Speech of the General Secretary of AKEL A. Kyprianou at the mass rally to honour International Workers’ Day
1st May 2019, Freedom Square, Nicosia
Today we honour International Workers’ Day.
We pay tribute to all those who dared; those who stood up to be counted.
We honour all those who showed the way in Cyprus, Europe and the whole world.
We honour those who raised their fists and asserted; those who defied the terror unleashed, the violence and repression.
We honour those who waged struggles and won battles for themselves, for their own class and for the future generations.
The 8 hour working day, social insurance, medical health care, security, dignity of the working people, and many other gains, all bear the indelible stamp of the class-based trade union movement and our Party. Today, after decades of bloody struggles through which the pioneers won gains for working people, we are again called upon to defend these fundamental gains.
The economic crisis offered the pretext for the economic oligarchy to seek the abolition of labour rights and rights. Working people’s gains as regards labour and social rights have been targeted, especially since the Anastasiades-DISY government came to power. This government follows a vicious class policy that wants the many to bear the burdens and pay the price, while the privileged few get even richer.
The criminal decisions taken by Mr. Anastasiades and the Eurogroup in March 2013 drove non-performing loans to unprecedented levels. All the decisions that DISY – together with the support of the leaders of Democratic Party DIKO and in part of Social democratic EDEK – promoted in parliament, strengthened the banks and left borrowers at their mercy. Today, hundreds of our fellow citizens are on the verge of despair, as their properties, jobs and homes are threatened with auctions and foreclosures.
We can still hear in our ears the statement of DISY President “I’m tired of voting bills for the banks”. Nonetheless, DISY together with DIKO and far-right ELAM, also agreed to hit the final nail in the coffin that sent public debt soaring and put billions of Euros of debts on the backs of future generations, namely the sellout of the Cyprus Cooperative Bank. These “expert” economists who deliver lessons to all, have made a new record. According to recent figures released by Eurostat, Cyprus has the third highest public debt across the European Union with 102.5% of GDP.
They blame others, while they are the ones condemning young people. They have condemned young people to work for 600 and 700 euros a month despite the fact they have degrees and postgraduate degrees. They have condemned them to not being able to start their lives, not even able to rent a 2-room flat, not able to make any dreams. The profitable business of granting “golden passports” to their own favoured people has raised the price of rents and the cost of housing has skyrocketed. They have condemned the majority of the young generation to not being able to have their own home; condemned dozens of people not even to have a roof over their heads. The austerity they have imposed has condemned thousands of people to wait in endless waiting lines in public hospitals, a situation resembling conditions in underdeveloped countries.
The worst of all is that they have destroyed the last hope of our people: the hope that our country will be rid of the occupation soon and that it will be reunited. Mr. Anastasiades is in danger of going down in history as the President of partition, if he doesn’t understand soon the need to act with consistency, determination and commitment to the agreed framework of the solution; if he doesn’t taken initiatives for a resumption of substantive negotiations as soon as possible from where we had remained at Crans Montana and on the basis of the Guterres Framework.
These are all issues which the majority of society is concerned about. All these issues generate rage, anger and indignation. These issues affect the present condition and future of working people and the majority of the Cypriot people.
This poses the following very clear dilemmas to everyone:
Do we want democracy for all or for the elite that will serve the privileged few?
Do we want a state that takes care of all or that will promote interwoven interests that serve the few?
Do we want an economy that invests in production and knowledge or a “get-rich-quick” mentality with the construction of towers and casinos?
Do we want wealth to generate prosperity for all or to end up in the hands of the few, along with increasing inequality?
Do we want Cyprus and Europe to serve the needs of the many or the interests of the privileged few?
We call on every worker, young person and logical person who wants a different Cyprus, who wants an alternative path for him/herself, family, society and country to fight with us. So long as each and every one is alone, we are weak. So long as he/she is alone, nothing will change. Together we all have the strength. Together we can turn things around. Everyone together, together with AKEL – the political force that can struggle for the many, for their needs and problems so that we can turn the page.
Let’s move forward to assert together:
– Measures against precarious employment and the purchase of services by private interests,
– Restoration of the social housing programs offered by the Cyprus Land Development Agency,
– Restoration of wages,
– Public, free and quality health care for all through the National Health Scheme,
– Minimum terms of employment with rights for all,
– Legally binding implementation of Collective Agreements,
– Establishment of a Central Housing Policy Agency,
– Increase in rent allowance to Guaranteed Minimum Income recipients and the refugees,
– Rent subsidy scheme for low-income families.
We must all fight together with our Turkish Cypriot compatriots to get rid of the barbed wires of division and the occupation army, to reunite our homeland and build together days of peace, progress and prosperity.
We call every working man and woman, every young person, every logical person who wants another Cyprus and a different path for himself/herself, family, society, and the country to strengthen his/her power; to give strength to his/her voice.
By voting for AKEL-Left New Forces in the upcoming European elections.
To send a message to the Anastasiades-DISY Government and tell them:
No more! We’ve had enough!
Enough of their arrogance, authoritarianism and insensitivity!
Enough of the mockery, lies and policies that are enriching the few and impoverishing the many!
On 26th May, we shall strengthen AKEL’s voice in Cyprus and Europe. On 26th May we shall convey the message that we are ever present, and strong; that we are the force that can assert and fight for another Cyprus, another Europe.
Long live International Workers Day!