Read about the process and outcome of the referendum here.
Thessaloniki
is a lively sprawling metropolis located in the north of Greece. As with the
rest of the country, it is affected by increasing unemployment and poverty, a
result of the government's Troika-dictated policies, which have driven the
economy into a deep recession.
In order to open the democratic dialogue on which is the most socially and environmentally responsible model of water management, the citizens of Thessaloniki first have to confront the threat of privatisation.
May 2014
In Greece, as
in many other countries in the past, disaster capitalism has utilized the
sovereign debt crisis -that it also helped produce- as an excuse to push forward an
aggressive campaign of neoliberal plunder: Attack on the populations' social, political
and labour rights, dismantling of the health and education system, massive dispossession
through mega-mining projects, and privatisation of everything that constitutes
the public wealth. Again, as in many other cases, the government and the media
are mindlessly repeating neoliberalism's favourite mantra: "there is no
alternative".
In this
context, as part of the terms of the loathed "memorandum" imposed by the IMF, in 2011 the government
announced its plans to privatize EYATH, the state-managed company providing the
city's 1.5 million inhabitants with water and sanitation services. Suez, the water sector giant, was quick to express interest in profitable EYATH. As of
May 2014, the privatization process is underway, and two bidders, French Suez
and Israeli Mekorot, have advanced to the second phase of the public tender.
Despite the
blackmail and propaganda, the citizens of Thessaloniki and their organizations
have been opposing the government's plan to sell off the company for three years now. They have managed to put the issue in the public agenda and provide
concrete evidence on how privatisation of water services worldwide has
invariably led to increases in tariffs, deterioration of the infrastructure,
decrease in water quality, and the exclusion of great parts of the population
from access to this vital common good.