The “Won’t Pay” Citizens’ Disobedience in Greece

http://www.transform-network.net/uploads/media/transform_newsletter_5_2011_01.pdf

Since the beginning of February, an unprecedented movement has been taking place in Greece: the “Won’t Pay” movement, organized by citizens’ initiatives and parties of the Left, mainly SYRIZA. The cause of the movement was a 40% rise of ticket prices for Public Transport in Athens and Salonika. In Athens, the cost of the ticket rose from 1 Euro (50 cents for students, members of big families, disabled people etc.) to 1.40 Euro (70 cents with the discount).

Athens has a rather large network of Public Transportation, consisting by buses, trolleys, trams, underground lines, electric and suburban railways. Due to the city’s overpopulation, it is of utmost importance for residents, both for their transportation and air pollution, to have a properly working Public Transportation System that would encourage people to use their cars less frequently. So, the reaction of the movement was immediate, deciding not to pay for a single ticket as long as the new price is in force.

The response to the movement is quite encouraging, judging from the passengers’ reaction and their answers in various gallops. The Greek government claims that the rise is essential in order to reduce the transportation companies’ deficit. Nevertheless, as the President of Synaspismos, Alexis Tsipras, indicated, the total annual income of Athens’ Public Transport System is 250 million Euros. At the same time, due to the government’s decision to reduce the tax rate of large companies by 4%, the state loses 400 million Euros annually, showing that the rise of the ticket price is completely unjustified, especially considering that unemployment as well as flexible and uninsured employment keep rising in Greece, and the average income is being reduced.

Another type of the “Won’t Pay” movement had started a few months earlier, with the denial to pay the toll for the Greek national railways. The railways are being constructed with Public- Private Partnerships, and the Constructing Companies are entitled to collect the toll for 10 or 15 years. A few years now, there have been some attempts to create an anti-toll movement, claiming that it is against the law of the European Union to put tolls on a highway with less than three traffic lanes, and one which is still being under construction. Almost every weekend, groups of activists raise the bars of the tolls, letting the drivers go through without paying. The movement points out that there are so many toll stations on Greek roads that in order to travel from Athens to Salonika one may have to pay up to 20 Euros, even though all drivers have to pay motor vehicle taxes as well. The last episode of this series is that police officers have been positioned at many toll stations to prevent drivers leaving without paying. This situation, with policemen acting as clerks of the constructing companies, is attributed by some newspapers to the fact that their owners are (unofficially) sponsoring the Greek police’s supply of patrol cars!

What causes the situation to be a bit more complicated and difficult is that the owners of the large constructing companies also own big private TVstations, newspapers and radio stations. As a result, a huge attack is taking place of the movement, by some of the most well-known journalists. Apart from the journalists, a number of University professors have been writing articles claiming that this type of political disobedience is anti-social and political parties of the Left can easily take advantage of them. The government is afraid of the fact that the majority of Greek society, people from all political backgrounds, seem to agree with the movement’s targets and means, and its reaction was kind of spasmodic, saying that refusal to pay would from then on be punished with a three-month-imprisonment, without the chance of redemption. This extreme measure caused a shock and was answered by a co-ordinated opening of the toll stations throughout Greece. Workers of the public transportation companies also support the passengers’ demands and, mainly asserting some of their own claims, go on work stoppages or strikes, even though many of these are being characterized by court as illegal.