[...]
On the grounds, it looks like the bitter lessons were
learned from the struggle against the government strike-break this year, when
there was a lack of organized solidarity--plus there is the expertise learned
from the "squares movement" in spring 2011. There is a massive
physical presence to defend the strikers and the occupied building against the
police, co-existing with outdoor assemblies, large discussions, collective
kitchens and so on.
Of course, the center of the struggle is Athens, but the
picture is the same in Thessaloniki, in the occupied building of the local ET3,
which broadcasts programs about social struggles, or in any town there is an
occupied ERT radio station that tries to continue broadcasting.
The issue of ERT had become a focal point of the struggle.
Dozens and dozens of solidarity statements have been issued by unions and are
read out at the occupied building. The shutdown was so provocative that even
mainstream international media declared their solidarity with ERT--some French
newspapers, for example, published with black front pages. Support
demonstrations have been organized in London, Paris and other European cities.
There have also been solidarity strike actions. Under
enormous pressure, leaders of the two major union confederations were forced to
declare a 24-hour general strike on Thursday, June 13. The strike demonstration
was called for outside ERT, instead of the traditional route to Syntagma Square
in front of parliament, so tens of thousands of people were gathered outside
the occupation. Media workers were on an indefinite strike for days, allowing
only the broadcasting of the ERT program.
Many media barons organized scab operations and managed to
publish their newspapers. As a response, striking journalists published the
union's strike issue--a tactic used for the first time during a strike in 1975.
The most spectacular aspect, outside of the occupation in
Athens, has been the unity in action among all the left-wing forces. There were
thousands of demonstrators in the yard, but the heart of the mobilization was
left-wing activists.
For the first time in years, you could see the party flags
of SYRIZA and ANTARSYA, of the Communist Party-affiliated unions and of the
anarcho-syndicalists and anti-authoritarians, waving side by side. Members of
SYRIZA, ANTARSYA, the Communist Party and the anarchist movement were standing
shoulder to shoulder to protect the occupation.
[...]
