May Day: Europeans begin to see red

By Julio Godoy

ATHENS, Apr 30 (IPS) - European unions are facing a difficult choice this May Day between holding protests to protect workers' interests, or holding off to avoid a further deepening of the economic recession.

The dilemma is before all European unions, but their national histories and their structures are leading them to act differently despite efforts to coordinate responses to the economic crisis.

In Athens, graffiti calling for May Day protests is all over the city's walls. Athens has been seeing violent demonstrations since December, when a 15- year-old was shot dead by police officers in the course of a demonstration.

The riots marked the build-up to a general strike called against privatisation, tax increases and pension cutbacks imposed on instructions from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Now, more violent protests are expected May Day in Athens and other Greek cities. Police and union leaders in Germany and France are also warning of violent protests.

"On May Day evening, there will be leftist extremists who will violently attack police forces and private property," Berlin police chief Dieter Glietsch warned at a press conference earlier this week.

"What is happening in Greece since December could happen in France," Georges Martin, spokesperson for the French Workers' General Union told IPS. "A social bomb is waiting to explode in France."

There have been explosions before. Immigrant youth have carried out violent demonstrations during the Christmas and New Year season for years now, burning private automobiles and attacking police patrols.

"All these explosions waiting to happen in Europe have a common reason: the social consequences of globalisation," says Jean Techau from the German Foundation for Foreign Policy in Berlin.

"The global economic crisis is affecting all European states at the same time," Techau told IPS. "This has never happened before."

Techau says Spain and France are seeing a dramatic rise in unemployment, a sharp economic downturn, ethnic segregation of immigrants, and public finances eroded by large deficits.

"The risk of social revolt is in both countries very large," Techau said.

In Spain, May Day unions will protest jointly against de-localisation of industries, mass layouts and reduction of salaries. "To face the crisis, more employment, more public investment and more social protection" goes one slogan.

Michael Sommer, president of the German Unions' Federation, has warned that "if business corporations react to the crisis with mass layoff of workers, it is very likely that social revolt take place." Sommer said this was not a threat, but a comment on the prevailing atmosphere.

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