OVER 40,000 Greek workers, many with their families, shop-keepers, professional people and youth rallied at the central Athens Vouli (Greek parliament) square calling on the Greek government ‘not to take even a step back’ against the ‘blackmail and threats of the European Union leaders’.
Banners put up in front of the Vouli on Wednesday night proclaimed ‘not one step back’, ‘change Greece, change Europe’, ‘write off the debt’, ‘European people all together’.
Several of the banners and placards were in English or German. Many in the crowd waved Greek national flags and there were also Palestinian, Irish and Russian flags.
It was a magnificent resistance rally and many remarked that once again tens of thousands of people are in the squares taking forward the fight of the 2012 huge rallies against the austerity accords.
There was singing and dancing with people saying that ‘we are here to demonstrate against the EU leaders’ blackmail, we don’t want austerity accords.’
There was jubilation when the crowd heard that solidarity demonstrations were held in the European capitals, in New York and in Australia.
The Greek Trotskyists of the Revolutionary Marxist League (RML) participated in the rally and distributed their leaflet calling on all workers to participate in the demonstrations against the EC-IMF blackmails and threats and to demand the write-off of the public debt and the nationalisation of the banks.
The RML leaflet called on the working class and youth to demand that the government fulfils immediately its promises. The RML emphasised that workers must go forward and build Popular Assemblies (Councils of Action) in every area and fight against any government compromise with the EC and IMF.
The RML stated that there cannot be any solution beneficial to Greek workers within the EU and NATO, and called for the building of the RML as a mass revolutionary party to fight for the overthrow of capitalism and for a socialist workers’ and small farmers’ government with the perspective of a federation of the United Socialist States of Europe.
