Speech of Pambis Kyritsis, General Secretary of the Panhcyprian Federation of Labour (PEO), at the mass common International Workers May Day meeting
1st May 2014, Nicosia
Together with the working people all over the world, we
honour yet again with all the glory it deserves, the International day of struggle and class solidarity of the working people, Red Workers May Day.
We pay homage and tribute to the Martyrs of Chicago who by rising up and resisting the brutal exploitation, showed the way and became the symbol of the struggle for the working class.
Today our memory goes back to our vanguard workers, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, who, despite the cruel colonial slavery and terror exerted by the bosses in the 1920’s, boldly raised the Red flag of Workers May Day and marched in the spirit of internationalism and class unity.
Today our thoughts are naturally with the fraternal and brother people of Palestine who is continuing to assert the right to have a homeland and future; with the Syrian people who are suffering from the civil war clashes that are the result of foreign interventions; with suffering and stricken Africa; with the Cuba of our hearts and with struggling Latin America.
Ukraine has been added to the list of countries facing the horrors of war. The adventurist policy of the West has sparked a dangerous domino of developments that brings this country to the brink of civil war, with incalculable consequences for the region and the world.
We are in full solidarity with the peoples struggling for national independence, peace, democracy, political and social rights.
Dear friends,
The crisis of globalized neoliberal capitalism is dramatically intensifying social conflicts and resulting in growing inequality and discrimination.
Working people’s rights and gains are under an all-out attack.
Today Europe itself is also facing social misery and mass deprivation.
With the neoliberal policies of austerity and Memoranda, the European Union is not being led to the path of recovery and growth, but is instead sinking further into poverty, unemployment and recession.
Here in Cyprus, the Troika and the conservative forces in power are imposing through blackmail and by projecting dilemmas, the well-known neoliberal prescriptions of austerity, privatizations and the abolition of the welfare state. Employers are exploiting conditions of fear and working people’s insecurity and increasing the exploitation, violating rights and undermining collective agreements. The government and the ruling forces are celebrating because they are implementing the Memorandum, and receiving the Troika’s applause and congratulations. They make no mention however of the 80,000 unemployed and the fact that one in two young people are without a job; no mention of the thousands of pensioners living on the verge of survival; of the 45,000 people living on charity and food banks; of the 15,000 children in need of school rations to be able to follow their classes.
Our Turkish Cypriot compatriots have been suffering for some years from the same policies of misery and the degradation of their living standards because of the imposition of such measures by Turkey.
It’s amazing how common the characteristics of these programs are.
It is clear that the prescribers of these recipes are basically the same. It is very clear that that the mechanisms created to oversee and monitor capitalist globalization are behind both the Troika and Turkey.
In these conditions, the only dignified response for the class-based trade union movement in our country is the organization of the reaction and resistance of the people and workers against the neoliberal recipes and policies.
We must not allow fatalism and disappointment to prevail in society at large.
We surge forward.
We mobilise working people; create and forge fronts of struggle; unite forces. We join ranks firmly with the Party of the working people in a common struggle for progressive political and social developments and create pre-conditions for another path and perspective, namely the path of development and dignity
The Pancyprian Federation of Labour PEO, in line with the decision of its General Council, will work hard to strengthen AKEL-Left-New Forces in the upcoming elections for the European Parliament to be held on 25th May.
By going to the poll box and voting AKEL-Left-New Forces, working people’s vote assumes true value. It contributes to the strengthening of the forces who believe in the vision of a different Europe, the Europe of the peoples and workers; to the strengthening of the forces struggling for stable and lasting peace and the reunification of our homeland and people. These forces are combatting the anti-peoples, neoliberal policies and are defending development and growth, the welfare state and social justice.
It is true that many workers and progressive people are thinking of not even going to vote because they are angry with the European Union and its policies; because they feel that the EU is hostile towards them and hence, they consider it is best to abstain. Abstention however is not an option.
We urge all those who are entitled, to vote in these elections, not to be indifferent. In fact by abstaining, we facilitate the enemies of the working class. The reproduction of the existing political order, which cares only for the privileged few and ignores the many, suits these enemies of the working class.
Fellow compatriots,
Tonight we are all here, together, because we are united by a common class identity and a shared vision for peace and the reunification of our motherland and people. We know that no gain of the working people can be permanent and stable, as long as our country remains divided by the force of arms. The presence of foreign troops continues and is perpetuated.
Strongly and steadfastly, we continue the struggle for a bi-communal, bi-zonal federal solution with political equality, as set out by the relevant UN resolutions, which provide for a single state with a single sovereignty, a single citizenship and a single international personality.
We are continuing the struggle for a Cyprus without foreign military presence, without protectors and “guardians”. This is the solution that will above all serve Cypriots and that will turn our country into a bridge of peace and security for our entire region.
In today’s conditions, such a solution will also serve as a starting point to boost economic activity and create pre-conditions for a recovery and progress for its people as a whole, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.
The talks are the only way that can lead to a peaceful and agreed solution, which is why we consider the resumption of intercommunal talks as a positive development and back the procedure.
Today’s leaders must continue the negotiations from where they left off. This is the only way to avoid wasting time, evasive actions and moves and sliding in a barren blame game. Let’s utilise and take advantage of the convergences agreed by Christofias and Talat and let us build on them, that the hopes of the people are strengthened and rejuvenated.
Compatriots,
This evening our feelings, emotions and pride are indescribable.
Naturally and spontaneously our memory goes back to that black Workers May Day in 1958; to the terror attacks waged against us, to the blackmail exerted to force us to sign statements of devotion to a “national spirit” and declaring workers withdrawal from the ranks of PEO.
We solemnly and respectfully bow our heads before the heroes of the Cypriot working class, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, who were the victims of bigotry, intolerance and chauvinism; victims of the policy of “divide and rule”. Their only “crime” – their love for their homeland, their belief that workers have nothing to gain by division and separation, but have much to gain from their unity, brotherhood and solidarity.
Tonight they are marching with us….Ahmet Sadi and his heroic wife, Fazil Ondur, Ahmed Yahya, Mihalis Petrou, Ttofaris and Menoikos, Kostas Mishaoulis and Dervis Ali Kavazoglou, and many, many others. All of them, our martyrs, are here with us tonight, with their red scarves, giving us strength and courage.
The tree of cooperation and joint action between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots cannot be uprooted, because its roots are soaked with the blood of our comrades.
They are fooling themselves, all those who believe that by terror and the revival of fascist methods it is possible to uproot this tree of cooperation and joint action between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. The people experienced them and as they condemned them in the past, so will they condemn them now, as common criminals.
Tonight we reaffirm our commitment: We raise our fist again!
Faithful to the legacy and ideals of the heroic pioneers of the Chicago workers, we continue to hold high our red flags! We do so because we do not compromise with the partition of our country and people; because we not compromise with the misery of the Memoranda and neoliberal prescriptions and policies; because the Cyprus we dream and fight for is the Cyprus of peace, social justice, prosperity and progress, reunited, the common Homeland of all its children.
For such a vision, for such a future, it is worth selflessly devoting and giving all of our forces.
– Long live the solidarity and brotherhood of the working people!
– Long live the Workers May Day!
– Long live Cyprus!
