Call For Solidarity To The 300 Migrant Workers In Hunger Strike In Greece

international | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis Saturday March 05, 2011 20:08 by okanenas

This is not a call for philanthropy. This is a call for solidarity to 300 proud and brave people who are determined to sacrifice their life in order to claim their right to a better future. They want the same thing our forefathers wanted when they decided to migrate. They are not strangers, they are not invisible, they are not disposable. They are dignified human beings who teach us a hard lesson about true struggle.

Dear Comrades,

First of all I’d like to clarify that I do not speak on the part of the 300 migrant hunger strikers in Greece or any of the collectivities supporting their struggle. This is a purely personal initiative, driven by rage against the Greek government and admiration for the 300’s unique example of dignity and courage.

Today it is the 40th day of the hunger strike. More than 80 immigrants are hospitalized in Athens and Thessaloniki and doctors are expressing their growing fear for possible irreversible damage to their health. Their life is hanging from a thread and what we all fear –their death- is not just a possible scenario but a cruel reality that is taking flesh with every passing second. During the next 2 days snow is expected in Athens and the rest of Greece, a fact than endangers even more their fragile health condition.

Nevertheless, these famished, exhausted, near to death people do not fear the freezing cold. They do not even fear death. They are determined to lose their lives in order to have what all of us consider as a given: their right to work legally, to feel secure, to have health insurance.

The 300 have lived in Greece for years. They are hardworking, honest people who wanted a better future for themselves, a better life. They offered their skills and strength to their Greek employers and what they received back were ridiculous wages, black labor and a provocative “blindness” to their existence. But these people DO exist. These people DO have rights. They are not disposable waste; they are human beings, with remarkably strong hearts and minds.

During the last 1,5 year the Greek government is provocatively dismantling whatever public system there is: health, education, insurance, transportation. Brutal police force is used in order to repress any reaction. Cutbacks in wages and pensions are leading many Greeks and immigrants to desperation. Workers are being fired by hundreds almost every day. And all of this is happening in accordance with IMF’s and Angela Merkel’s instructions.

You may think that all of the above sounds more like a sci-fi movie scenario rather than a tangible reality. You may still feel secure and that your new government will protect you. Today, Angela Merkel has announced that Ireland must take cruel measures in order to fulfill its “obligation” to its creditors –are you absolutely sure that your livelihood and work are protected? Are you absolutely sure that you live in another, safer world, where it is impossible to find yourselves walking in the shoes of the 300 migrant workers?

Nevertheless, solidarity to the 300 does not have exclusively to do with the plans of global capitalism. Solidarity to the 300 has more to do with a strong moral obligation to protect human dignity and rights, especially when, as immigrants, both the Irish and the Greek people throughout history have faced their cruel uprooting from their homelands, have both suffered from poverty, hunger and desperation, have felt what it means to be a stranger in a strange land.

Although thousands of miles separate our countries, our nations’ stories share common ground. For hundreds of years we both have fought for our dignity and independence against conquerors and oppressive regimes. For almost 2 centuries, millions of Irish and Greeks were forced to leave their families and homeland behind, in order to seek a better, safer future in unknown, hostile land. These millions of immigrants have felt racism and humiliation to their bones. For years, even decades, our immigrant grandparents and relatives were invisible to the “others”, the “legal” ones, the ones that were safe.

But no one is safe anymore. And anyone who believes they are, simply refuse to face reality.

Dear Comrades in Ireland,

This is not a call for philanthropy. This is a call for solidarity to 300 proud and brave people who are determined to sacrifice their life in order to claim their right to a better future. They want the same thing our forefathers wanted when they decided to migrate. They are not strangers, they are not invisible, they are not disposable. They are dignified human beings who teach us a hard lesson about true struggle.

Let’s not forget our history. Let’s not forget our past. Let’s not allow their present to become ours and our children’s future.

Signed: A Greek in papers, but immigrant in heart…

SOLIDARITY IS OUR WEAPON

NO HUMAN IS ILLEGAL