The range of the farmers' demands reflect the depth of the crisis in the countryside. They are protesting cuts in subsidies for their products, low prices, and production ceilings. They are demanding aid for the extensive damage caused by exceptional snowfall throughout the country in early January. Farmers are also opposing government moves to sell off the state-owned Agricultural Bank of Greece (ATE) and are pressing for debt relief. They are also demanding substantial increases in farmers' pensions.

In the cotton-growing region in the heart of the Thessaly plain, about 15 cotton farmers gathered in the smoke-filled café in the village of Itea in the early morning hours of January 28. They said they planned to attend a farm rally several hours later, one of many across the agricultural regions of the country.

Cotton farmer Apostolos Makris said a growing number of farmers are forced to rent land to increase production, cutting into already thin profit margins. "Between the cost of production and rental of land, we break even," he said. "To make matters worse, there are production limits imposed on us by the European Union. If we produce more, our price drops," meaning that the farmers will not even meet their production costs.

"Many cooperatives have now closed," he said. "We cannot get tools, fertilizers, and so on from there. We now have to buy these from private companies. But the ATE no longer gives us loans."

Makris said retirement pensions for farmers run from 47,000 to 65,000 drachmas a month, about US$121 to $168. "This is not a livable situation," he said, emphasizing that "pensions must be raised." The pension received by farmers is about half the minimum amount allotted to workers in the city.

Makris said that he expected the tractorcade to be smaller than planned because the cotton mill operators had suddenly given farmers only three days in which to deliver their cotton. "The aim is to force farmers to take their cotton to the plants, thus diverting them from the mobilizations set for this week," he said.

Noting the importance of price subsidies for working farmers, Lambos Zarras, a young tobacco farmer, said that 80 percent of their income from tobacco derives from government price supports. The subsidy "is what allows us to live," he said. "Now, in three years time, the subsidy will be totally abolished. For us, that means being forced off the land!"

"Let me tell you something else," Zarras said. "We get paid 120 drachmas for one kilogram of tobacco. Once this is sold as cigarettes in the stores it fetches 35,000 drachmas. The state and the merchants get all the profit, not the farmers."  
 
Farmers' action wins support
The protest involved around 300 tractors. Most were decked out with black flags symbolizing the death of the family farmer. The lead tractor pulled a trailer with a dead pear tree killed in the cold spell. The procession headed for the Tembi Pass, a main north-south highway connection. At the pass, the tractors forced traffic onto one lane.

A rally of 500 farmers held that evening won backing from dozens of passing truck drivers, as well as many motorists, who honked their support.

A few enraged drivers got out of their cars and screamed obscenities at the farmers because of the traffic jam. The capitalist press has played up the "danger" caused by "inconsiderate" farmers blocking the roads. Government spokesperson Christos Protopapas said the roadblocks "are not responsible acts and they put farmers in conflict with the interests of society."

In a red-baiting attack, he also called on the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) to clarify its position on the roadblocks. Several KKE members are leaders of the farm organizations.

The government mobilized 2,000 cops for the action. Police helicopters flew above the tractorcades in a blatant attempt to intimidate the farmers.

Christos Benekis, a working farmer from the Karditsa region in Thessaly who was at the Tembi Pass, said that over the past years farmers had purchased a lot of "equipment from the industrialists. It was okay when prices for our products were good. Now, with the big price drop, people can't pay their debts. The problem is mounting and farm auctions are on the increase. This is not yet a massive phenomenon since the [ATE] bank is not carrying out the auctions. Rather, foreclosures are now mainly organized by individuals or companies."

"However," he said, "this will change and it will happen on a mass scale once the ATE is privatized. Then there will be no political cost for foreclosures and auctions by the privatized bank."

He said 70 percent of the cotton farms are owned and worked by small producers. "This is a great problem for us," he added. "We are staring hunger in the face!"

In face of the widespread protests, the government announced on January 30 an emergency relief fund for damage caused by the winter cold. It also set cotton prices at 300 drachma per kilogram, a price above many farmers' expectations.

Maria Plessa is a member of the Federation of Foreign Airline Employees and works at the Athens International Airport.
 
 
Related article:
Farmers buy Pathfinder at protest in Greece, discuss political struggles  
 
 
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