Solidarity with Greek people, Amsterdam, 21 June

This video from Germany says about itself:

Pro-Greece rally in Berlin demands solidarity with Athens

15 March 2015

Hundreds of pro-Greece demonstrators in Berlin have been demanding solidarity with Greece as they marched from the German finance ministry to the city’s historical Brandenburg Gate.

The protesters said they were supporting the Greek government, elected on a pledge to roll back austerity and renegotiate a bailout.

“It is about giving Greece a chance, giving the new government a chance, without Europe putting further pressure onto this country, which increases the suffering of the (Greek) people, a suffering that was created from the outside and not from the country’s own internal politics,” explained Berlin resident and pro-Greece demonstrator, Guenther Triebe.

On the same day as the demonstration in Brussels, Belgium, there will be a solidarity demonstration with the people of Greece in Amsterdam, the Netherlands as well.

So, on Sunday 21 June, at 2pm, on Dam square in Amsterdam.

The organisers (various Dutch, Greek, Cypriot, Spanish organisations in the Netherlands) write:

NO to the austerity agreement!

NO to the blackmailing negotiations imposed by the EU institutions!

During the last few days there are several rounds of negotiations between the Greek government and the Eurogroup in order for a mutual agreement to be reached. However, this agreement is not a fair negotiation between equal partners but it is just the outcome of a tremendous blackmailing procedure by ignoring the election mandate in Greece and violating democracy.

Over the last five years the Greek people have been tolerating harsh austerity imposed by the Troika (ECB, IMF, EU). The previous Greek governments (both conservative and social democratic) have accepted without any resistance this austerity program which led to immense poverty and proved also ineffective.

The overall unemployment is at this moment 26% and 51% for the young people while millions of citizens have no access to health services. The Greek economy is destroyed and the GDP keeps decreasing. The mainstream media have been trying to conceal the fact that 92% of the bailout program was directed to French and German banks. In 2012 the PSI agreement converted private debt into public debt which was later passed on to the European taxpayers only to rescue the European banks for the second time and leaving people to their fate.

Now the EU institutions are demanding even harsher austerity measures and resumption of the neoliberal bailout program. They use blackmail and Grexit threats in order to intimidate the Greek government. The Greek government on the other hand, despite its initial positive reforms such as the humanitarian act, protection from evictions and the reinstitution of the public TV, has eventually conceded to the repayment of the whole debt, the privatizations and the increase of VAT. This was a major setback from its pre-electoral promises. Even money from budgets of local authorities was used in order for debt installments to be paid. And now the Eurogroup is asking further increase of the VAT, cutbacks on the pensions, implementation of the privatization scheme and the abolishment of the collective working agreements. The EU leaders ignore the dramatic need for humanitarian aid and they are trampling democratic procedures right in the cradle of democracy.

There is no space for further austerity in Greece anymore. European solidarity against austerity and depression is now needed more than ever before.

We invite you to join our protest on 21st June, at 14.00 at Dam Square in solidarity with the people in Greece, against the blackmail of the European and international institutions.

Say NO to austerity and YES to the people!

Manolis Glezos, ex-fighter in the Greek resistance against the nazi occupation during World War II, and now SYRIZA MP in the European Parliament, will be one of the speakers at the Amsterdam demonstration.

On Tuesday 23 June, 6:30pm, on Trafalgar Square in London, England, there will be a solidarity demonstration with Greece as well.