The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) has stepped up its mobilisation against the planned visit of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Greece on 6–7 October, organising a series of rallies, pickets and meetings across Athens and other parts of the country ahead of his arrival.
KKE steps up mobilisation against Rubio’s visit to Greece
Rubio is scheduled to visit Athens on 6 and 7 October to lead the US delegation at the sixth US-Greece Strategic Dialogue. According to the US State Department, the talks are expected to cover defence cooperation as well as regional and energy security.
KKE has made the visit the focus of a broad anti-war campaign under the slogan “Marco Rubio is unwelcome.” In a statement issued on 3 October, the party called for participation in demonstrations organised by workers' organisations and the peace movement. KKE states that the Strategic Dialogue will deepen Greece's involvement in US and NATO military and energy plans, including cooperation concerning the so-called Vertical Energy Corridor.
35 actions in Athens
The mobilisation has been particularly extensive in Attica. According to 902.gr, KKE's local organisations have been holding meetings, rallies and pickets in neighbourhoods and workplaces across Athens.
The party announced 35 separate activities over three days. Actions have been held in areas including Peristeri, Menidi, Piraeus, Nea Ionia and other parts of the capital. Rallies and pickets took place on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning and were scheduled to continue on Saturday afternoon and Sunday.
KKE organisations are using the local activities to distribute the party's message against Greece's participation in US-NATO military planning and against the presence and expansion of US military bases in Greece.
The campaign is not limited to Athens. KKE organisations in Thessaly, for example, have organised workplace, neighbourhood and village tours and are calling workers and young people to participate in the demonstrations.
Main demonstration on 6 October
The central mobilisation will take place in Syntagma Square in Athens on Tuesday, 6 October at 7:30 p.m.
The call has been taken up by PAME, the KKE-linked trade-union grouping, which is urging workers and young people to participate. Its stated demands include opposition to Greece's involvement in US-NATO-EU wars, the closure of US military bases and increased spending on wages, health and education rather than military purposes.
A parallel demonstration has been announced in Thessaloniki at 7 p.m. on 6 October at Venizelos Square, while other KKE organisations around Greece are organising local actions. The party's newspaper Rizospastis lists the Athens and Thessaloniki demonstrations together with mobilisations in other cities.
KNE mobilises students and young people
The Communist Youth of Greece (KNE) has also launched a campaign around the visit. On 3 October it called on young people to participate in KKE neighbourhood demonstrations and in actions organised by trade unions and student organisations on Tuesday.
KNE is using the slogan “Rubio go home” and is linking its mobilisation to opposition to Greece's participation in international military operations and alliances.
Actions outside Athens
The mobilisation is also being extended to regional centres. In Lamia, for example, KKE has called a 6 October anti-war picket at Park Square at 7:30 p.m. Similar calls have been issued by KKE organisations elsewhere in Greece.