Next to protest were sailors. Greek shipping companies control half the European Union's fleet: and are a real supranational force. Not surprisingly, their all-powerful "Committee" is based in London, rather than the Greek port of Piraeus. Their power and mobility has given these capitalists the confiIreland Bomb threat to Roisín
A meeting of the Roisin McAliskey Justice Campaign in Derry on 16 April was interrupted by a bomb threat.
McAliskey is currently being held in Holloway Prison, London pending extradition to Germany. The main speaker at the Derry meeting was her mother Bernadette, who said the campaign should focus on German authorities, who allege that Rosin was part of the IRA unit which attacked a British Army base in Osnabruck, Germany. While she "understood" that many people who would support the campaign for Roisín would want to concentrate on the role of the British Government and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). Bernadette McAliskey said, "the fact of the matter is that Roisin would not be in her current position but for the German authorities."
The evidence which exists against her daughter in Germany is "almost nonexistent," she said. Key prosecution witness Manfred Schmidt was not able to 10 International Viewpoint dence to demand the complete liberalisation of the sector. Why should Greek ships have
Greek crews and captains, earning Greek wages? After all, Holland only requires that captains of Dutch ships have that nationality.
Britain doesn't even demand that.?
While sailors faced a powerful sector of the European bourgeoisie, protesting peasants confronted a government which, in agricultural matters, is a transmission belt for decisions made in Brussels, and within the
World Trade Organisation. As well as discouraging "overproduction" , the European
Commission is now trying to prevent subsidies and grants to the large number of
Greek peasants who have been obliged, over the years, to work their land on a part-time basis, and spend the rest of their time in salaried work, or a small service business
(particularly along the coast). The bureaucrats' goal is to eliminate two thirds of the agricultural workforce. To do so, they are willing to empty the countryside of its inhabitants, and tolerate a collapse in the quality of agricultural produce."
The country's 60,000 secondary school teachers started industrial action on 20
January 1997. Few, if any, suspected that they would be on strike for eight long weeks.
The teachers were determined, and there was organised solidarity from both pupils and parents. But they were unable to provoke an extension of the strike to other parts of the public sector: probably the only thing which could have forced the government to back down.
Their demands were hardly extraordinary, and the trade union current leading the campaign was the closest to PASOK, the ruling party. But because of the governMcAliskey meeting identify Roisin. And German police had changed their story about where they had found an allegedly incriminating fingerprint on cellophane wrapping paper.
Bernadette said that Roisin was originally arrested by the RUC as part of an ongoing series of arrests of young women in Tyrone, who were being questioned by the RUC over the use of computers by the IRA to gather intelligence. It was because of her non-cooperation that she was threatened with action by the German authorities.
It was at this point that the meeting received word that an alleged UVF bomb warning had been phoned through to the Samaritans. The meeting adjourned to another location. As Paul O'Connor who was present at the meeting said: "Ironically, the UVF actually helped to build up support for the meeting as we were able to pick up more people on the way to the new venue." [JD] * ment's obsession with the Maastricht convergence criteria, and the continuing programme of public sector cutbacks, the government refused even the slightest concession, and seemed rather happy to have "saved" two months of salary, despite the disruption and suffering.
These successive waves of protest have not brought an improvement in living conditions. But they have re-centred public debate in Greece along class terms. By thrusting the question of human need to the centre of discussion, the labour movement has knocked a few holes in the wall of consensus which protects the "necessity" of budget cuts and restrictive monetary policies. * Notes 1. From BAA3, with effect from 23 December 1996 2. According to the OECD, Greece has a foreign debt of US$38 bn., and GDP of about $120 bn. 3. Greece has an official unemployment rate of 10%. Unemployment benefits represent only 1% of GDP. 4. In the 1980s, the agricultural sector absorbed many urban workers who would otherwise have been unemployed. But the growing number of job losses, the effects of the EU Common Agricultural Policy, and the diktats of the World Trade Organisation mean that the countryside can no longer play this "shock-absorber" role. On the contrary, the government hopes to reduce the proportion of the population engaged in agriculture from 22% to 8%, so as to increase competitiveness. 5. The transformation of PASOK is analysed by George Mitralias in "Painful birth of a new era, "International Viewpoint #276, April 1996, pp. 17-18. 6. The Greek Communist movement is analysed by Ilyas Altinoglu in "Back to Stalin," International Viewpoint #279, July 1996, pp. 13-14. 7. In March 1996 Greek interests owned 3,246 commercial vessels, with a total tonnage of 75 m. tonnes. This is the largest fleet in the world. Although only 2,019 vessels, with a total tonnage of 28 m. tonnes, are registered in Greece. In 1980 there were 3,896, with a total tonnage of 43 m. tonnes. In 1974 there were 120,000 Greek sailors on these ships. Today, there are only 30,000. 8. Greece produces much of Europe's cotton, at a "profitable" price. But despite a catastrophic harvest this year (962,000 tonnes, compared to 1,300,000 in 1996) the country has again exceeded the European Union quota of 800,000 tonnes. Brussels has fixed a price which, because of the overproduction, includes a "co-responsibility penalty." This price may stop income falling further, but it does not solve the sector's acute problems. 9. The state education system is extremely selective. The result is growing violence and disillusionment in the high schools, with a programme which neglects knowledge and culture, and leaves young adults without real job opportunities. The result is an increasing number of "incidents" in the schools. 10. One very tangible result is the higher-than-expected response to the Greek initiative within the European Marches against Unemployment, Marginalisation and Job Insecurity. Electronic viewpoint The International Viewpoint list server enables you to receive all our articles, as soon as they are translated into English. Several weeks earlier than they are available in paper form! As well as announcements and updates from our sister organisations around the world. We also have lists in French, German and Spanish. To add your name, send a message to: <[email protected]>. For a trial period only, this service is free. International Viewpoint is at <[email protected]>