The ‘December Days’ rising of Greek youth

A Marxist perspective (which Greece's rebellious youth reject) from China Worker:

2009 starts with big education sector protests

The new semester in Greece started with a big mobilisation, of at least 15,000 university students and teachers, on 9 January. This is an indication that movements in the field of education will continue be in fervent over the next period.

The Karamanlis government has been forced to make a cabinet reshuffle, removing amongst others the minister of education and national economy. These are side effects of the 'December Days', last year, in Greece. However, the school students, who were the main driving force of the youth revolt that shook Greece from the 6 December until the Xmas holidays, have not taken strike action, so far. The December Days are, in this sense, over. But they have left their mark on Greek society and on Greek youth, in particular.
The “accidental death” of a school student

Alexandros Grigoropoulos (Alexis) was shot on the evening of 6 December 2008, outside a café in the centre of Athens. The policeman responsible for the student's death claimed it was a “misfire” and that the bullet hit the pavement or a wall before killing Alexis, and that it was not intentional. However, eye witnesses said that they saw the policeman (a 'special guard') aiming straight at the 15 year school student.

The killing provoked a massive response from youth and the whole of Greek society. Thousands gathered in every city on the same night of the murder. Tens of thousands protested on the day (Sunday) following the killing, and also on Monday afternoon, Tuesday and so on. The universities were immediately occupied by students. The school students simply refused to enter classes. Rallies and demonstrations became a daily phenomenon, everywhere. Tens of police stations were surrounded daily by school students protesting about the killing. The police reacted to all such demonstrations with tear gas and other 'crowd control' chemical weapons. The Ministry of Education was forced to stop lessons in classrooms and to organise excursions, picnics and “educational visits” to divert school students' attention away from protests and keep them away from the demonstrations.

There were daily clashes between the youth and the police. But what is perhaps even more important than this manifestation of the anger of the youth, was the support in society generally for the struggle of youth. There are numerous examples of working class people and pensioners shouting at the police as they chased youth in the neighbourhood streets, throwing objects at police from balconies, getting between the police and the youth to protect the latter, and, in general, showing support to the youth and sympathizing with their anger towards the police.

It is obvious that a murder, in itself, could not have caused such huge social unrest and a revolt of the youth. There were deeper causes to this development: in the social conditions facing Greek youth and the working class, in general.

Social causes

Unemployment, poverty, inequality, massive intensification of work and exploitation, massive corruption of the 'tops' of society, as one after another corruption scandal came to light, and the “lack of future” for youth – these were the factors behind the youth revolt.

Around 22% of the Greek population live below the poverty line. This is the official figure, and it does not fully explain the reality of being poor – the poverty line in Greece is about €850 per month for a four member family. With rents in Athens and Salonica ranging from €400 to €500 per month for a two bed-room flat, one can very easily understand that when the official statistics speak of “poverty” they actually mean “starvation”. It is absoloutely impossible for new working class families and young people to survive without the support of the older generation and wider families.

Poverty does not only hit the unemployed and pensioners but also those with jobs. Around 25% of all those in work receive € 700 per month or less in wages. 67% of these are young people, up to the age of about 34.

There is no heavy industry in Greece, and no 'well paid' jobs in the private sector for workers. Young people and their families see a university degree as an absolute must if they are to receive a living wage. The 1990's and the early 2000's saw young people study for endless hours to get into a university and to have a chance of obtaining a 'good degree'. School students were repeatedly referred to as the hardest working people in the country by the press, studying an average 65 hours per week. Xekinima (CWI Greece) repeatedly commented that these intolerable pressures demanded by Greek capitalism was preparing the new generation for revolt and revolution. For after massive sacrifices, and after they obtained a university degree and very often a postgraduate degree, young people would get a job (not only in the private but also in the public sector) of € 700 plus 10% 'university degree allowance', i.e. a total of less than € 800 a month, very often without social insurance (health insurance and pension).

Class relations

Such social conditions create fertile ground for social explosions, and, at a later stage, revolutionary movements. This is particularly so as the “visions” created by the Greek ruling class (and the capitalist class internationally), over the past years, have been undermined by the actual development of life under capitalism.

Mention of “globalisation”, as the means to bring about economic growth and prosperity, causes rage in Greece. The former Prime Minister, Kostas Simitis, a few years ago, even had the gall to repeat Martin Luther King's famous phrase, “I have a dream”, to further the lies he and the Greek ruling class peddled to the population. Initially, it was the entry of Greece into the European Union that would supposedly “solve” all the problems of the Greek economy and society. Then it was the advent of the Euro currency, in whose name Greek workers were asked to make “sacrifices”. Then it was the Olympic games, held in Greece in 2004, which were supposed to bring back the “spirit” of ancient Greece. All of these false dawns led to accumulating mass anger in Greek society, as more and more workers and youth realised it was all lies and yet, in the meantime, the Greek bankers and ship owners, who exported their capital to the Balkans and Western Europe, were enjoying the highest profit returns in the whole of the EU!

The 'December Days' of the Greek youth did not, therefore, break out like thunder in a clear blue sky. They were preceded by major movements of the youth and the working class.

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