We support the workers and people of Europe in the struggle against austerity measures and imperialism!

On behalf of the Filipino workers and people, labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno extends its warmest solidarity to the workers and people of Europe as they hold a Europe-wide day of action against austerity measures.

The N14 general strike is a great occasion to show the unity of the workers and peoples of Europe against the austerity measures being imposed by the imperialists through the so-called troika of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

We view this action as not just a show of solidarity among European workers and peoples against austerity measures, but as part of the global resistance against the worsening imperialist crisis that is devastating the wages, jobs, and rights of workers and the general livelihood of people around the globe.

As a result of the austerity measures, many workers and peoples in Europe are suffering from joblessness, homelessness, reduced access to education, health and other services. But protests have also become wider, governments have become isolated, and the troika exposed as anti-worker and anti-people.

The monopoly capitalists, with the financial oligarchs at the helm, have put all the weight of this crisis on the backs of the toiling workers and people while the biggest corporations, banks and financial institutions continue to rake in greater superprofits and accumulate increasing capital.

The Filipino workers and people are not new to austerity measures. The IMF, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other imperialist institutions have long dictated upon the Philippine government the neoliberal policies of pushing down workers’ wages and reducing state subsidy for social services.

These policies go hand-in-hand with their campaign to keep the Philippines a largely agricultural country with no basic industries and dominated by imperialist powers. As a result, the Filipino workers and people have been suffering from ever-worsening hunger, poverty and unemployment.

We call on European unions to defend themselves from various attacks, unite with other sectors of society and build genuine mass movements in their countries. Let us confront austerity measures and other attacks on labor with an offensive stance, both in terms of fighting these policies and in expanding and strengthening our ranks.

We call on the workers and people of Europe to intensify their unity and struggle against austerity measures. We call on them to struggle not merely against austerity measures but against the imperialist system that lies behind such measures. We urge them to struggle for socialism and support struggles for national independence and democracy in underdeveloped countries.