Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Europe's anti-austerity strikes

Vanguard December 2012 p. 8
by Jim H.

Many millions of workers and other ordinary people joined in a general strike and participated in huge demonstrations across Europe on 14 November.

This is an inspiring development, representing a new level of unity, clear sightedness about the situation and the necessary path ahead, while facing mounting anti-worker and austerity measures being imposed by the biggest corporations and their governments, using the troika of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Workers in Spain and Portugal joined millions of their class counterparts in Greece, Italy, France and Belgium in a massive show of force. Important actions occurred in other European countries as well. A massive ‘no’ was delivered against massive cutbacks amid tax hikes and wage cuts, and the ruining of jobs and the future wellbeing of the people. A resounding ‘no’ was raised against the imposition of anti-worker laws.

The general strike was organised by a broad range of union and people’s organisations. But the most important feature is that it has been propelled by a rapidly growing mass movement for change that is emerging from the grass roots.

In Spain for example, one of every four workers is now unemployed at the same time that the cost of making ends meet is rising fast.  Many are doing it very hard indeed. A recent reminder of the human face of hardship is the case of a woman at Barakaldo in the Basque region, who jumped from a fourth story balcony as the bailiffs were coming in the front door to repossess her home.

This connects to the special attention being paid to the banks that are seen to be central to the current economic crisis and the anti-people measures associated with it. About 80% of current evictions are being carried out by Bankia. For this reason, there has been a permanent protest camp outside its Madrid headquarters for some weeks. The former director of the IMF, Rodrigo Rato, was also head of Bankia and the implications of this have been taken on board.

Thousands upon thousands of car industry, shipbuilding, and construction workers, amongst others, joined public sector workers in walking off the job and participated in huge demonstrations in every part of the country. Tens of thousands of police joined in with their own march. A prominent police banner read - “Citizens! Forgive us for not arresting those truly responsible for the crisis: bankers and politicians.”

At this point of time the Spanish government plans to slash 39 billion Euros (about $50 billion) from its budget to pay a debt to the monopoly financial institutions that have for years used debt to make massive profits.

Public debt is a big issue throughout Europe. But it is not the people who brought this about. It is the result of overpriced contracts between the state and the monopolies, the tax cuts, the bailouts and other benefits that have been provided to the monopoly ruling class as a class. None of this would have occurred without governments that were working in the interests of the monopolies. The austerity measures are meant to continue this assistance to the monopolies on the backs of the people.

There is a parallel in this with what is happening in Portugal, Greece and Italy, and to one extent or another, in the other European countries. While there are local differences, the essence is a crisis brought about by big capitalism and the mounting reaction of the people against this.

Behind all the symptoms of economic crisis is the excess of capital in the hands of the monopolies, which has piled up more rapidly and highly than ever before in the history of capitalism. The associated crisis of overproduction is where the destructive impacts are born, including the runaway financial sector now operating desperately to seek out profits by any means, from anywhere and at any cost. Survival in the short term is all that counts.

It is madness for those who brought on the crisis to continue to be in charge. They cannot solve the problem. Capitalism, particularly in its monopoly form, has become a fetter against itself, let alone a barrier against a just and sustainable future. It needs to be buried once and for all. The forces that will eventually bring about its end are on the rise.

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