Hundreds Of Thousands of Greeks Take To Streets

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS TAKE TO THE STREETS.Greece (english)
by Elias Ziogas 3:22pm Thu Apr 26 '01
address: Athens, Greece. ilias_ziog [at] hotmail.com



The general strike called for today (26/4) by all
the major greek trade unions proved to be an enormous success.
Ignited by the government's plan for the reform of the social security system, the strike literally paralyzed the country, involving labour and service workers from both the public and private sector, teachers and doctors, mass transportation workers,
journalists and even firemen.The participation of the working people in the strike, in many cases, reached 100%.In short, the
whole of Greece was on strike today In huge, and mostly peaceful, demonstrations
organized in every major city, hundreds of thousands took to the streets, in a
unique spirit of unity and enthusiasm.The largest
demonstration was held in Athens, where the city's centre was flooded by
more than 100,000 people (police estimate!).Some said
it was the largest demonstration in 25 years.
Besides huge amounts of
striking trade union workers, there were also thousands of
non-unionised people, youth, elders, and students.
Many came along with their children by their hand, on their shoulders or even on baby wheelchairs.The slogans were mainly targeted against the government's plan but also against the government
itself.There were often slogans containing the names
of prime minister Simitis and minister of labour Giannitsis - not in a polite way,that is. The whole atmosphere was that of
an uprising. However there was no violence since the
people's high energy came from enthusiasm and not from anger.
Ther was the smell of victory in the air. The striek was the first organized expression of the people's opinion over the government's plan, which has
dominated the public debate and concern, since it was introduced 10 days ago. Among others, the plan suggested the reduction of pensions up to 45% and the increase of the retirement age by 5 years, from 60 to 65. The government's excuse for
the measures were the bad economics of the social
security funds. However it's common knowledge among the people, that the ones to blame for that are the state, which misuses the fund and systematically fails to meet it's financial obligations towards them, and the employers who do just the
same. Thus, the whole system is supported by workers' growing
contributions.
The intense climate of social unrest, together with
the unrest without the governing PASOK party, has lead the night before (25/4), to a dramatic governmental retreat. The governmentsaid they would withdraw the plan and commence a zero-basis
dialogue over the issue.This is the first defeat for
the government , in the ongoing social struggle over
it's neoliberal economic policies, since Simitis came into power in 1996.Thus, although the battle over social security
seems to have temporarily ended - with a stunning victory for the workers-
the implications of it's outcome are yet to be seen.
The political things in Greece are finally becoming interesting.