Statement on the Greek Crisis

By Representatives of the Australian Labour Movement and the Greek Australian Community

The continuing economic crisis in Greece is not an isolated phenomenon peculiar to one country. It is symptomatic of a broader systemic economic failure in the global economy and in particular, the European Union.

The people of Greece today, deserve no less assistance than the global banks and financial investment houses received during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2008. During the GFC, workers’ savings and collective assets were used to guarantee the survival of some of the world’s biggest banks. These institutions were bailed out of a crisis that they themselves created. Today ordinary Greek workers and their families are being told they must pay again. They will have their incomes, working conditions, pensions, and their social services destroyed and their nation?s productive capacity severely constrained so that their economy can be ?saved?.

The broad, popular movement in Greece against the proposed austerity measures deserves the support of the international community and solidarity of the labour movement and the Australian community more broadly.

Accordingly, we call upon the Greek Government, European Union and the global financial institutions to:

(i) Abandon the fiscal austerity program that is strangling the Greek economy and its people, and;

(ii) Adopt an expansionary investment program to break the vicious downward spiral and provide jobs and hope to an increasingly desperate people.

We further call on the Australian Government to support this position and to communicate it to the Greek Government and the European Union.

You may download the file of the Statement … here