By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson
International League of Peoples’ Struggle
9 June 2011
The International League of Peoples’Struggle (ILPS) salutes the people of Greece for coming together in their hundreds of thousands in a militant show of unity to condemn the harsh austerity measures that the Greek government is imposing on them and to demand its resignation for selling out the national sovereignty to the IMF-EU-ECB troika
On June 5, up to 500,000 people gathered in Syntagma Square and in front of the Parliament in Athens and thousands more in public squares in 30 other cities around the country to show their outrage and opposition to the austerity measures that inflict further suffering on the people on top of the rising rate of unemployment and the soaring prices of basic commodities and services.
These austerity measures are being imposed because of the huge debt that have been incurred by the state in undertaking nonproductive programs and projects and in bailing out the failing banks and monopoly companies. Thus, the people have cried out: This debt is not ours. We shall not pay for it!
Inspired by the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa and most recently in Spain, the people of Greece have decided to gather in Syntagma Square and in front of Parliament every day to demand the resignation of the government. Since May 25, the people have been gathering at the Syntagma Square united under the slogan: We will not quit until this government goes and until the IMF-EU-ECB troika is thrown away!
The financial and economic crisis that hit the world capitalist system in 2008 has continued to worsen because bourgeois governments persist on implementing neoliberal policies. The worst hit by the global crisis are the underdeveloped countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Among the developed capitalist countries in Europe, the worst affected are Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Spain and Greece. In these countries, the people have risen up to protest the austerity measures that make the people shoulder the burden of the crisis of the capitalist system.
The ILPS commends the Union of Working People, a member organization of ILPS, for uniting with the masses at Syntagma Square and for being at the forefront of the mass movement that has developed to demand the resignation of the government that carries out anti-worker and anti-people policies.
The ILPS extends its militant solidarity with the people of Greece and calls on its more than 300 member organizations world-wide to show their solidarity and support to the people of Greece in their present struggle against the austerity measures and in their long-term struggle for genuine democracy, national freedom and social liberation. #