April 2011 - Centre for Civil Society - University of KwaZulu-Natal

supporting the campaign and only 39% disagreeing with it (MRB
27/02/2011). The number of drivers refusing to pay the road tolls each day
has reached 8.000 people – a significant rise from 6% to 18% within a year-
and 40% of public transport passengers refuse to pay any ticket fares in
their daily commute (inews.gr 22/02/2011).
We won’t pay for their debt
Using the current economic crisis as an excuse, the government is
attacking the public sector, including public transport. Greek people have
been asked to pay over and over again for supposedly improved and high
quality public transportation through direct and indirect taxation but all
they get back is a 40% rise in ticket fares, closures of many bus routes and
major inconveniences caused by train line closures in the centre of Athens!
The government’s argument regarding the cuts in the public transport
sector is that it is the only way of paying back its debt. But the question is
who created this debt? For the last 12 years every government kept underfunding
urban transport, giving only a fraction of what should have been
invested.
But people are realising that they can no longer afford to accept this. By
launching and expanding the Non-Payment campaign, people can actually
have their own say in how public transport should be working: for the
benefit of all and not for the big companies which, in close relations with
the government, are pushing through privatisations in every part of the
Greek public sector.
The non-payment campaign calls for a refusal to pay increased transport
fares, for free transportation in the morning hours (5-8am), as used to be
the case in the 1980’s, as well as free transportation for the unemployed,
people with disabilities, low-paid workers and students. Many public
transport drivers give their tacit support to the campaign in various ways
i.e. by letting groups campaigners on buses and allowing them to ask the
rest of the passengers not to validate their tickets, or by not stopping if
they are asked to by inspectors who want to give fines to campaigners.
Drivers are not yet able to fully express their support for the movement as
they are under immediate threat of getting sacked. However, the main
goal of the movement at this point is to link itself with transport workers
and drivers and fight together for a free, safe and environmentally-friendly
public transport system. The main advantage of the non-payment
movement is that it is independent of the national union bureaucracy, thus
more free to expand and include other public sector services that are
being threatened with privatisation, such as the electric and water
companies, the railways etc.
Trying to stop the campaign
The government has been trying to break down the movement through
intimidatory tactics since its beginning. They started by threatening that it
is ‘illegal’ and there have been a few incidents of people being taken to
police stations (without any real implications). They have now started
creating a new ‘body’ of inspectors closely collaborating with the police
and have announced a new type of electronic ticket that will stop any
trespassers. This is their way of discouraging and trying to stop the
movement!
The response to this should be united resistance, organised by the local
non-payment committees. On a bigger scale, the government cannot send
to court a mass campaign of hundreds thousands of people. Only a mass
united campaign can win!