The Greek cleaning ladies fighting back against austerity
Source: The Telegraph UK
With her red rubber glove raised in defiance, Despoina Kostopoulou has become a figurehead for a nation fed up with austerity.
Since the 53-year-old became one of almost 600 cleaning ladies sacked by the Greek Finance ministry on a cost-cutting drive in 2013, she has terrorised not only her own government, but also the bureaucrats from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union with their draconian rules on Greek public spending.
They came after cleaners with very small salaries and families, forgetting we are women, we are mothers, and if you mess with us we can become like the harpies in the ancient Greek legends, she said, standing on a picket line outside the Finance ministry with her daughter Maria. I never thought that a rubber cleaning glove could become such a symbol of struggle but it has.
The angry cleaning ladies have become a symbol for millions of Greeks ahead of a snap general election next month that could bring Syriza, a far-Left party that has pledged to dump the austerity plans, to power. On posters around Athens, they are seen with brooms in hand, sweeping away penny-pinching officials.
Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/11318055/The-Greek-cleaning-ladies-fighting-back-against-austerity.html
lark
(23,105 posts)I'm not sure that will happen, though. The 1% will pour on all the ads threatening to make things way worse and people can be driven by their fear to vote against their best interests. It happens here all the time. Hope fear doesn't win there too.
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)jtuck004
(15,882 posts)And this is the same IMG that may have slowed the response to the Ebola criss..
"IMF policies contributed to under-funded, insufficiently staffed, and poorly prepared health systems in the three countries a major reason the outbreak spread so rapidly, the report said. The IMFs insistence on decentralized health care made it difficult to mobilize a coordinated response to Ebola, it said."
Here.
What kind of asshole would insist on de-centralized health care? Someone just interested in profits for their friends?