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Tsipras speech to huge rally (dubbed into English) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aidRyCAbAao> ‘No to fear’ — Greece’s No protest as it happened by Kevin Ovenden Left Flank, July 3 <http://left-flank.org/2015/07/04/no-to-fear-greeces-no-protest-as-it-happened> A selection of KEVIN OVENDEN’s live posts from the massive No protest in Athens, 3 July 2015 Rally for the No side this evening — various different forces calling it — in Syntagma Square, central Athens. The rally will be big and militant. But please do not over-read the size of it and so on. Our friends on the Greek radical Left were not born yesterday. They know that you do not win a plebiscite by spending time among yourselves talking to the convinced. You win it among the people. The purpose of the rally is to force the reality of the No campaign into the media and also to galvanise active forces on our side. The couple of hours in the square outside the parliament allow us also to exchange experiences collectively, to hear those arguments that are having the most effect in the society, to dispel our own confusions and to build morale for the next 48 hours. I am not Greek. But every Greek I know of in the No campaign shares at least one common message among several: “Everything you do outside of Greece helps here. “And this is a fight which is not restricted to Greece nor to Sunday. So do what you can and think through how we proceed.” No one knows what the result will be on Sunday. We do know this: for five months the fate of the whole Greek experiment seemed to lie in the outcome of conference chamber and diplomatic exchanges. No longer. The oft talked about, sometimes overlooked, always hoped for social movement will be expressed in Syntagma tonight. There are more powerful things than Troikas. *** Huge. Tsipras: combative. Music all from the Left: Theodorakis, Papaconstantinou, Dimitriadi. Composition: young and working class, the social base of Syriza and Left... Been on air for hour or more. Talking with people. More soon. Quote from and old, old fighter: “We’re fighting for victory on Sunday, not honourable defeat.” . . . People have come largely in family groups or circles of friends. It’s a Friday night. This is social, underpinned by parties’ organisations, but beyond that. Quote from Stavroula, teacher: “I’m happy tonight. I want to be happy on Monday. Want my grandchildren to have a good life. I’m not very religious, but I pray this nightmare will end.” *** The anti-capitalist Left is here. I’ve seen many from all strands. Not so visible and not just because of size — many tens of thousands — but because they are largely buried deep in the micro-gatherings of friends and families who are laughing and chatting about so much — not just the referendum. The EU is not what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like. *** “Remember. This is Athens. There is the Peloponnese. There is still small town Greece. Don’t get too carried away.” Someone I have learnt a lot about Greek politics from for 25 years. So: I won’t get carried away. . . . Oh! A lovely young comrade: “We are going to win. Tell the world.” I say: “Yes. We will win. Whatever the bastards do on Sunday. This fight goes beyond Sunday. And we are going to win this fight.” I thought that was the best answer and it is also truthfully how I feel tonight. *** Ok. Bella Ciao playing. A jolt of energy through crowd. This is of the Left all right! How far beyond have we reached? . . . Real social forces were rallied tonight! Tonight’s rally was a big success. The sheer size of it will be felt outside of Athens in the towns and villages and regional cities. The private media is very bad. But the rally was enormous and it has forced its way into the broadcasts with no one in a position to gainsay its size. There was no big speechifying, except the address by Tsipras [watch it dubbed into English <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aidRyCAbAao>]. But it was what he has been saying all week, though more combative. He speaks very well in any case. Tonight, though I was on air for some of it, his style was brilliant. Really confident and “laiko”, the popular touch. This was a rally. Forces were rallied. Several international journos on floor seven of the Athens Plaza — where the improvised studios are — were gob-smacked. And the overall feel of the rally had a clear tactical focus in the run-up to Sunday. *** There was a leak earlier today from New Democracy of their game plan for the last 48 hours until polls close on Sunday evening at 7pm. Their private surveys and polling have identified that there are 30 percent of those Syriza voters who came over from Pasok who were undecided mid-week. (I am not sure what the baseline is as to when they came over from Pasok. Need to read the document with Greek friends in a bit to be accurate.) So their tactic is to avoid this looking like a fight between Left and the old Right. The ND leaders fear that if that is the sense of Sunday, then they will lose. That’s why they are promoting everywhere they can centre-left figures as the face of the Yes campaign — Kaminis and Boutaris, the former Pasok centre-left mayors of Athens and Salonika. *** The overall feel of tonight’s rally — the music, the working class faces, Tsipras’s speech, the joyful atmosphere and the slogans aimed to appeal to that old Pasok sentiment and social base, which Pasok the party has lost but which has yet to establish historical traditional attachment to a new party. They vote Syriza, but it is not like voting for Pasok for 20 years. As I discussed it with friends on the packed (free!) Metro I could suddenly name the feeling I had tonight in Syntagma. More modern staging and projection screens, allowance for the passage of 30 years – but this felt like old Pasok, at a time when Andreas Papandreou’s government had not disgraced itself and he had that combative, witty, laiko, intelligent style. *** A message from Xanthi, right in the north of the country in Thraki, home to the Turkish and Pomachi minorities — No rally five times bigger than Yes! The Athens Yes rally was inside the Kallimermaro Stadium. In a venue. Not outside. We are hoping some enterprising journalist of the Left got a picture of the car park. We were happy to head home on packed Metros. Such a picture of the Right’s transportation would reveal a fleet of Mercedes and BMWs. No wonder they are in love with Angela Merkel. *** Tomorrow’s papers. Overwhelmingly “NAI” (“YES”) front pages. Don’t let it faze you. We knew this. Copies of newspapers don’t vote. People do. *** On Metro on way home. Absolutely rammed. Tokyo-style. A group of boisterous but really good-natured lads burst out in occasional chants (they do scan and rhyme in Greek): “Shut down the TV stations. Fuck the Eurozone!” “No, no, no, again NO — to the Euro, and to Olympiacos!” They’re young football fans. They support the rival team, AEK. People are laughing and clapping. Partly because this is a largely No carriage. You can tell people have come from the rally. And partly at the sheer inventive, joyous cheekiness of the chanting. This is what a social movement feels like. (3) Referendum Rallies in the Greek Capital by Anastassios Adamopoulos The Greek Reporter, July 3 <http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/07/03/referendum-rallies-at-the-greek-capital> Two days before Greece holds its first referendum since 1975, supporters of both sides to the posed dilemma organized rallies in Athens on Friday evening. The two demonstrations took place a few miles away from each other with the “No” supporters gathering in Syntgama Square and those in favor of accepting the proposed deal rallied at Kallimarmaro Stadium. Supporters of the “Yes” vote have largely argued that the question is in reality one between the euro and the drachma. The government has vehemently denied this theory and argued that a “No” vote will strengthen Greece’s position at the negotiating table. After sending a televised message to the nation, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras gave his second speech of the day at the “No” rally in Syntagma Square, which garnered around 35,000 people. [!!, see: <https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153357637975470&set=a.10151008378485470.477359.580435469&type=1&fref=nf>] “Today we celebrate the victory of democracy. Whatever happens on Monday, we are already winners,” Tsipras told an ecstatic crowd. Tsipras spoke of Greece’s position as Europe’s birthplace and the ability and history of the Greek people to reject ultimatums. “On Sunday, we are not simply deciding if we are staying in Europe, but if we are going to live and progress with dignity in Europe, if we are going to be equal in Europe,” he said. “And believe me. No one has the right to threaten they will cut Greece out of its natural geographic place. No one has the right to threaten they will divide Europe.” The Greek Prime Minister pressed for national unity following the referendum, regardless of the result, as he did in his speech earlier today. In the “Yes” rally, which was attended by approximately 25,000 people, Athens mayor Giorgos Kaminis spoke to supporters of the bailout deal. Kaminis also called for unity but accused the government of holding a snap election this Sunday and of not having any negotiating partners left. “They are dragging us to vote on a referendum, without giving us the time to think, to discuss calmly, with sobriety,” Kaminis said. “With an incomprehensible question, a sheet of words that do not make any sense.” (4) Greece debt crisis: Mass rival rallies over bailout vote BBC News, July 4 <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33391913 Tens of thousands of Greeks have attended rival rallies in Athens ahead of a crucial referendum on Sunday. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was greeted with huge cheers when he told supporters to vote "No" to the terms of an international bailout. But those attending another huge rally nearby warned a "No" vote would see Greece ejected from the eurozone. . . . Opinion polls on Friday suggested the country was evenly split over the vote - an Ipsos survey putting "Yes" supporters at 44% and "No" at 43%. Opinion polls within 24 hours of the voting are banned, as are more campaign rallies. Estimates of the crowds gathered in Athens on Friday ranged from 25,000 to 50,000, with police and observers agreeing that the crowds at the "No" rally were bigger. Rallies for both camps were held in 10 other Greek cities. . . . (5) Greeks deeply divided heading into crucial vote by MICHELE KAMBAS & LEFTERIS PAPADIMAS I Kathimerini, Athens, July 3 (Reuters) <http://www.ekathimerini.com/198913/article/ekathimerini/news/greeks-deeply-divided-heading-into-crucial-vote> Greeks took to the streets in their tens of thousands on Friday in rival rallies that laid bare the deep divide heading into a referendum that may decide the country's future in Europe's single currency. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, elected in January on a promise to end six years of austerity, extolled a packed Syntagma square in central Athens to spurn the tough terms of an aid deal offered by international creditors to keep the country afloat. His European partners say a "no' vote will jeopardise Greece's membership of the euro. Tsipras says they are bluffing, fearing the fallout for Europe and the global economy. But a "yes" vote may bring him down, ushering in a new period of political instability for a country reeling from five days of shuttered banks and rationed cash withdrawals. Framing Sunday's ballot as a battle for democracy, freedom and European values, the 40-year-old left-wing leader told Greeks to "turn your backs on those who terrorize you daily". "On Sunday, we are not just deciding that we are staying in Europe, but that we are deciding to live with dignity in Europe," he told the crowd of an estimated 50,000. [The Reuters original said "at least 50,000" <http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/04/us-eurozone-greece-idUSKBN0P40EO20150704> ] His opponents accuse Tsipras of gambling Greece's future with a rapid-fire plebiscite that a major European rights watchdog says falls short of international standards of fairness. Three opinion polls published on Friday had the "yes" vote marginally ahead; a fourth put the "no" camp 0.5 percent in front, but all were well within the margin of error. "We know that the lenders will close the door if we say no, but we must fight," said 65-year-old pensioner Irini Stavridou, attending the "no" rally. "We must fight not only for Greece but all the people in Europe, for those who just have a different opinion." On Syntagma, patriotic songs blared out over loud speakers. At the "yes" camp, thousands rallied in front of the old Olympic Stadium to Beethoven's Ode to Joy, the anthem of the European Union. There appeared to be fewer people than in the "no" crowd. "I prefer to vote 'yes', have a few more years austerity and give my child a better future," said jobless economist Marina Peppa, 45. "It's not going to be easy, but if 'no' prevails we'll have Armageddon, total poverty." With tension building, police firing stun grenades briefly scuffled with a few dozen black-clad people carrying red flags, often carried by anti-establishment radicals. The violence appeared to be isolated. In a televised address earlier in the day, Tsipras seized on a report by the International Monetary Fund - which argued that Greece's massive public debt could not be sustained without significant writedowns - as vindication of his rejection of the lenders' terms. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis called the IMF report "music to our ears." Regardless of the outcome of the referendum, Greece will need some 50 billion euros as well as a massive debt writedown, the report said. European policy makers, however, fired fresh warnings of the costs of a "no' vote in a plebiscite called at just eight days' notice after the breakdown of talks with the European Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank. Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble dismissed Tsipras's version that his government would be able to move smoothly to negotiate more favourable terms if Greeks backed his rejection. "If the Greeks will vote 'no', the Greek position is dramatically weakened," Juncker told a news conference. Tsipras is betting Europe will compromise rather than let Greece slip out of the eurozone. But behind the rhetoric, there were more concrete signs of the pressure Europe can exert on Greece. The eurozone's rescue fund, Greece's largest creditor, said it was reserving the right to call in 130.9 billion euros of debt ahead of time after Athens defaulted on an IMF loan. With banks shuttered all week, cash withdrawals rationed and commerce seizing up, Sunday's ballot could decide whether Greece gets another last-ditch financial rescue in exchange for more harsh austerity measures or plunges deeper into economic crisis. Tsipras's opponents have pointed to the fact that the referendum is on a deal that is no longer on the table, accusing him of recklessly endangering the country's future. Greece's top administrative court, however, rejected an appeal against the referendum by two Greek citizens, who argued that the constitution bars plebiscites on fiscal issues and that the question is too complex. _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
