Version imprimableTomorrow is the first major test on the social front for the new Syriza government and the barbaric austerity measures it has just passed in Parliament as part of the 3d Memorandum signed in the summer. The strike is called by the two confederations of civil servants (ADEDY, which has a leftwing majority) and the private and broader public (or former public) sector GSEE, still controlled by the corrupt union bureaucracy of PASOK and New Democracy. At a more grass-root level the strike has been prepared by last week’s branch strikes of seamen, transport workers and municipal employees and by the actions of university and school students. It is also called by the KKE and its syndicalist front PAME. It has been actively prepared by the social movements (particularly the campaigns against the looming wave of house repossessions) and by the forces of the radical and anticapitalist Left (Popular Unity and Antarsya).
Syriza (as a party) issued yesterday a statement also calling for the strike (!), a move that has triggered reactions ranging from irony to anger or to sheer laughter. It is expected that Syriza official representatives (not of course ordinary members, supporters or trade-unionistes) will be physically prevented to participated to the planned demos and rallies, as has happened in the past with Pasok representatives.
Meawhile, the lenders are delaying the 2 billion payment due this month to Greece asking for even more "prior actions" to be passed by the parliament and an overall acceleration of the "reforms" to which the government is committed in the framework of the Memorandum. In any case, the worst measures, dismantling what’s left of the pension system and leading to the ruin of the small and middle peasantry via absurd overtaxation, are expected to be voted this month.
via Stathis Kouvelakis ΜΕΤΑ: Όλοι στη Γενική Απεργία στις 12 Νοέμβρη (ανακοίνωση, αφίσα).
