On December 2, 2011, my daughter and myself attended the hearing of the case against the DEI property overtax (putting forth the case for the repeal of the pertinent law via which an illegal property overtax was exacted via the DEI power utility bills), amidst scores of other co-Greeks, mainly because we wished to register the arguments on the part of the State (against whom the motion was being made), since the arguments of the side making the case against the government were unassailable and largely well-known already. The reason there was so much interest centered on the argumentation on the part of the government was that in their efforts to defend the indefensible, it was mathematically certain that the government would reveal their true intent and aims of the current collaborating and imposed traitors, whom these lawyers shamelessly had the effrontery to represent. Let here be known that it was those lawyers whom we as People pay handsomely so that they can provide legal cover for the serially high traitors, yes-men, collaborators and common murderers who exploit our Institutions and pervert our Democracy.
And the ʽhidden agendaʼ became apparent because no criminal can for ever conceal his true intent and purpose when he is cornered. On this occasion, all the parties making the case against the bill, both the representatives of the Lawyersʼ Professional Bodies (of Athens, Thessalonica and Kalamata) as well as of the Municipalities, unions, other professional associations and private citizens can be credited with an excellent case preparation and defense, regardless of what I had so far personally registered to the contrary regarding vital issues of relevance to the Greek People.
This excellent presence of the lawyers making the case against the overtax bill (amongst whom was P. Pavlopoulos, who in fact made the peopleʼs case) shows two irrefutably clear facts: first that under the DEI overtax bill there is a bras de fer, a tug-of-war between the Greek People and the collaborators everywhere, and second, and due to the fact that the Greek People have already shown great resolve and strength the expression of which seems quite imminent, each and every one who would like to be expunged from the stigma of collaborating party crony and be christened a resisting Greek, allying himself to the Greek People so that he, too, may secure a niche in the new epoch (which in no way will be a New Order), has rushed (superficially or not) to align himself with the case against the overtax. This is clearly seen through the communicative strategy of the leader of the DEI union (GENOP) Fotopoulos (who was present at the hearing but took no part in it while making sure everyone acknowledged his being present) as well as in the selection of P. Pavlopoulos (who is a politician and in fact member of the present parliament, ex-member of the government and instigator of the present situation by serving as minister under the Karamanlis government, and as a guarantor of the present imposed and non-elected coup of the Papadimos regime, via his leaderʼs support of this regime and his own vote to sustain it in power) whose defense of the case against the bill was indeed of high caliber as far as the Greek courts go.
I will not go more into the cases made by those against the overtax bill, because these are easily located by a simple reading of their motions. Where I intend to focus is precisely on the cases made by those defending the overtax bill, the great efforts of the three lawyers representing the state, who shamelessly decided to do so in this case (as they are not truly defending the interests of the State, but the interests of those appointed yes-men, common collaborators and reproachable traitors).
Their three addresses, which were not only inconsistent but also incoherent, were full of completely unsubstantiated arguments and claims which would show at once to the listener, who would be patient enough to put up with their undue length and absurdity, such as the following:
every law, being such, must be unquestionably obeyed
everyone has already paid the overtax so there is no point in pursuing the repeal of the pertinent law (!)
If the overtax is repealed, it is going to be replaced by another, even harsher measure
The overtax is the confirmation of the value of the private property of the Greek Citizens (!)
The overtax is a redistributive measure because it allows the Greek Citizens to keep their private property and protect it from seizure for the benefit of the lenders to the State.
Their arguments to support the characterisation of the overtax as ʽduesʼ and not as ʽtaxʼ, etc, are of less importance and I am not going to go into this discussion which is by definition ludicrous, since the same lawyers claimed that this is also a ʽlawʼ and therefore the State have a right to enforce it at will.
But on the basis of their arguments which I listed above, there is a loud and clear message that was also perceived by the President of the Supreme Court, just as I relay it below: that this overtax is in fact the imposed rent exacted from us so as we could avoid immediate foreclosure and seizure of our properties (i.e., the private property of Greek Citizen) in favour of the lenders, the Memorandum, the occupation forces. In other words, the ʽredistributiveʼ character of the overtax boils down to the simple fact that you and I will retain the right to our property holdings, as well as the right to reside in a domicile in general (since the overtax is also demanded by the lessees / and users of the premises), to accommodate your business, if you go ahead and pay the overtax, which covers you for a year only, unless of course, more is demanded of you before the year expires with more absurd taxes at will.
The President of the Supreme Court seemed to get drift of this innuendo and he therefore asked the lawyer representing the State: ʽwill the State guarantee the house owner that by paying the overtax for the 2011 and 2012 only, as you claim, he will secure the value and the ownership of his private immovable holdings and safeguard it from any danger of foreclosure or seizure, on account of which you also claim the average owner has to pay the overtax?ʼ
Responding to the question the State lawyer answered: ʽof course not, it is simply a question of obeying the lawʼ and then he tried to say something about the government trying its best to avoid bankruptcy, etc.
So it becomes apparent that accepting to pay the overtax constitutes also acceptance that in actual fact our immovable property and our Right to accommodation do not belong to us and that at any moment and time we agree that such property is liable to foreclosure to secure payments exacted in favour of our lenders.
IN SIMPLE WORDS, WHOEVER PAYS THE OVERTAX OR DOES NOT STATE A FORMAL OBJECTION IN CASE THE OVERTAX IS ILLEGALLY WITHHELD IN HIS SALARY OR IN ANY PAYMENT TO THIRD PARTIES BY DEI, HE VOLUNTARILY ALIENATES HIMSELF FROM THE RIGHTFUL RIGHTS TO HIS PROPERTY BUT ALSO TO ANY RIGHT TO SECURING ACCOMMODATION FOR ANY USE.
From careful examination of the exemptions provided in this law, it also becomes clear who is destined to suffer loss of his property and who will retain the rights to his property: whoever possess heritage buildings (owners of the likes of Tzohatsopoulos, etc), churches, NGOs and certain institutions as well as industrialists, etc. In other words, the persons able to secure rights to their property will be either those judged invalid by 80% (i.e., people who pose no threat to them) or those belonging to their own crony circles. Let it also be known that special circulars and ad hoc exemptions as those supposedly provided to the homeless or the destitute, do not wave the responsibility of everyone under the law (and thus forcing everyone to alienate themselves from the rights to their property even if a person petitions for exemption to paying of the said overtax, since he indirectly recognizes the power and standing of the said law). He is simply exempted from paying the particular sum of money but not from his legal responsibility to pay.
It is therefore clear that it will be a grave mistake to proceed by paying the overtax one way or the other, all the more because we are all now in wait for the official verdict by the Supreme Court on this issue, which is not going to take place earlier than the end of coming January.
But why should so much time be given for the verdict to be officially issued and published, given the urgency of the matter and its huge social significance?
The answer is simple: because at first, they will try to scare as many Greeks as possible into paying them hot cash, which of course they never intend to return, even if the Supreme Court annuls the law, as DEI or the Revenue Office will simply ʽadjustʼ it forward in future payments of every ʽextraʼ changes they may devise in the future, and second because the Supreme Court themselves would like to gauge just how much leeway they have to issue a pro-government verdict. That is the reason why the official Supreme Court verdict on the legal status of the Memorandum has yet to be officially issued, even that unofficially released to the press.
It is therefore in our hand not to allow the Supreme Court from issuing a pro-government verdict and also to show to those imposed yes-men and collaborators that they have no power over the Greek People:
1. We do not pay the overtax, just the bill for the utility
2. We officially make our objection known to DEI as well as to the Inland Revenue Offices (DOY) (either right away or in case DOY sends us a payment notice).
3. We lock the casings containing the power gauges so that they will not be accessible to DEI technicians.
4. We organize ourselves in our neighbourhoods to face the issue so as to make it hard for the DEI technical crews to cut the power in our areas, but also to secure immediate steps to bring power back on in case it is cut in our houses, in our businesses, etc, by organizing crews comprised of our co-Citizens who of course know how to reconnect power.
5. We officially call upon Article 120Σ to justify our actions to de-legitimize the current ʽgovernmentʼ by both sticking the label ʽpower paid for, no interruption allowedʼ but also by means of a more general indication in our house that we are utilizing the principle- 120Σʼ in our Constitution, such as a sticker sewn on our Greek Flag, if it is continuously raised on its mast.
With these indications and tokens we secure our Constitutionality and we are perfectly legal on the basis of International, European and National Law.
Translation courtesy of Michael T.