Yesterday
the Greek parliament approved the austerity measures required to get
further lending from the European Union. The PASOK government is
determined to force through its austerity measures, even though 75% of
the population is totally opposed to any further austerity being imposed
on them.
Thousands of trade unionists hit the
streets of London and other cities all over Britain today in a national
strike called by the Public and Civil Service Union (PCS), the National
Union of Teachers (NUT), the Lecturers’ union (UCU) and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers
(ATL) to protest the government’s plan to vandalise pension schemes.
This was an important turning-point for the British labour movement.
JUNE 30th: Thousands march in London against the Tory attacks on public sector pensions.
June 30th: Around the country, in towns, villages and cities, marches
and rallies have been taking place in support of those public sector
workers striking to defense of their pensions. Members of the teaching
unions and civil servants on strike were joined in solidarity by members
of other unions, pensioners, school and students – all ready to make a
stand against what this bosses government is doing. The mood could be
summed up in two words: Angry, Determined. In Chelmsford, in deepest
Essex, several hundred trade unionists and others marched through the
town centre to a packed rally in a nearby centre.
On Wednesday 22nd June, 700 activists
gathered in Friends’ Meeting House, London, in opposition to the cuts
and to build for the June 30th strike. Under the banner of "Unite the
Resistance," activists from trade unions, student groups and others
gathered to discuss the cuts. The rally was a great success and shows
the depth of anger against the cuts and austerity.
Listeners to ‘File on 4’ on BBC Radio 4 last month would have got an
inkling of the vast river of money that is currently leaving the NHS and
going directly into the coffers of big business.
Today (Tuesday) the
Greek trade unions embarked on a 48-hour general strike against the
austerity measures which are being debated today and are to be voted on
tomorrow. Papandreou says the cuts and privatisations are the only way
of rebalancing Greece’s finances, but the workers and youth on the
streets have other ideas.
Pay more! Work longer! Get less! This is the stark and
uncompromising message on pensions that the Tory- dominated government is
sending to millions of working class people. In the public sector, six million
state employees will find that the expected reward of a half-decent pension in
exchange for low wages during their working life is now being taken away.
The introduction of capitalism, accompanied by rapid industrialisation
over the last 30 years, has turned China into a seething cauldron of
discontent. Conditions faced by the workers, many of them migrants with
no rights, are similar to Victorian times in Britain. “Masses of
labourers, crowded into factories, are organised like soldiers”,
explained Marx and Engels in the Communist Manifesto, which is a fitting
description of working life in China today. The scene is being set for a
massive social explosion.
Cameron and Osborne appear oblivious to the crisis unfolding in front of
their very noses. While standing on the edge of a precipice, they are
busy reassuring everyone that Britain has nothing to fear from the
European financial crisis. They are the modern equivalent of the emperor
Nero, who fiddled while Rome burnt. British banks, they say, are sound
and with enough capital to insulate themselves against a sovereign debt
crisis across the Channel.
Greece stands on the threshold of a revolutionary situation. In the last
period two million workers and youth have repeatedly taken to the
streets to say that enough is enough. Capitalism, which has become a
world-wide and interdependent system, today manifests itself in a global
crisis which is in turn generating an international movement. For this
reason the developments in Greece cannot be viewed in isolation, but as
the latest flashpoint in what is an interlinked chain of events.
As the flames of economic crisis spread across Europe, it is essential
public services such as fire and rescue that are now being cut as a
result. All 49 fire services across Britain have seen their funding from
the government reduced by 25% as part of the Tory-led Coalition’s
programme of austerity. Despite already having one of the most efficient
and affordable fire services in the country, Cambridgeshire is seeing
huge attacks on its fire and rescue services.