The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) reports that the participation of the workers and youth in today’s 24-hour national general strike on February 28 was huge, coming exactly two years after the railway crime, when two trains, a freight train and a passenger train, collided in the area of Tempe, near the city of Larissa, killing 57 people, mostly university students.
Hundreds of thousands of workers condemned the causes of the crime, i.e. capitalist profit, the EU policy of liberalizing the railway market, with disastrous consequences for the workers and the popular strata, in 200 strike rallies held all over the country and in cities abroad, including the one in Athens in front of the Greek parliament. They demanded that all political and criminal responsibilities for the crime of Tempe be attributed and condemned the policy that sacrifices human life on the altar of profit.
As it turned out, dozens of complaints by trade unionists from the All Workers’ Militant Front (PAME) and all the railway unions had warned of the risk of a major accident. Everyone knew, including the governments, the EU and the companies. All the governments are complicit, both the present right-wing New Democracy government and the previous “left-wing” SYRIZA and social-democratic PASOK governments, which left the railways without the necessary safety systems, proceeded to dismantle, liberalize, privatize and understaff them, cutting thousands of jobs. Equally guilty is the European Union, which gives the directions and instructions for the 'liberalization' of transport.
As PAME points out, today at least 2,000 workers are lacking for the safe operation of the railway, adding that “the real causes of the conflict and the horror are the ‘rails of profit’ that crash our lives for the interests of the exploiters of the people! These rails must be torn up!”.
At the same time, by participating in the strike, the class-oriented trade unions have shown that in the last two years almost 300 workers have breathed their last breath in the workplace because of the same policy, as security measures are considered as a cost for the employers and the government.
It is the same reason why the people are unprotected from natural disasters, fires and floods, because the government, the regional authorities and the municipalities refuse to fund the necessary projects and fully staff all the necessary services that are considered to be a cost.
It is the same reason why public health structures function only marginally, thanks to the self-sacrifice of doctors and all those who work in them, and why every day we see chunks of ceilings falling from schools as their maintenance is considered a cost.
All of this is added to the bad situation that the people are experiencing with high prices, poverty, low wages, house auctions, at the same time as the government is spending billions of euros on NATO armament, involving our country in the imperialist wars.
The slogan "THEIR PROFITS OR OUR LIVES", which dominated this mass strike, shows the way to intensify the struggle for the protection of human life, for collective labour agreements, for wage increases, for the strengthening of state funding in health, education and welfare, against military armament and NATO spending, for Greece to disengage from the slaughterhouses of imperialist wars.
Statement of Dimitris Koutsoumbas at the strike rally in Athens:
A delegation of the Central Committee of the KKE, led by the General Secretary of the CC of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, took part in the strike rally in Athens. D. Koutsoumbas made the following statement to the media:
"Today it is the Greek people, the trade unions, the associations of the self-employed, scientists, students, women, pupils, it is the entire Greek society who are speaking up. It is the time of the relatives of the victims of Tempe for speaking up!
No cover-up, all political and criminal responsibilities for this great tragedy must be attributed immediately, today, when the Greek people have taken to the streets in over 200 cities and villages, but also throughout Europe, throughout the world.
The Greek government and those who have governed to date bear enormous responsibilities. We will not let anyone off the hook, no matter how high their position. The punishment must be severe so that we and our children do not have to experience any more tragedies like the one in Tempe.
The organized people have spoken up and their message cannot be distorted!
After the end of the strike rally in Athens, the trade unions and the mass organizations left in a coordinated manner.
However, at the end of the huge rally in Athens, when the hundreds of thousands of people who had been demonstrating at Syntagma Square had almost left, the usual "scene" was set up again, with riot police forces clashing with groups of hooded people shouting, among other things, fan slogans. The riot police sprayed chemicals all over the centre of Athens.
The familiar scene, however, which is being set up to distract the people, is not capable of erasing the message sent by the people with today's huge rallies throughout Greece.
For more images and video from across Greece see: CP of Greece, The struggle escalates with mass participation in today's nationwide strike
Comments