Solidarity with Greece from Melbourne

indonesia / philippines / australia | community struggles | press release Monday March 26, 2012 19:30 by Dimitri (MACG - personal capacity) - Anarkismo ngnm55 at gmail dot com

Solidarity with Greece: We owe nothing, We're not selling, We wont pay!

7pm 29/3 @ Uniting Church Hall, Northcote 251 High Street, Northcote

7pm 29/3 @ Uniting Church Hall, Northcote 251 High Street, Northcote, VIC Concession $4/Waged $8/ Solidarity $12 (All proceeds from the night will be sent to support anti-austerity campaigns in Greece)

Solidarity with Greece: We owe nothing, We're not selling, We wont pay!

7pm 29/3 @ Uniting Church Hall, Northcote 251 High Street, Northcote

7pm 29/3 @ Uniting Church Hall, Northcote 251 High Street, Northcote, VIC Concession $4/Waged $8/ Solidarity $12 (All proceeds from the night will be sent to support anti-austerity campaigns in Greece)

In the manufactured 'reality' of the mass media, the problems of the Greek "debt" crisis are an endless flurry of context-less images of riots, strikes and unrest embellished with quotes by the talking heads of capital - the IMF and capitalist economists, all nodding furiously in agreement that “There is No Alternative”. The guardians of capital insist that the loans and austerity program imposed on the Greek people by the EU/IMF are necessary to help Greece meet its debt obligations and reform their 'overly generous' pension and welfare system.

However, the fiction peddled of the lazy, privileged Greek sits in stark contrast with the reality of most peoples lives in Greece. Wages, especially for young workers, are extremely low and prices for everyday items are as high as those payed in Western Europe; as the saying in Greece goes “we receive third world wages, we pay European prices.”

In recent months there has been an almost catastrophic decline in living standards. Unemployment is now over 20%, the demand for food aid and medical care via charities has massively increased and public services have, in many cases, ceased to exist; the only parts of the State that still function as normal are the police and the army.

Ordinary people in Greece, however, are not taking this collective punishment without a fight. Popular refusal and resistance to the IMF/EU austerity measures have become part of the everyday life of people in Greece; from strikes, occupations and demonstrations to everyday acts of solidarity and collaboration between people in struggle.

Resistance is a mass phenomenon from electricity workers helping people reconnect their power, to people sharing their tickets on public transport tickets and refusing to pay tolls on public roads. All of society is organising in struggle; from workers to students, pensioners, farmers and the unemployed, in workplaces, local assemblies, schools, universities, town halls and other public buildings.

Come join us for a forum on the Greek austerity crisis with live skype interviews with participants in these social movements.

There will also be music from a 5 piece Rembetika kompania (Greek oriental folk), a short film from the movement against austerity, and poetry from Greek-Australian writers.