Moviment Graffitti, together with members of the Greek community in Malta, held a gathering today to express its solidarity with the Greek people and its support for a social Europe.

They said that tomorrow, the Greeks will vote in a referendum on whether to accept or reject the harsh austerity measures “imposed by the Troika (International Monetary Fund, European Commission and the European Central Bank) as a condition for loaning money.”

Moviment Graffitti in a statement said, “we support the decision of the Greek Government to hold a referendum on this matter and unreservedly condemn all efforts by European and international institutions to undermine the Greek democratic process.

“This referendum should serve as a breath of fresh air to all Europeans as it contrasts with the top-down imposition of economic measures from unelected powers that we have become accustomed to.”

The NGO added that the “European Central Banks’s decision to stop liquidity to Greek banks and the bellicose declarations from European figures point to an increasingly authoritarian Europe where the neoliberal ideology of giving power to markets and those holding financial strength is becoming dominant. We augur that, notwithstanding all this pressure and blackmail, the Greeks will vote NO to more austerity measures that are destroying their country.”

“Money loaned by the troika since 2010 was given under conditions that made the Greek economy shrink, have driven tens of thousands into poverty and drastically increased unemployment.”

Moviment Graffitti pointed out that it was in fact, clear from the beginning that Greece “would have never been in a position to return the money loaned – this was just used as a political tool to impose on Greece specific economic measures based on a neoliberal ideology.”

The NGO said, “bullying, blackmail and patronising attitudes by the troika intensified when the Greeks elected a left-wing government earlies this year. The troika kept wanting to impose economic measures that would completely destroy the Greek economy and rejected the Greek proposal to increase taxes for the rich.”

“Instead, it insisted on penalising pensioners, workers and the most vulnerable. Clearly, these were political choices aimed at imposing a specific ideology on Greece and at undermining the elected left-wing Government,” said Moviment Graffitti.

“Moreover, it is important to highlight that almost none of the money loaned by the troika reached the Greek population since this was used to save European banks that had given money to corrupt Greek governments. It’s ironic that the political figures and parties that had led those Greek governments are now calling for a Yes vote to austerity measures.”

Moviment Graffitti concluded, “we note with disappointment that the Maltese Government has shown its support to the troika’s push for measures detrimental to Greek society and economy and has joined others in showing contempt for the Greek democratic process. In contrast to this, today we are here to show our stance in favour of a democratic Europe which values social justice.”

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