27-29 June solidarity days with the immigrant workers.

“Above all, we are workers!” stressed Aleka Papariga, the General Secretary of the CC of KKE, in the speech delivered to Greek and migrant workers and their families on Sunday evening in FIX Park. This was also the message of the three-day long political and cultural events organized by the Athens Party Organization of KKE, where workers from all over the world met for eighth year in succession.

Thousands of immigrants from Bulgaria, Palestine, Pakistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Romania and Russia who live and work in our country joined the events of KKE. They participated in the debates on the organization of their struggle, the strengthening of the trade unions and the EU-policy against immigrants. At nights they sang and danced hand in hand in the rhythm of music and dance groups from all over the world.

In the previous period, KKE along with the class trade union movement had been in work places, schools, public services and neighborhoods, where a large number of immigrants live. They struggled together with the immigrants and achieved several gains. This was particularly stressed in the events in FIX Park in which tens of Bangladeshis working in “Lady Fashion” textile factory and many other immigrants from other countries took part. All of them have struggled along with the Greek workers against costliness, fees in public day nurseries, for the legalization of immigrants, for social insurance and working rights. Many of them asked about the common struggle of Greek and immigrants in the strawberry crops in Nea Manolada.

They are worried because they know we will resist

Svetlana Galtinova, an immigrant from Moravia, noted that the immigrants must be in the forefront of the struggle “because we are the greatest victims of imperialism and of the EU policy”. She underlined that the governments that support the monopolies “deliberately keep us illegal. They want us to be afraid to claim our rights along with the Greek workers so that they can exploit even more all workers, irrespective of their nationality. The fact that they are exploiting us at work does not suffice. They want to exploit us mentally too, to control our consciousness, to force us accept this atrocious world of exploitation. They are worried. They know that neither the Greek nor the migrant workers will sit on their hands; that they we will resist”.

After the speech delivered by Aleka Papariga, the program contained cultural events and a feast with music and dance groups from Moldavia and Russia, as well as Albanian and Greek folk songs. All three nights, people enjoyed themselves and communicated through their particular traditions, their music and songs. They enjoyed their cultural diversity and discovered all those elements that unite them.

The anti-imperialist message was manifest in the area of the event. In the FIX park there were stalls of migrant communities and associations from Russia, Palestine, Bangladesh, Kenya etc. The events also attended various mass organisations such as the Democratic Rally, peace and women’s committees in the region, the Greek Committee for International Democratic Solidarity. The presence of KKE and KNE in this event, with a special reference on the 90th anniversary of the Party and the 40th anniversary of KNE, was particularly significant. In the stall of PAME there were bulletins on various languages calling the migrant workers to join the trade unions.