Create one, two, three, many Greeces!

24 May 2012 by Sonia Mitralias


Speech in the great anti-capitalist demonstration in Frankfurt, Germany, May 19, 2012



Comrades,

I come from Greece, a country destroyed and desperate, a country in ruins but still standing tall. From this Greece that resists and has shouted a huge magnificent “No” to its torturers: the Troika Troika Troika: IMF, European Commission and European Central Bank, which together impose austerity measures through the conditions tied to loans to countries in difficulty.

IMF : https://www.ecb.europa.eu/home/html/index.en.html
and the IMF IMF
International Monetary Fund
Along with the World Bank, the IMF was founded on the day the Bretton Woods Agreements were signed. Its first mission was to support the new system of standard exchange rates.

When the Bretton Wood fixed rates system came to an end in 1971, the main function of the IMF became that of being both policeman and fireman for global capital: it acts as policeman when it enforces its Structural Adjustment Policies and as fireman when it steps in to help out governments in risk of defaulting on debt repayments.

As for the World Bank, a weighted voting system operates: depending on the amount paid as contribution by each member state. 85% of the votes is required to modify the IMF Charter (which means that the USA with 17,68% % of the votes has a de facto veto on any change).

The institution is dominated by five countries: the United States (16,74%), Japan (6,23%), Germany (5,81%), France (4,29%) and the UK (4,29%).
The other 183 member countries are divided into groups led by one country. The most important one (6,57% of the votes) is led by Belgium. The least important group of countries (1,55% of the votes) is led by Gabon and brings together African countries.

http://imf.org
, the Brussels Commission and their Merkel and Schäuble, their Barrosos, Sarkozys and the bankers. In short, to those who govern us and impose inhuman, barbaric policies on us. These policies are already causing child malnutrition and even hunger in major Greek cities. And where is all this happening? Not somewhere in the Third World, but here in the heart of rich Europe. And when? Now, at the moment in history when humanity produces more wealth than it ever had before! ...

Comrades,

The results of the May 6 election leave no room for doubt: a huge majority of Greeks have rejected the politics of austerity. This is a true political earthquake! The country that was chosen to be the laboratory for an austerity program is now in open revolt against those who starve and humiliate it, against those who close its hospitals and schools, and against those who destroy this beautiful country to sell it for nothing, against its Greek and foreign torturers alike.

But take care Care Le concept de « care work » (travail de soin) fait référence à un ensemble de pratiques matérielles et psychologiques destinées à apporter une réponse concrète aux besoins des autres et d’une communauté (dont des écosystèmes). On préfère le concept de care à celui de travail « domestique » ou de « reproduction » car il intègre les dimensions émotionnelles et psychologiques (charge mentale, affection, soutien), et il ne se limite pas aux aspects « privés » et gratuit en englobant également les activités rémunérées nécessaires à la reproduction de la vie humaine. : the Greeks in revolt should not be left alone at the moment they are transforming their anger into a conscious and liberating movement, now that the prospect of a Greek left government begins to rise on the horizon, to become possible and realistic. If Merkel and Sarkozy, the IMF and the European Commission in Brussels have made Greece a laboratory of their barbaric policies and made guinea pigs of the Greeks, it is up to us, people of Europe, to do the same by making Greece the front line of our common battles against those who destroy our lives and the environment. Because Greek resistance is our resistance, its struggles are our struggles...

Comrades,

I come from a country that turns its gaze toward you today, awaiting concrete acts of solidarity. Now and not tomorrow. For it is now more than ever that the Greeks in revolt are directly threatened with extinction by those who fear that their example will be copied and spread like an oil slick across Europe. And I assure you, these Greeks in revolt are convinced that the best way to show solidarity with them is to imitate them. Imitate their example at home, in your country. While developing and coordinating resistance against the inhuman policies of austerity and destruction. Besides, this is exactly what our enemies fear most: CONTAGION! The contagion of struggles throughout Europe.

So yes, let us do it, let’s make TWO, THREE, MANY GREECES! Let’s get networked, coordinate our struggles, organize step by step a united and radical, massive and democratic movement , above all in our old continent, across Europe, from Romania to Ireland and from Italy to Iceland. A long-term movement with great liberating goals, which combines the broadest unity with a liberating radicalism. Now is the time. Because ... United we stand - Divided we fall! Or in French struggle language: Tous ensemble, tous ensemble, oué oué oué …
(All together, all together, yeah yeah yeah) ...

Thank you comrades.

Translated by John Catalinotto


Other articles in English by Sonia Mitralias (11)

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