Photo: David Holt, flickr

No to austerity in Greece – support the protests

Statement by rs21 on the situation in Greece.

The Greek government has called a referendum next Sunday: the Greek people will be able to vote yes or no to the latest round of austerity proposed by Greece’s international creditors.

Austerity has been a disaster for Greece. 1 in 4 people are unemployed. Half of people under 25 are unemployed. In a million households the only income is a state pension – and pensions have been cut by nearly half. A social crisis on this scale in peacetime is unparalleled in Europe since the Second World War.

The Greek government has a democratic mandate to resist the IMF, the European Central Bank and the Eurozone. They are right to call the referendum and to call for a No vote. Greece’s creditors aren’t negotiating in good faith, and it’s a serious mistake to think that they can be treated with anything but complete mistrust. They have repeatedly shown that their main objective is to humiliate the Greek government, and clearly have nothing but contempt for its democratically-elected leaders. Their goal is political – to show that resistance to austerity cannot succeed, and to send a message to any other country that might think of challenging them in future. They demand more privatisation, more poverty and more austerity.

We stand in solidarity with the working people of Greece as they fight to defend their living standards, public services and society against this neoliberal onslaught. We call on everyone to join the movement in solidarity with them.

• London
  Protest, 6pm, Monday 29 June
  Trafalgar Square
  Called by Greece Solidarity Campaign
• Birmingham
  Protest, 6pm, Monday 29 June
  Victoria Square
  Speakers from Left Unity, National Campaign against Fees and Cuts
• Edinburgh
  Protest, noon, Saturday 4 July
  European Commission in Scotland, 9 Alva St
  Called by Syriza Scotland