Solidarity with Greek people, Amsterdam 30 June

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This video from Greece says about itself:

In Case I Don’t Die – A Greek whisper to Europe

«No, don’t look at me like that… I won’t make you feel uncomfortable. No more than necessary. You know that this video could begin or end with an imposing shot of the Acropolis. Or the Olympics. Or the deep blue waters of the Aegean. Or with people losing their jobs and homes. Or others sleeping in tiny carton boxes. Or others driving luxurious cars. But this shall not happen. Because this video wasn’t made to impress nor to shock you. Because these words are not a scream. They’re a whisper.

I could be reading this in English, or German, or French, or Spanish or Portuguese, or Finnish. But this won’t happen. Because I want to speak to you in my language. The same way I’d like you to think in yours. Whatever language you speak. In every language. Because they’re all ours. Because we’re all European citizens. Proud people. And we have the right to be different. Provided we’re happy with everyone’s fundamental right to happiness. The people of my generation. And your generation. No matter what that is. And whatever the gender, or the religion, or the sexual preference is and every ambition and dream as well. Because the right to survival, to work, to optimism, the right to live, in every sense, is mutual.

We are all victims of a financial mountain we built to supply us with fresh water. And what about the tree? What about the people? Did we forget all about them? The cynical, suffocating policies of the Troika finances a draining mechanism which pumps a constant flow of water away from people’s thirst. Are we willing to run out of cool water to keep the restless nuclear reactor cool or shall we agree to serve the people for whom it was built in the first place? So far, only those who operate the reactor profit. Because they bet on fear. Mine and yours. Moment of inertia. Instead of what there is, can there be something else? Something fair and viable. Something made by us for us. With no default win-win situation for the bureaucrats. With complete renegotiation of countries’ debts turning them into a fair, viable contribution plan to the Union’s annual budget. A new Deal. Without collapsing economies. Without masters and servants. Without any riots. Without reaching a melting point. Is this too romantic? Can Europa live without her Bull?

My words are a call for a mutual hug. And an honest, a sincere, “I like to see you smile”. In the years to come. That’s what European Integration is all about. Now is our chance. The so-called “Apathetic Generation”, “Generation-Y”, the generation of depravities, the “screen generation”, the melancholic generation, the “lost generation”, can be the first generation in modern history who will some day recite the story of dreaming about something better. And making it happen. We can be that generation. The proudest. Us Greeks became the guinea pig of austerity. Because we dared to implement it. And we made it. In paper. And yet we are dying. In life. Now we dare to be the guinea pig of hope. For a fairer Europe. With lots of hard work. With honesty. Together. Don’t leave us alone. Don’t be afraid. I want and I can contribute. I can bear it. As long as I have the right to smile. You?»

This video was shot in Athens, Greece, in March 2015.

With honesty.

Featuring: Danny Giannakopoulou

Music: K. BHTA

Camera operator: Argyris Tsepelikas, Steadicam: Theodosis Tzavaras, Follow focus: Marios Pougkakiotis, Assistant director: Christos Karasavvidis,
Subtitling: Catherine Velissaratou, Editor: Kostas Koufiopoulos,

Written and Directed by Nicolas Androulakis

On Tuesday 30 June, 18:30 to 22:30, there will be a solidarity demonstration with the Greek people on the Museumplein square in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Among the speakers at the demonstration will be Ms Ingeborg Beugel, former Dutch media correspondent in Greece. And Myrthe Hilkens, feminist and ex-MP for the Dutch social democratic PvdA party (junior partner of the conservative VVD party in the Dutch coalition government; the PvdA is the party of pro-austerity Dutch minister Dijsselbloem). Ms Hilkens in 2013 quit as an MP because the PvdA leaders moved further and further to the Blairite right.

This referendum is a fight between the Greeks and Europe’s cruel capitalism. Aditya Chakrabortty. On Sunday the people of Greece can hit back at the eurozone’s busted economic system that is slowly strangling them. Their battle is ours too: here.

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