ernment of Prime Minister Kostas Mitsotakis, has been shaken to its foundations by the mass occupation of Greek high schools, polytechnics and colleges by the students for the past seven weeks. 2,500 high schools and 80% of higher education faclities have been occupied, reports ALAN THORNETT. The militancy of the students and the scale of the actions took the authorities completely by surprise. At first they said the occupations were illegal and ordered the students to leave, but then realised that they were too big to deal with by force and took no action.
The protests had began in early December after the minister of education announced a "multi-education Bill". This involved big cuts in funding to Greece's crumbling education system and the closure of many of the schools and colleges and the promotion of private education.
It was also linked to a series of disciplinary measures against the students, and included various EC measures and a tightening of discipline. New criteria for absences included a disciplinary points system which would also be affected by things done outside of school hours. Too many points could result in lengthy suspension from school. The Bill also included regulations on dress and against trade union organisation in the schools.
Occupations started in Crete and quickly spread through the provinces eventually to Athens. The 24-hour occupations continued throughout the Christmas holiday period with the escalating politicisation of those involved.
Teachers, who had already been in conflict with the government over pay and conditions, supported the protest after the authorities demanded that they monitor the student activists in the occupations. They called a half day strike on the first day of the term.
After failing to end the occupations, New Democracy thugs organised bands of so-called "angry parents" to evict the occupiers from some of the schools. On Tuesday January 8th a 38 year old teacher, Nikos Tempongras, was beaten to death in Patras, in the North West of Greece, by a local New Democracy councillor with an iron bar at the Page 12
GULF SPECIAL head of such a group of "parents".
Police atlack demonstrators
The following day, Wednesday, an ad-hoe committee of students and teachers, meeting at 2am, announced a demonstration for 1pm that afternoon in Athens: it mobilised 40,000 people.
On Thursday a second demonstration was called by the student coordination committee, in which over 100,000 students took to the streets of Athens - the biggest demonstration in Greece for many years. Patras itself was gripped by repeated mass demonstrations and a virtual general strike at the time of the funeral of the murdered teacher. That night the minister of education resigned.
That same night, police attacked students in Athens city centre. Huge battles followed which went on all night. 3,500 tear gas canisters were fired and a shop close to Omonia Square was set on fire by a tear gas canister which went in through the window. Four people were trapped inside and were burmed to death. Fire fighters were prevented from fighting the fire by the police and the tear gas.
Ministers tried to blame the demonstrators, arguing that it is impossible for a tear gas canister to start a fire. Even the store owner and the fire fighters blamed the police. The goverment case fell apart dramatically when it emerged that police tear gas canisters carry a warning that they could start a fire!
The following day in a show of unity between workers and the students, 70,000 workers tumed out on a demonstration called by the Greek trade unions. A 48-hour strike closed all schools, and strikes disrupted industries and services in many parts of Greece.
The occupation movement reached its height in mid-January with schools and colleges transformed into hives of political activity - and with slogans and demands ranging from more money for education to the resignation of the goverment and the ending of the Gulf war.
Self-organisation has been remarkable. From an early stage general meetings of the students began to take all decisions through a coordinating committee which they established. The whole movement, for the first time in Greece, has been competely outside the official organisations of the students. The students" union not only failed to lead, but failed even to follow the movement of the students, and was left far behind.
This was dramatically demonstrated when the government, in the shape of the newly appointed education minister, was forced to negotiated directly with the unofficial students' coordinating committee, and not the official organisations.
None of the major political parties, Pasok or the Communist Party (KKE) supported the movement of the students.
I visited a huge polytechnic complex in a suburb of Athens on January 20 in the middle of the night. There were several hundred students in the building, with committees meeting, political discussions, and social activities going on. They had lighting and heating, and controlled the whole premises including the administration offices, with telephones and fax machines, and the canteen. There were students on the main gates checking those going in and out.
One of the organisers told me that "There has been a politicisation, a very important one, at the base of the movement. This is the generation which had lost its self confidence. Now there is a very big change of consciousness. It was slow in the beginning. But after the killing of the teacher, the rise in consciousness was very fast".
The government has now conceded most of the demands of the students, although the occupations are continuing. The whole package of reforms has been withdrawn - which is a huge victory. But the govemment has only agreed to put 20bn Drachma more into education - which is a fraction of what the students are demanding.
The occupations, however, will have a major impact on Greek politics. They are a huge boost to both the labour and student movement after the shock of the election of a right wing Thatcherite-type government -which moved against the unions with anti-union laws and the students though the education reforms.
Can the New Democracy government survive? We may not have to wait long to see. Any goverment which has to make concessions to a popular movement in this way has very big problems. One thing is clear, however: a new radical generation of students has been created by this struggle which will have a positive impact on Greek politics for some time to come. SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 30, February 1991
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