Read about the occupation of the studio of state TV channel NET by students
on Occupied London
The following video was made by the students themselves. It includes their announcement on education issues, the new higher education reform bill, the general economic situation, layoffs and job precariousness. They also recorded what happened during the occupation of September 25th, as well as the fake promises of the managing director of public misinformation Labis Tagmatarhis that he would broadcast their claims in the night’s news bulletin, at 00.00 (midnight). Instead, the whole intervention was overcome by reading a despicable notice issued by the national broadcasting corporation, ERT SA, later in the night.
As we don’t have the capacity of subtitling the video, we cite the translation here:
| For four week, about 300 academic faculties across Greece have been under students’ occupation.
| After the voting of Diamantopoulou education reform bill in late August, students interrupt their examinations and proceed to general assemblies and occupations, causing an unprecedented nationwide ‘blackout’ within only a few days.
| The student movement declares decisively that it will continue the struggle till the end for the overthrow of the new education bill, and that it will fight next to the workers against the austerity and unemployment policy.
| September 22nd, 2011: Pan-Hellenic pan-educational manifestation
| Nearly 10,000 students and educators from all over Greece fill the streets of Athens, protesting against the new education bill and the governmental policy.
| At the same time, another… so-called student movement debuts in TV news bulletins and in lounges of lifestyle TV shows.
| [Scenes from the private TV channel SKAI that propagate the urgency for the re-opening of universities —starring scumbag journalist Aris Portosalte.]
| The so-called new – party-free – spontaneous – indignant – student – movement [called ‘Indignant Students against Occupations’] in a period of turmoil, economic crisis and dismantling of public university dares to put forward one claim…
| End the occupations, so as to return immediately to normality…
| [Mass media scenes where a student claims the restoration of legality and comments negatively about student occupiers, while famous writer Apostolos Doxiadis apparently indicates the best possible university studies as the most genuine revolutionary act.]
| 6 words… 6 lies
| New —as much as unprecedented can be the profile of the frightened student who seeks to ensure oneself when faced with great battles.
| Party-free —as much as party-free can be the frameworks of the student parties DAP [-NDFK affiliated with opposition party New Democracy] and PASP [affiliated with ruling party PASOK] which such students support when things get rough.*
| Spontaneous —as much as spontaneous can be any media fabrication by corporate journalists Pretenderis and Portosalte.
| Movement —as much as one isn’t ashamed to name movement the aversion to politics and struggle.
| [Supporter of DAP suggests that there are various ways of student protest such as demonstrations, facebook, twitter, several other means, petitions to the ministry of Education.]
| Indignant students —as much as related is the indignation of the people against poverty and pauperization with the ‘indignation’ against our fellow students who struggle.
| Will the large journalism organizations greet with the same enthusiasm the online call for school occupations by 56,000 secondary students?**
| But what happens when the student movement does not accept to be methodically gagged in its struggle?
| ERT Radiomegaron, Sunday, September 25th, 2011, 21.01 GMT+2
| Students from the occupied faculties aim at having their voice and claims heard.
| [One of the managers replies that he cannot allow students to speak live in front of cameras — not even for five minutes, as they requested — because as he says, ‘the studio is a sacred space’.]
| We are breaking the wall of silence…
| [The protesters record their message to the Greek society inside the TV studio. The banner reads: ‘We are breaking the wall of silence. The victory of students’ struggle is victory of the entire society’. Their representative mentions, among others: More than 15,000 students participate in weekly general assemblies of occupied faculties. The student movement demands the abolishment of the antidemocratic reform bill that was submitted by education minister Anna Diamantopoulou, since it dissolves any notion of public and free education and subdues the university under the dictates of the market and enterprises. The students’ struggle is intended to be a struggle of the entire society, and in particular they’re addressed to ERT workers, secondary students and public transport workers.]
| While the administration and the top executives of ERT try to persuade students to get out of the building, they insist to remain… The workers ‘whisper’ to them not to trust anyone!
| [The managing director Labis Tagmatarhis, along with top executives Thanassis Papageorgiou and Giorgos Koyannis, assures the students that their announcement will be broadcasted in the night’s news bulletin. He adds, ‘In the case you realize that your statement had not been broadcasted, you can denounce us in the most categorical manner; you know our full names, where to find us… Is there anyone among you who questions three people that stand before you and tell you this? I wouldn’t think so… It’s all said in good faith and with good intentions.’ And then Giorgos Koyannis says, ‘We committed ourselves. The young woman has recorded it on camera… We don’t want to be ridiculed… I will play your statement at 00.00.’]
| The administration of ERT, the administration of layoffs, shows its true face… It blocks the students’ public statement in every possible way!
| [After 00.30 GMT+2: The entire 00.00 news show has not started yet. The students are enraged because they have been mocked after waiting inside the building for hours. A student comments that, ‘When deputy prime minister Pangalos farts, you use breaking news! But you don’t even give five minutes for us.’ Another protester says that others (aka the government) are blackmailing the administration, not the students.]
| ‘The administration of ERT was clearly gagged and dragged to governmental demands … Minister of State and government spokesman Mr. Elias Mossialos negates his ideological arguments about public (and not governmental) state television … his sole purpose is to annihilate ERT as a channel of diversity, and turn it into a government policy branch. We believe that such practices of government intervention cannot be sustained, mainly after the minister’s commitments on independent and public television…’ —Excerpts from the announcement released by workers of ERT (POSPERT: national federation of radio and television company staff unions)
| [After five hours, the protesters exit the building chanting slogans such as ‘Forward people! Don’t bow your head. The only way is resistance and fight,’ and meet with the 800people solidarity gathering. All together, they march away on Mesogeion Avenue towards Aghia Paraskevi Square.]***
| The students’ struggle cannot be gagged, cannot be repressed. We cannot live according to their plans, we will not be subjugated and we will not give in. The overthrow of the government and the EU/IMF policy is a duty of our generation. STRUGGLE WITH THE ENTIRE SOCIETY UNTIL VICTORY
Sources: athens.indymedia.org, edopolytexneio.gr
Translators’ notes
* For us, all student parties are considered non revolutionary. Among similar problematic parts of this video’s statements, we understand the particular sentence about DAP and PASP as a deliberate unfortunate exemption of other (leftist, reformists, etc.) student parties that also raise barriers to a self-determined participation in the wider social movement.
** You may also read More than 400 high schools under occupation in Greece; at least 136 university departments still occupied (September 28th, 2011) by Occupied London
*** The NET news bulletin went ‘on air’ at around 02.00 GMT+2. Presenter Prokopis Dukas started by saying a few words, then let a reporter describe the situation without ever playing the recorded video of students, but instead hosted a notice by the administration of ERT SA.
A short recollection: On May 3rd, 2010, teachers occupied the national broadcasting corporation (English subtitled video)
Teachers that worked under precarious conditions in the public sector (not hired permanently) occupied the studio of state TV channel NET in order to step in during a TV program where the education minister Diamantopoulou was invited. Riot police beat up teachers brutally; however the protesters fought back and remained in the studio. Although they were not allowed to speak live, they managed to get a video with their denunciations broadcast in the night’s news bulletin. A spontaneous solidarity demo in the area followed.