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Market trader Alession Rastani shocked the BBC, when he responded to questions about the Greek bailout and the problems facing the Eurozone at a time when tear gas and the police tried to control the general strike on the streets of Athens as movements of opposition to the austerity measures heightened.
“Our job is to make money from it. And, personally, I’ve been dreaming of this moment for 3 yrs. … people don’t seem to maybe remember, the depression in the 1930s wasn’t just about a market crash. There were some people who were prepared to make money from that crash.”
“This economic crisis is like a cancer… just like a cancer its going to grow… The government doesn’t rule the world. Goldman Sachs rules the world. Goldman Sachs does not care about this rescue package, neither does the big funds. … in less than 12 months, my prediction is that savings of millions of people is going to vanish. And this is just the beginning.”
These sentiments reflect the real feelings of the bank and bankers. The government and capitalists are saying that there is no alternative: they have to continue the cuts and privatizations. This is their program to maintain their wealth and power.
Today there are 610,000 millionaires up 17 per cent from 2008 to 2010, while mass unemployment is rising as is the gap between the rich and the poor.
Our program is for and of the working class, the students, the Black communities and all poor sectors of society.
The government has to immediately stop all military interventions in other countries, such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. These are wars against the working class and poor people and mean death and devastation in these countries.
• Tax the rich, make them pay for the crisis they created
• Control bank speculation and the export of their wealth.
• Heavily tax the big fortunes of English millionaires and great landowners, including the churches, big properties and the Monarchy.
• Nationalize the most important private banks in UK because they control the money that the government needs to resolve the economic crisis and they can remove money from here to tax havens funding wars etc.
• Nationalize the great landed estates in UK, in the country and the cities. All the land has to be used for food production, housing and work.
With these measures there is money to stop the cuts and privatisations. We know that the Tories, Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party will never take these measures because it means a great attack on the profits of capitalists.
These measures are the only way to resolve the crisis without cutting our jobs, pensions, public services, schools and hospitals.
The working class has to unite white, Black, old, young and immigrants – to put forward and fight for this program. In this fight we call on the support and the solidarity of the European peoples who are fighting the same enemy.
