We Are All Greeks. Global Solidarity For Greece

Sat, 18/02/2012 - 13:46 — Savvas Hadjigeorgiou

A global rally in solidarity of Greece was held Saturday, in major cities all over the world, by a group calling itself “We are all Greeks”. They borrowed that name from British poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (August 1792 – July 1822) who wrote “We are all Greeks. Our laws, our literature, our religion, our arts, have their roots in Greece.”

Demonstrations were held outside the Greek embassies and consulates in various cities throughout Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Australia Sweden, and more.

In New York the rally was held in Zuccotti Park and was organized by the Occupy New York movement.

Τhe protesters around the globe denounced the anti-popular policies of European governments and demanded the restoration of democratic values. One of the basic slogans asked Greeks to forgive the Europeans’ failed policies that did not manage to pull the country out of the crisis despite the sacrifices the Greek people have withstood and for insulting comments and demands by government officials from various European countries.

Sentiments run high last week amid speculations that Germany was considering the appointment of a European commissioner to run Greece. Demeaning comments for Greece and Greek people by various European politicians and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble's demand that no elections should be held in Greece and that the country should be run by appointed technocrats outraged the normally apolitical President of Greece Carolos Papulias who made a statement saying: “I cannot accept Mr Schaeuble insulting my country… who is Mr Schaeuble to insult Greece? Who are the Dutch? Who are the Finnish?” and added “Am not going to state the obvious and cliché, but Greece is α country that fought and sacrificed for the freedom of Europe” referring to the resistance of the Greek people against the axis in WW2, a veteran of which he is himself.

In Cyprus people gathered outside the Greek embassy and expressed their solidarity. Their main slogan was "Greece you are not alone."

The slogan "We are all Greeks" was first coined last year in France when the citizens of the city of Nantes created a movement under the slogan “Solidarity with the Greek people. I, too, am Greek”

The "Movement of Nantes" had issued a Declaration and urged its supporters to fill applications to get the Greek citizenship.

Thousands of applications were filled and submitted to the Greek embassy in France, but the Greek government politely turned them down.

The organisers are calling on people from all over the world to join them through Facebook and Twitter with the following message in most languages:

"We are all Greeks

When one people is attacked, all peoples are attacked. On the 10th of February, the non-elected Greece Government adopted a hideous and destructive new austerity plan, passed by the parliament (199 MPs voted in favour, 101 against) on the 12th of February. The new austerity measures impose a 22% reduction in the minimum wage, which will remain frozen for the next three years; collective bargaining is simply abolished; 15000 public sector workers are laid off and 150000 jobs will be destroyed through non-renewal of contract…

The people of Greece are bravely rising up against social terror policies. Demonstrations, as well as general strikes, become more and more frequent, despite the violent repression and the media’s deafening silence.

The people of Greece need international solidarity and they are calling for our support

Let’s reply to their call. We are all Greek!

Their mobilization is clashing against the wall of a European and international dictatorship; the dictatorship of the financial markets and the troika: EU, ECB and IMF, who have imposed austerity measures and a non-elected government on the Greek people.

The EU governments are involved in this dictatorship, implementing measures which are in the same line in those in other countries. Greece is being used as a laboratory before applying these measures more generally. The situation is going to get even worse due to the new European Treaty project, which will impose the «golden rule» on our taxes.

We refuse to sacrifice people for money, as done to the Greeks.

Let’s regain the reins of our lives.

Switch off your computer, join the mobilization!

There will be demonstrations everywhere, in solidarity with the mobilization of the Greek people, on Saturday the 18th of February."

Message from CyprusNewsReport.com. We can't do it without YOU. Please support our independence.

To make and read comments, become a full member of your news community, click here.