Read about the process and outcome of the referendum here.
Thessaloniki
is a lively sprawling metropolis located in the north of Greece. As with the
rest of the country, it is affected by increasing unemployment and poverty, a
result of the government's Troika-dictated policies, which have driven the
economy into a deep recession.
In order to open the democratic dialogue on which is the most socially and environmentally responsible model of water management, the citizens of Thessaloniki first have to confront the threat of privatisation.
May 2014
In Greece, as
in many other countries in the past, disaster capitalism has utilized the
sovereign debt crisis -that it also helped produce- as an excuse to push forward an
aggressive campaign of neoliberal plunder: Attack on the populations' social, political
and labour rights, dismantling of the health and education system, massive dispossession
through mega-mining projects, and privatisation of everything that constitutes
the public wealth. Again, as in many other cases, the government and the media
are mindlessly repeating neoliberalism's favourite mantra: "there is no
alternative".
In this
context, as part of the terms of the loathed "memorandum" imposed by the IMF, in 2011 the government
announced its plans to privatize EYATH, the state-managed company providing the
city's 1.5 million inhabitants with water and sanitation services. Suez, the water sector giant, was quick to express interest in profitable EYATH. As of
May 2014, the privatization process is underway, and two bidders, French Suez
and Israeli Mekorot, have advanced to the second phase of the public tender.
Despite the
blackmail and propaganda, the citizens of Thessaloniki and their organizations
have been opposing the government's plan to sell off the company for three years now. They have managed to put the issue in the public agenda and provide
concrete evidence on how privatisation of water services worldwide has
invariably led to increases in tariffs, deterioration of the infrastructure,
decrease in water quality, and the exclusion of great parts of the population
from access to this vital common good.
Through
their participation in the global and European movement for the defence of water, the Greek civil society organizations have found out how the model of
privatisation that the government now tries to forcefully impose has failed in
dozens of cities around the world, prompting the municipal authorities of a
long list of cities to take back water management, in a worldwide shift towards remunicipalisation.
Indeed, the
citizens of the EU are waking up to the fact that water management should be
public, democratic and transparent. Nearly 2 million people in 28 countries
have backed the European Citizens’ Initiative against water privatisation, Right 2 Water. The results of the ECI were presented to the European Parliament
on 17 February 2014, forcing EMPs of all political persuasions to acknowledge
that water privatisation is extremely unpopular in the EU, and obliging the European Commission to exclude it from the concessions directive.
With the
tide turning away from privatisation worldwide, the Greek government remains
isolated and has a very hard time convincing the citizens that “there is no
alternative”. Indeed there are plenty of alternatives proposed regarding water
management in Thessaloniki, all with a view to safeguard this vital good and
ensure social justice and equal access.
Many
citizens and organizations want to uphold state management, which has ensured
reasonable tariffs to this day. Some others think that water management is more
appropriately the task of municipal authorities. The Regional Union of Municipalities has already declared its interest in creating an inter-municipal
water management authority. A third and innovative proposal comes from Initiative 136, a grassroots movement organising the citizens of Thessaloniki in local
non-profit water cooperatives, which will unite to manage the water company
under the principles of direct democracy, social justice, participation and
accountability.
But in
order to open the democratic dialogue on which is the most socially and
environmentally responsible model of water management, the citizens of
Thessaloniki have to face the common threat of privatisation. There is mounting
social, political and legal pressure against selling off the company, and both
local and national polls show that about 75% of the population opposes the
measure. And with a Council of State (Greece’s supreme administrative court) decision pending regarding
the constitutionality of the privatization, the process is now stalled, despite
the best efforts of the neoliberal government.
In this political
context, the numerous collectives and institutions that defend water as a
common good and as a human right (SOSte To Nero, Initiative 136, EYATH Workers' Union, Water
Warriors, Open Assembly of Citizens for Water, and the Regional Union of Municipalities
to name but a few) decided to step up the political pressure by organising a
city-wide referendum regarding the privatisation of EYATH. The referendum is
non-binding, as the Greek legal framework does not allow consulting the
population on government policy unless it is ratified by presidential decree or
an enhanced majority in the parliament. However, the organizers are certain it
will make evident the overwhelming opposition of the population towards the
privatization, and it will serve as a manifestation of popular will.
The date was
set for 18 May 2014, at the same time as the first round of the municipal and
regional elections, and a week before the European elections. It is a genuinely
grassroots effort which is mobilising
thousands of volunteers who will set up ballot boxes outside the electoral
centres of Thessaloniki's metropolitan area. Despite their limited funds and the
hostile stance of corporate mass media, the campaigners have managed to cut through the despair, resignation and apathy brought about by 4 years of frontal attack on people's lives. Feeling the warmth of international solidarity, the campaigners have informed and engaged Thessaloniki’s population, and they are now in a creative frenzy to ensure the
organization of the referendum is efficient and transparent.
As economic
governance gets more and more removed from the interests of the population that
it claims to represent, the task now lies with the citizens to claim their
basic rights, reinvent democracy and protect the common goods through popular
initiatives. Greece, global capitalism's latest experiment in accumulation by
dispossession, foreshadows the bleak future that the corporate elites
have in store for Europe's population. But the Greek social movements and
organisations do not intend to be passive observers to the corporate plunder. To the
blunt repetition that “there is no alternative” they shout out that “there are
plenty of alternatives” as long as the organised society unleashes its
creativity and stands up for its rights and for its common goods.