Joint fight against NATO armaments

We were in Athens over the weekend, participating in the Anairéseis Festival organized by the New Left Movement of Greece (NAR). We shared our views at this anti-war festival held at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Athens. The friendship and solidarity between NAR and the Labour Party of Turkey (EMEP) goes back many years.

"The situation in the world after the war in Ukraine" and "Turkey-Greece tensions" were the prominent agendas of the festival. Today Greece is one of the critical areas of the imperialist arms race following the war in Ukraine. The US and NATO, in cooperation with the Mitsotakis government, are building up a serious stockpile of weapons in the country. There are also bases and armament on the islands. Socialists in Greece criticize this situation as "Mitsotakis government is the new good boy of NATO".

The most striking impression from the interviews, panels and meetings was this: There is a fear among the population that a war with Turkey could break out at any moment. Because, the bourgeois media in Greece systematically emphasizes this tension. The government is organizing fear. The aim is to bind the people to EU policies and to sell NATO as a "saver umbrella". But the issue goes far beyond the Greece-Turkey tension. NATO wants to surround Russia and China, and aims to hold the Aegean and Black Sea in case of war. That is why it is arming Greece. By pitting two NATO member states (Turkey and Greece) against each other, the US is trying to bind them more closely to its policies. The competition between the two governments is essentially a race to see who will be more effective in NATO.

Greece has a long tradition of anti-imperialist struggle. The ruling classes are putting the "fear of Turkey" into action to break this tradition. They call on all classes to gather under the roof of "national unity". They want the poor classes to follow the war of the rich classes. As much as the ruling New Democracy Party (ND), the opposition is also drawn to the NATOist line. SYRIZA, which was once considered a model party in many countries by blowing "left" winds, does not hold back from NATOism.

Speakers at the festival reminded that some of the agreements with NATO and the US were signed under Tsipras. In other words, the attitude of the social democratic, nationalist or liberal opposition towards NATO is not much different from that in Turkey. In Greece, socialist and communist parties and organizations, democratic and progressive trade unions are working to change the situation. Meanwhile, the revisionist parties have been shaken by the Ukraine crisis. The pressure to take sides with Russia and China is causing cracks. However, it is necessary to stand against the Russian occupation and Chinese imperialism as much as the NATOist struggle and armament.

The fear of war is being used to limit democratic gains in Greece. The declaration of a strike has been made even more difficult. The right to demonstrate without permission is being struck. For now, these restrictions are being overcome by de facto actions, but the near future is at risk. There is an increase in lawsuits and investigations against rights seekers and dissidents. In other words, although not exactly the same, on both sides of the Aegean, rights and freedoms are being scythed through the war agenda.

The effects of the pandemic and the economic crisis entered a new phase with the new blocs after the Ukraine war. The energy and food crisis is escalating. In Greece, the government wants to turn the energy crisis into an opportunity by making deals with states such as Israel and Egypt. The Mediterranean is getting tenser. Of course, behind the scenes of these agreements are imperialist monopolies. Instead of keeping a distance from the imperialists, the energy crisis is being used as a tool to become more tied to imperialism. As a bourgeois party, the AKP government's approach is no different. Both governments talk a lot about "national interest". But the monopolies they do business with in the Aegean and the Mediterranean are Italian, French and American etc.

Crisis opportunists are opening new market areas by doing business with arms monopolies. For example, Germany has sold 2 billion 475 million Euros worth of arms to Greece in the last 20 years. But how much arms have they sold to Turkey in this period? 2 billion 571 million Euros. At this rate, in a possible conflict in the Aegean, German weapons will face each other! Or American, what difference does it make? In the end, it is the arms monopolies that make the money. Why would the brotherly youth of the two sides of the Aegean choose to be victims of this unjust war? This is why it is necessary to say no to armaments and the war budget together. The struggle for peace in the Aegean and the Mediterranean must be united with the struggle against poverty in both countries.

Another dimension of the Greece-Turkey tension is migration. In the Syrian war and migration, the EU gave Turkey the task of being a "refugee warehouse". Greece was given the task of being the coastal gendarmerie against refugees. The collaborating governments, on the other hand, were caught up in the euro bargain and bourgeois political calculations. The people of poor countries and, of course, the refugees have suffered. In the battle over refugees in Pazarkule border line, the EU sat at the table by pitting the two countries against each other. For this reason, for a solid peace struggle, the brotherly peoples of both countries must also struggle together against the imperialist migration policies of the EU. The struggle for the cancellation of the Readmission Agreement can be the beginning of this. June 20, World Refugee Day can be an occasion for common messages.

Finally, let us remind you of the NATO meeting in Spain on June 28-30. In this context, there are preparations for action in Greece. Alexandroupoli, where weapons are being stockpiled, will be one of the protest areas.

It is time for international unity, solidarity and struggle against imperialist occupation and armament