This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Previewing Tomorrow's First Greek General Strike Of 2013
Today was one of those rare days when there were no media reports describing in gruesome detail what another 24 hours in the complete social de-evolution of Greece looks like. The reason for that is that the Greek media and journalists decided to hold their first all day general strike today, which in turn happens to be in advance of tomorrow's first for 2013 general Greek strike. The journalists’ union ESIEA decided to hold the strike in solidarity with the 24-hour action called by GSEE and ADEDY, but wanted to ensure there was media coverage of the protest planned for Wednesday. So what will happen tomorrow? To a big extent, just more of the same: "State services will grind to a halt Wednesday and public transport will be disrupted in Athens as workers join a 24-hour general strike called by the country’s two main labor unions." And whereas the neo-(or paleo) Keynesians out there can spin any natural disaster as GDP accretive, not even they can transform the complete stop of all "constructive" activity as somehow benefiting Greek GDP. Furthermore, with no improvements in the Greek macroeconomic picture whatsoever, one can be assured that tomorrow's general strike is merely the first of many, now that the weather is warm enough to hold posters and slogans in broad daylight.
From Ekathimerini:
Transport workers will run a limited service Wednesday so that people can attend protest rallies planned for the city center. Commuters will get a taste of the upheaval from Tuesday when trolley bus employees are to stage a five-hour walkout from 11 a.m. On Wednesday, buses and trolley buses will run between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Staff on the Athens metro, tram and the Piraeus-Kifissia electric railway (ISAP) are to decide Tuesday on Wednesday’s action.
There will be no trains running nor ferries sailing Wednesday as employees of the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) and the country’s seamen walk off the job. The Proastiakos suburban railway will also halt its services Wednesday.
As is usual on general strike days, tax offices and municipal services will be closed to the public as employees are expected to join the action en masse. Hospitals will be operating on skeleton staff and schools will close as doctors and teachers join the action.
Lawyers, engineers and construction workers, whose sector has been particularly hard hit by the economic crisis, are expected to join the action Wednesday too.
The BBC adds:
Union leaders say they are angry at the job cuts and tax rises being demanded by Greece's international lenders.
"The (strike) is our answer to the dead-end policies that have squeezed the life out of workers, impoverished society and plunged the economy into recession and crisis," the private sector union GSEE said in a statement.
"Our struggle will continue for as long as these policies are implemented," it said.
The union is organising the walkout with public sector union Adedy.
Several marches are due to culminate in protests outside parliament in Syntagma square, Athens, where violent clashes have broken out on previous occasions.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's eight-month-old government has taken a tough line on strikers, invoking emergency law twice this year to order seamen and metro staff back to work.
But despite such measures, strikes have recently picked up.
A one-day visit by French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday went largely unreported because Greek journalists downed tools.
Our correspondent says more than 20 general strikes since the crisis erupted have failed to halt austerity - and this one is unlikely to be any different.
Well they sure can keep on trying. And since the journalists prudently striked (or is that stroke?) preemptively, tomorrow's protests will be widely covered, and should generate enough headlines to send the S&P500 at least another 10 points higher.
»
- 8950 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
Tax offices closed? It's the end of civilization as we know it.
We can expect the very same financial collaps here in the US very soon ....
are american slaves as beat down by the government enough? obama and the dems better shit on the constitution a bit more.
Greek Socialist pigs lived high on other peoples' money for years. Screw them and the globalist Jew Banksters. These creatures are the problem. Golden Dawn has the solution.
The Greek people have a long and proud history of homosexuality, it will serve them well.
What is a golden dawn? A homosexual technique?
Oh please, those protestors are only the people who can't read and don't buy newspapers.
Greece is already recovering! at least that's what they're saying... I don't understand why the Greek people don't see it...
strange....
That's where the Greek state trousers pinch the Greek buttocks: as long as tax collection is in such shambles the gov has to cut expenses and lower the minimum state worker wages - with general strikes as a response
by the way, Hollande is looking for an arms deal - frigates were mentioned - I wonder: do warships decrease gov expenses?
meanwhile over 70% of the Greeks still prefer the EUR to a drachma - even a majority of the strikers...
Meh.. A one day strike does nothing. One day is a "holiday". Take two weeks off and the bankers will shit their drawers.
Of course they will take Euros over drachma. They were given the choice of staying with a worthless currency or getting paid in silver dimes/DMarks - sign here and sell your soul to the EUSSR. Unionized govt workers want to get paid in euros, pensioners want to get paid and have savings in euros. The problem is the country made very little and it is even worse with an expensive currency.
Nothing will change in Greece unless they go back to the drachma. Not that it will be much better because the Greeks are the Greeks.
LOL "sell your soul to the EUSSR" you are so funny
so if you would be in charge in Greece your "solution" wold be to debase the currency? Ok, it's a tested method, but do you advocate this also in where YOU live, too? just curious...
still a national (localized, decentralized) currency is better to fight off unemployment.
It looks like the govt union workers (over 50% of the workers in Greece - probably higher % now) seem to be hanging in there while the other Greeks are eating out of the garbage.
freddie is pro govt union worker? what's your point?
That is because they have the most to "lose"...everything they have is priced in Euros...if they devalue to drachma´s..they lose it....I wonder what the signw will be saying...will it be "screw the EU" or EU...help us please".....or "just give us the money"....so when do they ask for thenext bailout....??? I think this is the window dressing for the next question.....demand for more funds...they need to get CNN over there to report on the poverty...the little old lady eating cats...cats with a light cream ouzo sauce mind you..but cats....Horses are so cliche::::. They have a bunch of mules....Donkeys...but they taste funny...
the greeks have the balls to say FU to the tax man
Yet most of the same greeks seem to want to be employed by the greek state or to receive pensions from the greek state.
Those strikes don't accomplish anything. They need to do what Iceland did, and throw the banksters in jail.
Agreed, and when do we here in the ussa do the same? Still waiting for it, but enjoying the Slo-Mo Collapse in the mean time bitchez
I hate slo-mo.
if you examine carefully what really happened in Iceland you'd see that a similar move in Greece would have very limited results
Greece's woes are centered on a budget deficit that won't be supported internationally - not this way, not anymore
Communism of the rich first world won't be extended anymore as it's increasingly reserved for Uncle Sam, who needs to keep those stocks market up
you're right-these massive unions are not a part of the problem whatsoever
Kill the banks, kill the banks, kill the banks!
Kill the bankERS, kill the bankERS, kill the bankERS! There, fixed it for ya.
I thought it was Banksters?
I thought it was Pigmen.
i thought it was hofjuden
Can we please get started!?
That would sound good by Jello Biafra and the Dead Kennedy's.....
.
Well played, sir.
They need to have a banker free zone.
last time thiis was what fascists and communists used to say
you can't spell liberal capitalism without free lending, though without fighting it's corruption it undermines itself
Long Astroglide > Home.
If I'm going Greek, the lube is mandatory.
Another Greek strike you say? Good enough for another +15bps on ES ...
I think it is great that people in other countries are allowed to protest. Wish we could do that here.
Did you miss the occupy movement? It was a good barometer of social awareness. In other words, it's weak to none.
Nothing changes. Once upon a time too many Greeks did not perform an honest day's work. Now they strike. The result is the same. Their situation is terminal because the political scene is totally corrupt, no one has been punished for past actions, industry has been gutted, the size of government is still too big, the debt is beyond salvage, the bureaucracies are still Byzantine and the attitude is still one of the "government owes me" or "it's the government's responsibility."
But everything is going according to plan. As soon as Greece is asset stripped they will let her society collapse. When this happens however, foreign interests in the country will pay dearly for their investments.
I partly agree with you, though
Who's plan? "...her society collapse..."? history says their society is a bit thougher than many others
It is true that her society is tougher than many others. Hence the reason why they say that Greeks never counted their enemies, because their enemies were always numerically superior.
The problem this time is that Greek society is more aged than at any other time and this makes it difficult...very difficult.
A societal collapse in Greece is what is needed to galvanise both Greeks at home and abroad.
Whose plan is it to bring her to her knees?
The answer to that is MANY MANY groups and nations which are working and waiting for Greece to stumble. Take your pick amongst Turkey, FYROM, the foreign investors, the one world government made up of the likes of Soros, the speculators and of course the traitors inside the gates who are nothing more than paid agents of Greece's enemies.
For a minute, in your first statement, I forgot which country you were speaking about. It sounded awfully familiar....
To me it always seemed fitting that Greece was in the position to lead the way. Their fabled history and known temperament makes them well suited for social disruption. But maybe it's just a coincidence.
The Northern USA has blizzards, the Mediterranean has general strikes. Whatever. Stock up the pantry, then take the day off or work at home.
I think its funny :o) The media (press) has to preschedule its strike not to conflict with the general strike so when they have a general strike it can be covered by the media - because if the strike wasn't covered by the media, then the general strike crowd woudn't support the media strike and nobody would know that everybody was on strike...
Did I get that right ? :o)
If all media outlets were as committed to the public this world would be a much better place. Journalists take note, this is how you do your job.
Oh well, this needs an Irish Poem:
Hi Jinks!
There once was a country called "Greece,"
Who the Banksters decided to fleece.
But they hid all their taxes
From Morgan and Sach's
Because they were MEN and not meece!!!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Logged in just to up arrow :-)
"... but still cant remove the disease
of taxes charges and fees
the banksters will win
kick us on the chin
till really there is no more Greece"
Maybe?
That is not bad at all. I am glad you liked mine. Here is another Irish Poem, just for you:
Spartan Conditions
In Greece, all the Helots are striking.
(Austerity's not to their liking.)
There's nothing to do
But hum Misirlou,
As off to the bread lines they're hiking.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
PS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-2ZG-LUqEw
I bow humbly :-)
How the hell do you know about Misirlou? Eisai kai esy Ellinida?
No. I am from Texas. I learned about Misirlou in Pulp Fiction and downloaded a bunch of youtube videos. I love the version I linked. But, let me try another Irish Poem before I crash for a while:
Shaking All Over
Greece clobbered Troy in The Illiad.
Which was KEWL!, but may this young filly add?
That one should not scoff
At The Great Shaking Off,
When po' Solon applied "Balm In Gilead."
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
PS:
http://spiritofjubilee.com/history/athenian-democracy-began-with-shaking...
Superb, as ever. In the spirit of greek philosophical discource (dialogos) allow me a reply attempt :)
Past glories may make us feel good
But they cant on this table put food
Us greeks of today
Are pi**ing away
The land where our ancestors once proudly stood.
Colour me a pessimist, i know :))
A little video from BBC: "A look at Greece's financial crisis from the inside"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17081933#TWEET613799
the BBC is MI6's answer to the CIA's NYTimes.
The BBC makes MSNBC look like the right wing of the Republican Party.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zvl9N9GdraQ
Greek guy on Euro Crisis - Entertaining :x 5 min.
Strike for weeks. This misery should end and only the people can make that happen. Just make the whole country stop. Pay no taxes. Starve the devils.
Also another Greek word that should be well used in here is homophobia...
The Athens demo/riot cam is supposed to be up in about 5 minutes - 10:30 AM GMT...
http://www.livestream.com/stopcarteltvgr?utm_source=lsplayer&utm_medium=...
- - - - -
Frim the Grauniad: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/feb/20/eurozone-crisis-greek-wor...
8.25am GMT
Protests begin soonDemonstrations in Athens will begin shortly, as workers march to Syntagma Square - the scene of so many protests, and clashes, since the financial crisis began.
The PAME union will begin its protest at 10.30am local time (8.30am GMT), with other groups starting 30 minutes later., and all converging on Syntagma.
The ever-useful Living in Greece has rounded up the details (more here):
• 9:00: Farmers’ market vendors to protest in Kaniggos Square. —Naftemporiki (in Greek)
• 10:00: Electric company union workers to rally outisde DEH offices. —Eleftherotypia (in Greek)
• 10:30: Health workers will gather outside the Ministry of Labor. —Naftemporiki (in Greek)
•10:30: Seafarers and dock workers will gather at Karaiskaiki Square in Piraeus. — Naftemporiki (in Greek)
• 10:30: PAME to start rally at Omonia Square and converge with union protest in Syntagma. — PAME Press Release (in Greek).
• 11:00: Union rally to start at Pedion tou Areos and move to Syntagma Square. — To Vima (in Greek)
ANTI AUSTERITY PROTESTS TOPPLE BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT
This is the type of thing that is going to collapse the EU (and the world) http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/20/us-bulgaria-government-idUSBRE...
Photos https://www.google.com/search?q=bulgaria+protests&hl=en&client=firefox-a...
Eventually the masses will SNAP and they will take to the streets and topple a major government - Spain, Italy - France?
The replacement government will prove to be just as inept at providing a solution BECAUSE THERE IS NO SOLUTION.
Because govts can no longer provide additional debt-based jobs and growth because they are BANKRUPT
So the masses will return to the streets in ever greater numbers - in an even greater state of FRUSTRATION
And I suspect that eventually, they will turn to a populist leader - a person who dictates an end to membership in the EU and the shackles it places on all countries who belong.
The new leader will precribe what he hopes to be a brutal, sharp but relatively short agony vs endless throbbing pain - he will want to dump the Euro and devalue using a new currency.
This will of course not work - but there will be no time for this to play out because when a country leaves the EU that will set off a cascade of banking defaults as no entity will ever be able to make good on loans in Euros when a country drops that currency and devalues.
This will collapse the financial system and all hell will break loose only to be quelled by MARTIAL LAW
Where we go from there is anyone's guess but I suspect that because there is no way to resume growth (the end of CHEAP ENERGY assures that) that we will end up in some sort of dystopian totalitarian nightmare with the elites keeping control through large armies - they will live as did the leaders in COMMUNIST RUSSIA with access to luxuries.
And the rest of us will leave as did the common person in the USSR or worse - prepare for a life of LIVING HELL.
Ah, so this is why gold has crashed below $1600.
great opportunity.
Boggles my little mind too....I suspect in the future we will know who the "player" was...when they announce "10 trillion tons" bought over the last few years....someone is at work.....the G20 just announced a currency war...and gold and silver down...
Yeah, currency war and real money goes down. It doesn't make sense. But the people that should be buying have less and less disposable income and most don't even realize they should be buying. The little people are being ground up like wheat into flour.
"not even they can transform the complete stop of all "constructive" activity as somehow benefiting Greek GDP"
If most of the Greeks are government employees or on welfare, then their activities can hardly be seen as constructive and you would want them to go on strike permanently. After all it's not like they will push Greece to join the communist "sphere".
merkel to EU bureacrats: IS ATHENS BURNING??
Ah Spring with it comes the Greek Riot season.
In Greece, Spain, Portugal and elsewhere the message from the strikers and rioters is always the same: "No More Cuts" or whatever. It's not difficult to see why as cuts are at the centre of the economic wastelands that these countries have become.
BUT do I see placards advocating alternative policies which (in the view of the people on the streets) would be successful? No, never. Few of them advocate quitting the Euro currency, taking the pain and pressing reboot for a new future as an independent sovereign nation. Their anger is really aimed at keeping the debt bubble (and welfare profligacy) going on forever and funding it by "taxing the rich" (whoever they are) and even more borrowing. Most don't understand that Keynesian economics has reached the end of the road.
Riot Dog says:
"Send us the horsemeat. We're tired of eating pigeons."
I think much has been missed here that is relevant.
Both Spain and Greece have had their political evolution over the last hundred years interfered with and mismanaged from outside.
It would be interesting to speculate where the average person would be economically if this had not taken place.
Also,the Bankster haircuts which would have given these countries some breathing space will seem to be cheap someday.There's that 20/20 hindsight again.....
P.S. Both of these countries are guilty of splurging on defense expenditure which does not help the GDP much.Can't see what Spain or Greece need with a bunch of F-16's.....