THE Greek State TV and Radio building in northern Athens has become a revolutionary centre of resistance against the parliamentary junta, imposed on Greece by the troika of the EC-IMF-ECB.
Tens of thousands of workers and youth mass day and night in the grounds around the building listening and taking part in discussions and in the evenings enjoying first class concerts by top musicians and singers.
Older workers participating in the meetings say that ERT occupation has become another Athens Polytechnic uprising. Then, in 1973, the students of Athens Polytechnic along with thousands of workers who joined them occupied the Polytechnic building demanding the overthrow of the military junta that ruled Greece. They were crushed by the junta’s tanks but nine months later the junta was overthrown.
Workers’ feelings were expressed by the President of the Athens Metro trade union SELMA, Antonis Stamatopoulos, who said that ERT must become ‘a new but victorious Polytechnic’.
This spontaneous action by workers, youth and professional people has created a huge political crisis for the regime of right-wing Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras, while his counterpart in Turkey, Tayyip Erdogan, has unleashed a pogrom against Turkish workers, hoping to put down the uprising.
Last Saturday at the ERT grounds, tens of thousands congregated for the fifth successive day. It was evident that workers and youth now feel absolutely confident and determined to carry out a revolutionary overthrow of the Samaras regime which is ruling through dictatorial edicts, bypassing the Greek Vouli (parliament) altogether.
This was made clear at a mass meeting last Saturday evening of about 300 trade unionists and representatives of unions that was held at the ERT building and initiated by the Joint Committee of the Printers’, Technicians’ and Journalists’ unions and the Co-ordination of Trade Union Branches.
The meeting lasted for over two and a half hours with some 50 speakers.
At the end of the meeting two motions were accepted; one calling for solidarity with the Turkish people and the other calling on GSEE, ADEDY and the big trade union federations to organise this week a general strike for the overthrow of the government of the hated Austerity Accords.
The vast majority of the speakers forcefully called on the GSEE (Greek TUC) and ADEDY (public sector federation of trade unions) to call a general strike today to overthrow Samaras.
• Greek conscript soldiers from 51 military units issued a statement last Saturday condemning the Greek government’s shut down of ERT (State TV and Radio) stating: ‘We will do whatever we can at our units and in society to support the ERT workers’ struggle.’
The soldiers’ statement also calls on ‘workers, the people and youth to support the mass rallies of solidarity’.
The statement demands the ‘overthrow of the anti-labour government policy, of the tripartite Greek government and of the Austerity Accords.’