As Greece faces the most important election in a generation, its public healthcare system is on the verge of total collapse, with many hospitals forced to cancel operations. Greek documentary maker Aris Chatzistefanou, whose films Debtocracy and Catastroika have made him one of the most exciting young voices in Europe was given access to Nikaia hospital to meet the doctors struggling to keep their patients ...

Saturday June 16th Solidarity rally 15:00 Beursplein, Amsterdam From Athens to Amsterdam: NO to the cutbacks! Solidarity with the Greek resistance against European austerity The developments in Greece concern all of us. The long-lasting implementation of harsh austerity measures has led the country into a deep social crisis. The EU and the IMF demand the continuation of these disastrous policies in Greece a ...

We live in Europe where currently any alternative suggestion about how to structure our society and economy is met with negative criticism by the media and the vast majority of our society. Any movement or development that questions the “economic orthodoxy” is treated at best as non realistic and at worst as dangerous. At the same time, the rise of nationalism, racism, fascism and Nazism does not seem to ra ...

NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING ECONOMIST Paul Krugman has advised Irish voters to vote No in Thursday’s referendum on the Fiscal Compact. “I’ve thought about it, it’s hard. I would say vote No,” he said on BBC Radio 4 this morning. Krugman dismissed the suggestion that a No vote would anger Germany and see Ireland cut off from bailout funds or from the Eurozone. “At this point the Germans need to face the reality that ...

Solidarity actions are organised across Europe asking the Irish to vote NO for all Europeans in their referendum on the austerity treaty.   Ireland stands as the only country of the 25 signatories to the EU fiscal treaty that will subject the treaty to a referendum. On 31 May, Irish citizens will have the chance to determine their future--to say NO to permanent austerity through a rejection of the treaty. F ...

The threat of a Greek exit The escalating Greek crisis leaves Ireland and Portugal, in particular, ever more vulnerable   THE deep uncertainty over what will happen next in Greece unnerved financial markets. On May 7th the euro touched its lowest value against the dollar since January while in Athens the stockmarket fell by 7% and bank stocks by 13%. Greek bonds also took a hit, with the yield on the t ...

Athens' fondness for weaponry, and willingness of Germany and France to feed it, under fire as Greece struggles with debt crisis. A few months before submarines became the talk of Athens, Yiannis Panagopoulos, who heads the Greek trade union confederation (GSEE), found himself sitting opposite Angela Merkel at a private meeting the German chancellor had called of European trade unionists in Berlin. When it ...

Ross Domoney guardian.co.uk   Thousands of people attended the funeral on Saturday of Dimitris Christoulas, who shot himself outside the Greek parliament last week. Afterwards, anti-austerity protesters marched to Syntagma Square, where they clashed with police. A first-aid medic, who did not want to be named, said police were 'losing the monopoly on violence'     Seen at : http://www.alethei ...

In a sharp political  -and for some even “shocking” -  tone the man who committed suicidejust a couple of meters away from the Greek Parliament in the heart of Athens on Wednesday morning explained the motives for his desperate act. In a hand-written note, retired pharmacist D.X., 77, spoke of loss of dignity due to harsh austerity and wished that some day the youth of the country would take the arms and ha ...

Ian Traynor and Helena Smith in Athens The Guardian   MPs in Athens approve severe budget cuts imposed by the EU after rallies against the bill erupt in street violence. Greece enacted billions of euros in spending cuts and fresh austerity measures last night in a volatile parliamentary vote aimed at avoiding default on its national debt and keeping the eurozone intact, despite some of the worst riotin ...