Catastroika Page #5

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for the energy sector...

...will open the door

to companies...

...among which the Enrons

of Greece will emerge.

The biggest such providers were

Energa and Hellas Power.

Both companies did not pay back

to the public sector expenses...

...it had assumed for electricity

production and distribution.

At some point they ceased

paying back any money,

even the amount necessary

for the energy...

...they had agreed

to purchase by contract.

They also collected the tax

added to the electricity bills...

...and the money went

straight to Switzerland.

The cases of Energa

and Hellas Power...

...are just the tip of the iceberg

of the millions of euros...

...that the deregulation costs

to greek citizens.

During the 12 years of energy

market deregulation...

...there was no decrease

of beurocracy...

...nor did the services improve...

...nor did the fuel mixture

ameliorate.

On the contrary, the energy

dependence of the country grew...

...while the bills rose by

more than 80%.

The taxpayers are

the first victims.

But employees are also affected.

Before the deregulation of the market,

that started in '98-'99,

the public power company had 35,000

employees, while today it has 22,000.

There was a considerable

personnel decrease...

...which was replaced by contractors,

contractor employees

and a lot of precarious workers.

The contractors are not

interested so much in quality.

On the contrary

it is of their interest...

...when the maintenance

is not proper.

There have also been

a lot of accidents.

Not a year goes by without two,

three or four lethal accidents.

Indifferent to the public interest

and the consequences on society,

the parties supporting

the memorandum now promote...

...more privatization

of the public power company.

Its real value,

according to the official data,

is 16-17 billion euros.

How much is it valued

in the greek stockmarket?

Unit five that is planned

to be built in Ptolemaida...

...has a budget of 1.5 billion.

The whole company will be sold...

for a price lower than the cost

of one of its units.

The greek people paid...

...for the electricity networks

to reach even the smallest village...

...and these networks will now

be exploited by private companies.

Most of these private companies...

...feed off the state

and earn instead of offering.

The public power company was not built

by the private sector.

It operated for 60 years

thanks to the public's money.

It brought electricity

to the whole country.

It is ours

and we cannot give it away.

A lot of examples from around

the world prove that...

...privatisation affects negatively

citizens, workers and services.

Today, privatization is presented

as necessary...

...in order to cope

with the debt crisis.

However, even privatization

advocates disagree.

The world crisis that the private

sector has created...

...becomes a pretext for a general

attack against public assets.

An attack that is sometimes

disguised.

Privatisation does not concern

only the cases...

...when whole services

are taken away from the state,

in the form of, let's say,

concessions.

It is also privatisation

when universities are evaluated...

...not for the level of education

they provide...

...but according to how attractive

this education is to the market.

The privatisation effort

is expanded...

...even to what Marx

called "general intellect",

namely, the accumulated social

and technological knowledge...

...that produces the wealth

of a society.

However, the effort

to privatise everything...

...leads to the emergence

of strong resistance by the people,

who realize that everything

can change...

...if there is political will.

The problems of the economy aren't

mainly legal; they are political.

When a political decision is taken,

everything can be reversed.

The answer to privatisation,

however,

cannot be the return to the situation

that brought us where we stand.

The goal is for public property

to be controlled...

...by those who created it:

the workers.

The Greek people must fight for that,

because, if it doesn't,

it won't be able to rise up again.

Will the modern man be able

to fight his tendency...

...to be inactive, to stay silent?

Besides, Thucydides has

already said that:

It's either freedom or tranquility.

You need to choose.

You will either be free

or tranquile.

You can't have both.

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