On 7/17/15, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
How it happened in the first place is important because the same thing isAs far as our own situation? I work at keeping a positive hope alive,
happening slow motion here and it's happened to Puerto Rico. It's what
Naomi Klein described in Disaster Capitalism.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Friday, July 17, 2015 12:14 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Amid turmoil, Greek workers,face ongoing social
crisis
Greece is the Canary in the Coal Mine. If she topples off her perch, we'd
better all be on our way out of the shaft.
Why Greece got sucker punched in the first place is not as important as how
she can get out from under the EU boot. Sad to say, there is no Strong
Nation defending democracy in today's International Corporate Capitalism.
Capitalism is unable to discern between proponents and opponents.
In the world of Capitalism everybody is fair game. The struggle will
continue until there is only one International Corporate Empire.
National pride will be a thing of the past. National borders will not be
understood under the New Order. But it will not be that One People's World
that some of us dream about. It will be the most oppressive power of our
worst nightmares. If we don't turn the tide soon, we will be in for that
Thousand Years talked about in the Bible.
The End Time.
Somehow, someway we have to protect that canary.
Carl Jarvis
On 7/17/15, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
http://themilitant.com/2015/7925/792503.htmltaxes.
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 79/No. 25 July 20, 2015
(front page)
Amid turmoil, Greek workers
face ongoing social crisis
BY SETH GALINSKY
At the urging of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, 61 percent of voters
in a July 5 referendum in Greece rejected a new European Union bailout
plan coupled with demands for deeper cuts in pensions and higher sales
Tsipras' Coalition of the Radical Left, known as Syriza, was electedchaos.
in January based on its claim to be an anti-austerity party.
The troika - the European Central Bank, the European Commission and
the International Monetary Fund - is demanding steeper pension cuts, a
faster rise in the retirement age, higher sales taxes, more cuts in
military spending, and a smaller tax increase for the rich than what
Tsipras has proposed, in exchange for more loans. The troika rejected
even discussing Tsipras' request to write off some of the country's
$360 billion debt.
The European Union - and the slightly smaller eurozone - was
originally set up as a common market to bolster the ability of
capitalists to compete against their rivals in the U.S., Japan and
other parts of the world. In reality it works as a tool for the more
powerful European imperialist countries, especially Germany, to
advance their interests at the expense of the weaker capitalist nations.
Facing the troika's intransigence, Tsipras called the referendum,
arguing that a strong "no" vote would allow him to negotiate a deal
with fewer concessions. EU leaders warned that voting "no" would mean
the exit of Greece from the European Union and plunge the country into
After the referendum was called and Athens defaulted on a $1.8 billion
payment owed to the IMF June 30, the troika tightened the screws,
increasing turmoil throughout the country. The European Central Bank
set a cap on how much it would loan Greek banks to cover deposits.
With just
$2.2 billion on hand to cover $161 billion in deposits Greek banks are
dependent on these daily loans.
The government ordered the banks closed and imposed a maximum daily
withdrawal from ATM machines of $66.
The cash shortage has made the economic crisis for workers even worse.
Workers and farmers have difficulty getting paid, meeting their rent
and other bills and buying necessities. Official unemployment stands
at 26.5 percent, the highest in the EU; one-fifth of the population
does not have enough money for food.
Ekathimerini reported July 7 that 520,000 olive growers, half of them
small family farmers, have been refusing to accept checks or
electronic transfers, paralyzing olive oil production. "They want it
in cash or they prefer to keep their olive oil in their tanks," Chris
Dimizas, a supervisor at olive oil company Greekpol, told the paper.
'National unity' for negotiations
Three bourgeois opposition parties in the Greek parliament backed a
"yes" vote in the referendum to accept the troika's demands: New
Democracy, To Potami, and Pasok - the Panhellenic Socialist Movement,
which was defeated by Syriza in January. After the "no" vote won, they
signed a unity statement with Syriza, backing further negotiations on
the debt.
The Communist Party of Greece, a Stalinist organization, called on
voters to spoil their ballots, saying that "both the yes and the no
mean the acceptance of a new memorandum of anti-people measures." The
party reports that 310,000 did so. But the party offered no
alternative road for action.
Golden Dawn, an incipient fascist party, backed the "no" vote. One of
its members, Ilias Panagiotaris, told Der Spiegel that the group's "no"
vote is different from Syriza's, because after the vote Golden Dawn's
"people go into battle with a smile on their faces." Tsipras and other
politicians, he said, say "no" with their lips, "but deep inside they
just want to go on shopping and have their cash machines."
While EU officials considered the referendum a populist gimmick and
Tsipras an untrustworthy negotiator, the vote bolstered his popularity
and maneuvering room at home.
Tsipras promptly fired Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, viewed by
the troika as too radical and an obstacle to a deal, and named Euclid
Tsakalotos to take his place.
In a July 8 loan request, Tsakalotos affirmed that "Greece is
committed to honor its financial obligations to all of its creditors
in a full and timely manner."
As a July 7 European summit to deal with the crisis got underway in
Brussels, President Barack Obama called both German Chancellor Angela
Merkel and Tsipras to push for "a mutually acceptable agreement."
So far the German rulers have not moved an inch. "We have only a few
days left to find a solution," Merkel told reporters at the end of the
summit, adding that she is "not especially optimistic."
EU rulers fear things coming apart
The EU can't accept "an unconditional haircut," German Economy
Minister Sigmar Gabriel said prior to the summit, touching on Berlin's
biggest fears. "How could we then refuse it to other member states?"
Italy, Portugal and Spain all have even bigger foreign debts than
Greece. And the possibility of their exit from the eurozone and the
common currency worries them even more.
Both the EU plan and proposals from Athens will require a new round of
attacks on working people.
Another Greek payment of $3.9 billion is due to the European Central
Bank July 20. If no deal is reached and Athens does not pay up, the
country could be forced out of the eurozone and to bring back its own
currency, the drachma.
While this would allow the propertied rulers in Greece the ability to
devalue their currency, making it easier to boost exports, it would
leave them with little access to financial markets, compounding the
crisis for working people.
"We have a Grexit scenario, prepared in detail," European Commission
President Jean-Claude Juncker said at the summit, adding that he would
prefer that Athens meet the EU demands.
The loans "given to Greece never went to the people," Tsipras told the
European Parliament the next day, receiving both boos and applause.
"The money was given to save Greek and European banks."
He pleaded with the EU representatives to back a "compromise" that
would show there is "light at the end of the tunnel." But under his
plan, all new loans would go to pay the debt as well.
Related articles:
Puerto Rico gov't targets workers to pay 'unpayable' debt of US colony
Yes, it's important. But in the case of Greece we should be concerned about
how to disengage her from the EU's clutches.
