More than 50 thousand in Athens, 10,000 in Thessaloniki, 8,000 in Patras, 1,500 in Heraklion and thousands more in other cities turned out on day 1 of simultaneous demonstrations. The setup is similar to Spain; no flags, no colours, no political parties, a good spirit, a peaceful mood and highly elevated culture of demonstration allowing people all over Greece to take the first step and declare themselves ready to proceed. On the one hand it is evident that the one year period under the “memorandum” (the austerity measures imposed on the Greek people) has dramatically changed the economic and psychological conditions of the population as a result of which they have completely lost faith in the whole political system. And the main demand is also the same: REAL DEMOCRACY NOW, no to political corruption and the exit of the country from the economic dictatorship of the troika (The three-way alliance of the IMF, the EU and the European Central Bank).
During these last 12 months, any demonstration by the people has been either poor in participation and creativity or has turned into violent conflict. But on the contrary, the 25th of May has turned the table round with massive participation, peaceful demonstrations and the feeling that this time something is changing. People remember the fall of the dictatorship in ’74, even remembering slogans of that period like the famous “Bread, Education, Freedom” but most of all they feel that a new hope is rising which is based upon the spirit of active nonviolence. Formal democracy has fallen in the eyes of the crowd because they have come to realise that they can no longer trust this corrupt system. And furthermore, that sometimes we can overcome this thick line of frustration and experience moments when the feeling of the people around us inspires a vision of a better world. The penalisation of the freedom to dream is no longer valid. People are starting to realise that their lives are better without fear, revenge and violence in their personal and social lives and lastly that they live better when they are ready to assert the conditions in which they want to live in.
A new civilisation is rising, the civilisation of nonviolence. The economic hit-men of all kinds (politicians, bankers, the military, the IMF, etc.,) have provoked this awakening, far more than the necessity of having a more decent standard of living; they have awoken a moral revolution that has put on trial all the different forms of oppression exercised by this violent system. They have caused people to imagine living in a world free of violence. And as we know all great steps in human history have started when we allowed ourselves to imagine them.
This revolution is changing us both externally and internally. Externally because we feel that the time has come for the international monstrosity of this monetary system to collapse. We feel closer to Africa, we feel closer in general to the outrageous figure of 80% of the world population living on less than US$ 2.50 a day. We feel closer to the threat from 5,000 nuclear bombs on the planet that are ready for immediate us, we feel closer to Fukushima, closer to Libya. We feel closer to all the countries that have been invaded by the IMF who have ignored the needs of the local population and instead imposed poverty on them. But this revolution is also changing us internally. Because we are starting to feel ready to recognise the violence inside of us, ready for healthier relationships with our families and friends, ready to build in solidarity, ready to learn to treat others as we would like to be treated, ready to abandon this “comfortable” numbness we feel and start the real journey of our lives; the search for a meaning in life that unites in the same direction what we think, what we feel and finally what we do.
Our causes are deep, our means are right, our spirit is strong.
