Rallies of PAME in 51 cities and towns

Tens of thousands of workers and students demonstrated yesterday 17 of December, under the banners of PAME against the Working Time Directive of the EU that was under discussion in the European Parliament. This directive paves the way for the extension of the working hours up to 65, and even to 78 hour per week, introduces a distinction between "active" and "inactive" working time and promotes even more the flexibilization of the industrial relations.

The massive turnout of young workers and students, the organized and safeguarded rallies, the militant mood, characterized the rallies held in 51 cities and towns across Greece, which have been once more completely silenced by the bourgeoisie mass media.



Besides a militant response to the anti-peoples offensive of the EU and the state budget presented by the government, yesterday’s rallies gave a further message of resistance to the state repression that is an integral element of the anti-peoples policies.

Speaking to at the rally of PAME in Athens, s Dimos Theodorou, president of the Federation of Workers in the Textile, Garments and Leather industries, underscored that in conditions of deepening economic capitalist crisis and in face of the anti-peoples onslaught of the capital the struggle must acquire higher levels of workers’ participation and organization. This is imperative for a struggle that will confront the big capital, its representatives and supporters. The struggle should be based on strong trade-unions, on committees of struggle in every workplace; to be conduced in all fronts; to contribute to the accumulation of forces that will challenge and overthrow the regime of the plutocracy and pave the way for a path of development that meet the contemporary needs of the working people. Dimos Theodorou extended the solidarity greetings of the working people to the small and medium farmers that prepare a mass mobilization on Saturday December 20.



Yesterday also begun the discussion on the state budget of 2009 in the Parliament. The general rapporteur of KKE Nikos Karathanasopoulos characterized the state budget as an "antipopular, class-oriented, tax-imposing budget at the expense of workers" and stressed that “the people should deny paying the burden of the crisis”.

At the same time every day new elements come into surface concerning the nucleus of the “hooked” persons and their relations to the state apparatus. In a video shown at a highly popular program of the TV, some of them with crowbars at their hands appear inside a group of policemen and discussing, while last Saturday night 3 offices of KKE in Thessaloniki became target of attacks by “unknown”.

For today, KNE calls for a massive participation to the demonstration in the center of Athens that the Students’ Coordination of Athens has called for.

Info by the International Section