We Are All Greeks Now

They chanted, "We. Are. The 99 percent" with Greek accents in Zuccotti Park on Saturday. Greek-Americans, nationals and immigrants were joined by Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters in a show of solidarity with the people of Greece, thousands of whom took to the streets to protest the latest round of International Monetary Fund-imposed austerity cuts. A week earlier, Greeks had rioted, setting dozens of Athenian buildings ablaze.

One of the Zuccotti Park protesters, Costas Panayotakis, is an associate professor of sociology at City College of Technology and author of "Remaking Scarcity: From Capitalist Inefficiency to Economic Democracy." "Greece is just a more extreme example of what's going on around Europe and around the world," he said in an interview with Truthout, explaining the impetus behind the solidarity demonstration.

Christa Calbos, a student activist who goes to Manhattanville College and who has spent time in Greece, agreed that the solidarity stems from people worldwide seeing their own situation in the Greeks'. "It is important for Americans," she said, "and all citizens of the world fighting against austerity to show solidarity because the challenges Greece now faces are not unique to Greece."

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