EYFA newsletter is a tool to spread information on campaigns, actions,
meetings and convergence happening around Europe and beyond. Info is
forwarded to our network e-list and to network partners and contacts.
Please send us info <eyfaATeyfa.org> if you have news to be spread.
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The 2008-2009 winter has proved a harsh one for peace and social justice
movements worldwide. We saw the brutal murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos
on the 6th of December and war breaking out again in the Gaza strip. These
two events ignited outrage everywhere and moved people in very different
contexts to take to the streets. Not only to voice their opinions in
reaction to these injustices, but also to speak out about their own
immediate worsening situations, to show their discontent. It is impossible
to cover every protest and uprising which has taken place in Europe in the
past months so below is only a small part of the discontent.
**Contents
1. On discontent and how it has been expressed across Europe in the last
months
2. Various texts on the uprisings resulting from the economic downturn
3. To be continued...
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1. On discontent and how it has been expressed across Europe in the last
months
In early December Alexandros Grigoropoulos was shot and killed by police
in the center of Athens. This ignited a wave of intense riots across
Greece and a series of solidarity actions around Europe and the world.
However, taking a closer look it becomes clear that while this tragic
killing may have been a spark, the reasons behind the uprising had been
adding up for a longer time and ranged from prison overcrowding,
government corruption, increasing poverty and general worsening of social
conditions. Similarly, when the war in Gaza began in January it offered
another reason for people to show their opposition out in the streets.
Both events were important in and of themselves to ignite protests. But
they also served as a catalyst for people to rise up and speak out on a
far longer list of complaints and on their increasingly worsening
situation which could no longer be tolerated. Cities which rarely, if
ever, witness protests or similar actions made the news. Governments have
been forced to react to the will of the people either by listening or by
exercising an even greater level of repression. Seemingly unrelated events
and outbursts have created a general atmosphere which shows the general
discontent.
As one of the countries to have been first and hardest hit by the
financial crisis the Icelandic population was also one of the first to
take to the streets and state its demands, eventually forcing the old
government to step down and choosing a new one at the beginning of 2009.
[sources:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/21/iceland-globalrecession
& http://newsfrettir.com/?p=2035 & http://newsfrettir.com/?p=2033]
Soon after, in early January tense riots broke out in Oslo at a
demonstration calling for an end to the war in Gaza. [sources:
http://www.vg.no/nyheter/utenriks/midtosten/artikkel.php?artid=550073 &
http://www.aftenposten.no/spesial/bildeserier/article2856510.ece] The same
thing happened in Copenhagen at a march attended by c. 7000 people. After,
and during, the otherwise peaceful march police arrested over 100 people
and used force to disperse the crowd. [source:
http://ekstrabladet.dk/gallerier/nyheder/article1109537.ece]
Later in January riots broke out in Riga, Latvia, out of a different set
of reasons. Thousands of people took to the streets to protest government
corruption and economic mismanagement. As the day wore on things heated up
as protesters tried to reach the parliament asking for a new government.
Latvia's government has since fallen. [sources:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7827708.stm &
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LD223079.htm] At the same time
another call for a government to step down came out of Sofia, Bulgaria. A
couple thousand people, including students, gathered in the capital city
to protest the high level of government corruption and the general poverty
in the country. The protest was forcefully dispersed by police and some
arrests were made. Bulgaria continues to face the prospect of further
unrest. [source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7828709.stm]
February started with a new wave of protests. The 1st being called upon in
cities across Russia as a national day of action to protest against the
economic crisis. However, protests did not have a chance to take place as
authorities mobilized 23 000 police officers and 4000 soldiers in order to
maintain order as well as make large numbers of preventive and
administrative arrests at the end of January. As in Russia, UK authorities
are also preparing themselves for a spring and summer of civil unrest as
the financial crisis worsens and hits more of the population. Activists
across the country have been mobilizing using a variety of strategies and
actions to bring attention to both the situation and the fact that more
opposition is needed. At the beginning of February, even a snowball fight
was organized outside the head-quarters of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
[source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/23/police-civil-unrest-recession &
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/02/421150.html] Neighboring country,
Ireland has also been seriously affected by the economic downturn and is
expecting a rise in mass union demonstrations such as the one that took
place on the 21st of February with thousands in attendance.[sources:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0212/1233867933253.html?via=rel
& http://ie.indymedia.org/article/91285 ]
However, this general feeing of discontent spreading across Europe has not
been sparked only by the financial crisis. In Finland students and
teachers have been mobilizing to protest a new law which would include
tuition and structural reforms in universities. A larger demonstration has
already taken place on the 19th of February with the next one to happen on
the 13th of March, both in Helsinki. [sources:
http://opiskelijatoiminta.net/english/ &
http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/2009/02/student_occupation_continues_overnight_at_helsinki_university_557609.html
& http://www.monthlyreview.org/mrzine/finland200209.html]
It is clear that the aforementioned events serve only to showcase a few of
the responses that Europe has seen. Governmental policies, whether
economic or of a more social nature, are no longer found acceptable by the
people directly affected.
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2. Various texts on the uprisings resulting from the economic downturn
A look at how particularly hard Eastern Europe, and some of the Baltic
states, have been hit by the financial crisis. The general downturn is
manifesting itself in the streets threatening existing power structures.
But at times such a downturn also results in a rise in nationalist
sentiments. South-eastern European countries like Romania and Bulgaria
have suffered from government corruption in the last years while places
like Latvia and Lithuania have been undergoing an artificial boom. They
now find themselves in similar situations with massive lay-offs and
unemployment problems, salary cutbacks and food prices rising. [source:
Eastern Europe braced for a violent 'spring of discontent'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/18/eu-riots-vilinius]
Markets crashing and riots erupting around the world. People losing jobs
and homes. But not everyone pretends to be in shock. Naomi Klein takes a
look at Latvia and Iceland and compares it with the situation in Argentina
in 2001. Governments often try to take advantage of such moments of crisis
in order to pass unpopular laws and reforms. It has been made clear though
in the past months that as in 2001 people are not willing to put up with
such actions and are more than willing to take to the streets: [source:
Public Revolt Builds Against Rip-off Rescue Plans for the Economy
http://www.alternet.org/story/125566/?page=entire]
Independent journalist Nathan Coe offers an overview of global unrest. Coe
gives examples ranging from Russia and China to the USA and France. He
looks at the various types of actions, demonstrations and strikes in a
protest against mass lay-offs, cut-downs and reforms. Coe signals a fear
with governments as more and more repressive and preventive law
enforcement operations are taking place. [source: Revolt Spreads Across
the Globe as "Crisis" Continues to Unfold
http://guerrillanews.com/articles/3954/Revolt_Spreads_Across_the_Globe_as_Crisis+_Continues_to_Unfold]
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3. To be continued...
We are all affected now by the crisis but we can shape our own responses.
The EYFA newsletter for March will be ".on Global Matters(2)". We will
compile different momentums for transnational organizing and protesting
coming up in 2009. Is the alter-globalist movement seeing a rebirth ten
years after 'the battle of Seattle'?
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Published electronically by EYFA.
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