AKEL, Cyprus

AKEL’s activity in the conditions of the pandemic and the new crisis - Defending public health, the rights of workers and the people

The world is going through the worst pandemic of the last century, which has had a far-reaching effects on every manifestation of human activity. Despite the fact that the initial shock has been overcome, there is still a long way to go until we can declare with certainty that the danger has been overcome.

sCienCe, humanity’s Big weapon

In the face of the threat of coronavirus, every logical person on the planet turned to science and the scientific community. Science provides answers with regards the appropriate measures needed to stop the spread of the virus, for personal health, the treatment and cure of the sick and for the discovery of the vaccine so that the virus can be defeated as was the case with other diseases and threats to human health that have tested humanity in other bygone eras.

Nevertheless, unscientific conspiracy theories and zealous religious doctrines surrounding the coronavirus reached their peak during the period of the pandemic also via the multiple power of social media. The stand taken by governments, with the Trump administration in the USA being a characteristic example, of course also seeks to discredit science, but the big business-employer groups in most countries as well that were, openly and indirectly, demanding that the recommendations proposed by scientists and the restrictive measures should serve the needs of the economy and businesses. The fact that governments and business interests are selectively and conflictingly exploiting the recommendations of scientists in order to protect their economic interests has nothing to do with the correctness and supremacy of science. Furthermore, the fact that there are different views and findings among the scientific community does not negate the fact that it is through science that the unanswered questions surrounding the virus, but also any other similar threat, will be solved.

At the same time, the race to discover the vaccine has reaffirmed that capitalism places science and scientific research at the service of its principal priority, which is none other than the maximization of the profits of the multinational monopolies, thus hampering the potential of modern science, impeding the overall cooperation of research teams that today are part of the competition between the business groups.

Yet again, the big dilemma has been highlighted. On the one hand, we note the subjugation of science’s tremendous potential to the system, thus

becoming an instrument for intensifying the exploitation of working people, maximising profits for capital, developing technologically the mechanisms for the filing and surveillance of citizens and the deadly military industry.

On the another, the possibilities of science and technology, the scientific potential at a national and global level will be integrated into a plan with social and human-centred priorities, providing solutions to global problems such as viruses and other threats to human health, dramatically improving the living and working conditions of people today, developing education, communication, transport, environmental protection and so much more.

The question as to who has science in their hands and who does science serve becomes critical if we take into account that the so-called “4th Industrial Revolution” which brings to the fore areas such as biotechnology, artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, digital and robotic technology all formulate a decisive factor for humanity’s future and character.

the pandemiC is BeComing a pretext for intensifying Competition

Despite the fact that the coronavirus represents an unprecedented threat to the entire human species, instead of international cooperation and solidarity among humanity being enhanced, competition and rivalries have prevailed. In fact, the imperialist centres of the planet not only did not contain their aggression, but they have sought to confirm it. NATO - even in the midst of a pandemic - continued with its aggressive deployment of forces and rhetoric against Russia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It is also extremely revealing that the Secretary General of NATO sent a clear warning to the members of the Alliance that, not only must their military spending not be reduced, but on the contrary that they should increase their military expenditure.

The pandemic brought to the surface the intensification of US-PRC geopolitical competition due to the escalation of anti-Chinese rhetoric by the Trump administration. Of course, behind the controversy over the pandemic and the responsibility for its outbreak lies the US effort to defend their supremacy in the global power pyramid against China’s rapid rise. The disputes over trade, the controversy over the 5th generation (5G) telecommunications network and the geopolitical-energy competition in the South China Sea are the three levels on which the geopolitical titanic battle of our era is raging, which is expected to define the international situation in the coming historical phase.

It is worth pointing out that anti-communism has now openly been brought back in the US government’s rhetoric, targeting the ruling party of the People’s Republic of China, but also of course to serve its political agenda on the domestic front.

In addition, the Trump administration’s attacks on the World Health Organization are part of an overall undermining and challenging by the US of global cooperation institutions and UN bodies which the US cannot put under their control, in combination with their withdrawals from international security agreements and multilateral security systems.

the pandemiC is exaCerBating Capitalism’s deadloCks

Although it has been repeatedly said, the pandemic did not “change History”, but came to drastically exacerbate all the existing deadlocks and contradictions of the world capitalist system. In the economy, signs of a slowdown in the international economy had already existed, as well as the huge public debt recorded of many countries and problematic banks. The problem of the world capitalist economy lies in the huge over-accumulated capital that is unable to invest with a satisfactory rate of profit return.

The pandemic has come to accelerate the outbreak of the new inevitable crisis, unpredictable in dimensions and depth. The freezing of economic activity that was imposed by the measures to combat the virus and the devastating blow it has dealt to some sectors is now accompanied by layoffs, cuts in wages and benefits, the imposition of “flexible working hours” and the closure of small businesses. A new global wave of unemployment, poverty and inequality is just around the corner. The dismantling and defamation of public health systems, the commercialization and privatization of health around the world have left entire countries unprotected to the pandemic, resulting the death toll being hundreds of thousands. Besides, the severity of the restrictive measures was determined by the resilience of the health systems.

At the same time, great dangers and challenges for the future of humanity were revealed. Dangers arising from the intensification of the exploitation of the working people through new forms of work, such as teleworking. Dangers to human rights and democratic freedoms stemming from phenomena of state and government authoritarianism and arbi-

34 trariness, from the expansion of citizen surveillance technologies (for example, the collection of location data from telecommunications operators or smart phone applications to monitor the movements of the population). Dangers arising from the weakening of international solidarity and cooperation, the prevalence of national retrenchment and competitions. The pandemic has also exacerbated forms of inequality of women, as an increase in global domestic violence levels was recorded during the quarantine period, while the blow dealt to the service sector, where a high percentage of working women are employed, disproportionately affects women. At the same time, the pandemic became a pretext for a sharp rise in racism against refugees and migrants who have been portrayed as easy scapegoats, but also as a pretext by governments to further abandon their legal and moral obligations to asylum seekers.

the eu is immersed in Competitions Between states and monopolies

In Europe today the peoples are suffering from the painful consequences of the policies that the EU promoted for the underfunding and commercializing of public health systems. In addition, the outbreak of the pandemic left the EU unprepared and uncoordinated. Not only did the much-publicized European solidarity not prevail, on the contrary member states were proceeding to confiscate each other’s respirators and medical equipment.

As regards the tackling of the pandemic’s economic consequences, fierce competitions and the economic interests of the monopolies and powerful states once again prevailed, with Germany at the forefront. The utilisation of the EU’s high creditworthiness to gain support for state intervention in member state’s economies has led to huge contradictions and exchanges corresponding to conflicting interests within the Union. The combination of loans and grants to member states is accompanied by new monitoring mechanisms to promote EU anti-social strategies. Overall, the EU recipe does not meet the needs of the peoples, while numerous programs with a social content have been scrapped or faced cuts. It is obvious that the goal is once again to load the burdens of the new crisis on the backs of the working class and popular strata.

the pandemiC in Cyprus

Cyprus - so far - manages to contain the spread of the coronavirus at controlled levels. This is due to objective factors (size of the country, no large industrial units and the absence of an extensive public transport system), the use of the method of mass testing, but primarily due to the fact that society almost universally observed, with a high sense of individual and social responsibility, restrictive measures and respected the advice given by the scientific community.

Cyprus’ most vulnerable point in the pandemic unfortunately turned out to be the public hospitals, since there was a big spread of the virus. The defamation of the public health system as a result of the sweeping cuts that were imposed by the rightwing conservative Anastasiades-DISY government had led to a paralysis of public hospitals even before the pandemic emerged. With the outbreak of the pandemic, and in combination with the lack of an overall coordination and planning, this came all to the surface in a dramatic way.

AKEL highlighted the issue of the public health system from the very beginning. We were urging every day and continue to demand the drastic strengthening of the public health system, the recruitment of medical, paramedical and other support staff, the meeting of the needs of health professionals and workers with the necessary protective equipment and consumables. We exerted pressure for private hospitals and personal physicians to join the effort.

AKEL proposed the creation of mobile prevention and home care units for high-risk and vulnerable groups of the population. Some of AKEL’s proposals were listened to, others belatedly and others not at all.

At the same time, from the first days of the pandemic, the Party adapted the operation of its mechanism and drastically strengthened its presence on the internet and social media. It adapted the mass mobilizations it organises at this moment according to the health protocols.

We set up Party teams to communicate with the people, in order to record on an ongoing basis and to promote the problems faced by citizens, but also to provide support where and whenever we can.

We put all the militants of the mass Organisations of the Left of our People’s Movement in all the provinces at the service of the state services to staff the mobile units to provide home-care help to vulnerable groups of the population.

We organized blood donation campaigns in all provinces, responding to the emergency appeal issued by the Blood Centre.

We handed 20,000 euros to the research centre of the University of Cyprus, collected through the contributions of our Members of Parliament, the members of the Political Bureau and the full-time militants of the Party.

We distributed 10,000 protective masks sent to AKEL by the Communist Party of China to centres with vulnerable groups of the population.

POGO, the Progressive Women’s Movement, was active in the manufacture of thousands of protective masks that were subsequently delivered to public hospitals.

AKEL is the only force in Cyprus that called for measures to protect and brief immigrants and refugees, given that the policy of the Ministry of Interior led to their victimization, provoking the reaction of even the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Cyprus.

shield of proteCtion for workers and the people

The role of AKEL - as the Party of the working people and as the biggest opposition party in Cyprus - in confronting the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic for the popular strata was crucial and will be greater in the coming days. A series of measures included in the government plans are demands that were put forth by AKEL and our class-orientated trade union movement of the Pancyprian Federation of Labour (PEO) which were accepted by the government.

We elaborated and presented a comprehensive proposal for the covering of the financial needs of the state so that working people and small businesses could be supported. Of course, contrary to the government’s philosophy of providing state guarantees to banks (the relevant bill was rejected by the majority of Parliament), our proposal has the state - not the banks - as the main pillar and has as its axis the provision of support for small businesses and not the path of insisting on new loans.

AKEL from the very first moment demanded measures to provide support for the incomes of working people and the self-employed. It demanded that no working person should lose his/her job and that schemes to support businesses should be promoted provided that there won’t be any layoffs. It denounced the phenomena of employer’s pressure and blackmail exerted on working people employed in supermarkets and bakeries to work part-time and without the required protective equipment. AKEL repeatedly demanded the closure of supermarkets on Sundays. It pointed out the delays in the payment of salaries and benefits, which left hundreds of families literally without any income.

We demanded a moratorium on instalments and zero interest and compound interest on loans and rejected a government bill that left thousands of borrowers out of the scheme which once again protects the interests of banks. We reactivated the Draft Bill that we submitted in Parliament for the prohibition through legislation of the eviction of families and small businessmen, given that despite the declarations made, the banks and funds are proceeding with foreclosure procedures. We managed to suspend fast-track evictions, which were permitted by the legislation approved by the majority of Parliament in January, despite AKEL’s disagreement. We are exerting pressure every day on the government to solve the burning issue of rents for households and small businesses, with the contribution of the state, tenants and landlords. We urged the government to crack down on profiteering by putting a “ceiling” on the price of masks, antiseptics, laboratory tests for the virus, essential goods and fuel. We have submitted concrete ways to substantially reduce the price of electricity.

We proposed supporting domestic tourism by expanding the scheme to subsidise holidays for pensioners and the elaboration of a scheme for other groups. We have submitted proposals to provide support to the livestock sector and especially to goat breeders, calling for capital subsidies for this year.

AKEL also demanded measures to support the sector of Culture, which is being provocatively ignored by the government. We elaborated and presented a package of proposals to provide support to artists who had been without any income for months and to encourage the resumption of cultural activities.

AKEL submitted proposals on Education issues, where the competent Ministry still hasn’t drawn up a comprehensive plan, generating further uncertainty for school students, teachers and parents. We denounced the fact that thousands of children found themselves virtually out of the educational process and distance learning because they did not have the necessary access to technology due to their socio-economic condition. We are asking for an increase in the places in Public Universities for enrolment and transfers.

We have submitted proposals with regards the field of Justice, as citizens and lawyers are unable to have access to Justice, with direct implications for

36 the rule of law, the viability of small law firms and the livelihoods of young lawyers. Furthermore, we highlighted the issue of the increasing cases of domestic violence during the period of restrictive measures and proposed measures to support the victims.

will working people pay for this Crisis as well?

The pandemic halted the growth rates recorded by the Cyprus economy in the previous period and at the same time, it brought to the surface the consequences of the policies that have been implemented in recent years for the deregulation of labour relations. The magnitude and duration of the pandemic’s socio-economic consequences have not yet been determined. However, we estimate that these consequences will be painful for a large section of working people and small businesses in many sectors of the Cyprus economy, especially as regards tourism, catering, culture and the entertainment industry.

AKEL addressed the workers and people, warning that there should be no doubt whatsoever that under the pretext of the pandemic, big capital and employers will attempt - with the backing of the government and the establishment and mainstream mass media - to impose a new setback in labour relations and deal a new blow to the welfare state and public wealth and property. The positions of the Cyprus Employers & Industrialists Federation (OEB) and the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KEBE) for dismissals, reductions in salaries and privatizations are indicative of the situation that is being formed for the day after in Cyprus.

The big question, then, is whether working people, households and small businesses will bear the brunt of this crisis as well. At the political level, we expect that the Anastasiades government and the ruling right-wing DISY party will attempt to capitalize on the current climate in order to extinguish the growing social dissatisfaction with the corruption, the economic policy that serves the privileged elite and the deadlocks surrounding the Cyprus problem and foreign policy. However, despite the government camp’s domination in communication and mass media outlets, the reality experienced by the people cannot be erased, let alone in the face of a new crisis.

AKEL has already sent out a clear message to the government and big employers that this crisis cannot be paid by the working people and small and medium size businesses. AKEL will continue to stand on the side of the working class, the working people and the trade union movement against the policies and practices that victimize them.

akel faCing new tasks

In the new conditions that have evolved, AKEL has the task of responding more effectively to the needs of the Cypriot people, to the expectations of the people of labour and progress. Specific lines of action emerge such as:

‣ Defending working people and social gains

The Party, the class-based trade union movement and all the mass Organisations of the Left are called upon to take the lead and be at the forefront in organizing working people at the workplace, in developing mass struggles that are effective and victorious, in strengthening resistance both inside and outside Parliament. AKEL’s assertions include, inter alia, the legislative safeguarding of collective agreements, the covering of all working people with minimum working conditions and terms of employment, the stamping out of false self-employment and the phenomenon of the purchase of services ‣ Proposals for a different path of development for the country

The pandemic has once again highlighted the deadlocks of the capitalist model of development, but also more specifically of our country’s developmental model which is dependent almost exclusively on the “single culture” of tourism and financial services, sectors that are vulnerable and exposed to external factors, but also to “get-rich-quick” schemes such as the passport sales industry.

Our country needs to develop its own productive capabilities in a planned way, to give emphasis to the primary sector and to Cypriot production, research and innovation, the re-establishment of the Cooperative movement, the modernization of the semi-governmental organisations, the reduction of the country’s energy dependency, in combination with the safeguarding of modern labour and social rights, a fairer tax system, a strong public health, education and social protection system. ‣ Ideological counterattack

Today, many more people all over the world - beyond the spectrum of the Left - have recognized the importance of a public health system, of health as a social good and right for all and not as a market commodity. They acknowledge the value of central scientific planning and an effective state to serve

the people, in the face of the neoliberal policies of a “lesser state” that hands over bit-by-bit its structures to the private sector. The enormous possibilities that technology and science can offer for health and education, for the operation of a modern state, for communication between people, have also been revealed, provided of course that they are put at the serve of the people and their needs.

Finally, the practical example of international cooperation and solidarity that has been highlighted by the medical missions of socialist Cuba and the stand of the People’s Republic of China was universally appreciated. Our longstanding positions are being confirmed by developments themselves and answer to the small and big problems faced by the contemporary world, while once again the timeliness and necessity of the vision for a socialist tomorrow are illuminated.

These are just some of the issues that the upcoming 23rd AKEL Congress that will take place this December will be discussing, with the slogan “A force of struggle – A force for change”. Despite the brief postponement of the Party Congress because of the pandemic and the protection measures that we will need to apply to convene it, the Congress will take place not only because this is what the Party Statutes stipulate, but because the functioning and activity of the Party cannot and will not be limited not in the slightest.

Indeed, in the socio-economic conditions the pandemic has brought to our country, as well as the dangerous scenario of tension in the Eastern Mediterranean that creates huge dangers for our homeland and people, the voice and presence of AKEL must become even stronger.