Germany Wants Greece in the Eurozone: Why Kill the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg?

 Greece, StopCartel TV transcripts  No Responses »
Sep 122012
 

StopCartel TV broadcasts live from Athens, Greece weeknights @ 6 pm Athens time. The following post is a loose transcript of the 11 September 2012 broadcast.

By greydogg and snake arbusto, 99GetSmart

- Why Germany wants Greece in the Eurozone

Faced with the dilemma of kicking Greece out or keeping Greece in the Eurozone, Germany currently appears to be leaning towards the second option, for fear of a possible “domino effect” that could lead to the collapse of the Eurozone.

Such is the cause of the change in attitude of Berlin according to the propaganda in a recent Washington Post article, “As Germany rises, Frau Nein says, ‘Yes’”

As Germany rises? That ought to give everyone a chill up the spine.

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- On the eve of a new mammoth recapitalization of banks, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras and Deputy Finance Minister Christos Staikouras announced that they have accepted the opinion of the State Legal Council (no. 386/2012) concerning the obligation of credit institutions to pay the Greek government an annual fixed return on the preference shares issued to increase the share capital and underwritten by the government at 10% of the contributed capital (Law 3723/2008).

In 2012, the State adopted a decision from the first stimulus package in 2008 and will give the banks Greek public money – commissions on shares of contributed capital.

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- The Troika’s clerks will engage in another round of meetings with Labor Minister Yiannis Vroutsis on Wednesday in Athens. At Tuesday’s meeting, the loan sharks from the Troika upped their demands for changes to labor regulations.

According to ekathimerini:

These requests included scrapping the eight-hour working day and allowing employers to ask staff to work up to 78 hours a week. The only restriction in terms of working hours is that employees should be allowed a minimum of 11 hours of rest between shifts or working days.

The Troika has also reportedly asked for a reduction in the period of redundancy* notice that employers have to give, thereby cutting the total compensation payment due in half. The current notice period is four to six months.

The inspectors also asked for the retirement age to rise by two years to 67, following the last rise in 2010. The Troika reportedly want the increased limit to be effective immediately – meaning that workers who were due to retire next year could have to wait another two years. This measure is estimated to save 1 billion euros.

The government had planned for about 5 billion euros of the 11.5 billion euros in spending cuts the Troika is demanding to come from reductions in wages, pensions and welfare benefits, but this number is now set to exceed 6 billion.

* ‘redundancy’ is a euphemism for dismissal [ed.]

More from Athens News:

“Pension at age 67, in order to save 1 billion euros” declared Eleftheros Typos’s headline. It also reported that the Troika wants to fire (rather than transfer) employees whose agencies are abolished or merged with other bureaus.

“Declare [your income], pay [your taxes] and save!” proclaimed Ethnos’s headline. “Those who hid assets on their tax returns can keep them if they come clean and pay a tax of between 5-10 percent,” the report said.

“All the measures on the table” read ekathimerini’s headline, which sounded like a thinly veiled threat of war (against the middle class). That is exactly what it was, as the story announced even bigger pension cuts, hikes in the retirement age, and layoffs in state and local government.

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- The country’s main labor federations, GSEE and ADEDY, will begin a 48-hour strike on Wednesday. There will be no flights or taxis. Public transportation is likely to be disrupted. Retail stores and banks will remain closed, as well.

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- According to a daily newspaper, Labor Minister Yiannis Vroutsis is expected to announce his proposal on new labor regulations to the Troika’s lead auditor. On the table for discussion are the issues of minimum wages in the private sector, redundancy* or retirement, and the “flexibility” of working time.

* ‘redundancy’ is a euphemism for dismissal [ed.]

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- Fuel prices make life unbearable for citizens

SYRIZA, Greece’s main opposition party, issued the following statement concerning the skyrocketing fuel prices in Greece:

“The citizens of the country are watching developments in fuel prices with despair. It is another serious issue which is making their lives unbearable. The same despair applies to businesses. It is particularly intensive because it makes normal business operations highly problematic with ever-increasing fuel prices.”

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- The Greek government-of-the-regime is preparing to lease 40 uninhabited islands. Andreas Taprantzis, the Executive Director for the Greek Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund said, “We identified locations that have good terrain, are close to the mainland and have a well-developed infrastructure and, at the same time, pose no threat to national security. Current legislation doesn’t allow us to sell them outright and we don’t want to.

Legislation needs to be passed to allow development of public property by third parties and reduce the number of building, environmental and zoning permits needed before the plan can proceed.

Outright sales have been ruled out because the returns for the Greek state wouldn’t be higher than a leasehold arrangement. Greece will attract more investment if an island is turned into a resort.”

The fund is charged with raising 50 billion euros from state assets by 2020 to meet the terms of the Memorandum.

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- From ekathimerini:

A 44-year-old police officer who had been assigned to the personal guard of Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn) MP Costas Barbarousis has been suspended from work and is facing expulsion from the force after it emerged that he played an active role in the far-right group’s raid on an open-air market Mesolongi, western Greece, on Saturday.

Police sources confirmed that the officer, identified just by his initials D.M., had been spotted in a video of the incident that was posted on the Internet. The officer is seen in a group of Golden Dawn supporters led by Barbarousis as they walked through a market, where they attacked stalls operated by migrants. The 44-year-old, who served at the Aitolia precinct, is also seen arguing with a woman who objected to the men’s behavior.

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Information is the backbone of the effort to liberate ourselves, not just in Greece or Europe, but the whole world. Independent media is an important conduit of unfiltered information. We must build and support a network of information in order to succeed.

Please consider contributing:

ONGOING FUNDRAISER FOR StopCartel Livestream from Athens: http://stopcarteltv.chipin.com/stopcartel

——————

StopCartel TV broadcasts live from Athens, Greece on weeknights at 6pm Athens time @ http://www.livestream.com/stopcarteltvgr

Greece: Jobless Rate Could Reach 29% Next Year 

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Sep 042012
 

StopCartel TV broadcasts live from Athens, Greece weeknights @ 6 pm Athens time. The following post is a loose transcript of the 3 September 2012 broadcast.

By greydogg and snake arbusto, 99GetSmart

- Greece’s largest labor union has warned that the country’s unemployment rate – now at 23.1 percent – will reach 29% in 2013 if the government carries out more planned austerity measures that include €14-16 billion in cuts for 2013-14.

Savvas Rombolis, Head of Research at the GSEE labor union, which represents private-sector workers, said, “The course of the Greek economy is one of decline. In 2012, we are expecting a drop in GDP of 7 percent. Our estimate is that in 2013, unemployment will be between 28% and 29%, more than 1.4 million people. That’s because we expect the economy to remain in decline.”

That would add 285,000 people to the unemployment rolls, while another 672,000 have seen their benefits expire. The jobless rate for those under 25 is already 54.9%.

Rombolis said the report also found that Greeks on minimum wage have seen their purchasing power reduced to 1979 levels, while those earning an average salary have been pushed back to the equivalent of the early 1980s, based on wage analyses.

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- According to an opinion poll from the Financial Times, only 25% of German citizens feel that Greece will stay in the euro:

Just a quarter of Germans consider that Greece must remain in the Eurozone or receive further financial assistance from other member states, according to a poll published today.

The poll is published as German Chancellor Angela Merkel faces a domestic political dilemma over whether more time or more money should be given to Greece to get back on course to fulfill the terms of the 174-billion-euro loan agreement.

According to a survey by the Financial Times / Harris, Germans’ attitudes are almost diametrically opposed to those in Italy and Spain, where those interviewed appeared more reluctant to agree with the possibility of an expulsion of Greece from the Eurozone.

The survey sample of 1,000 adults in Germany, Italy, Spain, France, and Britain showed that only 26% of Germans believe that Greece “will ever repay its loans,” as opposed to 77% of Italians and 57% of Spaniards.

Almost half the Germans who were interviewed did not think Greece will be able to undertake economic reforms sufficient to free itself of the need for international financial assistance. In contrast, 88% of Italians and 70% of Spaniards said they feel “relatively certain” that the government in Athens can progress on economic reforms.

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- The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet published an article entitled “The Greek Islands Have Much to Offer to Turkish Investors …”

Just a few days ago Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras commented on reports in France’s Le Monde about the sale of uninhabited Greek islands, denying talk of sale but mentioning leasing “on condition that it doesn’t pose a national security problem.” But now the story has changed. Turks are ready to invest and Samaras is ready to sell, according to the story.

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- Staff of Athens News Calls 24-Hour Strike

The staff of Athens News, an English-language newspaper published in Greece since 1952, have called a 24-hour strike for today, Tuesday. The decision was made because the staff are owed wages for half of June, all of July, and August, as well as part of their holiday pay. In addition, freelance staff at the newspaper have not been paid since April.

The strike action will mean that the newspaper’s newsroom and classifieds office will be closed and that the Web site, AthensNews.gr, will not be updated. The strike also affects the Espresso newspaper and Flash FM radio, which belong to the same company, NEP.

In a statement posted on the Web site, Athens News staff apologized to readers for the inconvenience and assured them that they remain dedicated to the newspaper’s objective of reporting on Greece in English, as they have done for sixty years now.

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- Within the next few days, leaders of university professors’ (POSDEP), teachers’ (TEI BSEC) and researchers’ (NGA) unions will meet with Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras and Education Minister Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos.

At issue is the Ministry of Finance’s proposed 17.5% reduction in the salaries of university employees. The academics describe the newest cuts as “an act of war,” noting that since 2004 salaries have suffered reductions of 25%.

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- Greece’s Competition Commission has accused ten of the country’s largest poultry companies and their trade association of participating in a price-fixing and market-sharing cartel between 1996, when price ceilings were abolished, and 2010.

Greek consumers literally paid the price for the scam. In January 2006 the price of chicken in Greece was the seventh most expensive in the EU. In January 2010 it was the fourth most expensive; by January 2012 it has fallen to ninth place in the EU.

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- SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras made remarks concerning the government-of-the-regime’s attempt to cover up the Siemens scandal. “Samaras did not go to Berlin empty-handed. He offered Ms. Merkel the token gift of his active participation in protecting the perpetrators of the Siemens scandal. This amounts to a €2 billion gift for Germany.”

Tsipras charged that the compromise agreement with Siemens was “a cover-up of the biggest and most symbolic scandal – with respect to inter-party collusion – in the post-dictatorship period.”

Tsipras pledged that when SYRIZA takes over the government it will nullify the agreement, assign the assessment of the damage caused to the state to a third-party assessor, and seek the relevant indemnities in court.

“We will seek to prosecute Siemens through an international court, for the damages to the Greek state. We will request a public apology from the German government for harboring the Siemens CEO who perpetrated these crimes. And, we will find out which Greek politicians took bribes from Siemens and who continue to take money from Germany.”

Tsipras asked for Prime Minister Samaras to take an official position on press reports alleging that his legal advisor, Ioannis Karacostas, was on Siemens’s payroll during the period when the main protagonist in the scandal, Mihalis Christoforakos, was CEO of the local subsidiary Siemens Hellas.

He said that the Siemens scandal revealed that the parties and political figures alternating in the government in the post-dictatorship period (New Democracy and PASOK) were both recipients of the kickback money.

Tsipras stressed that what the government was presenting as “profit” from the compromise with Siemens was “peanuts” compared with the losses suffered by the state.

Read more about the out-of-court settlement between the state and Siemens.

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Information is the backbone of the effort to liberate ourselves, not just in Greece or Europe, but the whole world. Independent media is an important conduit of unfiltered information. We must build and support a network of information in order to succeed.

Please consider contributing:

ONGOING FUNDRAISER FOR StopCartel Livestream from Athens: http://stopcarteltv.chipin.com/stopcartel

——————

StopCartel TV broadcasts live from Athens, Greece on weeknights at 6pm Athens time @ http://www.livestream.com/stopcarteltvgr

Greece: Decades of Social Progress Reversed

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Sep 032012
 

StopCartel TV broadcasts live from Athens, Greece weeknights @ 6 pm Athens time. The following post is a loose transcript of the 31 August 2012 broadcast.

By greydogg and snake arbusto, 99GetSmart

- The government-of-the-regime has released more details about the latest austerity package. The new measures will reduce tax exemptions totaling 450€ million. The elimination of the exemptions will affect large and low-income families, the disabled, and unemployed.

Reductions include:

- Reduction in the rate of the VAT refund to farmers from 11% to 7% for a savings of 121€ million.

- Reduction in social service tax breaks with an estimated saving of 229€ million.

- Reduction in the extra tax-free allowance of 2,000€ for qualifying taxpayers with disabilities.

- Over 67% reductions of tax exemptions for the disabled.

- Elimination of income-tax exemptions applicable to unemployment.

- Increase of fees for submitting lawsuits in order to collect additional revenues of 100€ million.

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- VimaFM radio in Athens interviewed a SYRIZA spokesman who made statements regarding the newest round of austerity measures that are about to pummel the already beleaguered Greek people:

“Here it is – the plan includes very hard, horizontal measures which will essentially destroy a large part of our society, literally, in its passage.”

“With the passage of these new measures the country will reverse decades of social progress.” He added, “The impact of these measures on the economy and society would amount to a picture reminiscent of the post-war period.

And, unfortunately, it will not be the last package, as the prime minister has, once again, promised.”

He explained that imposing a new round of austerity measures will be deeply recessionary, stating, “I fear even more unemployment. I fear the mass emigration of our young people. And, I’m afraid that even more – hundreds of thousands – of businesses will close.”

He concluded, “We must seek to overturn these measures by mobilizing popular resistance against these policies.”

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- As the ‘ruling parties’ continued to engage in sham “discussions” over the details of the new austerity measures, SYRIZA made an announcement attacking the government-of-the-regime:

“Even the most morbid imagination could not conceive of how quickly and shamelessly the ruling parties would betray their campaign promises to the Greek people after the election. Another austerity package is not the change of policy that was promised.

Another round of austerity measures will lead to a new downward spiral of austerity and recession, which will have undetermined consequences for society.

The government-of-the-regime will leave a country pledged to lenders, without schools or hospitals, with millions of unemployed and needy citizens and destitute pensioners.

Mr. Samaras, who is hiding from the Greek parliament and the Greek people, is the best guarantor of the creditors’ interests while at the same time, he undermines any expectations our people have for development, democracy and social justice. Samaras and his government are dangerous for the country.”

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- The Federation of Pensioners (IRA) is calling on unions and retirees to engage in a massive protest on Tuesday, September 4th at 10 a.m. at the Ministry of Health, to reject new cuts in subsidies for medicines. These cuts put the lives of workers and retirees in danger.

A spokesman stated, “We demand the government to stop playing games against us. Denying drug benefits places our lives at risk. We demand that drug benefits be given to all, without obstacles and conditions.”

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- In the race to keep alive, hundreds of cancer patients living in the Cyclades archipelago are forced to travel to Athens for chemotherapy treatment. This comes at a very high cost and hassle to patients struggling with the disease. The problem is that the island pharmacies and hospitals do not have the necessary funds to purchase the very expensive chemotherapeutic devices.

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- Prices are skyrocketing in Greece. For example, a vitamin formula known as Filicine has almost tripled in price within a three month period, from 1.77€ to 5.20€.

A pharmacist explained that the increase occurred when the Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Technology (IFET), whose purpose is the import of medicinal products at the lowest possible cost, started manufacturing the product.

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- Judges propose to padlock courts on September 17

On Thursday, the Boards of all judicial organizations met at noon to decide on which actions they and their members will take in order to deal with the problem of the further reduction of their payrolls.

Six members of the Board of Judges and Prosecutors Association are calling for judges to close their courtrooms on 17 September, the first day of the judicial year, with plans to escalate mobilizations thereafter.

They spoke to the “unreliability of rulers, who continue to complete their unabated attacks against Greek society. …

These painful measures brutally reduce the functionality and independence of the Greek courts.”

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- French President François Hollande made statements regarding Greece on Friday. “We await the European summit in October, when the Troika will issue a report on Greece. My position is that Greece must prove itself by continuing to honor the terms of the Memorandum, leaving no doubt going forward.”

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Information is the backbone of the effort to liberate ourselves, not just in Greece or Europe, but the whole world. Independent media is an important conduit of unfiltered information. We must build and support a network of information in order to succeed.

Please consider contributing:

ONGOING FUNDRAISER FOR StopCartel Livestream from Athens: http://stopcarteltv.chipin.com/stopcartel

——————

StopCartel TV broadcasts live from Athens, Greece on weeknights at 6pm Athens time @ http://www.livestream.com/stopcarteltvgr

Greece: City Workers Clash With Police; Calls for a General Strike

 Greece, StopCartel TV transcripts  No Responses »
Aug 312012
 

StopCartel TV broadcasts live from Athens, Greece weeknights @ 6 pm Athens time. The following post is a loose transcript of the 30 August 2012 broadcast.

By greydogg and snake arbusto, 99GetSmart

- Clashes erupted in central Athens around lunchtime on Wednesday after rioting police tried to prevent a march that was organized by the personnel of the local municipalities of Attica. Municipal employees participating in the protest used their vehicles to block the police from obstructing the march.

Several demonstrators verbally attacked the rioting police and the conflict escalated when the rioting police retaliated by lobbing chemical weapons at the protesters. This made the situation even more explosive. A group of demonstrators tried to overturn a police vehicle during the melee that ensued.

Traffic in the center of Athens was paralyzed and the situation became chaotic. The rioting police arrested the municipal truck drivers and escorted them to the police station.

One demonstrator reminded reporters the reason for the protests. “Workers are unpaid and the municipalities cannot function anymore. We cannot provide the necessary services – services of social interest. The regime is firing people from jobs and cutting wages, making it impossible for us to support ourselves and our families.”

The municipalities remain closed today.

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- PM meets with local administration representatives

On Wednesday, in a meeting with representatives of the Central Union of Municipalities (KEDE), Greek PM Antonis Samaras was briefed on the “dramatic” economic situation of Greece’s municipalities. KEDE representatives called for immediate assistance from the state to address the economic shortfall municipalities face.

Athens News Agency reports:

In a meeting which lasted more than two hours and held in the presence of Interior Minister Evripidis Stylianidis, KEDE president and Kallithea Mayor Costas Askounis underlined that the country’s mayors are up against an impasse, stressing that at least 40 municipalities will be unable to pay salaries in September.

Askounis said the mayors received no definitive answers from the government but expressed a hope that the interior minister will bring specific proposals to a KEDE conference that opens on Thursday.

Referring to a protest by sanitation workers in downtown Athens at the same time, Askounis said KEDE is against any extreme mobilization, stressing, however, that the situation in many municipalities is critical.

On his part, the Interior Minister said that the Prime Minister acknowledges the efforts made by the representatives of local administration and outlined three moves that could improve the situation.

Stylianidis said municipalities will receive 204 million euros from tax revenues by the end of the year and an additional 299 million euros from the state budget. He also announced a settlement for over-indebted municipalities, adding that 90 million euros in annual financial assistance will be shared by all municipalities.

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- At a meeting of the Political Committee of the Southwest, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras declared that many of the cuts included in the package of 11.7€ billion are ‘difficult’ and ‘painful,’ but inevitable. Without them, he said, the country would return to square one and be forced to exit the euro. Samaras added that the new austerity package would be the last. The Greek people have heard this meme repeatedly and know better than to believe Samaras, a notorious liar and traitor.

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- Neoliberalism in Practice: The details of the Troika’s conspiracy against Greek sovereignty were devised long ago. To disguise the fact that decisions regarding Greece have already been finalized by the Troika, the Greek government-of-the-regime delivers a daily performance in a pathetic effort to hide their demoted status.

A three-page list containing 11.7€ billion in new austerity measures is being circulated to members of the media-of-the-regime. An obedient TV ‘reporter’ tells viewers that the contents on the list are being ‘negotiated’ by the coalition of the three ruling parties.

The so-called ‘ruling coalition’ does not make decisions for Greece. They forfeited that power when they betrayed their country. They are the Troika’s clerks and are tasked with enforcing the edicts from the Troika.

Here is a partial list of cuts in the new austerity package:

- The public sector is on the chopping block with ‘proposed’ cuts of 1.2€ billion. This will result in a further massive loss of jobs, cuts in wages and pensions, and a 25% cut in the functional cost of public services across the board.

- Greek people can expect even more dramatic cuts to hospitals, medical services and pharmacies,

- Cuts of 135€ million euros for the military are expected.

- There will be a 25% increase on all public transportation tickets.

- In the education sector:

- Mergers are planned for universities and technical institutes.

- Educational fees will be imposed on students who do not complete their studies within four years.

- Universities and technical institutes will be subjected to additional cuts in personnel. For those who keep their jobs, working hours will be increased and wages decreased.

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- According to data published by the Greek Department of Labor on Thursday, uninsured work climbed to 35.4% from 29.1% in 2011 during the period of January through July. The percentage of uninsured workers exceeds 50% in seven prefectures, a trend that is rapidly expanding throughout Greece.

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- The General Confederation of Greek Workers, GSEE, is calling for a general strike as the details of dramatic new cuts are revealed. Here is their statement:

“Despite campaign pledges, the present government has evolved into a nerveless system, handing down the most egregious anti-labor measures. These neoliberal policies are causing intense agony and nightmarish conditions for workers. Workers now brace for a new austerity package of 11.7€  billion – an action that has all of the markings of ‘class war’ against workers.”

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Information is the backbone of the effort to liberate ourselves, not just in Greece or Europe, but the whole world. Independent media is an important conduit of unfiltered information. We must build and support a network of information in order to succeed.

Please consider contributing:

ONGOING FUNDRAISER FOR StopCartel Livestream from Athens: http://stopcartel.chipin.com/stopcartel-tv-gr

——————

StopCartel TV broadcasts live from Athens, Greece on weeknights at 6pm Athens time @ http://www.livestream.com/stopcarteltvgr

 

Greece: Samaras Rules Out Relief As Schools Prepare to Open Without Electricity

 Greece, StopCartel TV transcripts  No Responses »
Aug 242012
 

StopCartel TV broadcasts live from Athens, Greece weeknights @ 6 pm Athens time. The following post is a loose transcript of the 23 August 2012 broadcast.

By greydogg and snake arbusto, 99GetSmart

- Samaras meets Juncker – Greek PM Antonis Samaras and Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the Eurogroup and of Luxembourg, gave a press conference on Thursday after their meeting. Samaras proudly welcomed Juncker, whom he called his ‘personal friend’ and a ‘true friend of Greece’.

Samaras, who is personally untouched by the economic crisis, urged the Greek people to take courage and stoically accept more painful austerity measures. He wore his best ‘sympathetic’ face for the occasion as he ruled out the possibility of a two-year extension and a new ‘‘haircut’’ on Greek debt.

Juncker, referring to rumors of a Greek exit from the euros stated firmly that he was opposed to such a scenario. He said it would not only be bad for Greece, but for the Eurozone as a whole. “It’s your last chance,” Juncker warned. He concluded his statements by saying, “The ball is in Greece’s court.” As if the Troika were not calling all the shots.

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- On Thursday, the Corinth Anti-Racist Initiative held a rally to denounce the ‘literally overnight’ conversion of Camp Corinth into a concentration camp where 400 immigrants are currently imprisoned.

Riot police from the Peloponnese and Attica have formed a line at the gate of the camp. Demonstrators have assembled at the site, protesting against the immigrant detention settlement.

The Anti-Racist Initiative made the following statement:

“We denounce the racist “Xenios Zeus” program that began today in our city and we want to make ourselves clear:

NO PRISON CAMP ANYWHERE. EVER. We refuse to relive the horrors of fascism. It is convenient for the racists to eat each other and blame each. We say NO! to social cannibalism. FIGHT POVERTY, NOT THE DESTITUTE!” 

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- In Greece, the school year will begin with a nationwide teachers’ strike. On September 12 all Greek teachers are called to action.

Komninos Mantas, president of the country’s primary teachers’ union (DOE) described the reason for the strike:

“Schools should have what is necessary to enable them to operate. There is a serious problem at the moment with the costs of schools which cannot be covered, as schools owe huge amounts. Several schools will even start the school year without electricity.”

Somehow, the Troika remains willfully blind to the catastrophe they are orchestrating in Greece.

A June TES UK article entitled Teaching in a climate of despair paints a bleak picture of the devastating effects the economic crisis has had on Greek schools, children, and their teachers. From nurseries to universities, no one is spared:

How would you feel if your salary had already been halved in the past two years and was continuing to drop every time you opened your pay packet?

Could you work in a country where protesting primary teachers are chased and beaten by the police and many pupils no longer see any point in studying?

A place where some teachers struggle to afford to feed their own children, and all have endured massive cuts in their pensions and free health care. Somewhere where pupils have fainted in class from hunger and schools have shut for days at a time because no one can afford the heating.

Could you teach in a school where textbooks arrive months late, if at all, and you have to bring in your own paper? How would you react if the national education budget had been slashed, more than 1,000 schools closed and teacher numbers were being deliberately run down – with 30,000, or nearly one in five, posts being cut? Could you handle teaching in a country where youth unemployment was nearly 50 per cent and hope was rapidly running out?

This is not some fictional nightmare, a disaster in the developing world, nor a grim vision from history. This is Greece in 2012. […]

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- Piraeus pharmacists held a 24-hour strike on Thursday to protest the failure of the National Health Service to allocate an operational budget. Pharmacists’ wages have been dramatically cut and supplies are dwindling, with no money to keep necessary medicines in stock.

On Saturday, a general meeting of the Panhellenic Pharmaceutical Association (PFS) will convene to assess the emerging catastrophe. Many are bracing for a nationwide suspension of credit to EOPYY, the National Organization for Healthcare Provision, beginning on Saturday, September 1, due to the fund’s debts.

edathimerini.com reports:

Pharmacies in 14 prefectures of Greece are refusing to provide medicines on credit to customers insured with the National Organization for Healthcare Provision (EOPYY) due to the fund’s debts.

EOPYY owes 117 million euros for prescriptions in May and another 145 million for drugs provided in June.

Pharmacists from Thessaloniki, Imathia, Pieria, Halkidiki and Kilkis joined the boycott on Thursday, saying that they will be forced to close if EOPYY fails to settle its bills.

Customers in these areas will have to pay for the drugs themselves until the matter is settled.

The Panhellenic Pharmaceutical Association is due to meet on August 25 to decide whether to take nationwide action.

 ——————

- Greek PM Antonis Samaras was interviewed by the French daily Le Monde in an article entitled, “Greece is ready to sell its uninhabited islands.”

In the interview, “real estate broker” Samaras specifically says:

 “On condition that it doesn’t pose a national security problem, some of the isles could be used commercially,” Samaras was quoted by the newspaper. “It would not be a case of getting rid of the isles, but of transforming unused terrain into capital that can generate revenue, for a fair price.”

Contradictions from government sources have emerged. They claim the reference to the islets in Samaras’s interview are uninhabited islands and will NOT be sold.

Who to believe? The liar or the cheat?

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- The wildfires on the island of Chios are raging for a sixth consecutive day, mainly in the center of the island. The fire, which erupted at dawn on Saturday, has caused a huge ecological disaster, having already burned thousands of acres of pine and mastic forests.

RELATED POST: “The Future is Present” by Yiannis Makridakis: http://99getsmart.com/?p=4600

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Information is the backbone of the effort to liberate ourselves, not just in Greece or Europe, but the whole world. Independent media is an important conduit of unfiltered information. We must build and support a network of information in order to succeed.

Please consider contributing:

ONGOING FUNDRAISER FOR StopCartel Livestream from Athens: http://stopcartel.chipin.com/stopcartel-tv-gr

——————

StopCartel TV broadcasts live from Athens, Greece on weeknights at 6pm Athens time @ http://www.livestream.com/stopcarteltvgr

Greece: 40,000 public servants to be fired; unemployment soars

 Greece, StopCartel TV transcripts  No Responses »
Aug 102012
 

 

StopCartel TV broadcasts live from Athens, Greece weeknights @ 6 pm Athens time. The following post is a loose transcript of the 9 August 2012 broadcast.

By greydogg and snakearbusto, 99GetSmart

- The Greek version of StopCartel’s blog was hacked yesterday morning. But thanks to StopCartel’s excellent tech team, it is up and running again. Many thanks to the tech team!

In the course of the repairs, the tech team discovered a spying program embedded in one of StopCartel’s computers. As soon as it was discovered, the stealth spyware was removed.

StopCartel believes this was the criminal work of the Greek ‘intelligence’ agency and that this event was an attempt at preventing the free circulation of political ideas in Greece.

StopCartel called the Department of Electronic Crime Prevention and requested an immediate investigation of the hacking and malicious spyware installation. Despite the fact that it is part of the Greek Intelligence Agency, StopCartel expects the Department of Electronic Crime Prevention to fulfill its duties – to prevent and investigate electronic crime.

If the Department fails to proceed with an investigation within 24 hours, StopCartel plans to file a complaint with the Public Prosecutor of Athens against the Greek intelligence agency and request a full investigation.

StopCartel announced that its voice will not be silenced and that they will continue the work of informing the people inside and outside of Greece.

SOLIDARITY with StopCartel!

StopCartel blogs:

Greek version @ stopcartel.info/

English version @ stopcartel.net/

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- A year ago, the unemployment rate in Greece was high, at 16.8%. Today, it was reported that unemployment in Greece currently stands at 23.1% from 22.6% a month ago, and nothing seems to be able to stem the tide.

According to the official data, which represent only a portion of the unemployment rate in Greece, there are 1,147,372 unemployed. But the real number is over 1.7 million.

Within the last month, 34,141 more people lost their jobs.

The statistics are grim. The unemployment rate is higher for women at age 26.8 than for men at 20.3. For people between the age of 15-24, the unemployment rate is a staggering 54.9%. Employment prospects are not much better, at 31.6%, for those between the ages of 25-34.

34-44 year olds are experiencing unemployment numbers at 19.4% while the rate for those between 45-54 years old stands at 17%.

These high unemployment numbers illustrate the dire conditions that have plunged Greece into the current humanitarian crisis that ravages the country.

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- Today, Reuters reported an item the Greek media ‘neglected’ to report – the news that 40,000 public servants are about to be listed on the “labor reserve,” which means they will be placed in the preliminary stage – meaning a 60% salary cut – before being permanently dismissed from their jobs a year from now.

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- Nikos Manesis, a private citizen and the owner of the Hellenic Halyvourgias Steel Mill, is intensifying his orgy of terrorism against the steelworkers. Today he sent notice to the President of the Steelworkers’ Union, Giorgos Sifonios, accusing him of several trumped-up charges.

The trend in Greece is unfavorable to workers as several factory owners are following suit by serving workers with a threatening summons, in an act of economic terrorism.

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- The President of the Athens Medical Council was on TV talking about a social outpatient program organized by priests of the Greek Orthodox Church. UNBELIEVABLY, he is in favor of  a ‘STATE CHURCH’ in Greece.

The doctors of the social outpatient clinic have reported that within 6 months, they have examined over 4,000 uninsured people.

The social clinic offers the first level of medical assistance, but in instances where medication is required, the patient must fill the prescription at a state pharmacy.

If a patient needs hospitalization, they are referred to hospitals that will accept the uninsured. In many instances, people who suffer from serious illnesses such as cancer were not able to be hospitalized. And, in Greece 2012, unemployed pregnant women with no insurance will not be able to give birth in a hospital unless they pay for it.

On this issue, the Minister of Health is as clear as he is callous – people who are uninsured must pay for their own health care. The problem is that health insurance is tied to employment in Greece. What is obvious to everyone except the Greek Minister of Health is that the unemployed who are not insured have no money to pay for health care. The catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Greece rages on all levels of society.

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- The former Chancellor of Germany, Helmut Schmidt, appeared on German TV and made statements regarding Greece and the EURO zone.

From  EUReferendum:

On the day that Juncker said that a Greek exit from the euro would be “manageable,” the grand old man, Helmut Schmidt, appeared on a German TV program, cigarette in hand, to tell the world that letting Greece join the euro in the first place was “a mistake.”

[…]

Nevertheless, while manageable, Greece’s leaving is “not desirable” says Juncker, and he rules out the exit, “at least until the end of the autumn – and after that, too.” That could be never, of course – except that this man openly admits that “When it becomes serious, you have to lie.”

But how do we know when Juncker is lying?

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- The wildfires in Greece are as out of control as the political situation.

In central Greece, huge fires continue to rage out of control. For several hours, 20k of the main highway in the Peloponnese was closed due to unsafe conditions.

In Arcadia, authorities arrested a 45-year-old man suspected of starting one of the huge fires by carelessly disposing of a lit cigarette in the dry forest.

Wildfires are being reported on the island of Kefalonia in western Greece, in Corinth, 90 km from Athens, and in Kos, in the eastern region of the island. Currently, there are an estimated 45 wildfires all around the country.

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-  In reaction to the recent raids on immigrants in Greece, Amnesty International is sounding the alarm on the Greek police.

Amnesty International stated that Greek authorities have no right to handle people in the streets as if they were criminals based on the color of their skin. Their demands include that Greek authorities must terminate its attack on ‘irregular’ immigrants and are calling on the government to allow people to be granted asylum in Greece.

More than 7,500 people without legal papers have been detained in Athens since last Thursday.

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- The recent clashes in Ierissos in northern Greece persist. According to SYRIZA MP rioting police / armed forces are using rubber bullets against the local citizens who wish to exercise their right to protest the establishment of a gold mine by a Canadian company. Nearly all the trees in a nearby forest are to be cut down for the project.

For more information: 

THE IERISSOS RESISTANCE: Private citizen George Bobolas dispatched local riot police to act as his private army against Ierissos residents in northern Greece – VIDEOS @ http://99getsmart.com/?p=2883

This is not the first time the Greek riot police were dispatched as a private army against Greek citizens, by a private citizen. BOBOLAS IS A REPEAT OFFENDER!:

THE KERATEA RESISTANCE @ http://99getsmart.com/?p=2359

THE HISTORY OF GOLD MINES AND GREEK RESISTANCE – FULL DOCUMENTARY FILM:  http://99getsmart.com/?p=2969

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Information is the backbone of the effort to liberate ourselves, not just in Greece or Europe, but the whole world. Independent media is an important conduit of unfiltered information. We must build and support a network of information in order to succeed.

Please consider contributing:

ONGOING FUNDRAISER FOR StopCartel Livestream from Athens: http://stopcartel.chipin.com/stopcartel-tv-gr

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StopCartel TV broadcasts live from Athens, Greece on weeknights at 6pm Athens time @ http://www.livestream.com/stopcarteltvgr

The Greek junta never fell. It simply changed masks.

 Greece, StopCartel TV transcripts  No Responses »
Jul 252012
 


StopCartel TV broadcasts live from Athens, Greece weeknights @ 6 pm Athens time. The following post is a loose transcript of the July 24, 2012 broadcast 

By greydogg and snake arbusto, 99GetSmart

- 24 July 1974 is the anniversary of the fall of the military dictatorship in Greece. The demise of the junta was fueled by a Turkish invasion, which was organized by the CIA and the notorious war criminal Henry Kissinger. In reality, the junta did not ‘fall,’ it just changed masks. The government in Greece still consists of the same people, the same parties and the same politicians. July 24 represents very bad memories for everyone in Greece. At the time, the Greeks initially believed the dictatorship had fallen, but time has proven that nothing has changed.

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- The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Commission (EC) and the European Central Bank’s (ECB) ruthless game of real-life monopoly continues to play out today, in Athens. The Troika has dispatched a team of auditor-clerks to investigate the overdue implementation of austerity spending cuts in both the state and private sectors.

More of the usual threats are coming from the general direction of the Troika, including that if Greece does not impose deeper austerity measures, lord Troika will have no problem forcing Greece into bankruptcy… as if that weren’t the Troika’s goal all along.

SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras told parliament the austerity program has already failed and if Greece continues on this course, an exit from the Eurozone will be inevitable.

The austerity measures already implemented have led to mass poverty, hunger, homelessness, despair and daily suicides. Unemployment stands at 22.5%, with youth unemployment at a staggering 52.1%. Yet, the Troika refused to even consider renegotiations. Instead, they are discussing forcing Greece into bankruptcy.

NOTE: This is how the IMF describes itself on its About page:

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 188 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.

Hmmmmmmm …

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- Greece’s current economy looks a lot like the United States—circa 1930. “You had the Great Depression in the United States,” Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras told former U.S. president Bill Clinton. “This is exactly what we’re going through in Greece – it’s our version of the Great Depression,” writes Reuters.

Former US President Bill Clinton met with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Tuesday, to discuss the “Hellenic Initiative,” an initiative that Clinton is pimping for businessmen of Greek origin living abroad.

An interesting bit of information is that Bill and Hillary Clinton’s net worth in 1992 was between $350,000 and $1 million. Today, Bill Clinton alone is worth $80 million, proving that prostitution really pays off big – for some.

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- On Tuesday in Athens, Greek Finance Minister Giorgios Zannias met with US Treasury Undersecretary for International Affairs Lael Brainard. Brainard is also scheduled to meet with PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos. What is Lael Brainard doing in Athens? Is the overseer overseeing the overseers?

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- A suicide attempt took place on Monday night at the Attika Metro station in Athens, when a 52-year-old man threw himself onto the tracks in a desperate attempt to end his life. The train’s engineer saw the man lying on the tracks and was able to brake in time to save his life.

The daily suicides occurring in Greece are the direct result of the sadistic austerity measures being imposed by the government-of-the-regime against the Greek people. In a country where acts of self-destruction used to be extremely rare, this tragic trend is an indication of the current humanitarian crisis in Greece.

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- The rioting police are standing guard at the Hellenic Halyvourgias Steel Mill in Aspropyrgos. Strikers were brutally assaulted again on Monday morning. The rioting police pushed the strikers completely off the grounds of the mill and onto the property of a nearby filling station. So far, the strikers’ additional demand – that the riot police must be immediately and permanently withdrawn from guarding the steel mill for private owners – has been completely ignored as well.

The entrance to the steel mill, which the courageous strikers have occupied for nearly nine months, is now guarded by big, black police buses and groups of subservient rioting police, who dutifully linger until they are called upon to escort the owners to and from the factory.

Although their salaries, pension and benefits are paid for with taxpayer money, the rioting police continue to betray their country and their own people by protecting the financial interests of big industrialists.

The spokesmodels in the media dutifully conspire to deceive the people by reporting that each day that passes, the situation at the steel mill becomes more and more ‘normal.’ Unfortunately, this kind of bogus reporting lulls far too many people into a state of willful ignorance. Some may think that it is easier to look away from what is really happening in Greece, but for the Greeks who are aware, awake and alert, the only response to the crimes of the Troika and of their puppet regime in Greece is RESISTANCE!

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- From Giorgos Kosmopoulos of StopCartel TV, “The Greek people are ready to come out and protest, to demand their rights. The political establishment continues to ignore the needs of the Greek people, so we are here to remind them, and we will remain here, in solidarity with each other and the international community. Together, we will demand our rights and together we will be victorious!”

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Information is the backbone of the effort to liberate ourselves, not just in Greece or Europe, but the whole world. Independent media is an extremely important conduit of unfiltered information. We must build and support a network of information in order to succeed.

Please consider contributing:

ONGOING FUNDRAISER FOR StopCartel Livestream from Athens: http://99getsmart.com/?p=3667

——————

StopCartel TV broadcasts live from Athens, Greece on weeknights at 6pm Athens time @ http://www.livestream.com/stopcarteltvgr

The Current and Ongoing Humanitarian Crisis in Greece

 Greece, StopCartel TV transcripts  No Responses »
Jul 102012
 

 

StopCartel TV broadcasts live from Athens, Greece on weeknights @ 10pm Athens time. The following post is a loose transcript from the July 9, 2012 broadcast.

By greydogg and snake arbusto, 99GetSmart

- On Sunday evening, StopCartel broadcasted LIVE from Syntagma Square during the confidence vote in Parliament. Unfortunately, there was not a huge gathering in the square, but it did give StopCartel the opportunity to reflect on what was happening there a year ago.

From 22 May to the end of November, StopCartel broadcasted LIVE from Syntagma Square daily, reporting on the events, activities, and protests organized by OccupySyntagmaSquare.

StopCartel was also there recording the brutal attacks by the rioting police against the Greek citizens who were gathered in the Square to exercise their right to protest against the Memorandum, austerity measures, and the attack against their lives.

One year later, things are even worse than before. There is a current and ongoing humanitarian crisis in Greece.

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- On Sunday, there were two suicides and one suicide attempt.

In Preveza, a city in the northwestern region of Greece, a man climbed a very tall tree and threatened to jump to his death due to extreme financial problems. In the end, he could not go through with it.

Tragically, over the weekend, suicide claimed two more victims. A 42-year-old man hanged himself, and in a small town on the Island of Evia, another 40-year-old man shot and killed himself. Both men ended their lives in order to escape the suffering caused by extreme economic problems.

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- In Peristeri, a suburb 6 km. west of Athens, a free Socio-Medical Out-Patient Clinic is being initiated. StopCartel is organizing an ongoing medication drive to help supply the clinic, to enable it to offer free prescription drugs to its patients. Over the weekend, StopCartel received the first donation from friends in Belgium. Thank you, Belgium!

If you are interested in making a donation, please contact Giorgos via email at: info@stopcartel.org

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- While the government-of-the-regime discusses the best way to serve the interests of their masters, some EU officials have been loud and clear about their unwillingness to accept any changes in the Faustian pact they made with corrupt Greek politicians.

- Nikos Nikolopoulos has resigned from his post as Deputy Labor Minister, in protest of Antonis Samaras’s refusal to renegotiate changes to the Memorandum with the Troika, despite his campaign promise to do so. Nikolopoulos’s resignation is an early blow to the newly formed government. The resignation came just hours after a vote of confidence was won.

Nikolopoulos released an official statement explaining why he resigned:

The sole reason of my resignation is my personal conviction that the issue of renegotiating with the Troika, as well as the correction of significant distortions in labour, pension, social security and welfare issues, should have been emphatically put on the table from the start.

His resignation is a great political sign. Not only does it illustrate the current situation in Greece, it also confirms and validates what the protesters have been saying all along about the government – that the Greek government is a huge political fraud. Samaras lied. He said his government would attempt to renegotiate the terms of the Memorandum. But the day after the election, ND immediately forgot their promises.

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-  There is a 30% decrease in the price of rents in Athens because of a depressed real-estate market and high unemployment.

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- The current news coming from Spain and Italy regarding climbing interest rates on government bonds is reminiscent of events unfolding in Greece a year ago.

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- Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the opposition party Syriza, commented on the recent developments in Greece. He stated that people who signed the agreement to sell off Greece’s public assets will go to jail for their treasonous pact.

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- Nouriel Roubini gave an extensive interview to Bloomberg over the weekend. He pointed out that not a single bankster has gone to jail for the financial crisis they caused.

Roubini stated:

‘Nobody has gone to jail since the financial crisis. The banks, they do things that are illegal and at best they slap on them a fine. If some people end up in jail, maybe that will teach a lesson to somebody. Or somebody hanging in the streets.’

Bloomberg’s video interview with Roubini can be seen here: http://tinyurl.com/c6r2t3z

——————

Information is the backbone of the effort to liberate ourselves, not just in Greece or Europe, but the whole world. Independent media is an extremely important conduit of unfiltered information. We must build and support a network of information in order to succeed.

Please consider contributing:

ONGOING FUNDRAISER FOR StopCartel Livestream from Athens: http://99getsmart.com/?p=3667

——————

StopCartel TV broadcasts live from Athens, Greece on weeknights at 10pm Athens time @ http://www.livestream.com/stopcarteltvgr