From
Egypt to Wisconsin, working people are fighting back. The workers of
London and Greece are the most recent to step up the struggle against
austerity measures imposed by their governments, the European Union
and the International Monetary Fund.
Austerity is a policy that typically includes reducing budget deficits by slashing spending on social services.
It usually also includes raising taxes and fees and cutting health care
and pension benefits. Public employees face layoffs or cuts in pay.
Reduced subsidies can result in higher priced food and public transit
fares. Social security benefits are cut by increasing the age of
eligibility and reducing or eliminating cost-of-living adjustments.
In Greece, state assets such as ports, public utilities and roads are
being put up for sale to meet debt payments.
Working
people are fighting back because such austerity measures hit them
disproportionately.
In
London, the government has already begun slashing public spending to
try to tackle its deficit by 2015. The plan could involve cutting
roughly 300,000 public service jobs and even more pay freezes.
In
response, there have been a slew of protests, beginning in February
and continuing to the present. Many independent groups have banded
together to lend their support against injustice. The Trades Union
Congress organized a march on March 26 under the banner “
March
for an Alternative: Jobs, Growth, Justice,” which saw up to half a
million gather in London to protest the government’s plans for fast,
deep public spending cuts. On June 29, 25 percent of the Hendon
Railway staff went out on a one-day strike against a proposed change
in their overtime pay.
On
June 29 and 30, the Greek parliament passed a five-year austerity
plan that secured a second bailout for the government. The decision
came just in time to keep Greece from missing a July 15 deadline for
a $17 billion debt payment to the European Union and International
Monetary Fund.
The
people of Greece are starting to see severe and drastic changes to
their normal way of life. From February to the present day, massive
protests have broken out against austerity. However, no other month
compares to May in Greece. Demonstrations occurred in countless Greek
cities, including Athens, Thessaloniki, Larissa, Patras, Volos,
Rethymno, Tripoli and Kalamata. On the seventh day of unrest, the
University of Athens hosted an anti-government protest on their
campus. After the protest disbursed, many protesters gathered around
the Greek parliament, confronting the members as they exited the
buildings.
June
and the first few days in July have proven that working people have
not backed down. A
massive
two-day general strike shook Greece on June 28-29, with the Communist
Party-led union organization PAME playing the leading role. There
have been continued protests and use of social networks, such as
Skype and Facebook, to further build on the people’s struggle.
What
we stand to learn in the United States from these struggles is that
we, the working people, potentially hold all the power, not only
because our fight is just, but because we are the majority and we
make the economy run. If we stand in solidarity and organize, there
is nothing we cannot accomplish. All power to the people!
