Greece: Brief overview of the situation in 2022

M. Santaskidis, Communist Revolutionary Action – Greece

the Greek president standing in front
of a border wall, signifying at the highest
level the anti-migrant policy of the state

Greece, with its current neo-liberal government voted upon a racist, anti-immigration, rhetoric and fear mongering is in a peculiar spot, where after a decade of austerity and turmoil, similar policies and practices by the state, are not being challenged. New anti-labour legislation, the normalization of a work environment with low wages and high working hours, new types of employment –detrimental to the workers-, the rise of rent and prices in general, are the new living conditions in which, the people are forced to struggle for survival.

At the same time the government has taken the role of the hounds of Europe against immigrants and refugees by doing pushbacks liberally, either on land or in sea, or by cramming people in unliveable conditions in camps. The state, with Europe’s blessing, has chosen to make the refugee’s lives worse than it was in their countries, or, with disregard to human lives and decency, to just kill them by trying to ‘’return’’ them violently to Turkey. Which is ironic, because, in the name of human lives and public safety, the state had implemented one of the longest and most cruel lockdowns in Europe, alongside with a large amount of police brutality to enforce it.

However, even before the pandemic, there was a huge hike in police violence against protesters and general police brutality, where the police broke into homes or kept under surveillance, known leftist activists, but with public health as an excuse, these incidents sky-rocketed. This was coupled with an attack on the movement’s organizational practices, with legislation allowing police to enter the universities or by curtailing the rights of unions. It is unfortunate though, that the movements have been paralyzed out of fear for the pandemic. Even now, it is hard to organize due to that fear, thus explaining why any resistance has been feeble.

In the international stage, Greek bourgeoisie sees themselves as an important factor in the current cold war. All the while living conditions in Greece are going down hill, the state made a huge armament agreement with France, where it also agreed for troops to be sent in conflicts that France is conducting. At the same time, Greece is unconditionally supportive of United States interests, allowing for, new US military bases, as well as the expansion of old ones. Lastly a long lasting aspiration of the bourgeoisie is the maximalist claim to an immense exclusive economic zone (EEZ) aspiring to make the southeast Mediterranean a “Greek Lake”, thus leading to conflicts with Turkey.