Greece is again facing a fresh round of civil disobedience on part of the citizens as they feel infuriated on the engagement of the monitors of IMF and the EU into their national sovereignty. Although guaranteed by the Prime Minister, George Papandreou, to provide necessary breathing space, it has been looked upon with suspicious eyes and to provide too much sovereignty of Greece to its international creditors. Angered  Greeks are asking how much say they will have in their own affairs after the EU made clear that monitors would be relocated to Athens to supervise the economy to help clear its debts and also to rebuild and restructure it . On Friday, the Greek citizens carried “Merkel = Hitler” banners, some burned German flags, and disrupted national parades commemorating Greece’s entry into the Second World War. The civil disobedience movement first began when the Greeks refused to pay road taxes and also the ministries and government buildings being taken over by them through strikes and protests.

Also, last week’s decision at an EU summit to write off 50% of Greece’s debt while giving Athens another €130bn (£114bn) as rescue funds, appears only to add on more resistance from the citizens. They fear the deal will add on more burdens on top of wage, pension and benefit cuts already enforced by the socialist government in exchange for the foreign aid it needs to pay off.

The member of the political parties also seems not to be affected from all of this as Yiannis Dimaras, who was expelled from his own ruling Pasok party in June as he refused to endorse the arbitrary cost-cutting measures demanded in return for a second aid package 14 months after Athens was first bailed out to the tune of €110bn was quoted saying that Greeks are a proud people and the EU should bear this in mind. The prospect of more measures will bring more social explosions. The civil disobedience that we are seeing is not only about the protests but also about people who don’t have the money to pay these taxes. How can someone who earns €500 a month suddenly be called on to pay a property tax? The government I think is going to have huge difficulty enforcing this.

Nothing have, but the newly imposed property taxes seem to have angered the public opinion   although the finance ministry says that it was necessary measure on part of the government as due to huge tax evasion the government owes  €40bn in unpaid taxes.

The country is facing its worst recession in 40 years. The Greek citizens are facing more  austerity to shoulder Greece’s huge debt burden, this year which is e expected to exceed €350bn which is more than €30,000 per inhabitant — more than one and a half time the average per capita GDP. Migrating to the United Kingdom, Germany or further away to Australia or the United States are seeming to be much better option among the students, jobless youth or families  nowadays as unemployment has jumped to more than 16 percent, well above the euro zone’s 10 percent average

The new reason, also which is adding up to the protest right now is the government’s announcement to failure to pay off the newly levied propey tax will automatically result in cutting off power supplies. Bur the sales of generators have shot up as households have decided to resist the further arbitrary measures by the government its tax collection through highly charged electricity bills.

Nikos Fotopoulos who heads the union of DEH, which recently took over printing press of the public power corporation, the statutory body authorized by the government to provide electricity to the citizens cited. We are not going to do the government’s dirty work; electricity is a social commodity, not a means to collect taxes. We will do everything to ensure that unemployed people, poor people do not have their electricity cut.

Civil disobedience in Greece finds a new reason to continue

News reported by Indrani Chowdury