Iérissos, Iérissos !, par Makis Malafékas

http://www.liberation.fr/monde/2013/04/17/ierissos-ierissos_896938

Retenez ce nom, lecteurs avides de justice sociale, de justice tout court. Retenez ce mot qui ne figure nulle part dans les reportages des médias français, citoyens d’un pays où vous devrez bientôt défendre bec et ongles les droits acquis suite à de longues décennies de sacrifices et de luttes, où vous devrez défendre vos biens publics, votre patrimoine commun, votre dignité même face à la déferlante libérale qui se dirige inexorablement vers vous.

Depuis quelque temps, un petit village reculé du nord de la Grèce, Iérissos, est devenu le symbole de la lutte contre l’expropriation des richesses naturelles du pays, planifiée dans le cadre de son présumé sauvetage. La compagnie canadienne «Eldorado Gold» (!), géant mondial de l’exploitation minière, a obtenu de la part du gouvernement de coalition le droit d’ouvrir et d’exploiter des mines d’or, de cuivre et de plomb dans une région protégée à la biodiversité unique, où sont également enfouies des antiquités classiques et byzantines ; tout cela pour une période indéterminée, et au prix d’un «loyer» absolument anecdotique. Selon les conclusions de nombreuses expertises, les procédures d’extraction sur une étendue de plusieurs centaines d’hectares de forêt vierge affecteraient irrémédiablement la nappe phréatique de la région tout entière.

Message de solidarité des travailleurs de Kouta Steel (Egypte) aux travailleurs de Vio.Me

source:http://ergasiakodeltio.wordpress.com/

Message of Solidarity From the workers of Kouta Steel Factory in Egypt To the workers of Vio.Me Industrial Minerals Factory in Greece!

We, the workers of Kouta Steel Factory, Tenth of Ramadan City, Egypt, have followed the events taking place in Vio.Me industrial minerals factory in Thessaloniki, Greece. We learned that the factory owner had fled, and that a general assembly of the workers decided to place the factory under workers’ self-management. Hence the factory was reopened on February 12th, 2013, as a cooperative under workers’ management.
We would like to share with you our experience and struggle that began about one and a half years ago, during which the independent trade union stood at the forefront of the fight. This included sit-ins and legal battles through the Prosecutor-General’s office and the ministry of labour. The struggle culminated with an epoch-making decision by the Prosecutor-General last August approving their right to place the factory under workers’ self-management and authorising engineer Mohsen Saleh to manage the factory. It is worth-noting that the owner had fled earlier without paying the workers since last March.
The process has not gone free of obstacles and difficulties since then, starting with arduous negotiations with Gas and Electricity companies in order to schedule the factory’s debts which amount to $2.6 million and $0.9 million to both companies respectively. The workers have given a lesson in self-sacrifice as they decided to deduct half their wages to be used in purchasing raw materials (pallets).
We are now taking the final steps to resume the production process after having reconnected gas and electricity. The Kouta Steel Factory workers are all one in heart and mind, adamant to improve the factory and proceed with our experiment till the end.
Though a thousand miles away from Greece, we send our strongest expression of solidarity and support to the workers of Vio.Me and to their newborn experiment in self-management. We also declare our absolute rejection of the austerity measures that affect first and foremost the working class, whether in Greece or here in Egypt.
We invite Vio.Me workers to start and exchange of our experiences in struggle, so that we can benefit from lessons learned from both experiments in self-management. Millions of workers are looking at us as a concrete reality and an awaited dream.
Long Live Workers Struggle!
Long Live the struggle of the Vio.Me and Kouta Workers!
Chairman of the Independent Trade Union Chairman of the Board
Ahmad Shaarawy Mohsen Saleh

Grèce : la crise au quotidien, par Tassos Anastassiadis et Andreas Sartzekis

http://www.cadtm.org/Grece-la-crise-au-quotidien#.T3grGwhKdFI.facebook

L’enjeu du week-end peut paraître saugrenu : pour la fête nationale du 25 mars, l’objectif du gouvernement PASOK/droite était qu’aucune manifestation n’ait lieu, après celles qui avaient assimilé la fête du 28 octobre (le Non à Mussolini avait été transformé en Non à la troïka !). Mais malgré le déploiement de 7000 policiers dans le centre d’Athènes et des défilés hier comme aujourd’hui devant quasiment personne, les accès étant interdits, la fête du début de la guerre d’indépendance de 1821 a bien pris la forme d’une volonté d’indépendance par rapport au gouvernement aux ordres de la bourgeoisie européenne : enseignants et parents s’affrontant à la police, lycéens dans le défilé refusant de saluer les autorités, et en province, des mairies refusant d’installer des estrades pour les ’’officiels’’ !

Une vidéo avec des photos prises par Marios Lolos, opéré en ce moment après l’attaque de la police hier soir

Postcards from Greece: The Parades of Anger

Postcards from Greece (2): The Parades of Anger

by Panagiotis Sotiris [1]

Independence Day (25 March) parades in Greece have been traditionally a day of celebration, not of protest. A national holiday to commemorate the beginning of the popular insurrection against Ottoman rule in 1821 that led to Greece’s independence, they are associated with watching the armed forces march along with school children, since in most cities we also have school parades. Moreover, for most people of the Left they always seemed like a remnant of an authoritarian past when these official displays of nationalism and militarism were part of the rituals of power.

However, in the past two years parades have become venues for protest against the policies of austerity and reduced sovereignty imposed by the EU-IMF-ECB Troika. The traditional presence of representatives of authority in such parades and celebrations, such as local members of parliament, government ministers or high ranking officials, and mayors made them an easy target for protest, especially in a period of intense and prolonged struggles. This has been particularly evident in provincial Greece, where members of parliament and aspiring local politicians have faced many forms of protest in the past years.