Mass workers'-people's response to the new monstrous law of the SYRIZA-ANEL government

Thousands of workers in Athens and other cities responded to PAME's call and demonstrated against the new unacceptable anti-people draft law, which the SYRIZA-ANEL government brought to Parliament to be voted on the weekend of 21-22nd of May.

This monstrous law provides for VAT increases on a number of items (from 23 to 24%) and fuel, imposes new indirect taxes, increases taxes for farmers, increases taxes on homes, creates a new super-fund for privatizations in preparation for the handing over transport and nearly all state-owned infrastructure and property to capital. It paves the way for the seizure and auctioning off of homes that belong to the popular families. It creates an automatic contingency mechanism to cut spending i.e. that will automatically cut salaries, pensions, social benefits and other spending if the fiscal goals of the state budget and memorandum are not achieved.

At the same time it provides for new provocative tax exemptions and favourable terms for capital. So the funds earmarked for businesses are exempted from the "contingency mechanism", while new tax breaks are established for the industrialists.

In essence, this is a new fourth memorandum of 7,500 pages, which the "government of the left" attempted to pass on the quiet, with emergency procedures over the weekend. It is no accident that SEB (The Hellenic Federation of Enterprises) saluted the draft law, while the workers demonstrated against it.

The people's protests were immediate with a two-day strike in public transport and rallies organized by PAME all over the country. The central rally was held in Athens in the evening of the 22/5 at the time when the draft law was being voted on.

The GS of the CC of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumpas, made the following statement to the media at the rally: "As the KKE, the message I wanted us to send at this moment from Syntagma square, together with the workers who are demonstrating, is that the Greek people must not expect anything from the various parliamentary procedures, from this parliament, but must organize their struggle right now and even more dynamically, organize their people's alliance and fight until all these anti-people policies are overturned in their entirety."