#EDONews (Bulletin - April 2018)

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n the second half of April (April 16 - May 6), EDON’s Youth Workers Department carries out its established campaign under the title “Dignity at Work - Work with Rights” for this year. The campaign of the EDON’s Youth Workers Department has been established in recent years, with the ultimate goal of informing and enlightening young workers and unemployed people in issues that concern them directly.

This year’s campaign deals with the most basic labor problems currently affecting the majority of young workers. Issues such as salary levels, minimum wage and 13th salary (Christmas bonus), hours of work and overtime, work on Sundays and holidays, holiday time and the right to organize in the workplace The EDON Youth Workers’ Campaign will include a questionnaires survey with relevant queries, meetings with provincial workers, excursions to city centers and workplaces, events, meetings with competent bodies, etc.

Discussion and information for young people on labor issues is of particular importance nowadays, since the impact of the system’s economic crisis is still more than visible, while coupled with the neo-liberal economic policy of the Government over the last 5 years, its impact is even more evident among young people.

Once again, we reiterate that as EDON, we are fighting against the philosophy and policy that leads us to middle-ages’ working conditions. We reject the neoliberal and anti-labor policies of the governors who have at their heart the service of the few and the shrinking of labor and social rights.

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ast Monday’s dinner between President Anastasiades and the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community Mustafa Akkinji was held after a long period of no action on the Cyprus issue after the negotiations collapsed at Crans-Montana We did not expect that we would be conducting a resumption of negotiations after the dinner took place. From Crans-Montana’s negotiations until today, many incidents took place that unfortunately made the prospect of a solution even harder, resulting a Turkish negative rhetoric and recent Turkish provocative actions in the Republic of Cyprus EEZ. However, we expected the two leaders to do what the General Secretary of the UN Mr Gutierrez, has long said. That is, to convince him that they have the political will to resume negotiations, as he suggests in his Report.

It is obvious that if negotiations are not resumed from the point where they were interrupted in Crans-Montana, making use of the material of the negotiations and a process of interconnected discussion of the six

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issues at two tables, as set by the General Secretary of the UN, the dead-end will continue with all the resulting dangers of the continuation of the status quo.

As EDON, we call on the two leaders to take steps towards the solution of the Cyprus problem, for the liberation and reunification of our country and our people.

The idea that gave birth the Cyprus Cooperative Bank cannot be erased

A dating approach eventually became an act. Despite clear commitments to the contrary, the Ministry of Finance proceeded to announce that it would promote the sale of Cyprus Cooperative Bank. The Cooperative idea born through the needs of the Cypriot people, who supported in every way the everyday person, is now sold for the needs of the big sharks of bank capital. Cooperative, for many years, has been the “a pain in the neck” for the big banks. With this government the banks have found the opportunity.

The ultimate goal for the rulers is to sell the good and profitable part of the Cyprus Cooperative Bank to a particular bank (probably to Hellenic Bank) and to transfer possible losses to taxpayers. Non-performing loans will in all likelihood be entrusted to a new Entity, which will be essentially a remnant from the Co-operative Central Bank. At the same time, regardless of how the entity will be set up, the non-performing loans will continue to be managed by Altamira Company so that it will soon be completed. They don’t care much, in whether a large proportion of non-performing loans belong to people who lost their jobs, who were facing severe financial difficulties during the outbreak of the banking and financial crisis.

The collapse of the Co-operation followed a road map of five years and is now complete when the presidential elections are over and therefore there is no political cost.

After the Troika came and the signing of the memorandum in 2013, decisions were taken to support the Co-operative, amounting to 1.7 billion euros, with its shares going from its members to the state. This, in combination with the coordinated closure of several branches, constituted the “foundation stone” for what followed.

The Parliament asked for an investigation

The Parliament has recently called for an investigation for the sale of the Co-operative bank. The majority of the MPs gave responsibility for what was happening to the government.

Investigation was asked also for the suspicious outflows of millions euros that have been made in Co-operative bank lately. AKEL party asked also for an investigation through a letter sent to the Audit Office of the State. The enormous responsibilities of many remain to be seen.

As EDON, we believe that the Cooperative idea does cannot be erased as long as there is exploitation. As long as there are people fighting for their survival. It is in the hands of those who really believe in it, to denature it again in action.

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n recent times, we have been following daily bombardments at Syria’s expense for the exploitation of the country’s natural wealth with the only victims, as in every imperialist attack, the Syrian people.

The tension peaked, especially in the last few days, under the guise of the alleged chemical attack on Dumma by Assad.

NATO forces, USA, UK and France, citing this unconfirmed information, once again wore the mantle of the “peacemaker”, coordinating a bombing against the country. It is not surprising that these forces chose the specific methods, since it is not the first time that they impose their power on the planet’s wealth sources by killing innocent civilians and creating war in the name of peace.

NATO also used the base in Akrotiri, in Cyprus. Thus, on April 14th, four British aircrafts took off from the British bases in Akrotiri. In a statement by the President Anastasiades, he announced the telephone communication he had with Theresa May, in which he mentioned the planned attack, the purpose and the minimum danger it would have for Cyprus, but he never mentioned whether he supported or reacted in this update.

Knowing the zeal of the government and the ruling party for the accession of Cyprus to NATO, it is obvious that there was no reaction. All we have seen was efforts of complacency to the public opinion, which only as a degradation of our intelligence can be perceived. We are scared only in the idea of how things would have been escalated if Cyprus was a NATO member.

As EDON, we will not be mere observers of the terrible events taking place a few miles away, with an impact in our own country as well. We insist that the Republic of Cyprus should not allow the continued use of Cyprus as the military base of the NATO imperialists. We call on all democratic young people to join EDON in the struggle against the forces that try to impose their power by killing and imposing the “law” of the powerful.