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.
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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 :))