Greek workers keep fighting against European Union austerity

Sacked schools’ guards, part of the 10,000-strong workers’ protest outside the Greek parliament that defied the European Central Bank and shouted ‘We will not be blackmailed’

From daily News Line in Britain:

Saturday, 7 February 2015

‘We will not be blackmailed’–Athens workers

SOME 10,000 workers and their families gathered outside the Vouli (Greek parliament) last Thursday evening in Athens in protest against the European Central Bank’s (ECB) and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble’s hostility to Greece.

A call for the protest was issued on Thursday morning through social media, stating, ‘we will not be blackmailed – we will not be submitting – we will not be afraid – we will not be backtracking – we will be winning’, and ‘we should support the solid stand of our government against Draghi’s and Schäuble’s extortion’.

Last Wednesday night, ECB President Mario Draghi announced that from 11 February Greek state bonds will not be accepted as collateral for loans, depriving the Greek banks of a vital source of cash. On Thursday morning, Schaeuble met the new Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis in Berlin and afterwards stated that ‘we agreed that we disagree’ to which Varoufakis replied ‘we didn’t even agree that’.

A delegation of sacked schools’ guards participated in the protest with their flags chanting slogans such as ‘People united against extortion!’ and ‘Tsipras raised his voice in Europe – now the troika is heading to take cover!’

Thousands protest in Athens against bullying bankers: here.

The conflict between Europe’s ruling elite and the new Greek anti-austerity administration, headed by radical left party SYRIZA, reached a high point on February 4-5: here.

Greek election results: here.

This 5 February 2015 video is called Greece: Athenians rally to SUPPORT Syriza government.

Ireland: In the wake of SYRIZA’s historic win in the Greek elections on January 25, Sinn Fein national chairperson, Declan Kearney, called for formal discussions to begin on building an Irish left coalition to cohere an anti-austerity government in the South: here.

In response the attempted blackmail by the European Central Bank (ECB) of Greece’s new anti-austerity SYRIZA government in response to its bid to renegotiate its crippling debt and austerity programs, the Party of the European Left has called for mass demonstrations from February 11-17 in support of Greece. You can read about the latest developments in Greece‘s battle with the European elites here.

THE former head of the US central bank, Alan Greenspan, has predicted that Greece will have to leave the eurozone: here.

LEADING left-wing campaigners called on Scotland yesterday to challenge the “undemocratic” European Union and its austerity agenda: here.

THE new Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras made his first speech to the Vouli (Greek parliament) last Sunday night saying he would carry out the promises he made to stop the humanitarian crisis in Greece. Tsipras insisted that his government would not continue with the Austerity Accords: here.

NEW Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has sworn to “stick fully” to his election promises as parliament prepares to debate his policies and vote on a confidence motion tomorrow: here.

Thousands of Greeks Take to the Streets . . . and Chant the Name of Their Finance Minister: here.

We the undersigned call on the governments of Europe, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF to respect the decision of the Greek people to choose a new course and to engage the new government of Greece in good faith negotiations to resolve the Greek debt: here.