|
Greece: Sane Voices Call For A “No” Vote
The IMF still wants austerity for Greece but is now also demanding a huge debt relief which the European governments do not want to give. They earlier transferred the private risks from the banks who had stupidly lend to Greece to their tax payers. Having to admit now that this will cost their taxpayers a lot of money is a political threat to them.
James K. Galbraith is right with his description of those leaders:
[T]he leaders of today's Europe are shallow, cloistered people, preoccupied with their local politics and unequipped, morally or intellectually, to cope with a continental problem. This is true of Angela Merkel in Germany, of François Hollande in France, and it is true also of Christine Lagarde at the IMF. In particular North Europe's leaders have not felt the crisis and do not know the economics, and in both respects they are the direct opposite of the Greeks.
Galbraith hopes for a "no" vote in the Greek referendum. The "offer" the Troika made would be refused. This would give the Greece government a new mandate to negotiate and to not surrender.
Joseph Stiglitz, with an economics Nobel prize under his belt, says he personally would vote "no":
[A] no vote would at least open the possibility that Greece, with its strong democratic tradition, might grasp its destiny in its own hands. Greeks might gain the opportunity to shape a future that, though perhaps not as prosperous as the past, is far more hopeful than the unconscionable torture of the present.
His op-ed was also printed in today's Handelsblatt, the main German business paper. It may even have some effect on some politicians in Berlin.
The officialdom, and commercial interests, are trying to push for a yes vote. In that they don't even refrain from deception and outright fraud. That claim in the media that a poll showed that the Greek would vote "yes"?
@Edward_hugh
Greek polling company GPO disown PNB Parisbas "sell side" sponsored vote survey widely reported in press today. pic.twitter.com/AkZvRgymas
PS: (I am still very busy and posting will be light.)
The Greeks have to make their decision as to what they are going to do. This is not a vote about staying in the EU. If the Greeks are kicked out, there is no one to blame for that decision except the EU masters. The Greeks are making only one decision – wether or not to agree to the terms of the EU for the repayment of the debt – and thereby wether the debt was incurred legally.
All those who claim that this is a referendum on the EU are liars who are not being honest with the Greek people. Those who are trotting out the endless stream of confusion as to what this referendum is about – like the BBC, the New York Times, and even Greek parties like Potomi, etc – are clearly no friends of the Greek people. Because to be a friend is to speak honestly.
“Your mention of compradors is important because the internal enemies of the Greek people may be more dangerous than the external Troika.”
The internal and external enemies of the Greek people are one in the same. The Greeks are paying the Troika who gives the money to prop up Greek banking oligarchs. There is no difference between a banker in Athens, a banker in Frankfurt, or a hedge fund vulture in New York City holding Greek debt. All are ghouls who are profiting from the destruction of Greece.
The Greek comprador class supported the Nazis in the Second World War, fought against the United Front in the civil war, made the neo-fascist 1970s regime, and today they support EU/NATO integration and austerity. They are an integral part of the European ruling class that is holding the working and middle classes of across the whole continent by the balls. The ruling class which has divided Europe, once again as they did in the 1930s, into “Germans” and “Greeks” instead of the reality – of workers and rulers. So, there is not one “more dangerous” than the other. They are the same.
To add to the anti-Syriza noise machine, wether from a reactionary stance or a “ultra-leftist” stance, is to do the people of Europe a disservice. Syriza is the only left-wing, anti-austerity party with power inside the EU. It is unique. It fought the Golden Dawn on the streets of Athens. It engaged the Greek people and asked for their vote, and it is living up to their mandate without – and this is key – claiming more of one than they earned.
The referendum vote will be their true mandate. The Greek people have had a chance to see Syriza in action, the referendum will be the Greek people’s chance to show or deny their trust in Syriza before embarking on a long struggle for independence, or maintaining the constant drain of austerity.The stakes are clear: Syriza’s success means a stake in the heart of the EU debt vampires who are feeding off of not just Greece, but on all of those nations deemed “the periphery”. Success for Syriza is success for the very idea of democracy in the 21st Century. It is that cut-and-dried.
If Syriza fails, then the last good hope for European democracy vanishes until, perhaps, the next escalation of crisis, whenever that might be a year or two years down the road. Or perhaps for the foreseeable future. Because this is the simplest question of the referendum: do a people have the right to say “no” to those whom wish them ill, to say “no” to those who, by whatever “legal” power, are seeking to oppress them? As Martin Luther King, Jr stated: “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” And clearly this debt – and the refusal of those who imposed it to make any compromise, even for the sickest and the poorest – is unjust. So which is worse – to face the morse losses for ones shattered economy, or the loss of ones national will and democracy? Because after Syriza, there is the abyss. There is no one offering to speak for the Greek people if Syriza falls.
If Syriza succeeds, though, then all over Europe, we could see these sham technocratic, ruling class regimes fall. These regimes whose only reason for staying in power is naked fear. This is a good time to recall the words of Franklin Roosevelt, when the US found itself crushed between a failed economy on one side, and a nest of powerful oligarchs on the other who refused to offer any support to the citizens of the country:
This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.
The Greeks are facing a moment of truth as stark and as clear as any in human history. As stark as any 20th Century war for independence. They can choose to continue down their current path, only to have to face the same choice in a year or two years from now with conditions far, far worse (there is no one arguing that there is any hope for their recovery – no one). So it is either continued depression under the “guiding hand” of those who seek only one thing from Greece: the transfer of its wealth. Or they can say “No” and take their destiny, again, into their own hands. Only once they have made their collective will known will Europe decide what course of action to take: compromise, or split Europe. And if it is a split, then the only party responsible will be the masters of the EU.
Posted by: guest77 | Jul 2 2015 21:59 utc | 27
|
