Head of OLME announces a 24h strike for the 1st day of university entrance exams

Following the board members meeting, head of OLME Nikos Papachristos, spoke to the media saying:

The board members of OLME call for a 24-hour strike on Friday 17th May, the first day of national exams and propose to ELME regional unions a 5-day strike from 20th until 24th of May, in protest over the transfer of 4,000 permanent teachers & layoffs of 10,000 supply colleagues. We denote the Ministry of Education still has the option to do what needs to be done, to withdraw the presidential decree for the mandatory transferring of teachers, that would give us the chance to make one step back so that thousands of students manage to avoid the hassle. It was the ministry’s disgraceful attitude that sparked the decision for strike action, by bringing on board this plan and at this time in an irreconcilable manner. All labor union movements back this decision except PAME

Message from the 3 anarchists arrested for bank robberies

   Just a few words behind bars, held hostage at a detention facility, to demonstrate our aims & intentions so as to clear the air on the latest developments.

   As anarchists we consider the choice of bank robbing to be a conscious choice to resist. The purpose of our action was not to build financial wealth for us. The attack against the “pantheons of capitalism” falls into our broader revolutionary activity.

   As for the torturing we got by the oppressive police forces, we don’t want that to become a reference point of victimization. We didn’t expect anything less from the foes of freedom. We shouldn’t forget how many people have been battered in police departments and their cells. Let these traces of torture become another trigger for rage to turn into action.

  Opposed to the established representatives of justice, our stance will be irreconcilable and uncompromising.

Government twists Syriza MP statement smearing him as an advocate of terrorism

Syriza MP Vangelis Diamantopoulos is expected to file a lawsuit against those responsible for twisting his words around on a statement he made last Wednesday during a public event in Kastoria. Government’s spokesman Simos Kedikoglou accused the MP for putting “The Mall” on spot four days before the blast, calling people “to take up arms” and released a video from the MP’s press conference as an evidence.

“Corpus Christi” censoring attempts and the politics of faith in Greece

Protester’s jumper against “Corpus Christi” reads “Orthodoxy or Death” via lifo.gr

Back in May of 1998, Manhattan Theater Club (MTC) in NY cancelled the scheduled production of the three-time Tony Award winner Terrence McNally’s Corpus Christi play, prompted by anonymous telephone threats to burn down the prolific theater and kill its staff and the playwright. The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights that was already campaigning against the play for blasphemy, disavowed responsibility for the phone-calls.  Those developments swiftly sparked outrage in the artistic community over the religious group’s intimidation and MTC’s administration for backing off and not standing firm.

Media stirring up national pride over Germany-Greece soccer match

Football is one of the remaining spheres in which it is acceptable to openly display patriotic sentiment. This seems to apply in every country. The relationship between football and nationhood was shaped by particular historical and cultural factors. There might be different perceptions among people of how direct this association is, but those with far-right political affiliations apparently find it it easier to project symbolic meanings of Greek pride on a team of players that represents the nation in a game. Georgios Papadopoulos, one of the military dictatorship’s architects back in the 70′s, encouraged people to watch football whilst he imposed severe constraints in civil liberties. That says a lot about how to channel outrage on a safe outlet.

Hundreds queuing for free vegetables in central Athens

Farmers from the island of Crete, donated 2,700 boxes with fresh veggies to citizens who struggle financially in central Athens, Wednesday morning. Pensioners, immigrants and families lined up under the hot sun, waiting patiently for their turn to collect a 10k box with cucumbers, eggplants, tomatoes and peppers. The handout was organised by Anatoli agricultural association in cooperation with the capital’s municipal authorities and the island’s local broadcasting TeleCrete.

PASOK’s downfall and the attempts to stay afloat

Say hello to a new era where PASOK’s ability to rule with a comfortable parliamentary advantage is over. With the repudiation of austerity policies at the ballot box, it saw its vote plummeting from 43.9% in the last elections to 13.2%. “PASOK is rotten” said its leader -Evangelos Venizelos- to his aides, highlighting the need for readjustment as many of those sustaining the party’s state electoral clientèle -nurtured by favoritism, contracts, and subventions- seem to “abandon the ship”. With perks cutbacks under the bailout agreements, high-profile members of major trade union bodies cut ties with the party, while others move around on the political spectrum, seeking shelter with hints of electoral success.