Greece revolts against IMF
THURSDAY 27 MAY, 7.30pm
NEW VENUE
Friends Meeting House, Ship Street, Brighton
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=115629631811638
Speaker:
Aris Vasilopoulos
Member of Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) and of the Marxist organisation Kokkino
Greece is rising up against the IMF. Workers from the public and private sectors joined up in a general strike in May, the fourth this year. Athens saw the biggest May Day marches for 25 years. Banners reading “Peoples of Europe rise up” were draped from the Acropolis.
The resistance is due to the government’s plans to drive through austerity measures after agreed with the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The EU-IMF 110 billion euro bail-out is reliant on the PASOK government pushing through harsh measures against Greek workers. Their average income has declined by 20 percent this year. The new plans include cuts of 11 percent of GDP in the next three years, a three-year wage freeze, cuts in benefits and VAT increase to 23 percent.
The EU and the IMF are planning similar measures for countries such as Portugal and Spain. A victory for workers in Greece can set an example for other workers across Europe.
Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) gained 5% of the vote at the last election and has 13 MPs.
Aris Vasilopoulos is touring Britain to report on the resistance and the challenges for the left in Greece
Organised by Socialist Resistance
2 comments:
This sounds very interesting - I am hugely intrigued to hear what alternatives are being proposed for Greece.
Dear sir
Syriza is one of the three Greek parties (New Democracy, PASOK and SYN-SYRIZA) that have voted for the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 in the Greek Parliament.
Only the Communist Party of Greece voted against it. The measures that are being imposed today to the Greek working people by Papandreou's Goverment is exactly what the Maastricht Treaty says.
SYRIZA always plays a double role. Always beeing helpfull to the bourgeoisie to find a way of cheeting people always using "two languages.
So I am afraid that mister Aris Vasilopoulos is not the best representative of the greek workers' movement that is developing nowadays in Greece..
Yours sincerely
Bidalis
Thessaloniki
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