General Strike across Greece today Friday 5th March

international | worker & community struggles and protests | news report Friday March 05, 2010 11:26 by Eugene Mc Cartan - Communist Party of Ireland cpoi at eircom dot net James Connolly House, 43 East Essex St, Temple Bar, Dublin 2 01 - 6708707 or 0879733414

The severe permanent anti-people measures must not pass!

The severe permanent anti-people measures must not pass!

Demonstrations, sit- ins and general strike on Friday March 5th

5th March

FROM: COMMUNIST PARTY OF IRELAND

The severe permanent anti-people measures must not pass!

Demonstrations, sit- ins and general strike on Friday March 5th

Yesterday the Greek government announced the most severe package of measures over the last decades. In this way it confirmed that the attack that the social democrat government of PASOK is launching against the vast majority of the people with the support of the EU, the great capital, the liberal ND and the nationalist LAOS is escalating and it will definitely have no end.

All the measures announced by the government of the social democratic PASOK on Wednesday as well as the others that will come in the future strike a blow at the peoples income either directly by imposing cuts on civil servants salaries, Christmas and Easter bonus, as well as on holiday allowance while at the same time similar measures are planed for the private sector or indirectly by means of increasing VAT for all categories of products and services as well other taxes on fuels, alcohol and tobacco. Furthermore the government announced a hiring freeze.

Since Wednesday afternoon after the measures announcement, KKE and PAME have been in the frontline for the organisation of the counterattack against the full fledged attack against the people.

The day the new measures were announced the forces of PAME immediately realised manifestations in 55 cities throughout Greece. PAME called the people to a general mobilisation so as to give a unified, to stage a war against the war of the capital and its parties.

The call for militant mobilisation was spread throughout the streets of Athens and other big cities. Thousands of working people participated in the placard protests, the demonstrations and other multiform mobilisations organised by PAME calling the people to reject this policy and to struggle to overthrow it. These initiatives spontaneously were converted into mass manifestations that directly condemned these measures.

This morning the forces of PAME proceeded to a massive sit-in at the building of Ministry of Finance in the centre of Athens and at a number of other government buildings throughout the country. The action is escalated today with big demonstrations and rallies in more than 62 cities throughout Greece.

On Friday 5, the day that the parliament will pass these measures, PAME calls for a nationwide strike. The working class has the duty to respond to the war launched against it. Workers must fight for themselves, their children and for the next generations.

It is a tragedy for the people to lose their rights, to see their wages being cut down despite the long lasting struggles in the previous years, despite the sacrifices that led even to blood shed. But above all it is a disgrace -and we do not believe that this will happen- these barbarous measures to pass without the people¹s resistance, without the people¹s counterattack and even more so to give the impression that the people consent to these measures stressed Aleka Papariga, GS of the CC of Communist Party of Greece, at a special press conference. From COMMUNIST PARTY OF GREECE