This is a translated and slightly edited (for international readers) version of a Xekinima statement that is being leafleted in neighbourhoods around Greece
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People of all ages joined forces with the TEMPI 2023 Accident Victims Association in a huge protest wave on January 26. The protesters demanded an end to the cover-up operation and the punishment of all those responsible, no matter how high up they are. They also demanded safe transport and railways so that such “accidents” will never happen again.
The huge participation in the mobilisations caused panic in the right-wing New Democracy government and the big business interests it protects. That is why PM Mitsotakis and other government officials went on camera the very next day trying to absolve themselves of responsibility and blame it on lower ranking officials or even the privatised Hellenic Train railway company.
It was after hundreds of thousands took to the streets that they changed their tune. For nearly 2 years they insisted that it was the “personal responsibility” of the Larissa stationmaster. Now, they are starting to say that maybe there are other people responsible too.
The crime was predestined
- Railway trade unionists warned in official documents that there would be an accident because the railways were collapsing. The government ignored them.
- When the railway workers decided to go on strike to demand the necessary safety measures and the hiring of staff, Hellenic Train, the government and the courts declared the strikes illegal.
- Former Transport Minister Karamanlis, although aware of the situation for a long time, assured Parliament a few days before the crash that everything was working properly.
- In his televised address immediately after the crash, Mitsotakis said the collision was the result of human error and spoke of conspiracy theories (against those who pointed out that a lot of people died because of the fire and fumes and not by the crash itself).
- After the crash, the government and the mainstream media lied that the safety systems were working, while the workers cried out that there was no Train Control Management System and that the trains were running “blind”.
Radical changes must be made to the railway. Hellenic Train must be kicked out and the railway must be returned to public ownership without any compensation. Railways must be run by a single national entity and not in bits and pieces as it is currently (in order to save money as they claim). It must also operate in conditions of transparency and safety, which can only be guaranteed by the workers, who have first-hand knowledge of their problems and needs. This requires the establishment of workers’ control and management. There needs to be a plan of public investment in infrastructure that was left to rot during the Memoranda years.
The cover-up is collapsing
After the train crash at Tempi, the Victims’ Association pointed out that the explosion that followed the crash was caused not by the collision but by an undocumented and illegal load of aromatic compounds, commonly used for gas adulteration.
The Association also complained that the transport of soil, wagons and even the bones of the dead and the blocking of the site were a deliberate attempt to hide evidence in order to cover up the transport of illegal chemicals. In the cover-up operation very high-ranking officials were involved, up to the State Secretary to the Prime Minister (who recently resigned because of the revelations).
The revelations have caused the biggest political crisis the New Democracy government has faced so far, after it succeeded SYRIZA in 2019.
February 28, a landmark date
But under capitalism the judiciary is not independent. It protects powerful business interests, not justice and the interests of the people.
The only cases in which justice was done, even partially, were when the judges were under huge pressure from the movement (the conviction of Golden Dawn as a criminal organisation, the case of the Kolonos child rapists, the trial of Zak Kostopoulos, etc.). This is one of the reasons we need to continue and escalate mobilisations. The other is the demand to put public transport into the hands of society.
February 28 marks two years since the crash. On this day, the country must be paralysed with a general strike of all workers, occupations of schools and universities and new huge demonstrations. ADEDY, the public sector confederation, already called a strike. The Athens Workers Center (a structure that unites all private sector unions in the city) followed suit, as did a number of federations and of course the railway workers unions. School students are also in mobilisations (and organised a combative protest on January 7) and farmers have been on the move with their tractors against the government. These protests must be united on February 28.
Xekinima stands for:
- Nationalisation of the railways without compensation to the current owners
- Workers and social control and management for transparency; proper staff hiring and public investment in infrastructure for safe and cheap transport for all
- Punishment of all those responsible of the crime and the cover-up
Forward for a general strike on February 28!
