While talking for the first time to a student from the Architecture University in Athens (1,000 students) I asked him how the last four general strikes in Greece went. Immediately he corrected us: “I do not know exactly if there were eight or ten general strikes”.
I was shocked. He nominated the first, then the second (Feb 10th), the third (Feb 24th), the fourth (Mar 21st and 22nd) and then he lost track of the remainders. Not even the Greeks know precisely how many there were and when all the strikes happened as there were so many with strong attendance. He told me he knew when the first one happened (Dec 17th 2009 – five months ago) and that some were one-day, others two.
Here, it seems to be “normal” to go on general strikes. When I asked him if the participation in the general strike was voted in a general assembly in the university, he took it as a “stupid” question because it is not necessary to have a general assembly as the universities “normally” shut down to meet the call for general strikes. Furthermore, it is “normal” to occupy the premises. Everything that my Portuguese eyes have not seen for decades was “normal”. The colleges (and all their walls) flooded by painted slogans, posters, tables of all political or union forces in all the halls. This “May 68” environment I have just seen once, and for a couple of years, just before and after the Portuguese Revolution of April 25th 1974.
In Greece it is “normal” (for the good) what seems to be anormal: numerous classes suspended, free meals in the university dining hall, really free public education (in Portugal we have to pay 900 Euros per year), a protest environment which is felt in the hot air of the skies of what is used to be called the craddle of “western civilization”. That is, the attack symbolized by the PEC (Economic Package of Budget Cuts) is in a defensive position because no one knows how to defeat students that are clearly commited to an inalienable right: free public education, particularly for the poor.
Everything started for me inside the taxi from the airport to a hotel for my first overnight. The taxi driver told me: “I have been working as a taxi driver for 22 years in this place. In the evenings thousands were on the streets hanging out or going for a drink, hundreds of cars were here. But now we can look in every direction but no one is in sight”. No one has money to spend so they stay at home, he concluded. He kept delivering strong criticisms against politicians of both main parties that alternate themselves in power, the rightwing New Democracy, and the incumbent “socialist” PASOK. He pointed out the money spent on the military for the border dispute with Turkey while they say that the “State is in crisis”.
The taxi driver was a worker, not a party member. But it was remarkable how he was politically aware and his sympathies towards the protests. He concluded “In September I believe the protests will be stronger as now holidays are coming but afterwards things could really get more heated.”
Last Note. While talking to a comrade from a revolutionary organization called OKDE, we noticed something that is not ordinary in other countries. For a period of several hours, we could see on all the streets and corners, uncountable riot police, full armed with shields, helmets, etc…, with unfriendly faces, standing or motorized, using walkie-talkies to make reports on every movement in the streets and getting instructions, intimidating with their presence or just preparing themselves for unknown developments that might occur at any time. Previously, there was no patrolling like this, the Greek comrade told me. It is two days until the next general strike. We Are Excited!
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Gil Garcia (member of Breach-Revolutionary Left Front, the Portuguese section of the International Workers League – Fourth International, visiting Greece in these hot days)
