Panhellenic day of action for Palestine

This blog is not about politics, not my views, and not my activism - it's about art, travel, and the things I generally do and see. I did, however,  write extensively about the Greek economic crisis which was triggered in 2009 and which led to a decade of recession, austerity and social upheaval, but this was inevitable, as the signs of this crisis were everywhere we went in Greece. 

What is happening in Palestine and Gaza are extremely important to me, but I have not written about it. I will do so today however, as the 9th of August was quite an amazing day in Greece and this is where I am at the moment, after all.

For the last two years, on the last Sunday before August the 15th,  Greek people have been demonstrating against the ethnic cleansing and genocide that Israel, with the help of the US (and other Western countries), is perpetrating on the people of Gaza.

Panhellenic day of action on islands, mountains and towns against the continuing genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine.

On this map of Greece are marked the 106 locations where on the 9th of August people demonstrated, marched, held vigils or picketed, in solidarity with the people of Palestine. 106 locations is quite amazing for a country the size of Greece. There were for instance, 11 locations in the Cyclades, 7 in Crete, 12 in the Peloponese, 3 in Athens.

looking closer at a small section of the map.

We joined the demonstration in one of the Athens locations, Monastiraki Square, which is in Plaka, at the foot of the Acropolis.

We arrived at 7:00, the starting time, even though we knew that we would not start marching for at least 45 minutes. Greeks hold the rally at the beginning of demonstrations, rather than at the end, which is what we're used to in the UK. There were a few short speeches, but mainly a lot of chanting, which was spot on, given that there are a lot of tourists around this area.

When we were about to start marching, the Palestinian flag was unfurled

So many people, they must have been waiting all around the side streets around the square. This was going to be a big demonstration, which surprised me in a way, because Athens empties out in August, everyone goes away on holiday or to their villages - I really did not think there were that many people still here.

And we were off. I knew where the march was heading,  so I could not understand why we went up Athinas Avenue

We then saw the first police - we had noted the fact that around Monastiraki there had been no police, but here they were

We arrived in Omonia Square, and then the route became clear to me: we were marching through all of central Athens. First Athinas Avenue, then Omonia Square, then Stadiou Street, finishing at Syntagma Square. It could not have been better.

We could not understand why the police were guarding this hotel, and why they thought we might attack it? Is it popular with Israeli tourists? Is that what they thought we were about?

More police stopping entry into this street. Again, why?

We eventually arrived at Syntagma Square and standing at this corner it became clear how large this demonstration was

We arrived at the top of the square, where the Parliament building is situated, and then, people started dispersing.

The police forming a line in the middle of the road to prevent the marchers from going to the Parliament building.

A bit further down the square we could see the tram that would take us home, ready to depart, so we boarded it. We had to change at Pikrodafni, and when we got on to the tram there, with our keffiyeh, our watermelon bracelets, our flags, two young blokes excitedly greeted us, telling us they are from Gaza. We had a lovely chat with them and it was such a great end to the day.

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I have since, seen photographs or videos of most of the 106 demonstrations/vigils around the country.  All looked impressive. A very successful day of action.

I also saw reports and videos of Israeli tourists, who were apparently IDF soldiers, who were aggressive and abusive towards the demonstrators on the island of Agistri. One eye-witness said: 'wherever they go, they take their settler colonial mentality with them'.  This does not surprise me. I was aggressively verbally abused in Thessaloniki because I was wearing a keffiyeh. But we saw my attacker off very successfully, as I don't think he thought I would stand up to him.

Stand up to Racism

30,000 people joined the march against racism in London yesterday

 in an expression of unity against racism, islamophobia and anti-Semitism,






against the divisive, hate message of Donald Trump, against attacks against Muslims,






in solidarity with refugees and against the proposed deportation of EU citizens under Brexit 

Lots of children, young and old, and trade unionists all united in solidarity and defiance.










It was a peaceful but spirited protest

with the banging of drums and the singing of songs.






But, there was a dire warning too

For a while we walked behind four women wearing the pink knitted hats that protesters wore at the Women's March in Washington last month

 Ken and I agreed that these anarchists reminded us of the Greek anarchists

We did not attend the rally where amongst other people, the former Guantanamo prisoner Moazzam Begg spoke.

The march was part of a series of demonstrations taking place across Europe to mark the United Nations International Anti-Racism Day, with cities such as Athens, Vienna and Berlin taking part.

Supporting the junior doctors

A short walk for health, a demonstration in Leamington to support the junior doctors and to defend the NHS, on May Day. We assembled at Top Park and walked down to the Pump Room Gardens.

The turnout was impressive.

For a town of 60,000 this was very good indeed.

Two junior doctors spoke at the rally explaining why the government's proposed (and to be enforced, if Jeremy Hunt has his way) new contract will be disastrous for the NHS.  They explained that a 7-day, 24-hour NHS for emergencies already exists.  Introducing 7 day elective care can't be done by stretching junior doctors any thinner without more receptionists, admin staff, consultants, radiographers, lab technicians and a host of other staff - to do this requires more funding and the government is not prepared to do that.

The government is not truthful when it says doctors are getting a pay rise of 13.5%. The new contract would redefine anti-social hours thus reducing pay banding for late evenings and weekends. As a result, those specialities with greater burden of anti-social hours, such as A&E, would be adversely affected, leading to a pay cut between 10% and 20%. The proposed contract also discriminates against women as it would discourage them to apply for hospital specialities where the majority of hours will be antisocial. In addition, the loss of incremental pay progression, which rewards doctors annually for increased experience and protects pay, will be abolished. This will hit less than full-time trainees the hardest, the majority of whom are women.

What this contract is asking doctors, who are already stretched to the limit, is to  go beyond the bounds of what is safe for patients. This is a money-saving exercise, a means of introducing cuts into the NHS without calling them cuts, and it's just the beginning: nurses, porters, lab technicians and all the rest of the staff who keep the NHS going are going to be the next targets.

Back in 2005, Jeremy Hunt co-authored a book Direct Democracy, calling for the NHS to be dismantled. It included the line: 'our ambition should be to break down the barriers between private and public provision, in effect denationalising the provision of health care in Britain'. The NHS is being deliberately run into the ground to pave the way for privatisation. Breaking the allegiance and loyalty of staff is one of the important strategies for attacking a public sector organisation. This is often achieved through policies that demoralise and alienate. The predictable response of junior doctors threatening to leave the NHS if the contract is imposed is therefore entirely in keeping with the ideological intent of the government. The next stage is to alienate the public from the staff: smearing doctors as apparently caring only about how much they will be paid, and that they endanger the welfare of the public is in line with this. The reality is, of course, the other way round: the primary concern of junior doctors is that the new contract endangers patient safety.

The public are overwhelmingly in favour of a publicly-funded and run NHS. Aneurin Bevan, the founder of the NHS,  said that the NHS will survive as long as there are people prepared to fight for it. This is our task now.

No to austerity

National TUC demonstation in London against the cuts and austerity, October 20.

The demonstration was huge, it was estimated that 150,000 people took part.

The demonstrators started moving off at 12:00.

Lots of interesting banners, lots of imaginative dressing up. I loved the three little girls dressed as nurses, carrying their 'keep our NHS safe' banners.

Keeping the rich safe. There were also riot police stationed across the road.

We were at the head of the demonstration and we arrived at Hyde Park early on.

Lots of evidence of solidarity for Greece

some more.

We stayed in the park for an hour watching people pouring in, looking at the stalls

that's when we spotted this guy. When I spoke to him in Greek he did not understand me. I found out he is Turkish - that was the most pleasantly unexpected bit of the day

We then decided to retrace our steps and walk back along the route of the demonstration

lots of interesting placards

and people

this placard came out blurry, but still worth including

every walk of life was represented

which was really pleasing

carnival atmosphere

with lots of imagination

solidarity with Greece

another gay group

lots of music

home made placards are always the best

so many banners

many banners and placards about 'plebs'

here's another one

and another one

 

as I said, homemade ones are always the best

solidarity

Outside Starbucks.

 

It was a great day and very pleasing that so many people turned up. Shame on the media as the fact that 150,000 people took part in the demonstration in London, and loads more in Glasgow and Belfast was the most underreported event of the weekend. No mention in the Sunday Observer. Most other papers reported the event by emphasising the fact that Ed Miliband was booed when he said that there would be more austerity under Labour - it was the same with television news.  Our 'objective', 'non-biased' press will only report marches when there is a confrontation with the police so that they can discredit the demonstrators and their cause. Shame!



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