1. Secondary education teachers’ strike
The matter of the teachers’ strike during the university entry exams evolved into a soap opera this week. The Federation of Secondary Education Teachers (OLME) had proposed last week to its constituent unions to go on strike starting yesterday 17 May to protest new austerity measures that the government is seeking to impose on the education sector. The government reacted by ordering preemptively the civil mobilization of 86,000 teachers under an authoritarian procedure which is normally intended to be used only in cases of extreme national emergency.
The preemptive civil mobilization order caused an outpouring of sympathy with teachers among unions and associations in Greece and abroad. The teachers requested publicly that the trade unions centres, the Civil Servants’ Confederation ADEDY and the General Confederation of Workers GSEE, also announce strikes on Friday as a gesture of solidarity. The trade union centres however only engaged in work stoppages and rallies on other days than the planned strike.
Following massive general assemblies of teachers at the local level, where they voted overwhelmingly in favour of the strike, the government and mainstream media engaged once again in a campaign to defame teachers, while the upcoming strike became a central issue in Greek society. Despite the many voices in defence of the teachers, the board of OLME used a technicality pushed by the factions affiliated with New Democracy, PASOK and SYRIZA to decide in the end against the strike, arguing that “the adequate conditions for its implementation are not there.” Despite the teachers’ outcry against OLME, the exams started normally yesterday.
You can read more details about the teacher’s strike and civil mobilization on our blog under the tag “education“.
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2. Golden Dawn and immigration
The Nazi party Golden Dawn engaged in new provocations last week. On Friday morning, during a discussion on the new bill against racism in Parliament, Golden Dawn MP Panagiotis Iliopoulos made ironic and insulting comments against SYRIZA chairman Alexis Tsipras. When the deputy speaker of Parliament who was chairing the session called him to order, Iliopoulos and other Golden Dawn MPs took to a verbal assault against the speaker. Giannis Dragasakis, who was chairing the session, decided to enforce parliamentary rules and impose sanctions on Iliopoulos by reprimanding him and expelling him from the room. The Golden Dawn parliamentary group reacted by leaving altogether while throwing insults at the other MPs. As they left, the slogan “Heil Hitler” could be heard, which caused angry reactions among other MPs in attendance.
Earlier this week, three members of Golden Dawn assaulted a 14-year-old Afghan boy in downtown Athens. They asked him where he is from, immobilized him; beat him and smashed a bottle of beer on his face. A passer-by took Ismael to the hospital where doctors gave him first aid but had to let him go because he does not hold valid residence papers. Ismael reports that he could not see the faces of his attackers but that they were wearing Golden Dawn shirts. It was reported that Ismael’s mother is living in another European country and that the procedure for family reunification was therefore launched. Investigation of this attack, as well as another similar attack against a 20-year-old Syrian in Athens, have been taken over by the newly established anti-racist unit of the Hellenic Police.
Lastly, in the beginning of last week, the municipal council of Kalamata in the Peloponnese decided not to express any opposition to Golden Dawn’s intention to organize a series of public events in the city on 3 and 4 August, for the anniversary of the coup that brought the dictator Metaxas to power in 1936. The mayor stated that the authorization was a matter for the coastguard, who have authority over the area chosen by Golden Dawn for their festival; As for himself, he does not intend to ban it “because Kalamata is a free city and Greece is a free country.”
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3. Arrest of 3 women in Skouries
Clashes took place again in the morning of Sunday 12 May 2013 in north-eastern Halkidiki where residents are protesting logging activities by mining company Hellas Gold in the basin of the Karatzas stream near the Skouries forest, ahead of a meeting planned on Monday morning between the Residents’ Committees Against Mining and the local authorities to examine the validity of operational permits held by the mining company for logging activities in the Karatzas area.
Residents opposed to mining plans had been protesting for days in the Karatzas area where lumberjacks are working under police guard. On Sunday, a group of protesters asked the head of the Halkidiki police force to suspend logging activities until the meeting on the next day. Despite the officer in charge agreeing to take it up with the regional police leadership, a group of riot policemen circled the protesters and assaulted them with tear gas. On the same morning, a group of women who were walking up to the Skouries worksite were assaulted by the riot policemen who are guarding it. Three were detained and taken to the Halkidiki police HQ in Polygyros. They are charged with resistance to authority, sedition and attempt to release a detainee. One other woman was injured when a policeman grabbed her by the neck and has to wear a surgical collar.
There is considerable confusion with regard to the number of policemen who were wounded during these events. Mainstream media have been reporting 7, 8 or even 9 wounded policemen, of which one was reported to be in a serious condition. The police press release states 8, of which 7 had to be transferred to hospital for first aid. However, the manager of the Polygyros hospital, while speaking to the press, referred only to three wounded policemen, and remains vague about their actual condition. Initial claims by the police that their men had suffered buckshot wounds seem to have been dropped. The three women were released until their trial on 22 May. The meeting between residents and local authorities to reexamine the company’s logging permits was postponed sine die.
In a related development, a group of foreign tourists were detained on a police checkpoint near Polygyros and taken to the police HQ, apparently because they were wearing T-shirts reading SOS Halkidiki, which are printed by the anti-mining activists. The police gave them no explanation as to why they had to go to the precinct and let them go without further ado, after, however, making a photocopy of their passports.
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4. HIV testing suspended in referral centres
The Athens Medical Association slammed this week the decision of deputy Health Minister Fotini Skopouli not to release the approved funds for HIV/AIDS referral centres, leading to the suspension of adequate testing to confirm the presence of HIV. Furthermore, recent austerity measures imposed on the health sector have led to the suspension of free testing, meaning that patients lacking health insurance have to pay for their tests. The chaiman of the Athens Medical Association stated that “The country is unprotected against a grave danger that threatens public health. While we have observed recently that there is an AIDS epidemic among drug users, the deputy minister of heath is blowing up the country’s protection system against this disease.”
In a related development, it was reported on Friday that healthcare decree 39a was repelled by the Ministry of Health. The decree was introduced by former Minister of Health Andreas Loverdos in 2012 and allowed for forcible testing of anyone suspected of carrying an infectious disease without the patient’s consent. The decree was used in particular to arrest and parade in front of cameras a group of HIV-positive drug addicted women, who were accused of being prostitutes, just before the 2012 general elections. Radiobubble’s Zoe Mavroudi is preparing a video documentary on the story of these women, to be released in the coming weeks.
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5. Collective Labour Agreement
6. Discrimination against LGBT in Greece
7. Privatization of public transportation
8. Guns, debt and corruption