Tuesday, December 9, 2008

"bullets for your youth, money for your banks"

The phrase "10, 50, 100 Vietnams", coined by Che Guevara and applied to the factories, universities and streets of the world post-68, seems to be pretty apt for whats going on right now. Moves to resist capitals attempts to push the price of their crisis onto the wider social factory are afoot in Europe, North America and even Australia (more known for burning books than banks)

But the most dramatic seems to be in Greece. All sparked by the police killing of a 15 year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, the reaction contains all the rage of something deeper. The last twelve months has seen a myriad of struggles and self-valorising strategies employed in Greece to counter Karamanlis government's market reforms and against the general rotten nature of the Greek political class. Clearly, the spectacles paid bozos and soothsayers are noting the significance.

People I met seemed to be sickened by the state of affairs in the country. Inflation was seriously eating into wages, unemployment high and pensions/unemployment benefits woefully inadequate for anyone to live on unless they stayed at home or squatted. And its extra-legal acts such as squatting and autoriduzione that many young people are turning to get by. The existence of so many struggles and this general dissatisfaction meant it was only a matter of time before this coalesced into something resembling a revolt.

More than one reported has suggested that Karamanlis could declare a state of emergency and even call in the army. Should this happen, something very massive could be on the cards. The shadow of the junta still casts a shadow over Greek life today and this would throw most of the country behind the protesters. This is still unlikely since Karamanlis knows the problem this would create, the most likely scenario is new elections and gains for the anti-capitalist parties.

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