Europeans are storming the streets in unprecedented numbers to protest NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine and their own declining living standards. The Grayzone has covered demonstrations and interviewed protest leaders in several countries since the war erupted.
by Stavroula Pabst and Max Blumenthal
Part 6 - Greek general strikes set the stage for antiwar protests
The Greek rallies against NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine have capitalized on the momentum of labor actions against the cost of living crisis. On November 9th, 2022, about a week before the antiwar rally, labor unions convened a general strike, demanding wage increases, a ban on electricity and utility stoppages in homes, and for an abolition of consumption-based taxes and VAT taxes for energy sources.
Sotiris Lapieris is a municipal councilor in the Athens suburb pf Chalandri and a member of Λαϊκή Ενότητα (Popular Unity), a breakaway left coalition founded after Syriza capitulated to international creditors in 2015. Lapieris told The Grayzone that the November 9th strike was likely the biggest in Greece since the 2015 bailout referendum, if not the largest since the 2012 anti-austerity strikes. “There’s a widespread despair about the cost of living and [low] wages,” he explained.
Sotiris Lapieris is a municipal councilor in the Athens suburb pf Chalandri and a member of Λαϊκή Ενότητα (Popular Unity), a breakaway left coalition founded after Syriza capitulated to international creditors in 2015. Lapieris told The Grayzone that the November 9th strike was likely the biggest in Greece since the 2015 bailout referendum, if not the largest since the 2012 anti-austerity strikes. “There’s a widespread despair about the cost of living and [low] wages,” he explained.
Lapieris emphasized that while the current energy crisis has exacerbated material hardship in Greece, the situation is symptomatic of the calamitous Greek-EU relationship. “The cost of living crisis in Greece is the product of three different …things,” he explained. “One is the memoranda that destroyed the Greek economy a decade [ago]. Second, the energy stock market that was started in 2001 [the Greek Energy Exchange Market, as part of the EU Target Model for electricity markets] pulled the prices of energy [up] to the sky. And third, those two things were met by the sanctions of the European Union on Russia. This is a disastrous mix.”
Speaking with The Grayzone shortly before the November 9th strike, trade union front Π.Α.Μ.Ε. (Πανεργατικό Αγωνιστικό Μέτωπο, or All-Workers Militant Front) secretariat member Nikolas Theodorakis explained how the energy crisis and war had worsened living standards in Greece.
“The percentage of the Greek budget [allocated to] military armaments… especially for NATO, is number one or number two in the NATO alliance,” Theodorakis said. “At the same time, Greek schools will not have heating and hospitals will not have doctors [this winter]. So we say it’s a clear contradiction” in how EU funds are being used, he further explained, highlighting Greece’s bloated military budget. “One of our basic demands on the conflict is the budget, and that our financial priorities must be changed in order to protect and serve the people.”
Speaking with The Grayzone shortly before the November 9th strike, trade union front Π.Α.Μ.Ε. (Πανεργατικό Αγωνιστικό Μέτωπο, or All-Workers Militant Front) secretariat member Nikolas Theodorakis explained how the energy crisis and war had worsened living standards in Greece.
“The percentage of the Greek budget [allocated to] military armaments… especially for NATO, is number one or number two in the NATO alliance,” Theodorakis said. “At the same time, Greek schools will not have heating and hospitals will not have doctors [this winter]. So we say it’s a clear contradiction” in how EU funds are being used, he further explained, highlighting Greece’s bloated military budget. “One of our basic demands on the conflict is the budget, and that our financial priorities must be changed in order to protect and serve the people.”
Nikos Moraitis, a member of Greece’s communist revolutionary action front (Κομμουνιστική Επαναστατική Δράση, or ΚΕΔ), observed that many of the protests seen across Greece, including November’s general strike, had not made substantial war-related demands, instead focusing on economic relief and corporate greed. He added that many leftists were afraid to make demands or statements that could be construed as Pro-Kremlin. Indeed, much of the November 9th strike signage and messaging was limited to economic demands, including calls for higher wages and guaranteed electricity and heating for winter.
“If you don’t touch the elephant in the room, which is the European Union and the Greek government’s stance towards Russia and their alliance with the US, you can’t demand wage rises or price stops,” Lapieris agreed. “This [cost of living crisis] is an obvious consequence of all this policy.”
“If you don’t touch the elephant in the room, which is the European Union and the Greek government’s stance towards Russia and their alliance with the US, you can’t demand wage rises or price stops,” Lapieris agreed. “This [cost of living crisis] is an obvious consequence of all this policy.”
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