At the emblematic bridge of Novisad, a symbol of both the NATO atrocity and the heroic resistance of the Serbian people against the imperialist intervention of 1999, a massive delegation of PAME demonstrated.
The hundreds of union representatives opened a giant banner spreading it on the bridge and sending the message “75 years NATO has been targeting the peoples of the whole world-The only power is the people”.
For many of the trade unionists involved in the mission, these places, especially the bridges of Novi Sad, are familiar, as they were there to protest in 1999 during the NATO bombing. They had been there, alongside the Serbian people who were constantly demonstrating to save this vital infrastructure.
George Mavrikos, honorary president of the World Federation of Trade Unions, spoke stressing the timeless internationalist contribution of PAME, from the day it was founded until today. Besides, the first mobilisation organised by PAME was in 1999, immediately after its foundation, at the European Union offices in Athens, to denounce the US-NATO crime in Yugoslavia, which had just begun.
“We are here because we do not forget, because we do not forgive. We continue on the same path against the imperialist plans of NATO and the EU,” said G. Mavrikos. He recalled that in 1991, with the counter-revolutionary upheavals, “some people claimed that we were going to a world without wars. We were among those who stood up and insisted that the people would pay at the global level for imperialist barbarism and counter-revolution. And five years ago the concept of Yugoslavia, a great country with a proud people, was divided into six states, in the logic of divide and rule, and then came the NATO bombing in 1999.”
The same was pointed out by Zeljko Veselinovic, President of SLOGA Union, who welcomed the delegation of PAME recalling the amazing solidarity action of the Greek trade unions on the side of the Serbian people when they even stood on the bridge to prevent its bombing.
On behalf of PAME, Markos Bekris, president of the Regional Union of Piraeus and the COSCO ENEDEP union, said “We are demonstrating against the USA, NATO and the EU, we are sending the message that the peoples are fighting as brothers and sisters against the murderous imperialist plans, against the new massacre that is underway in Palestine with thousands of dead children by the state of Israel and its US-NATO allies. It is our duty, the peoples can fight back.”
