The Socialist 26 June 2003

Make The Fat Cats Pay

Scrap All Tuition Fees

Stop SATS

Health Workers Strike At Sick Wages

Marching Against Global Capitalism

Support Colombian Trade Unionists - Boycott Coca-Cola

Sexual Health Crisis

RMT conference: Not A Penny More To Labour

Transport union meets as Morris bows out

Unison conference - Labour link debate

Middle East: Sharon's Deadly Assassination Squads

Exclusive - Gary Mills and Tony Poole Jailed for 14 years by a corrupt system

George Orwell: Facing Up To The Contradictions

Books that inspired me

Marseille marches to a militant beat

Previous issues, etc

Print this issue

PO Box 1398, Enfield EN1 9GT

020 8988 8777

[email protected]

Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/306/12665

Search the site	Printable version

Home | The Socialist 26 June 2003 | Join the Socialist Party

Subscribe | Donate

Marching Against Global Capitalism

AROUND 100,000 people demonstrated in Thessaloniki, Greece, on 21 June to show their opposition to the European Union summit.

Martin Powell-Davies, Thessaloniki

The march was delayed after fierce battles between several hundred anarchists and riot police. The news coverage concentrated on pictures of wrecked shops and police making arrests instead of showing tens of thousands of organised workers and youth on the march.

The demo itself went ahead peacefully - one of the liveliest, youngest contingents was from Xekinima, the Socialist Party's sister organisation in Greece. Chants, songs, drums and whistles continued all the way to the end of the march.

The Xekinima contingent swelled to well over 500 by the end. Other marchers were attracted to join us by the banners - including one showing Donald Duck and 'South Park' waging war on capitalism!

Xekinima was even more impressive on the anti-racist demo on 19 June. Around 700, including a large group of black and Asian immigrants organised by Xekinima, marched under that banner.

Joe Higgins, Socialist Party TD (MP) in the Irish Parliament, was a platform speaker at one of the main debates organised by the Greek Social Forum, who co-hosted the summit protests.

To applause, Joe said that when he speaks in the Dail (Ireland's parliament) to establishment Irish politicians, they're meant to be speaking the same language. However, he added, his condemnations of war and poverty might as well be in Greek to them, so little do they care or understand about the real problems facing working people!

Joe's speech shone a light through the fog of confused ideas from most other anti-globalisation speakers. His words could be summed up by one chant of the Xekinima contingent: "Yes, another world is possible but what kind of world should we fight for? Socialism!"

In this issue

Make The Fat Cats Pay