following an invitation by UCPNM to attend or send greetings to its 7th Congress, to be held from 2 to 7 February at Hetauda, the Communist Organization of Greece has replied with the following message:

*****

Dear Comrades,

We are extending greetings to your Congress and wish success in its works. We send you our appreciation and encouragement for your efforts to cope with the complex challenges posed by the struggle in your country, in a context of worldwide aggressive response of imperialism and capitalism to its global crisis. We are observing carefully the developments in Nepal, wishing that your efforts focus and strive for a policy that serves and promotes the aspirations of your people. The Nepalese people have offered immense sacrifice in the struggle, have marked important victories but also tactical defeats, and they continue to represent an inspiration for us all as the first revolutionary experience of the 21st century.

Dear Comrades,

Greece is suffering an attack of imperialism and capitalism threatening the very survival of our people and of our country. The IMF-EU-ECB troika and its local lackeys pursue almost three years now their destructive policy, without any “success” except… tearing apart the social and democratic rights, as well as the last remnants of popular sovereignty and national independence. Greece now experiences vast unemployment, poverty and a recession unseen in times of peace. And this situation is all but limited in Greece: the whole European South suffers under the extreme neoliberal policies of destructuring the so called “welfare state”, in a fast-track process of suffocating attachment to the chariot of German imperialism.

Note: This is a “non paper” for the information of our international friends. Despite been all but exhaustive, it aspires to offer an updated view on the actual social conditions in Greece.

The humanitarian crisis in Greece is worsening day by day as a result of the policies decided by the IMF-EU-ECB Troika and implemented by the puppet tripartite government (composed by the right-wing Nea Dimokratia, the “social democratic” PASOK and the so called “Democratic Left”). The official data that have been published last week by the Hellenic Statistical Authority under the auspices of EUROSTAT, despite been “embellished”, are quite revealing:

UNEMPLOYMENT ALMOST TRIPLED SINCE 2009

The unemployment, which was 9,5% in 2009, before the transformation of Greece into a guinea pig by the Troika and its local lackeys, has jumped to 12,5% in 2010, then to 17,7% in 2011, and now (official data for October 2012) amounts to 26,8%. What makes things even worse is that actually, out of the 1.300.000 unemployed, less than 200.000 receive any form of “unemployment benefit” (the term is rather an euphemism: the “benefit” for the few lucky ones ranges from € 180 to € 468 per month, and is paid for a period of 5 to 12 months, depending on the wage, the length of employment, and the number of dependent members of the family).

EXPLOSION OF POVERTY

The percentage of the population living in conditions of poverty, from 12,1% in 2009 passed to 16,3% in 2010, and in 2011 jumped to 22,9%. Considering that in 2011 a series of social services and benefits (which now have been eliminated) still existed, the report of the Statistical Authority expresses “serious concern” for further explosive increase of the poverty in 2012 and 2013.