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'We Are All Greeks Now' Rallies in Europe, US
Rallies are being held today, Saturday, February 18th, in capitals around the world to show support for the people of Greece as they face drastic austerity measures.
A "Solidarity with Greece" sign hangs from a statue during a demonstration at Trocadero in Paris, February 18, 2012. Various groups, calling for an international day of solidarity with the Greek people, gathered in capitals around the World on Saturday. REUTERS/Mal Langsdon The show of solidarity is in response to the "dictatorship of the financial markets and the troika: EU, ECB and IMF, who have imposed austerity measures and a non-elected government on the Greek people."
Demonstrations are planned throughout Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the United States, Sweden, and more.
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Real Democracy in Greece issued a Call to Action:
We are all Greeks
When one people is attacked, all peoples are attacked. On the 10th of February, the non-elected Greece Government adopted a hideous and destructive new austerity plan, passed by the parliament (199 MPs voted in favor, 101 against) on the 12th of February. The new austerity measures impose a 22% reduction in the minimum wage, which will remain frozen for the next three years; collective bargaining is simply abolished; 15000 public sector workers are laid off and 150000 jobs will be destroyed through non-renewal of contract…
The people of Greece are bravely rising up against social terror policies. Demonstrations, as well as general strikes, become more and more frequent, despite the violent repression and the media’s deafening silence.
The people of Greece need international solidarity and they are calling for our support
Let’s reply to their call. We are all Greek!
Their mobilization is clashing against the wall of a European and international dictatorship; the dictatorship of the financial markets and the troika: EU, ECB and IMF, who have imposed austerity measures and a non-elected government on the Greek people.
The EU governments are involved in this dictatorship, implementing measures which are in the same line in those in other countries. Greece is being used as a laboratory before applying these measures more generally. The situation is going to get even worse due to the new European Treaty project, which will impose the «golden rule» on our taxes.
We refuse to sacrifice people for money, as done to the Greeks.
Let’s regain the reins of our lives.
Switch off your computer, join the mobilization!
There will be demonstrations everywhere, in solidarity with the mobilization of the Greek people, on Saturday the 18th of February.
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The Athens, Greece newspaper Kathimerini reports:
A wave of solidarity to crisis victims Greeks is sweeping the world, with a special event planned for Saturday afternoon in a number of cities.
More than 10 cities in Europe will see demonstrations under the banner “We Are All Greeks Now”, including Paris and Dublin.
“The people of Greece need the international solidarity and they call for our support. Let’s reply to their call. We are all Greeks,” reads the circular distributed across social media for the rallies that are scheduled to take place at 2 p.m.
A rally is also planned in New York, at the same park that the Occupy Wall Street rallies had started this winter.
Social media groups in solidarity to the Greek people suffering from the austerity measures and the fiscal crisis have also called for action as they express the fear that what the Greeks are going through is going to apply to other people soon, too.
At the jesuisgrec.blogspot.com blog, Internet users are invited to sign a form asking for Greek citizenship in solidarity to the Greeks.
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We are All Greeks! Saturday, February 18, International Day of Action Facebook page
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58 Comments so far
Show AllIn North America we were more equally miserable in the 50's and 60's than now, though the overall misery then, at least as seen through my eyes, seems to be noticeably less than the misery now when we are much less equally miserable.
I cannot agree that being equally miserable is a great goal because it can be met quite simply by spreading a great deal of misery around. But an unfair distribution of misery is definitely to be avoided.
SYRIA: NATO's Next "Humanitarian" War? http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29234
Exposed: The Arab Agenda in Syria http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NB04Ak01.html?fb_ref=.Ty7IxKUL2...
If there is a change in government in Syria it is hardly going to be any more pro-Israeli than the one there. I doubt that Israel is that happy with a change. At least with Assad, they knew exactly what to expect. Now everything is in the air and it isn't going to come down well for any one side.
Please take some time to get up to speed on this situation there. It is distressing how often progressives fall for these phony "defensive" wars perpetrated by the usual imperial powers. Any country facing an armed uprising is in a very different situation from a country, e.g. Egypt, where they are not.
SYRIA: NATO's Next "Humanitarian" War? http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29234 Exposed:
The Arab Agenda in Syria http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NB04Ak01.html?fb_ref=.Ty7IxKUL2...
They wanna take our Commons till there’s nothing left, The Central Banksters the IMF, New World Gangsters Kings of Theft, We are all Greeks now
I can see the changes I see they’re gonna fall, Now they think they got us up against the wall, I got news for them we ain’t gonna crawl Cause we are all Greeks now
So always remember... Yeah, always remember.... always remember... Never Surrender
They just don’t understand that we don’t give up, If they think they will leave us with an empty cup, We'll just keep moving so they can’t keep up, We are all Greeks now
If you think we're goin under I can’t help but wonder, it’s our lightning and thunder That we are all Greeks now
So always remember... Yeah, always remember.... always remember... Never Surrender
I like that song Jim. Especially the part about the Commons.
Commons is a word seen far more in forums such a this than it is seen or heard in the press or public. If your song contributes to making the Commons more important and sacred to the 99% then I want to hear the music. It past time that the Commons became sacred. Now is the time to push to reclaim the parts of the Commons that have been appropriated or stolen from us. It is time to make the word Commons known as a Hot Button Word where when we, as the 99% utter it everyone knows what we are saying is "back off, it is ours".
The government has been taken over by outside financial powers and is not be governed by the leaders in Greece on behalf of the people any longer.. The financial powers have pulled off a coup in Greece using debt as their weapon..
Be careful America your economy is still in very fragile recovery.
The great recession is far from over.
What would happen if the Greeks, in solidarity, declared that all debts to Capitalist entities were repudiated, and resources needed for human life were henceforth to be held in common for the even-handed good of all (exceptions being made for family-owned and -worked resources during the lives of the current proprietors), and that Greece would re-build her economic bases from the ground up with a focus on self sufficiency?
I.e., an initiative like the one Fr. Arizmendiarrieta led at Mondragón / Arrasate, but more comprehensive: no more "estates", no more private-profit Capitalists, no more people in breadlines or sleeping rough, and all needs sourced internally.
If it's something too big/difficult for one person to fully use, then it shouldn't be controlled by one person. One person could have exclusive lifetime rights to the land planted as their kitchen garden, and one family could have such rights to the farmland they personally work constantly, but nobody should have the right to claim control over an estate, a factory, etc.