At the very moment when the IMF began to hint that the privatisations and restructurings imposed by the Troika in exchange for loans – supposedly targeted at reducing the sovereign debt of Greece – are in fact leading the country to ruin, the very same Troika – of which the European Commission and the ECB are also part – has gone to Athens to renew its demands. It has done so in a way which has led to the Greek government deciding to accelerate the submission of Greece to neoliberal dictatorship both inside and outside the country. The brutal closing of the public television ERT, through methods which resemble a coup de force, constitute at once a grave attack to the liberty of expression and information – contrary to the founding treaties of the European Union – and a further example of the way in which the EU is evolving towards authoritarianism in spite of the interest of its peoples. We, European citizens, cannot and should not accept this. We call on all our fellow citizens to show their indignation and to support the general strike of Greek journalists and workers. We demand from our representatives in Strasbourg and Brussels that they press for the immediate reopening of ERT and the resuming of its emissions. The time has come to put an end to the destruction of the Greek nation, as well as to the deformation of Europe by its own governments subjected to the dictates of the financial oligarchy.
Étienne Balibar