Massive rally against Obama's visit in Athens - People say a thunderous "NO" to US-NATO imperialist murderers

Under the slogans "Neither land nor water to the murderers of the people", "Get NATO out of the Aegean" and “The imperialists re-divide the world, they draw the borders with the blood of the peoples” thousands of people, workers, young men and women, participated in a massive rally in central Athens against the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama. The protesters condemn Obama's visit and the Greek government's participation in the Euroatlantic imperialist plans. 

Despotic and despicable decision by the SYRIZA government forbids demonstrations during Obama visit in Athens!

With a despicable decision which reminds authoritarian establishments, the Greek Police have banned demonstrations in Athens on Tuesday and Wednesday as part of security preparations for a visit to the Greek capital by outgoing US President Barack Obama. 

The despotic decision by the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government was slammed by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) which issued the following statement / Source: 902.gr, Translation: In Defense of Communism.

"With a despicable and despotic decision by the Police, the SYRIZA-ANEL government essentialy forbids any demonstration against the visit of the U.S. President Barack Obama, thus following the policy of the previous New Democracy-PASOK governments which SYRIZA, being in the opposition then, was denouncing.

"Neither land nor water to the murderers of the people"- Statement by the KKE about President Obama's visit in Greece

Regarding the upcoming visit of the U.S. President Barack Obama in Greece on Tuesday 15 November, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece issued the following statement.

Source: 902.gr, 

Translation: In Defense of Communism.

"Neither land nor water to the murderers of the people".

The KKE calls the working people, the youth, all Greek people to give a militant "welcome" to the outgoing President of the USA, Barack Obama, who visits our country in a period when the offensive plans of NATO-US-EU are intensified, with Greece's active participation and with huge dangers for the Greek and other people of the region. They (the people) must participate massively to the demonstrations organised by the EEDYE*, PAME and the other bodies of the popular-labour movement, of the youth.

OBAMA NOT WELCOME IN GREECE- Demonstration against the visit of US President to take place in Athens on November 15th

Peace, Workers, Students, Women's Associations and Unions against the visit of the U.S. President Barack Obama in Greece. 

Info from 'Rizospastis', 6/11/2016.

OBAMA IS NOT WELCOME - NO PARTICIPATIΟN OF GREECE IN THE IMPERIALIST PLANS AND WARS.

With the slogan "Obama is not welcome in Greece- No participation of Greece in the imperialist plans and wars" numerous unions and associations of the labour-peoples' movement in Greece call for a massive demonstration on Tuesday 15th November in Omonia square, Athens. Among the participants are the Greek Committtee for International Detente and Peace (EEDYE), workers' unions, associations of self-employed and women, students unions and others.

KKE: Statement regarding the government's cabinet reshuffle

Regarding the cabinet reshuffle of the Tsipras' government, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) issued the following statement. 

Source: 902.gr / Translation: In Defense of Communism.

"Except from its communicative character, the reshuffle of the SYRIZA-ANEL government aims in creating a (governmental) form which, with bigger stability and as little as possible "wobbling", will implement completely the antipeople restructures and the committments of the 3rd memorandum.

The pursuit of blaming some persons and manipulations for the antipeople measures, which caused a generalized popular indignation and anger (e.g. social security issue), must not hide the total governmental responsibility and policy which these specific persons consistently served.

Decision of the CC of the KKE on the developments around the Cyprus Issue and the position of the KKE

Decision of the CC of the KKE on the developments around the Cyprus Issue and the position of the KKE / Source: inter.kke.gr.

The CC of the KKE met and examined the overall developments on the Cyprus issue through the prism of the new facts. It came to the following decision:

The Communist Party of Greece follows, studies and takes a responsible position on the Cyprus problem. It has made a significant contribution to the denunciation of the Turkish invasion-occupation, to highlighting the international character of the problem, to expressing internationalist solidarity with the working class and popular strata of Cyprus, the Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots, Armenians, Maronites and Latins.

The KKE fights against the negative, for the peoples, plans that are unfolding in the framework of the antagonisms of the bourgeois classes of Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, as well as the in the context of the negative and dangerous role played historically and still being played today by the USA, Britain, NATO and the EU as regards the resolution of the Cyprus problem.

KKE General Secretary Dimitris Koutsoumbas' remarks after the meeting with President Prokopis Pavlopoulos

Dimitris Koutsoumbas: The Greek people must be vigilant about developments in the region.

Source: 902.gr/ Ιn Defense of Communism.

Today, Wednesday 2 November, the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Dimitris Koutsoumbas met with the President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos, regarding the developments on the Cyprus Issue, as well as about the positions of KKE on the developments in the broader region.

After the meeting, Dimitris Koutsoumbas made the following statement to journalists:

"I informed Mr.President of the Republic about the developments in the region and the positions of the KKE. The sharpening of the contradictions, the antagonisms, the military conflicts and the accumulation of military weapons and forces throughout the region, from central and eastern Europe, the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea and the Middle East do not bode positive steps and issues for the people and especially for the Greek people.

Golden Dawn Trial: The murderous attack against the members of KKE and PAME was planned and organized

Sotiris Poulikogiannis testifies in the court during the trial of the Nazi Golden Dawn (Monday, 31/10/2016)

Special to In Defense of Communism.
Info from 'Rizospastis' (1/11/2016) and news services.

In a revealing testimony on Monday, at the trial of the Nazi 'Golden Dawn' party in Athens, the president of the Metalworkers Trade Union of Attica Sotiris Poulikogiannis, who was among the victims of a murderous attack on September 2013, provided to the court some very interesting facts. Poulikogiannis spoke about the viciousness of the attack, the organized and planned character of the ambush and he revealed the relations between the Golden Dawn and large contractors of the dockyards in Perama. The communist trade unionist said that Golden Dawn is a criminal organisation because of her Nazi ideology and character and he refered to historical examples about the role and the activity of Nazism.

Greece's SYRIZA-ANEL "left" government undertakes a more active role in NATO's imperialist plans

The SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government of Greece is moving towards a more active participation in NATO's imperialist plans. It is characteristic that last Wednesday, the Greek parliament ratified a memorandum of understanding on the Joint Electronic Warfare Core Staff (JEWCS), aimed at supporting the planning and execution of NATO’s operations. 

The bourgeois parties (SYRIZA, New Democracy, Independent Greeks-ANEL, PASOK, Potami, Center Union) voted in favor of the memorandum, while the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) was the only party which voted against it, rejecting and denouncing the involvement of the country in the imperialist plans of NATO. 

Interview of Dimitris Koutsoumbas: Popular discontent can find a way out through the political proposal of KKE

Interview of the GS of the CC of KKE Dimitris Koutsoumbas on the ERT1 public television channel, on 24/10. Below are extended excerpts from the interview. Source: inter.kke.gr.

-        I read the following in “Rizospastis”: The day when the government begins the discussion with the “institutions” (Troika) about the new attack against working and trade union rights, SYRIZA and ND choose to squabble about their favourites and also about the misleading issue of corruption in order to hide their convergence on the antiworker measures. Is corruption a misleading issue? Can you explain this? Doesn't this issue objectively exist in our lives?

NATO Imperialists not welcome in Piraeus! KKE denounces the presense of US Navy flagship in Greek port

The presense of the United States 6th Fleet command and control ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) and USS Mason, a US navy destroyer, in the port of Piraeus on October 24th has been strongly denounced by the KKE Piraeus Sectoral Organisation. In its announcement, the KKE calls the city's people to strengthen their struggle against the involvement of Greece in NATO's war plans. 

More specifically, the KKE Piraeus S.O. points out:

"They have the audacity to dock at the port of Piraeus, while the presense of NATO in the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Aegean and the Mediterranean is enhanced, using for the last two sea areas the pretext of controlling the refugee flows which are caused and amplified by the imperialist wars and the dire consequences against the people.

US President Obama to visit Greece: When SYRIZA's social democracy "worships" the Imperialists

The President of the United States of America Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Athens in mid November, according to a statement issued by the White House.

President Obama will meet with the President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on 15 November, with the refugee crisis and economic reforms being at the top of the agenda. This will be the fourth official visit of a US President to Greece. The first American President to visit was Dwight Eisenhower in December of 1959, the second George Bush in July of 1991 and the third was Bill Clinton in November of 1999. 

According to the official statement issued by the White House "The President on November 15 will arrive in Greece, where he will see President Pavlopoulos, meet with Prime Minister Tsipras, and reaffirm our support for ongoing efforts to place the Greek economy on a path to sustainability and renewed prosperity. In the birthplace of democracy, the President will also reaffirm the resilience of democratic values, which have done so much to deliver peace and prosperity to Europe and the wider world. Additionally, the President will make clear our appreciation for the remarkable generosity shown by the Greek Government and people to refugees and migrants".

PAME: "Everyone in the struggle" - General Strike to take place on November 24th in Greece

"No waiting, no delay! We respond: General Strike on November 24th!" stresses a recent declaration of the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) which calls in struggle for the rights in labour and life, according to the needs of the working people.

The declaration PAME calls the workers, the self-employed, the youth and the pensioners of the country to give a militant response to the barbaric, antipeople measures of the SYRIZA-ANEL government. "We demand rights in our work and life, according to our era- the 21st century, our needs!" as PAME points out in its call for the strike. 

Vulgar anticommunist delirium from New Democracy's vice president Georgiadis

He is known for his far-right, nationalistic political views. A publisher, tv presenter and bookstore owner by profession, Adonis Georgiadis is the current vice president of the conservative party of "New Democracy".

He started his political career from the ultra-right, neofascist and xenophobic "Laos" party, under the leadership of Giorgos Karatzaferis. As a very frequent guest at TV political talk shows, Georgiadis never hide his vulgar, grotesque anticommunism. 

In a recent speech in the island of Chios, the VP of New Democracy unleashed another anticommunist delirium saying, among other things: "If you go to any place of the world, when you say that you are a communist you go to jail. In Greece, it's the opposite that happens".

Regarding Georgiadis' filthy remarks, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) issued the following comment:

Five years since the organized murderous attack against PAME rally in Athens

Article of the International Relations Section of the CC of the KKE in relation to the statements of the international Media on the murderous attack on the large demonstration of PAME.

26 October 2011.

Interview with Kostas Papadakis (KKE): "SYRIZA has been chosen by the bourgeois class to complete the dirty work..."

Special interview with Kostas Papadakis, member of the CC of the KKE and Member of the European Parliament.

International Communist Press, 17th October 2016.

ICP: After the 3rd memorandum in Greece, we are all witnessing anti-worker and anti-popular laws passing from the parliament. Is it possible to say that the people are getting more and more politicized and organized as their standard of living has been decreased into half?

Kostas Papadakis: The SYRIZA-ANEL government established its own memorandum, which was passed together with the votes of the "rightwing" and "centre" bourgeois parties (ND, PASOK, POTAMI), on the basis of the two previous memoranda. The memoranda are not just an agreement with the imperialist institutions, but the "programme" of the bourgeois class in order to return to profitability, reducing labour rights and the price of labour power.

The SYRIZA-ANEL government, taking harsh anti-worker measures, causes deep disillusionment amongst wide sections of the people. Amongst those who believed that the memoranda could allegedly be abolished via parliament and referenda.

KKE GS D.Koutsoumbas: "The Greek people must throw in the trash the lies and the propaganda of the government"

The General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Dimitris Koutsoumbas, who attended the large demonstration in Athens on Monday, made the following statement: 

"The Greek people must throw in the trash the lies and the propaganda of the government, the conclusions of the various alleged specialists, the pressure of the creditors, of the EU and the IMF and engrave its own way of struggle. General uprising everywhere, with the working class on the forefront, in alliance with the other popular strata, aiming against the monopolies and the capitalist way of development itself which brings poverty, crises, unemployment. There is no other solution, there is no other way out". 

Mass demonstrations organized by Labour Unions to take place in Greece on October 17th

Source: PAME (All-Workers Militant Front).

On Monday 17th October: In Athens at Syntagma Square at 18.30, in Thessaloniki at 18.30 at Venizelos statue.

More than 400 trade union organizations, federations, labour centres, industrial unions, etc from all branches and sectors, all over Greece, we coordinate, demand and fight for the cancelation of all anti-workers laws and measures of the recent years. We fight for the signing of National Collective Agreement and sectoral Collective Contracts.

We demand the reestablishment and the signing of sectoral Collective Contracts, the recovering of all of our losses! No worker without the minimum wage! All in the struggle for full time steady jobs, with full rights, higher wages, pensions and social benefits!

Comment by KKE: Syriza's "Left" is the old, classic, sinful social democracy

On the occasion of Alexis Tsipras' speech at the congress of SYRIZA, the Press Office of the CC of KKE issued the following comment:

"Yesterday Mr.Tsipras tried to give a left, progressive wrapper to the invitation of submission he sends to the people, as well as to the total transformation of SYRIZA into a bourgeois social democratic party.

The "left" which undertakes duties and responsibilities for the management of the system has nothing to do with the militant traditions of our people. It is the old, classic, sinful social democracy, which the people has experienced for many years- and which is usually in line with its supposed enemy, the "neoliberalism"-in Greece and Europe, in order to jointly vote harsh antipeople measures and memorandums. This is the source of SYRIZA's openings to various "stars" of social democracy, both in Greece and abroad.

Thanasis Pafilis (KKE): "The capitalist way of development neither wants nor can give a better life to the people"

Source: 902.gr / Translation: In Defense of Communism.

The KKE's pre-electoral evaluation that the SYRIZA government will continue towards an even worse way than the previous governments and will bring a third memorandum has been proved, Thanasis Pafilis, member of the Central Committee and Parliamentary representative of KKE pointed out in a TV interview. Talking on "Skai" Television, Pafilis said that the only hope derives from the people who must take the streets and fight for their lives; he called the people to participate in the demonstrations that will be held on October 17th by hundreds of labor unions. 

When asked about the "left" character of the government, Pafilis mentioned that the people know that "Left and NATO" are not compatible, bringing as an example the offer, by the SYRIZA-ANEL government, of a new military base to NATO at Karpathos island. 

A left party, Thanasis Pafilis said, is not the one which crushes the working people, the self-employed and the poor farmers while it gives new privileges to those who have the power; the capital and the monopoly groups. The solution, Pafilis pointed out, is not New Democracy which poses as the original best manager of the bourgeois power.