Θερμή υποδοχή επιφύλαξαν Έλληνες φοιτητές στο Imperial College στον υπουργό Υγείας, Άδωνι Γεωργιάδη, το βράδυ της Κυριακής όταν επιχείρησε να πραγματοποιήσει ομιλία.
Adonis Georgiadis στο Λονδίνο από stefanelonikitelo
Με το που μπήκε στην αίθουσα και επιχείρησε να ξεκινήσει
την ομιλία του ο υπουργός Υγείας, μια κοπέλα του φώναξε: «εμείς σας πληρώσαμε
να έρθετε εδώ; οι Έλληνες φορολογούμενοι;»
Ακολούθησε πανδαιμόνιο και ανάμεσα στους φοιτητές που αντάλλαξαν φραστικές αντεγκλήσεις ενώ κάποια στιγμή ο υπουργός Υγείας κατέβηκε από το βήμα και έπιασε από το γιακά κάποιον από τους φοιτητές.
Τελικά ο υπουργός Υγείας επέτρεψε σε μια από τις
φοιτήτριες να διαβάσουν κείμενο εναντίον του
«Σύμπτωμα της αυταρχικής, ακροδεξιάς στροφής που
πραγματοποιεί η ελληνική κυβέρνηση»
χαρακτηρίζουν, με ανακοίνωσή τους, τον υπουργό Υγείας Α.Γεωργιάδη, φοιτητές
αλλά και μέλη του διδακτικού προσωπικού του Imperial College του Λονδίνου.
Ο ακροδεξιός υπουργός βρέθηκε στο Λονδίνο προσκεκλημένος του
Hellenic Society of Imperial College και του προέδρου του Μιχάλη Ντιναλέξη (από
την ΟΝΝΕΔ Λονδίνου) και αποδοκιμάστηκε έντονα κατά τη διάρκεια της ομιλίας του.
Όπως επισημαίνεται στη σελίδα stefivos.com ο Ντιναλέξης
τυχαίνει να είναι και γιος του πρώην διοικητή του νοσοκομείου Άρτας
Είναι χαρακτηριστικό πάντως ότι η εφημερίδα Έθνος τον είχε
παρουσιάσει σαν (τυχαίο;) δείγμα φοιτητή που δυσανασχετεί με την κατάσταση των
ελληνικών πανεπιστημίων.
Άρθα του Ντιναλέξη φιλοξενούνται σε ακροδεξιά blog όπως το
dexiextrem που βρίσκονται πολύ κοντά στον κεντρικό μηχανισμό προπαγάνδας της
ομάδας Αλήθεια του Σαμαρα.
Και ο ίδιος όμως στα κείμενά του δεν αφήνει πολλά περιθώρια
για τις θέσεις του. Διαβάζουμε σε ένα από αυτά:
«Η συμβολή της Χρυσής Αυγής στην αλλαγή αυτή προς την
ιδεολογική ηγεμονία της δεξιάς είναι αξιοσημείωτη. Απάλλαξε τον κεντροδεξιό
χώρο από την κατηγορία του “φασισμού”, ενώ η παρουσία της δημιουργεί ένα
σημαντικό αντίβαρο στην αριστερά σε πολλά θέματα, όπως κυρίως τα εθνικά. Η δε
απειλή της δράσης της ασκεί πιέσεις αντίθετες με αυτές τις αριστεράς όσον αφορά
την λύση προβλημάτων όπως η λαθρομετανάστευση, ωθώντας την κυβέρνηση να
παρακάμψει την αριστερά και να δράσει προς την λύση τους».
Ενδιαφέρον παρουσιάζουν όμως και οι αναρτήσεις του Ντιναλέξη
στο Facebook όπως μπορείτε να δείτε και στην παρακάτω φωτογραφία.
Ακολουθεί το κείμενο καταγγελίας της επίσκεψης Γεωργιάδη
από φοιτητές και προσωπικό του Imperial College στα Αγγλικά:
The Hellenic Society
of Imperial College has invited Mr. Adonis Georgiadis, the Greek Minister of
Health, to speak about the Greek “national effort” to exit the crisis and the
“pan-European dimension” of this effort on Sunday 16th March 2014. The Greek
students and staff at Imperial College are outraged and have issued this statement:
‘During the last
five years, Greece has been faced with a multi-dimensional crisis which brought
it to the verge of bankruptcy and had enormous repercussions for the living
standards of the country’s greek health emergencypopulation. Under the terms of
successive bailouts agreed with the troika of international lenders (EC, ECB,
IMF), Greece implemented savage austerity measures, unprecedented in European
history since the Great Depression. The results today are staggering; GDP has
declined by 27%, wages have been cut by more than 30%, coupled with tax
increases and emergency tax hikes, while unemployment has reached 28%. Public
services, including health and education, are under-funded to the point of
collapse. An extensive privatization programme has under-sold many state
companies and assets. The depression has caused a severe humanitarian crisis
inside Greece, with 34% of the population living under poverty or social
exclusion, and has forced tens of thousands of Greeks to seek work or study opportunities
abroad.
In this climate, the
Hellenic Society of Imperial College has chosen to invite Mr. Adonis
Georgiadis, the Greek Minister of Health, to speak about the Greek “national
effort” to exit the crisis and the “pan-European dimension” of this effort. Mr.
Georgiadis is a staunch and flamboyant supporter of the austerity cuts. His
term of office in the Ministry of Health has already been marked by the most
violent reforms, budget cuts and layoffs in the health sector since the
beginning of the crisis. Mr. Georgiadis’ policies are dictated by the troika
and have been imposed to every country receiving financial support from the IMF
in the past. The disastrous consequences of these austerity policies, notably
the preventable losses of human lives, have been demonstrated by several
reports, the most recent of which was published in The Lancet journal. With
health spending capped at 6% of GDP and no recruitments in the public health
sector in 3 years, public hospitals are severely understaffed and face shortages
in basic consumables. Despite that, primary health care centres have been
closed, imposing an extra burden to the already overcrowded hospitals, and
public-health workers face layoffs. Meanwhile, with the number of
state-subsided pharmaceuticals drastically decreased and patient contributions
increased, many patients with chronic conditions (e.g. cancer, AIDS) are unable
to cope with expenses. Furthermore, it is estimated that 2.3 million people are
uninsured, practically lacking access to health services if they are unable to
pay. Finally, worsening living conditions and limited access to health care
have led to a resurgence of malaria and tuberculosis, the levels of HIV
infection are soaring among drug users, infant mortality between 2008 and 2010 has
risen by 43% and suicide, alcoholism and drug use rates are spiking. Protests
against the imposed policies were faced by Mr. Georgiadis in a provocative way.
The Minister has repeatedly bullied doctors and medical staff on national
television, putting the blame on them for the existing problems, while
advertising the need for budget cuts. Whether it is acceptable to deprive a
whole society of basic health care in the name of debt repayment is a matter of
debate.
Of course, other
public services like higher education have not been spared of austerity
policies. Since 2009, the funding of public research centres and universities
has been cut by about 30% and 40% respectively, the salaries of researchers and
faculty members have been cut by 40%, more than 1000 new lecturers have been
placed into a “waiting list” although they were elected years ago, more than
1700 administrative employees were put into a “suspension” scheme leaving many
universities understaffed, subscriptions to academic journals have been halted
for months and many departments are lead to merger or closure. All these
measures are coupled with frequent defamatory comments against public
universities by government members, including Mr. Georgiadis who has openly
promoted private institutions.
The rise of Mr.
Georgiadis in Greek politics is a symptom of the authoritarian, far-right turn
of the Greek government. Many members of the government have promoted
xenophobia and racism, with the Prime Minister himself stating that “We have to
re-conquer our cities from immigrants”. A 2010 law opening the door to
citizenship for second-generation immigrants has been repealed. Democratic
institutions are also under attack. The government passes controversial laws by
decree, one of which ordered the sudden closure of the state TV and radio
broadcaster last year. Several strikes have been outlawed in advance using a
“forced mobilisation order”, a concept originally designed to be used in
national emergencies. Mr. Georgiadis has been in the vanguard of these developments.
He has suggested that “left-wing ideology has surrendered Greece to the hands
of Muslims, transforming Athens into a Taliban-land”. He has also said: “One of
the goals *of the government] is that they [immigrants] understand they are not
welcome in Greece. One of the ways to convince them is to frequently prosecute
them […] to make their life as difficult as possible so that they understand it
is time to go”. Mr. Georgiadis also has a history of remarks about Jews (“all
major banks belong to the Jews”, “the Jewish lobby will determine the fate of
Greece’s foreign debt”).
Therefore, the
“effort” of Mr. Georgiadis and his government is all but “national”. It is
rather an effort towards increasing inequalities, selling-off public property
and turning against the weakest members of society. The “pan-European
dimension” of this effort can only be interpreted as a call for the adoption of
neoliberal policies across the continent.
As Greek students,
staff and alumni of Imperial College we strongly oppose the invitation to Mr.
Georgiadis. We want to make clear that the few committee members of the
Hellenic Society do not represent the Greeks of IC and that they act based on
their own political interests. Most of us, as well as thousands of other Greeks
in the UK and other European countries, have been forced to leave Greece
because of the policies of Mr. Georgiadis’ government (and the governments
preceding it, which came from the exact same parties that are in power today).
Inviting someone with such a background to lecture on exiting the crisis is
quite ironic and surely problematic. On top of that, a person who has so
vehemently lashed out at Greek universities, which are the alma mater of many
current students and staff of IC, cannot be welcome here.
Υστερόγραφο: Ο Μητσικώστας πάντως είχε προβλέψει την
επίσκεψη Γεωργιάδη και την ομιλία του στους φοιτητές
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