Which are the large-scale geopolitical conflicts nowadays and how are they linked to the rise of nationalism? Is nationalism a temporary phenomenon? How does it affect working people (either existing workers or migrant ones)? What should the movement do?

ReInform, an anticapitalist political group of Greeks in the Netherlands, invites you to discuss together all these matters on Sunday 2 December in NieuwLand (Peter Nieuwlandstraat 93, 1098XN, Amsterdam). After our discussion we will enjoy some traditional Mediterranean and Eastern sounds and tastes.

Program:
16.30-18.30 | Short introductory talks by Manos from ReInform and Max from Internationale Socialisten
From 18.30 onwards | Culinary and music Mediterranean and Eastern exchanges with the open collective Aman Molli

Due to this issue there is currently a new outburst of nationalist rhetoric in public discourse in Greece.  The common strategy of ‘Divide & Conquer’ is being employed in Balkans turning in this way the peoples of two countries against each other. In this act of ‘Macedonian’ drama, the showcase of national interest is misleading people in Greece in demonstrating against a created external common enemy, using as frontispiece the name of Macedonia. And because of this situation, people who are now resisting or just speaking publicly against this nationalistic rhetoric are being considered non-patriots or even traitors.

On the 21st of January, various nationalist groups in Greece managed to gather approximately 90.000 people (who came with buses from every part of the country) in Thessaloniki demanding the term ‘Macedonia’ not be included in the new name of the neighboring country. Under the exacerbated nationalism that has prevailed in the country, numerous far-right and fascist groups have taken advantage of this situation by attacking political squats and collectives that fight against state nationalism.  During that demonstration, these parastatal groups attacked the libertarian social collective of ‘EKX Sxoleio’ and afterwards they set fire to the anti-authoritarian squat of ‘Libertatia’. It is worth noting that these attacks were tolerated by the nearby police forces, a fact that shows once again the collaboration of fascists with the police and unmasks a government that claims to be ‘left’ and ‘in favor of people’.

The whole issue of the name of Macedonia works also as a disorienting pseudo-dilemma hiding the continuing harsh neoliberal attack against the rights of the people of both countries. At the same time that ‘national rallies for the name of Macedonia’ are organized in Greece, omnibus bills that extend the austerity policies are being voted in the parliament, auctions of primary residences (even of poor people) have started and the workers’ right to strike has been severely restricted.

It is also worth remembering that the political forces that present themselves as ‘patriotic’ by supporting the nationalist rallies and claiming that they ‘care’ about Greece:

• are the very ones that when they were in power promoted policies that were destructive for the natural environment of the country
• have sold natural resources and public companies to domestic or foreign private companies
• have violated every possible regulation to facilitate the disastrous (from an environmental and financial perspective) investment of the Canadian company El Dorado Gold in Skouries-Chalkidiki
• have taken decisive steps to commercialize and privatize drinking water in Thessaloniki.

We promote internationalism and class solidarity with Balkan people against the rise of nationalism and continuing neoliberal policies in both countries. Our belief is that people of both countries should fight against the degradation and exploitation of our lives by the neoliberal capitalist assault instead of demonstrating against each other. In fact, this is the only way to ensure a long-lasting peace in the region.

WE CONDEMN THE FASCIST ATTACKS ON RESISTING POLITICAL COLLECTIVES

WE STRUGGLE AGAINST NATIONALISM THAT CAPITALISM PROMOTES IN ALL COUNTRIES

30 January 2018

ReINFORM

Source of featured image: ThePressProject

On 21 February 1973, law students went on strike and barricaded themselves inside the buildings of the Law School of the University in the centre of Athens demanding the cancellation of the law that imposed drafting of “subversive youths”, as 88 of their colleagues had been forcefully drafted. The regime ordered the police inside the Law School and many students suffered police brutality. The events at the Law School are often cited as the prelude to the Polytechnic uprising.

On 14 November 1973, students at the National Technical University of Athens (also known as the Athens Polytechnic or Polytechneion) went on strike and started protesting against the military regime. There was no response so the students barricaded themselves in and built a radio station (using materials from the laboratories) that repeatedly broadcasted across Athens: “This is the Polytechneion! People of Greece, the Polytechneion is the flag bearer of our struggle and your struggle, our common struggle against the dictatorship and for democracy!” (Etho Polytechneio! Lae tis Elladas to Polytechneio einai simaioforos tou agona mas, tou agona sas, tou koinou agona mas enantia sti diktatoria kai gia tin Dimokratia). Leftist, later to be politician, Maria Damanaki was one of the major speakers. Soon thousands of workers and youngsters joined them protesting inside and outside of the Athens Polytechnic.

By Wednesday, 14 November, 1.500 students had barricaded themselves inside the Polytechnic. Tension grew by the hour and throughout Thursday sympathizers old and young converged on the school next to the Archaeological Museum. By late Friday, 16 November, thousands of people were filling the area stretching from Panepistimiou Street all the way to the Alexandras Avenue intersection.

Witness accounts disagree as to which end of Patission Street the teargas canisters came from but the asphyxiating fumes had already started to terrify the crowd into headlong flight even before the first tanks appeared on Patission Street from the direction of Alexandras Avenue.

In the early hours of Saturday 17 November 1973, about 25 AMX 30 tanks arrived at the Polytechnic. One took position right in front of the main gate. Fifteen minutes later, a delegation of the students requested for 30 minutes to evacuate the school grounds but they were only given 15. Less than then ten minutes later the AMX 30 tank crashed through the gate of the Athens Polytechnic.

The events were filmed by the Belgian journalist Albert Coerant who worked as a correspondent for Dutch and Belgian TV in Greece during the military dictatorship. Even though the film is quite dark it is clear enough to show that the tank crashed down the main entrance of the Polytechneion while students, who had climbed on the gate earlier, were still on it.

In recordings of the “free Athens Polytechnic radio” that was transmitting from the school grounds, a young man’s voice is heard desperately asking the soldiers (who he calls brothers in arms) surrounding the building complex, to refuse to obey the military orders and not to fight ‘brothers protesting’. The voice carries on to an emotional outbreak, reciting the lyrics of the Greek national anthem. Shortly after the tank entered the school grounds, the radio station ceased to transmit.

According to a, highly contested, official investigation after the fall of the Junta, no students of the Athens Polytechnic were killed during the incident and only a few were injured by the tank. Unofficial accounts differ as to how many died in the tank invasion into the Polytechnic area but a number were killed in the immediate area of the school. A further number are estimated to have been killed in Patission Street by sniper fire from nervous military guards atop buildings and in what sounded like indiscriminate shooting that went on until the early hours of Saturday 17 November. According to unofficial accounts, at least 24 were killed (the number may be higher), hundreds were injured and almost 1.000 were arrested at the Polytechnic and at the Ministry of Public Order where students also were protesting.

Although several civilians (some of them children and even the case of an infant) are documented having been killed in the cross-fire of the Polytechnic uprising, there is no documented reference to any actual students of the Athens Polytechnic killed at the time. Despite this, in popular opinion tens (or even hundreds!) of students of the Athens Polytechnic were killed. It does not pay homage to the memory of those who were actually killed to fabricate fictitious victims.

Both on Sunday 18 and Monday 19 November 1973 a mass of soldiers and police prevented crowds from gathering in thecentre of Athens and there were tanks in strategic positions as well as surrounding the Parliament Building. All of Greece was put under martial law for one week preventing from more than four people gathering. There also was a curfew between 19:00 and 05:00 and a number of people were shot for breaking it. Around the country, 28 student organizations were dissolved and their assets were confiscated.

Every year the campus of the Polytechnic is closed on 15 November (the day the students first occupied the campus) and on 17 November, all Greek schools and universities are closed. Students and politicians lay wreaths near the monument within the Polytechnic that has the names of all Polytechnic students killed during the Greek Resistance in the 1940s inscribed (there are no names of students killed during the Polytechnic uprising). The commemoration day ends with a demonstration that begins at the campus of the Polytechnic and ends at the United States Embassy.

Source: http://greekleftreview.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/17-november-tribute-to-the-uprising-at-the-athens-polytechnic-in-1973/

Here is also a link to the blog: “A Gael in Greece” by Damian Mac Con Uladh (he lives in Greece and works at EnetEnglish, the international online edition of the Eleftherotypia) who has posted an article about the 24 victims of the 1973 Athens Polytechnic uprising: http://damomac.wordpress.com/2012/11/17/polytechnic/

Source of featured image: http://www.esos.gr/arthra/35808/41i-epeteios-toy-polytehneioy-2i-mera-eortasmoy

By Leonidas Vatikiotis

The provocative intervention of the European Commission (indication of their great discomfort over the decision of the Court of Appeal), which continues to treat Greece as an occupied country without sovereign rights, was via the Commission’s spokesperson Annika Breidthardt, who invoked the independence of the statistical services. In essence, the mouthpiece of Brussels if anything she asked was the unaccountability of the Eurostats’ favorites, even at the expense of their country, as was repeatedly done by A. Georgiou. In addition, as rightly highlighted in the announcement of the Union of Judges and Prosecutors on August 3rd, the unequal treatment of the European Commission creates two classes of citizens. Narratives of creditors were reproduced by mainstream Press (FAZ, FT, Politico, Bloomberg, et. al.) which appeared A. Georgiou, who now lives in Maryland, as a victim.

Needless to say, that the venal and loafer bureaucracy of Brussels would have never reached the point of showing its teeth by interfering with such frequency, if the so-called left-wing government of SYRIZA (which governs with the extreme-right party of ANEL) had not given them the right. Going as far as to accept in the prerequisites of the last instalment, the acquittal of A. Georgiou (proof of the inability of his acquittal through the lawful way), as well as paying his legal costs (just for humiliating them), the message sent out by the government is that the rule of law will have the fate of the welfare state: sacrificed at the altar of Memoranda!

The judgement of the Court of Appeal may once again have angered the parasites in Brussels, but it abstained from the proposal of the Prosecutor, Mr. Lambros Patsavellas, who, in his speech, asked for the conviction of Georgiou for all three offences, which did not concern the data falsification, as this will be trialled in the Criminal Court.

Specifically, the former President of ELSTAT, A. Georgiou, was accused of the following: First, because he simultaneously occupied two critical posts (one as a President of ELSTAT and another as deputy division chief in the IMF) – for this he was acquitted. Secondly, because he did not call for the BoD meetings – for this he was acquitted. And, thirdly, because he sent the 2009 deficit figures all by himself, without ELSTAT taking knowledge – for this, he was found guilty. The contradicting fact that he was acquitted for not calling for the BoD and then convicted because he sent the data to Eurostat by himself (because he did not call for the BoD to approve them!), is utterly blatant!

Let take a look one by one the above mentioned accusations. 

Servant of Two Masters!

The position of the President of ELSTAT is a dedicated full-time position (as provided by article 15, par. 1, sentence b of the 3832/2010 law). However, when on June 29, 2010, A. Georgiou passed by the approval of the Conference of Presidents of the Greek Parliament, he concealed that he had not resigned from the IMF but had taken an unpaid leave. His direct dependency on the IMF was apparent on the e-mail he sent to the representative of IMF in Greece, Paul Thomsen, urging him to intervene on the government, via Brussels, in order to change the law on the statistical service.

Georgiou, concealed his professional relationship with the IMF because if made known, he could not even be a mere member of the Board, as the only parallel position allowed, is that of a faculty member at a University. However, Georgiou, is not a professor! He is not even a statistical scientist, since he has no relevant studies. Even at the IMF, he was not working as a statistician, but as a simple economist. It seems, that in the case of statisticians there is a constant tradition which was first pointed out by the American economist and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz: The IMF, recruits, second and third-class scientists to make the dirty job.

Georgiou was concealing the truth that he serves two Masters for more than a year (from July 2010 to September 2011). Thus, along with the position of President of ELSTAT he also held the post of Deputy Chief of the IMF Statistical Service, where admittedly resigned on July 16, 2010, but he only put in into effect on November 10, 2010. The fraud was uncovered by MPs and journalists, so Georgiou had to admit it. Even then, he pretended the naive, stating that he did it in order to secure his pension. The question which subsequently arises is why didn’t he wait until November 10, 2011, to complete his pensionable years at the IMF and then move to Greece? Obviously, his highly lucrative relationship of dependency with the IMF served the hateful organization who wanted to have its own people in key positions in Greece…

What if there was an evident conflict of interest between lender and borrower? A contradiction which was also described by the prosecutor himself, who in the end was applauded by dozens of ordinary people who had flooded the Court of Appeals to watch the trial …

For the offense of holding simultaneously two positions, the Court of Appeal decided that Georgiou is innocent.

ELSTAT, One Man’s Principle

From November 2010 to September 2011, Georgiou refused to convene a meeting between the other 6 members of ELSTAT (N. Logothetis, G. Georgantas, A. Philippou, G. Simiyiannis, St. Balfousia and K. Skordas) who consisted the seven-member collegial body of the independent Authority.

In order to leave no doubt regarding the motives of the BoD members we should state that (according to article 12 of law 3832 / 9.3.2010) its seven members are defined as follows: Four members (of which one is appointed as chairman and another as vice-chairman) are elected by the Presidents of the Parliament, on the recommendation of the Minister of Finance, following a public notice by a majority of 4/5 of its members. One member is nominated by the Governor of the Bank of Greece, one member by the Minister of Finance and another member by the Workers’ Association. As a result, they were not representatives of the protestors of Syntagma square, nor representatives of grass-roots unions … Thus, Georgiou, acted behind their back, as his illegalities were so blatant that they could not be accepted by employees who did not have the psychology of a gauleiter nor of a man in special mission who knows that whatever his actions may-be, his contractors, will cover for him.

His argument, that there was no trust between the members, and that is why Georgiou did it all by himself, was overturned by the prosecutor, who argued that if Georgiou did not trust them, he could entrust the vice-president to convene a BoD. So, why didn’t he request it from N. Logothetis?

Georgiou (who never missed a chance to insult Greece) to further strengthen his position he was issuing press releases in Greek and English. In these press releases the Board members were being presented as politically animated, with unionist-like and “abnormal” behaviour!

For the offence of the non-convergence of the BoD, the Court of Appeal decided that Georgiou was innocent.

Guilty of the 2009 Deficit

Of particular importance, however, is the decision of the three-member Court of Appeal, to convict Georgiou in two years’ imprisonment, with a three-year suspension, for the irregular transmission of the 2009 data of budget deficit. This decision angered the creditors and the neoliberal establishment in Greece. In particular, A. Georgiou he was convicted because he did not put into account ELSTAT as a collective body and because the latter did not consent on the transmission of the data, in violation of Article 10, par. 2(f) I of Law 3832/2010. More specifically, it states that “ELSTAT in particular: a. Prepares and executes the annual statistical program and produces and publishes with the status of the “national statistical office” as defined in para. 1 of article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003. 223/2009, the official, national and European statistics of the country.”

Georgiou, however, chose to forward only the data for the 2009 deficit. Thus, in a completely unmonitored way, he predicted the 2009 deficit at 11.9%, first, later 13.6% of GDP later inflated it even more at 15.4% and shortly thereafter even higher: at 15.8%!

Georgiou, who was found guilty of this offense without being granted any extenuation and with the maximum penalty, violated the principles that are strictly followed in all statistical services of Europe.

The court’s decision to convict Georgiou for the arbitrary transmission of the 2009 deficit figures paves the way for revealing and putting into question the scheme that trapped Greece in order to enter the era of Memorandums under the eye of the EU-IMF and of course of the domestic economic elite. If the creditors were having a say on which of the three charges the IMF official, Georgiou, must not be convicted, they would choose this particular one, as the rejection of the way that the data of the 2009 deficit was transmitted (as much as it contradicts Georgiou’s acquittal for the non-convergence of the BoD) paves the way for the pending trials which question the 2009 deficit itself! Τhis a decision may not was the best possible, but eases the way of proving that the deficit was formed by the creditors’ orders in order to justify the literature of fiscal derailment.

The current phase of litigation about false Greek Statistics started only a few days after the last disbursement of the 7.7 million tranche, on July 7, and after the SYRIZA-ANEL government had implemented every single claim of the European creditors and the IMF. Then they realized that an unpleasant surprise was awaiting them. These included the acquittal of three members of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund S.A. (this is the super-fund of privatizations) from Italy, Spain and Slovenia and of the former President of the ELSTAT (Hellenic Statistical Authority), Andreas Georgiou, who in 2009 inflated the deficit so that Greece be placed under the Memoranda status quo. They even ratified his claim for 100.000€ compensation for his legal costs, which is an unparalleled act of political humiliation.

The surprise which followed the disbursement was related to the objection on behalf of the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Xenis Demetriou against the Decree of the Counselors Appeal (No. 969/2017) issued on May 26, 2017, where Georgiou was relieved from the accusations that he artificially inflated the budget deficit. With this particular Decree, proposed by the Prosecutor of the Court of appeal, Mr. John Koutras, and adopted by the majority (only the Prosecutor Christina Romesi voted against) decided not to be referred to the three-member Athens Court of Appeal, George and two of his associates (Konstantinos Molfetas and Athanasia Xenaki) for the accusation of false attestation in criminal complicity at the expense of the Public under the particularly aggravating circumstance of the extreme high value of the object of the crime.

It should be noted that this was the second time that the Mr. George and his co-defendants were exempted by Decree of the Council of the Court of appeal. An identical discharge decision (1149/2015) from the accusation for falsification to a felony degree was preceded.

Georgiou was Never Acquitted!

Consequently, those who argued that Mr. Georgiou has been acquitted twice so far make a broad interpretation of the Decree. They turned the exculpatory acts into acquittals with apparent objective to present Mr. Georgiou as a victim of persecution. And instead of apologizing for his inability to prove his innocence to the court hearing, as any accused is obliged to do, he appears as a victim of political squabbles, when the only political conspiracy in progress aims at his acquittal.

The rage of the EU, who treats Greece as a Banana Republic, making use the slavish attitude of Tsipra’s government, is fully understandable on the basis of the possible consequences a final court decision will have for all the countries that voted for Greece’s lending in 2010, which will conclude that Georgiou and Eurostat altered fraudulently the financial figures of Greece. Hundreds of deputies across the EU have therefore been deceived with non-existent economic data in order to save the French-German banks. That being the case, the EU is now trying to not only save her valuable associate in Athens, who in fraudulent ways and in violation of not just the scientific ethics but also of laws, paved the way for the steamroller of the Memoranda, but also to conceal its own responsibility in the falsification of statistical data. That is, not to open the Windbag of Aeolus and reveal the great robbery organized by the EU and IMF at the expense of the people, using the excuse of “rescues” …

In order to better show how provocative and against of any concept of law is the intervention of the creditors on putting an end on the Georgiou chapter, it is worth a small flashback on the very serious accusations against the former powerful man of the ELSTAT who paved the way for the then Finance Minister, G. Papaconstantinou, to compare Greece with Titanic as a self-fulfilling prophecy, paving the way to the speculators…

It is worth to stand in three specific examples which demonstrate the cooking in the data of the ELSTAT that took place under Georgiou’s responsibility, so that the 2009 budget deficit would initially reach 11.9% and later 15.8% of GDP. They also show why the creditors, the pro-Memorandum governments (social-democratic PASOK, the so-called technocrats of L. Papadimou, the right-wing New Democracy and the current SYRIZA-ANEL) do not want the case before the hearing.

The “creative accounting” was used in the data of: First, hospitals, second, 17 DEKOs (Public Companies of General Interest) and hundreds of legal entities (around 500) and third the famous swap of the former Prime Minister, Kostas Simitis, who were “cooked” with the help of Goldman Sachs so that the budget deficit to rise in high levels in order to launch the “shock therapy” in 2010.

Statistical Alchemies

The amount that the ELSTAT sent as hospital debts as part of a consistent recurring process in October 2009 in order to establish the tables with the financial data of the EU Member States was “just” 2.3 billion euros. However, somehow in the notification that arrived a few weeks later at Eurostat, dated October 21st, 2008, the amount had increased by an additional 2.5 billion euros, reaching at 4.8 billion euros. Then it was considered that even this amount was not sufficient enough to get the deficit to a convenient for their purpose, therefore the Greek government added an extra 1.8 billion euros, justifying this decision with a “technical report on the review of the obligations of Hospitals” which was sent on February 3, 2010. Thus, the 2.3 billion were magically become by the “Wizard” Georgiou 6.6 billion euros! They were so determined (because of the guarantees that they certainly had outside Greece) that they did not take into account even the Court of Auditors, which, out of the alleged 6.6 billion, approved only 1.2 billion euros. They did not even “lower” the 6.6 billion when one and a half month after the unlawful increase in the budget deficit, the Finance Ministry demanded that hospital suppliers accept a 30% haircut for their unpaid services in 2005-2008. Thus, while public funds benefited from this cut, this discount was never recorded in the fiscal figures.

It is worth to underline another fundamental dimension, which was emphasized in the first report of the Truth Debt Committee in June 2015 under the aegis of Greek parliament (here is the full text) with aim to show that Greek debt was illegal and odious: “This statistical practices, which were used to calculate the liabilities of hospitals, clearly violate both the ESA95 European regulations (see . ESA95, par. 3.06, EC no. 2516/2000 Article 2 of Commission Regulation EC no. 995/2001) as well as the Code of Practice of the European Statistical System (European Statistics Code of Practice), particularly as regards the principles of independence of the statistical measurements, statistical objectivity and credibility” (page 24).

Thus, assurances of anonymous sources in Brussels, which are being republished as a whole and without criticism assuring that specific methodologies were used so Eurostat guarantees the reliability of the data are… nonsense.  They are just pulling the wool over the people’s eyes! Nowhere, the ESA95 and ESA2010 regulations indicate this recording process. The fact that the assurances of Brussels are arbitrary is obvious from the fact that even eight years later different sources of Eurostat show a different levels of deficit…So Eurostat should first decide on the level of the 2009 deficit which in every opportunity shows off the very bad quality of the data it publishes (on the contrary, with the US counterpart), and then they can issue firmans in order to put a tombstone on a debate that has a long future.

All In…

In violation of the international regulations, 17 DEKOs and hundreds of legal entities from the non-financial corporations in the General Government sector were also included in order to inflate the deficit. These entities included from ETHEL (Thermal Bus Company), ILPAP (Electric buses of Athens and Piraeus), ISAP (Urban Rail Transport SA) and OSE (Hellenic Railways Organisation) to the Center for Renewable Energy Sources, the Industrial Property Organization, the University Research Institute for Communications and Computer Systems and the Varvakeios Market of fresh meat and fishes.

The result of this actions was to raise the public debt by at least 18.2 billion EUR. In order for A. Georgiou to be able to pass this change, which was implemented without the slightest studies, he canceled the Service Board of Directors and turned it into one man’s authority. Moreover, his “daring” exploits include his effort to deceive the Parliament, where in order to justify the reclassification, he submitted 74 files that supposedly contained the relevant documentation. In fact, they did not contain studies as they should, but questionnaires, balance sheets and a multitude of other documents that were totally unprocessed.

Only pizza and souvlaki menus were missing from these files, knowing that such records are hardly even opened, not to mention… read!

The last trick that Georgiou and his associated recruited to inflate the deficit was the sinful swaps by Kostas Simitis. Specifically, the debt swap agreements signed by the Greek government with Goldman Sachs in order to hide the public debt. Instead of revealing the alchemy used for Greece’s accession to the eurozone and hold account the financial staff of K. Simitis (L. Papademos then governor of central bank and later appointed by Troika prime minister, G. Stournaras then chief of economists and now governor of central bank, etc.), these very alchemy were once again used against Greek people, as Georgiou arbitrarily AGAIN decided to allocate the € 21bn swap within the years 2006-2009, increasing retroactively and in violation of EU regulations  the public debt. Why did he distributed it in previous years and not in the next, as he could do, this is something they never want us to know.

The Europeans tried to cover up the ELSTAT scandal invoking the famous independence of statistical institutes. The European Commission statement said in a nutshell that “if we find the data credible, it should be enough for you”. This is extreme political authoritarianism that shows that the independence … seriously hampers Democracy. Prohibits the democratic control, removes sovereign rights, facilitates poverty, and becomes a policy enforcement tool that no people have decided, nor approved. The independent authorities therefore cancel Democracy, just like the EU itself that uses every means to conceal the ELSTAT scandals!

Translation: FF.

Leonidas Vatikiotis is a Greek economist and analyst.

Source:https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/08/30/the-road-to-the-greek-hell-is-paved-with-false-eu-and-imf-statistics/

Door Dimitris Pavlopoulos – Arbeidssocioloog VU

Landelijke staking tegen de nieuwe bezuinigingen - Athene , 17 mei 2017

Het Griekse drama gaat onvermijdelijk door. De Griekse regering heeft met de Trojka een nieuwe bezuinigings- en hervormingsronde afgesproken. Dat is de vierde op rij sinds 2010 toen de schuldencrisis uitbrak. De meeste media berichten gaan meer over de daling van de rente van de Griekse obligaties verschenen – vanwege de gemaakte afspraken – dan over de inhoud van de afspraken zelf.

In de afgelopen 1,5 jaar, sinds de capitulatie van de SYRIZA-regering voor de eisen van de Trojka, is de kwestie Griekenland bijna verdwenen uit het nieuws. Nu Tsipras geen opstandeling meer is tegen het Brussel-Schauble establishment lijkt het niet meer de moeite waard om over de crisis in Griekenland te berichten. Recentelijk was er zelfs begrip voor de racistische opmerkingen van Dijsselbloem over Zuid-Europeanen die hun geld hebben uitgegeven aan drank en vrouwen. Het lijkt alsof  in Nederland het verder verarmen van een Europese volk normaal gevonden wordt.

Echter geen mediaberichten betekent nog niet dat de crisis opgelost is. De coalitieregering van SYRIZA met de ultrarechtse partij ‘Onafhankelijke Grieken’ heeft zich onder druk van de Trojka, maar uiteindelijk door eigen keuze, van een antibezuinigingsregering getransformeerd naar een regering die de zwaarste neoliberale bezuinigingsmaatregelen doorvoert. De nieuwe afspraken met de Trojka leveren het bewijs daarvoor. Volgens deze afspraken verliezen gepensioneerden bijna één van de 12 pensioenen die ze per jaar ontvangen bovenop de 40% matiging die al is doorgevoerd in de laatste 6 jaar. Er komt een directe matiging van 9-18% op alle pensioenen boven de 700 euro. Daarnaast worden door de verlaging van de belastingvrijegrens van inkomen van 8.636 naar 5.861 euro per jaar zelfs pensioenen van 475 euro gekort.

De bezuinigingen treffen zelfs de minimuminkomens. Vanaf 2018 worden de werkloosheidsuitkering (nu 360 euro per maand, alleen voor het eerste jaar), de kinderbijslag (nu 13-40 euro per maand) en andere uitkeringen gekort. Mensen die getroffen zijn door natuurrampen zoals aardbevingen (dat gebeurt nogal vaak in Griekenland) krijgen minder financiële hulp van de overheid.

De hervormingen – die volgens Brussel en de Nederlandse media de laatste jaren zijn uitgebleven in Griekenland – zijn bevestigd of verder doorgevoerd. Dit betekent dat de verruiming van de openingstijden van winkels als oplossing is gevonden voor de daling van de economische activiteiten. Ondanks het feit dat de grote meerderheid van de bevolking geen geld te besteden heeft blijven in verschillende plaatsen de winkels ook op zondag open. Daarnaast worden tenminste tot 2018 de daadwerkelijke afschaffing van CAO’s en de versoepeling van het ontslagrecht niet teruggedraaid. Tegelijkertijd wordt ook het publieke energiebedrijf geprivatiseerd.

Het is opmerkelijk wat er ontbreekt aan de eisen van de Trojka en de maatregelen van de SYRIZA-coalitieregering. Net zoals bij de vorige centrum of centrumrechtse regeringen hebben de topinkomens geen last gehad van de bezuinigingsrondes. Het is niet voor niets dat volgens de OESO in de jaren van de bezuinigingen de  ratio van de hoogste versus de laagste inkomens (de zogenoemde P90/P10 ratio) is gestegen van 4.4 naar 5.2. De lijsten van de grote belastingontduikers zijn bewust heel langzaam onderzocht. Tegelijkertijd vloeit een klein, maar zichtbaar deel van de Trojka-leningen (die overigens voor 90% ten goede komen aan de schuldeisers) naar de rekeningen van grote media- en constructiebedrijven, maar wordt er nauwelijks geïnvesteerd.

Van een mogelijk succes van de ingevoerde maatregelen is geen sprake. Sinds 2010 is geen enkele economische voorspelling van de Europese Commissie of het IMF over Griekenland uitgekomen. In plaats van de voorspelde groei is er meer recessie gekomen door de bezuinigingen en de hervormingen. In de hele wereld is er geen enkele serieuze econoom die gelooft dat Griekenland er bovenop kan komen binnen de huidige structuur van de EU en de Eurozone met dit bezuinigingsbeleid en zonder een grote afschrijving van de staatschuld.

Uit het recente enquêteonderzoek ‘Generation What’ blijkt tweederde van de Grieken tussen de 18 en de 34 jaar bereid te zijn om deel te nemen aan een grote opstand tegen de regering. Dat is niets anders dan het resultaat van een bezuinigings- en hervormingsbeleid dat een hele bevolking en vooral de jonge generatie een fatsoenlijke toekomst onthoudt.

Griekenland is hierin geen uitzondering. Hetzelfde onderzoek toont aan dat in Italië, Spanje en Frankrijk het percentage van jonge mensen met dezelfde gevoelens maar iets kleiner is dan in Griekenland. Zelfs in Nederland en Duitsland is éénderde van jongeren bereid om in opstand te komen tegen de overheid. Als hetzelfde bezuinigingsbeleid dominant blijft in Europa raken de mensen binnenkort niet meer verward in dilemma’s van Wilders vs Rutte of Macron vs Le Pen en hebben we straks een heel ander politiek landschap op het continent.

Bron van het artikel:https://joop.vara.nl/opinies/nieuwe-bezuinigingen-brengen-niets-goeds-voor-griekenland-en-europa

Bron van de foto:http://time.com/4785515/greece-debt-austerity-alexis-tsipras/

After the Dutch elections many commentators and citizens were pleased with the fact that Geert Wilders has failed to come first. Nevertheless the reality shows that despite this supposed fail, the ideas and practices of the far-right become more and more acceptable in Dutch politics and the main stream media. Voters of Wilders and Thierry Baudet have sent life-threatening messages to Anne Fleur Dekker, an 22-year old activist and until recently member of Groen Links (Green Left) because a day after the elections she wrote an article on Joop.nl against Thierry Baudet with the title: “Baudet is Wilders in sheep’s clothing.” The reason behind these threats is rather obvious: Intimidating everyone who dares stand up to fascist practises in society. Anne Fleur had to go into hiding to be protected from these threats becoming in this way yet another victim of far-rights just because she dared raise her voice against them.

The reaction of the main stream media was to turn against her rather than trying to stand by her.  Besides the threats by far-right voters, Anne Fleur was attacked by the TV presenter Jeroen Pauw as well during the TV show “Pauw”. During this show, she was told off that she has to be careful with her statements and tweets otherwise she might cause an attack on Wilders. What Jeroen Pauw actually did as a TV presenter was to play the role of the bodyguard of far-right politicians and turn a blind eye on the attack on Anne Fleur.

The reaction of Groen Links was even worse. Although they claim to be left, it appears that struggling against far-right is not one of their priorities. They took rather a safe distance from the attack on Anne Fleur and denied the support she really needed by simply announcing that they support the freedom of expression. It turns out that while Groen Links are busy with the negotiations about their participation in a coalition-government with neoliberal parties of the Dutch right, they are ready to sacrifice not only the few left key points of their political programme and their supposed democratic sensitivities but also their own members who fight against far-right. And this the reason why Anne Fleur has now cancelled her Groen Links membership.

With this statement we want to show our solidarity with Anne Fleur Dekker and all the victims of far-right. We want also to remind everyone that the main stream media’s tolerance and support towards the far-right in Greece ended up in the murder of Pavlos Fyssas.

Let’s fight all together against far-right and not allow them creating more victims! We invite all the democratic political parties to break their silence. We invite particularly Groen Links to stop pretending that nothing serious has happened and instead show in practice that they are really a left party that believes in democracy. We invite all the media as well to stop offering friendly services to far-right.

Let’s fight all together against fascist practices in politics and society!

ReINFORM

https://twitter.com/reinformnl

Debt increased, public assets sold. The Greek and European elites make profits.

In January 2017 the coalition government of SYRIZA and ANEL will be two years in power. During this time, in the Dutch media there has been an almost total silence about Greece, interrupted only by short references to the ongoing negotiations for the disbursement of the loan tranches. Silence covers also the new tough measures that the Greek government imposes, dramatically deteriorating the living conditions of the great majority of people in Greece.

At every critical moment of the last two years, the SYRIZA-ANEL government has proven a loyal ally of the Greek and European elites. The year of 2016 was no exception to the long succession of years through which people in Greece have suffered hard austerity measures under the pretext of the debt crisis. These Memoranda measures were never designed to rescue Greece, as the mouthpieces of the EU have been claiming so far, despite the fact that the debt has now climbed from 127,1%  in 2009 to 179.2% of GDP. Even the IMF admitted the failure of the bailout program.

More specifically: In 2012, the Memoranda rescued the creditors with the notorious PSI, which although presented as a reduction of the Greek debt, in reality it was a transfer of the Greek sovereign debt from the German, French, Dutch and Greek banks to the governments of the EU member states. In the same vein, the Memoranda measures imposed ever since have been rescuing those responsible for the crisis in Greece, i.e., the Greek economic elite, while at the same time distributing all profitable activities of the Greek economy to the European and Greek economic elites.

It is characteristic that in 2015, fourteen of the most lucrative regional airports were sold for 1.2 billion to the German Fraport AG-Slentel Ltd. The entire amount was used to repay the debt. Furthermore, despite the pre-election commitments of SYRIZA, the water companies were recently transferred to the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (Greece’s privatizations fund, the so-called TAIPED). As a result, the main multinationals specializing in the water market -and actually denying access to water for large segments of the population- are getting ready to benefit from this transfer. Another characteristic example is the sale of business and housing loans to international speculative funds, which is now on the table of negotiations with the creditors.

Meanwhile, the business elites that looted and indebted the Greek state and destroyed the Greek economy during the 35 years of PASOK and ND governments, continue to enjoy privileged and scandalous contracts as well as full tax immunity even during the so-called “government of the left”.

What about the Greek society and the refugees?

The SYRIZA-ANEL government that promised to end the memoranda policies and relieve the working classes has proven to be one of their most dangerous enemies. Its climb to power by deceiving the Greek people with the supposed negotiation with the creditors ensured their tolerance and disappointment in the face of the hardest and most class-ridden measures so far. In fact, the SYRIZA-ANEL government has been the most efficient administrator of these policies and, therefore, the best option for the Greek elite and its lenders. At the same time, this government along with the creditors are condemning the Greek people to a daily deterioration of their living standards.

A homeless man sits next to a Christmas tree on a street in Athens

Soup kitchen in Athens

According to the latest Eurostat’s data, the percentage of those at risk of poverty rose from 29.1% in 2009 to 35.7% (3.8 million) in 2015. Incidents of starvation in schools are increasing. The new cuts on pensions are plunging into poverty not only the retirees but also a large number of unemployed people who are literally being fed by their parents’ pensions. According to ELSTAT’s (Hellenic Statistical Authority) latest data, only 14% of the unemployed receive the meager unemployment allowance of 360 euros per month for the first year only. At least 500.000 private employees working part-time are paid less than the unemployment benefit. Over one million working people suffer delays in their payment that can even last for 12 months. Uninsured work (without healthcare and pension rights) has reached the staggering levels of 30%. Approximately 24% of the people was obliged to make bold cuts on basic necessities (e.g. food and fuel) in order to buy medicines, while 13% delay to perform the doctor’s prescription because they cannot pay their contribution. To save on their medication, 10% of the patients take smaller doses against their doctor’s instructions. On top of this, auctions of primary residences have begun – and have been met with strong opposition from the people.

The plans of the government and the creditors for the future will further worsen the current situation. The 2017 budget includes an increase up to 26.27 billion in indirect taxes, a decrease in pension expenditure and cuts on benefits.

As far as the refugee crisis is concerned, the SYRIZA-ANEL government has shown a most awful and inhumane face. Fully in line with the right-wing and fascistic policies of the EU, it closed the borders, forcing the refugees to risk the dangerous Aegean Sea crossing, which has cost the lives of hundreds of people. At first, it let the refugees who crossed the border helpless, depending only on the solidarity of the Greek people, and later on, it practically imprisoned them in remote detention centres under appalling conditions and away from the local populations. At the same time, it provocatively allowed the development of racist and fascist groups that committed criminal actions against the refugees. It faithfully applies the shameful EU-Turkey deal, systematically redirecting refugees to the fascist Erdogan regime. As a result of this deal, around 60.000 refugees have stranded in Greece, with 16.000 of them ending up in overcrowded jail-like centres, where three times as many people are now detained as when the deal was signed. In addition, against any notion of legality, the government intervened in the asylum procedures and changed the composition of the committees in order to ensure the massive rejection of asylum claims.

Refugee camp in Thessaloniki

Refugee camp on Chios island

In exchange for remaining in power, the SYRIZA-ANEL government is trying to persuade the Greek people that there is no alternative to the Memoranda and the agreements it has signed, such as the CETA or the EU-Turkey deals. Not only do they celebrate after every unpopular measure they vote and every shameful agreement they sign, they even brutally repress every social reaction to them. With the pretext that the police is difficult to control, they use the fascist police mechanism to repress opposition to unpopular measures and solidarity to refugees. During the SYRIZA-ANEL government, the police has not stopped attacking protests with tear gas and beat protesters. Even members of SYRIZA have been attacked by the police during their participation in demonstrations.

What lessons can be drawn for the people and the left in Europe

The conversion of SYRIZA to a political administrator of the interests of the Greek and European elites should raise concern in the European left. The experience in Greece shows that overthrowing the one-way road of extreme neoliberal policies and blocking the way to racism and fascism that is now prevailing in Europe (and not only in Europe…) cannot be achieved by the climb to power of a left-wing government coalition. With SYRIZA’s conversion, the hope and vision of change seemed to have faded away not only in Greece but also in the rest of Europe. Millions of Greek and European citizens who believed that there can be a left turn in Greece and Europe sank into disappointment.

At the same time, people in Greece learned an important lesson: radical changes cannot be entrusted to a party or a governing coalition. The solution can only come from people themselves. The Memoranda in Greece, the austerity policies in the rest of Europe and the rise of the far right are not unbeatable. People can stop them through collective organization, constant struggle and class solidarity in their places of work, study and neighbourhoods. With bottom-up politics and not by assigning politics to representatives can the people of Europe discover new ways to achieve social justice, decent living conditions and peaceful coexistence.

The lessons drawn from SYRIZA’s approach to the European Union can also be very valuable to the whole of European left. SYRIZA came to power by promising it will reform the EU in a more social welfare direction. This was either wishful thinking or a way of deceiving the Greek people. The EU and the Euro are political and economic institutions that have been created to serve the interests of the European elites at the cost of people’s rights. The results of SYRIZA’s attitude towards the EU is now clear and catastrophic for the Greek people.

The workers, the unemployed and the refugees cannot expect change from a left-wing management of power. The hope for changing the current dramatic situation can only be fulfilled through a political conflict with the EU, the European governments and their policies; through an effort to build new, anti-capitalist social and economic structures. In Greece, the economy will not recover and unemployment will not be reduced by government decrees or appeals for entrepreneurial innovation to a corrupt economic elite.

Social and economic progress can only be achieved if economy is run by the people, by those who will confront the decisions of the government, the creditors and the business elites to privatize and sell off every profitable economic structure in Greece. In the Netherlands, the gradual impoverishment of large parts of the population through lay-offs, lower earnings and poorer working conditions in vital sectors such as healthcare will not stop by the participation of the left in the government, but by massive popular resistance.

Both in Greece and the Netherlands, the improvement of the quality of life for the lower classes, the reversal of the fascist tendencies and the cancellation of the refugee policies that are now treating the refugees as inferior beings and a threat, cannot be accomplished within the neoliberal and authoritarian limits of the EU and the Eurozone. The common struggle and class solidarity of the working people, the unemployed and the refugees in Greece,  the Netherlands and the rest of Europe against the EU’s policies feeding poverty, insecurity, nationalism, racism and xenophobia, are required.

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Twee jaar SYRIZA-ANEL-bewind in Griekenland: twee jaar met de ergste bezuinigingen

De schuld steeg, publieke goederen verkocht. De Griekse en de Europese elites maken winst.

In januari 2017 zal de coalitieregering van SYRIZA en ANEL twee jaar aan de macht zijn. Gedurende deze tijd heerste er in de Nederlandse media een bijna volledige stilte over Griekenland. Stilte over de nieuwe harde maatregelen en dramatische verslechtering van de levensomstandigheden van de grote meerderheid van de Griekse bevolking. Soms werd die stilte slechts onderbroken door korte verwijzingen naar de lopende onderhandelingen over de uitbetaling van de lening tranches.

Op elk cruciaal moment in de afgelopen twee jaar heeft de SYRIZA-ANEL regering bewezen een trouwe bondgenoot van de Griekse en Europese elites te zijn. Het jaar 2016 was geen uitzondering in de lange reeks van jaren waarin de mensen in Griekenland hebben geleden onder de harde bezuinigingsmaatregelen. Deze memoranda maatregelen zijn nooit bedoeld om Griekenland te redden zoals de spreekbuis van de EU tot nu toe beweert. Integendeel de schuld is nu gestegen van 127,1% in 2009 naar 179,2% van het BNP. Zelfs het IMF gaf de mislukking van het bailout-programma toe.

Meer in het bijzonder: In 2012 hebben de memoranda de schuldeisers gered met de beruchte PSI die voorgesteld was als een vermindering van de Griekse schuld. Maar de PSI was in werkelijkheid een overdracht van de Griekse staatsschuld van de Duitse, Franse, Nederlandse en de Griekse banken naar de regeringen van de EU-lidstaten. In dezelfde geest hebben de memoranda maatregelen de Griekse economische elite, degenen die verantwoordelijk zijn voor de crisis in Griekenland, gered. Tegelijkertijd werden alle winstgevende activiteiten van de Griekse economie aan de Europese en Griekse economische elites overgedragen.

Het is kenmerkend dat in 2015 veertien van de meest lucratieve regionale luchthavens werden verkocht voor 1,2 miljard euro aan de Duitse Fraport AG-Slentel Ltd. Het gehele bedrag werd gebruikt om de schuld terug te betalen. Bovendien, ondanks de pre-electorale toezeggingen van SYRIZA, zijn de waterbedrijven onlangs overgedragen aan het Helleense Republiek Asset Development Fund (het Griekse privatiseringsfonds). Als gevolg daarvan hebben de belangrijkste multinationals die gespecialiseerd zijn in de watermarkt, zich klaar gemaakt om te profiteren van deze overdracht. Een ander typisch voorbeeld is de verkoop van bedrijfsleningen en hypotheken aan internationale speculatieve fondsen die nu op de onderhandelingstafel met de schuldeisers ligt.

Ondertussen bleven de zakelijke elites die de Griekse staat geplunderd en in de schulden gestoken hadden, genieten van bevoorrechte en schandalige contracten maar ook van een volledige fiscale immuniteit. Dezelfde elites die de Griekse economie in de loop van de 35 jaar PASOK- en ND-regeringen vernietigd hadden.

Hoe zit het met de Griekse samenleving en de vluchtelingen?

De SYRIZA-ANEL-regering die beloofde het memoranda beleid te beëindigen en de situatie van de werkende klassen te verlichten, heeft bewezen een van de meest gevaarlijke vijanden van die werkende klasse te zijn. Hun greep naar de macht door het Griekse volk te bedriegen met de vermeende onderhandelingen met de schuldeisers heeft het volk ernstig teleurgesteld door de hardste en meest klasse teisterende maatregelen tot nu toe op te leggen. In feite is de SYRIZA-ANEL-regering de meest efficiënte uitvoerder van dit beleid en dus de beste optie voor de Griekse elite en zijn kredietverstrekkers geweest.

Volgens de meest recente gegevens van Eurostat is het percentage van degenen die risico lopen op armoede, gestegen van 29,1% in 2009 tot 35,7% (3,8 miljoen) in 2015. Incidenten van uithongering in scholen nemen toe. De nieuwe bezuinigingen op de pensioenen storten niet alleen de gepensioneerden in armoede maar ook een groot aantal werklozen die letterlijk worden gevoed door de pensioenen van hun ouders. Volgens de laatste gegevens van ELSTAT (het Griekse bureau voor de statistiek) ontvangt slechts 14% van de werklozen de schamele werkloosheidsuitkering van 360 euro per maand voor allen het eerste jaar. Minstens 500.000 particuliere werknemers die in deeltijd werken, krijgen minder betaald dan de werkloosheidsuitkering. Meer dan een miljoen werkende mensen krijgen hun salaris te laat uitbetaald en dit kan oplopen tot 12 maanden. Onverzekerd werk (zonder gezondheidszorg en pensioenrechten) heeft het duizelingwekkende niveau van 30% bereikt. Ongeveer 24% van de mensen moest ernstig bezuinigingen op basisbehoeften (bijvoorbeeld voedsel en brandstof) om medicijnen te kunnen kopen. Tegelijkertijd vertraagt 13% van de mensen het uitvoeren van de voorschriften van de arts omdat zij hun bijdrage niet kunnen betalen. Om te besparen op hun medicatie neemt 10% van de patiënten, tegen de instructies van hun arts, kleinere doses in. Daar komt nog bij dat men is begonnen met het veilen van primaire woningen dat gestuit is op sterke tegenstand van het volk.

De plannen van de overheid en de schuldeisers voor de toekomst zullen de huidige situatie verder verergeren. De begroting voor 2017 voorziet in een stijging tot 26,27 miljard in de indirecte belastingen, een daling van de pensioenuitgaven en bezuinigingen op de uitkeringen.

Wat betreft de vluchtelingen crisis heeft de SYRIZA-ANEL-regering een vreselijk en onmenselijk gezicht getoond. Geheel in lijn met het rechtse en fascistische beleid van de EU sloot het de grenzen waardoor het de vluchtelingen dwong om het risico te nemen de gevaarlijke Egeïsche Zee over te steken. Dat heeft het leven van honderden mensen gekost. In eerste instantie liet de regering de vluchtelingen die de grens overstaken zitten zonder hulp en geheel afhankelijk van de solidariteit van de Griekse bevolking. Later zetten ze hen praktisch gevangen in afgelegen detentiecentra onder erbarmelijke omstandigheden en uit de buurt van de lokale bevolking. Op hetzelfde moment liet het provocerend de ontwikkeling van racistische en fascistische groepen toe die misdadige acties tegen de vluchtelingen begingen. De regering voerde trouw de beschamende EU-Turkije deal uit door systematisch vluchtelingen terug te sturen naar het fascistische Erdogan regime. Als gevolg van deze deal zijn er al 60.000 vluchtelingen gestrand in Griekenland. 16.000 van hen belanden in overvolle gevangenis-achtige centra waar nu drie keer zo veel mensen worden vastgehouden als toen de overeenkomst werd ondertekend. Bovendien greep de overheid, in strijd met elk legaliteitsbeginsel, in in de asielprocedures en veranderde de samenstelling van de commissies om de massale afwijzing van de asielverzoeken te waarborgen.

Om aan de macht te blijven probeert de SYRIZA-ANEL-regering het Griekse volk ervan te overtuigen dat er geen alternatief is voor de memoranda en de overeenkomsten die het heeft ondertekend, zoals de CETA  en de EU-Turkije deal. Ze vieren niet alleen elke onpopulaire maatregel die ze goedgekeurd krijgen en iedere schandelijke overeenkomst die ze tekenen, ze onderdrukken zelfs brutaal elke sociale reactie daarop. Met het voorwendsel dat de politie moeilijk onder controle te houden is, gebruiken ze het fascistische politieapparaat om oppositie tegen impopulaire maatregelen en solidariteit met vluchtelingen te onderdrukken. Tijdens de SYRIZA-ANEL-regering is de politie niet gestopt met het aanvallen van demonstraties met traangas en het slaan van demonstranten. Zelfs leden van SYRIZA zijn aangevallen door de politie tijdens hun deelname aan demonstraties.

Welke lessen kunnen worden getrokken voor de mensen en links Europa

De verandering van SYRIZA in een politieke beschermer van de belangen van de Griekse en Europese elites moet links Europa grote zorgen baren. De ervaring in Griekenland heeft geleerd dat de omverwerping van het eenrichtingsverkeer van het extreem neoliberale beleid en het blokkeren van de weg naar racisme en fascisme die nu heerst in Europa (en niet alleen in Europa) niet kan worden bereikt door de greep naar de macht van een linkse regeringscoalitie. Met de verandering van SYRIZA leek de hoop op en de visie van de verandering niet alleen in Griekenland, maar ook in de rest van Europa te zijn vervaagd. De hoop van miljoenen Griekse en Europese burgers die geloofden dat er een weg naar links in Griekenland en Europa ingeslagen kon worden, zonk in diepe teleurstelling.

Terzelfder tijd hebben de mensen in Griekenland een belangrijke les geleerd: radicale veranderingen kunnen niet worden toevertrouwd aan een partij of een regeringscoalitie. De oplossing kan alleen komen van de mensen zelf. De memoranda in Griekenland, het bezuinigingsbeleid in de rest van Europa en de opkomst van extreemrechts zijn niet onverslaanbaar. Mensen kunnen ze stoppen door middel van collectieve organisatie, constante strijd en klasse solidariteit op hun werk, tijdens hun studie en in hun omgeving. Met bottom-up politiek en niet door het toewijzen van de politiek aan vertegenwoordigers kunnen de burgers van Europa nieuwe manieren ontdekken om sociale rechtvaardigheid, fatsoenlijke levensomstandigheden en een vreedzame samenleving te bereiken.

De getrokken lessen uit SYRIZA’s benadering van de Europese Unie kunnen ook zeer waardevol zijn voor het geheel van links Europa. SYRIZA kwam aan de macht met de belofte om de EU te hervormen in de richting van meer sociaal welzijn. Dit was ofwel “wishful thinking” of een manier om het Griekse volk te bedriegen. De EU en de Euro zijn politieke en economische instellingen die zijn opgericht om de belangen van de Europese elites te dienen ten koste van de rechten van mensen. Het resultaat van SYRIZA’s houding ten aanzien van de EU is nu duidelijk en catastrofaal voor het Griekse volk.

De arbeiders, de werklozen en de vluchtelingen kunnen geen verandering verwachten van een links machtsmanagement. De hoop op verandering in de huidige dramatische situatie kan alleen worden vervuld door middel van een politiek conflict met de EU, de Europese regeringen en hun beleid door middel van een poging om nieuwe, antikapitalistische sociale en economische structuren op te bouwen. In Griekenland zal de economie zich niet herstellen en de werkloosheid niet worden verminderd door de decreten van de overheid of door oproepen voor innovatie en ondernemerschap aan een ​​corrupte economische elite.

Sociale en economische vooruitgang kan alleen worden bereikt als de economie wordt gerund door het volk, door hen die de confrontatie aangaan met de beslissingen van de overheid, de schuldeisers en de zakelijke elites. In Nederland zal ook de geleidelijke verarming van grote delen van de bevolking door middel van ontslagen, lagere lonen en slechtere arbeidsomstandigheden in vitale sectoren zoals de gezondheidszorg niet stoppen door de deelname van links in de regering, maar door massaal volksverzet.

Zowel in Griekenland als in Nederland kan de verbetering van de kwaliteit van leven voor de lagere klassen, de omkering van de fascistische tendensen en de annulering van het vluchtelingenbeleid niet worden bereikt binnen de neoliberale en autoritaire grenzen van de EU en de eurozone. De gemeenschappelijke strijd en klasse solidariteit van de werkende bevolking, de werklozen en de vluchtelingen in Griekenland, in Nederland en de rest van Europa tegen het EU-beleid van verhoging van armoede, onveiligheid, nationalisme, racisme en vreemdelingenhaat, zijn vereist.

When the mild arguments about the “people’s house” and the EU’s ability to transform fall apart, the neoliberal/Memoranda bloc resorts to the only argument left: breaking with the EU equals to returning to the “cave age”.

By Leonidas Vatikiotis

It is worthwhile to attempt an outline of the day after the rupture, in other words, the loan payment default, the unilateral sovereign debt write-off, and the exit from the Eurozone and the European Union. At this point, it is important to note the huge methodological issue arising from trying to solve a future’s equation using parameters of the present, knowing that they will dramatically change after such a rupture. But it is also important to note that the effect of such a change will be mainly positive. Thus, although the conflict with the capital will deprive society of valuable resources (e.g. the net inflow of €6 billion due to Greece’s dealings with the EU in 2015), it will put a halt to the inconceivable destruction of production forces that is currently underway and tends to become endemic (as shown, among others, by the fact that unemployment is stable at 26% and the idle production capacity has reached 34% in the industry).

There are seven sectors that will be affected already the next day after the rupture and are very significant for the people’s incomes but also for the economy: the currency, the funding of the imports and deficits of the state budget, the banks, the alimentation, the energy, and the medicines.

The exchange rate of the new currency in the first period after the rupture will be based on a fixed one-to-one exchange rate to the euro, despite the fact that the exchange rate corresponding to the structure of the Greek economy is lower even than the existing exchange rate of the euro, which is ideally “soft” enough -thanks to the presence of the south European countries in the Eurozone- to allow Germany to export but far too “hard” for the periphery.

The pegging to the euro will be a political decision aiming at preventing the launch of punitive speculative attacks on the new drachma and the repeated chocks to the daily trading practices. Similar practices of pegging to another currency are not followed only by “closed economies”, but also by highly internationalized ones such as Hong Kong. The effect of devaluation on people’s incomes can be counterbalanced by proportional salary increases. The effect on prices can be kept under control, as Greek economists have shown. In other words, there will not be uncontrollable inflation. Besides, such a danger can only be taken as a joke in an economy that suffers from deflation. To tackle deflation within the Eurozone, 60 billion euros are spent each month through the Quantitative Easing Program. Moreover, loans that have been taken in euro will be converted by law into the new currency.

Debt write-off and exit from the euro-EU will improve and not lower the standard of living

In 2014, the trade deficit (excluding shipping and fuel) amounted to €8.13 billion (compared to €16,04bn in 2010). This deficit can be closed by the travel services balance surplus that in 2014 rose to €11.32 billion (€13,39bn of revenues minus €2,07bn of payments). The small presence of vertically integrated tourist activities controlled by multinationals -although their penetration in the tourist sector has been increasing in the last years- allows a government to provide appropriate motivation in order to collect this money. In addition, clearing (non-monetary forms of exchange trade) can make up for the need for foreign currency, while “smart” measures to promote imports like those successfully applied by Argentina (ensuring that every importer will export a specific percentage of the value of their imports) can reduce the need for foreign currency and boost exports.

For the lovers of the Memoranda who claim that they created surpluses, there are no budget deficits to be covered. But for those who believe that giving new life to the dilapidated social structures should be a priority, there is the possibility of printing new money, which should of course be limited. In addition, there is the option of domestic borrowing, which can be used as a means of income redistribution and reinforcing low incomes, showing that not all of forms of debt are reproachable. To some extent, this was also the case when the Greek state was covering its financing needs by publishing treasury bills addressed to savers, even during the ’90s. It is remarkable that in 1998, 80% of state borrowing was internal and 70% of this borrowing was short-term and thus low-risk. The Maastricht Treaty eliminated this possibility in favor of the banks (which, in this way, got rid of competition) and especially the financial giants that took over state lending. The safety net provided by domestic borrowing is made clear in the case of Japan, where although the sovereign debt is extremely high (246,1% of GDP in 2015), its creditworthiness has not been downgraded by the credit rating agencies exactly because borrowing is domestic and can thus be subjected to many silent restructurings. The threat that domestic borrowing poses to the international speculators was also made clear when PSI took place in February 2012, when nothing was done to protect bondholders. The IMF and credit rating agencies wanted to abolish this possibility once and for all. On the contrary, a government that would want to reinstate the market of domestic borrowing should fully compensate the bondholders who suffered losses in 2012 and perhaps also set a ceiling of, let’s say 100.000 euros, in order to hinder very high incomes.

Nationalizing banks will relieve society from the burden of their prolonged death. Despite the 211 billion they have received since 2008 in the form of subsidies and guarantees, banks today are in a much worse state, as reflected in the loans to deposits ratio: from an admirable balance in 2000  (€108,23bn of loans to €109,23bn of deposits or 99%) to an enormous asymmetry in 2009 (€300,32bn of loans to €237,53bn of deposits or 126%), which has become even worse in January 2015 (€214bn of loans to €147bn of deposits or 146%, with the non-performing loans to have climbed up to €78bn) and is further deteriorating due to the bank run caused by the policy of suffocation of the ECB.

As far as food products are concerned, according to a research by the Panhellenic Confederation of Unions of Agricultural Cooperatives (published in 2012) that examines 41 basic rural food products – both plant- and animal-based – for the year 2011, there is sufficiency (production in relation to consumption, with consumption being defined as the amount of production plus imports minus exports) at the hopeful level of 95%. Taking a better look at the figures, however, one can see that the highest sufficiency is observed in not-basic products (edible olives 996%, raisins 275%, sea products 221%, oranges 191% and kiwis 180%) whereas the lowest sufficiency is observed in almost basic products (sugar 14%, beef 29%, lentils 33%, soft grain 33% and pork 36%). It is important to note that the production of sugar is indicative of the damage caused in the rural production by the Common Agricultural Policy and the EU directives, which led to the closure of the factories of the Greek Sugar Industry in favour of German exporters. In this way, Greece moved from being a net exporter to a net importer of sugar. There are similar examples in livestock production as well. The ability of a country to fill this gap if a shift of policy is decided was proved in 2010 when Russia massively bought young milk cows from Western Europe, succeeding in gaining sufficiency within two years.

As far as solid fuels are concerned, the market is characterised by oversupply, with a total installed power of 17.500 MW and a highest demand of 7.000 MW. Same as the food production, if it was not for the EU directives within the framework of the so-called “liberalisation”, much cheaper electricity power could be generated, for example by putting the brakes on the scandalous funding of the private sector of the Renewable Energy Resources, by allowing the expansion of the Public Power Corporation S.A., etc. As far as liquid fuels are concerned, the strategic cooperation of Greece with Russia and the choice of Iran as supplier -instead of the American protectorates- can secure the provision of much cheaper liquid fuels.

Finally, although the country’s 27 pharmaceutical industries are exporting to 80 countries, they only cover 18% of the domestic medicine demand, with the rest of it being covered by multinationals. Domestic medicine producers have repeatedly denounced the scandalous advantage given to the multinationals in the years of austerity and have claimed that they are able to provide for the 70% of the primary health care and the 50% of the hospital care with quality and low cost medicines as long as prescriptions are written differently…

In conclusion, with regard to food products, energy and medicines, but also other sectors, a revolutionary rupture will release unimaginable progressive social forces, which are now being amputated simply because no bourgeois government can implement the aforementioned measures, and will allow society to enter a new ‘golden age’.

Source of the article: https://leonidasvatikiotis.wordpress.com/2015/07/22/rupture-with-the-eu-%CE%B1-return-to-the-cave-age-or-a-new-golden-age-prin-newspaper-3052015/

Leonidas Vatikiotis has studied Statistics at the University of Piraeus. His doctoral dissertation, at the Sociology Department of Panteion University (2008) considered the causes of the 1970s economic crisis.

It is not only the new austerity measures, which among others include VAT increase, reduction of pensions, reintroduction of the zero deficit clause, Sunday shop opening and implementation of the liberalization measures included in the OECD’s famous toolkit! The deeply unpopular agreement, signed by Tsipras government in the early hours of July 13^th, after 17 hours negotiations between the eurozone Heads of State, (here is the full text) introduces for the first time commitments that guarantee the impoverishment of workers in perpetuity and even attempts to eliminate syndicalism, turning Greece into a second or third class capitalist country for the benefit of the German Fourth Reich! Four specific measures make the difference compared to the previous memoranda. More specifically:

First, the “introduction of quasi-automatic spending cuts in case of deviations from ambitious primary surplus ” -which is one of the four measures that ought to be voted by Wednesday, July 15-, eliminates the possibility of divergence from the targets set. Practically, this means that by the time there is a deviation from the forecasts, a school, a clinic of the National Hospital of Nicaea will be shut down or a whole sector will be sacked in order to reduce the costs and achieve the surplus which will service the debt and satisfy the creditors.

Secondly, another safety valve is also included in the privatization program so that the overambitious target of 50 billion EUR revenue is reached and not just remain on paper. The prospect that the 50% or 25 bn. EUR will be returned to the ESM for the recapitalization of the banks and from the remaining 25 bn. euro half will be given away for reducing the debt and the rest for investments, connects the sellout of public property with real interests, paving the way to even convey to the banks public companies and real estate for privatization so that the selling off to achieve the best possible terms and on their own responsibility. But it needs to be done… and not cancelled in practice as happened in the past.

The tremendous implications of the 50 billion EUR privatization program, which also includes the selling off of the Independent Transmission Operator (ITSO) are revealed if we compare the target of 50 billion euros with the revenues from the so far privatizations. For instance, the 2015 government budget reports that in 2013 there were received only 86 million euros, in 2014 230 million, while for this year the (inflated as usual) budget estimate was 474 million euro. The loot that will follow, with the sellout of all traces of public property (Municipalities, Universities, public entities), will be sweeping, in order to manage to gather such a large amount, as the best “pieces” of public property (OTE Olympic Airways etc.) have already been sold.

Third, the “program under the auspices of the European Commission, for de-politicizing the public administration” will attempt to eliminate trade unionism in the public sector and – something far more important – reform the public administration, by abolishing current hierarchies and launching a new generation of managers in the state machine, fully subjugated to the limited sovereignty regime that the new, third, Memorandum de facto establishes, with predictions such as the “unilateral” amend of “roll-back” legislation adopted in 2015. In practice, this means annulment of any populist law: from the reinstatement of the cleaning ladies to the school guards … and it also remains to see if they will include the opening of ERT. Therefore, the strong resistance of the state machine -that was put forward since 2010- will not only surrender to the demands of Memoranda but also, Troika returns reinforced, with its own people in every key position, ready to encapsulate and implement even and the most reactionary measures, by violating laws and ethics. The arbitrariness of Georgiou in ELSTAT, which becomes further independent, is indicative of the morals they wish to impose on public administration and services.

Fourth, the political targeting of the left Memorandum signed by Tsipras is reflected on the commitment for “rigorous review and modernisation of collective bargaining, labor mobilisations and collective redundancies.” No longer do they target the collective-bargaining rights and strikes, but also the protests themselves. “First time left”… first time that the right to protest is put into question!

Furthermore, even the enactment of these measures by 15 and July 22, as explicitly described, does not prejudice the happy ending for the government’s negotiations. Clear statements such as “the opening of negotiations do not prejudice any potential final agreement” or “the Greek offer of reform measures needs to be seriously strengthened to take into account the strongly deteriorated economic and fiscal position of the country during the last year”, guarantee that we are at the beginning of a long and painful process, involving continuous adoption of unpopular laws, that will ensure the approve of the new 82-86 bn. euro loan and the release of the instalments, as happened in the previous five years.While with other humiliating formalities like “the dangers of non-rapid conclusion of the negotiations fully borne Greece”gives the creditors the right to ask for … their mother and father, whenever they wish, from any government, obliging Greece to immediately comply and without objections.

Moreover, the fact that the banks will not open (as explicitly stated by the term “rapid decision on the new program is a condition to allow banks to reopen”)implies that the EU will keep sending ultimatums until its requirements are met in full, such as “decisive action for non-performing loans”, which means that thousands of houses, even first residences will soon go under the hammer… Even if this is about a blackmail that was explicitly rejected by the grand ‘No’ of the Greek people on the a referendum of July 5th.

The third memorandum, which signals the complete humiliation of SYRIZA, puts the last nail in the coffin of the request the public debt cancellation, as claimed by the people and was grounded by the recent findings of the Parliament’s Truth Committee on Public Debt. The clear reference on the penultimate page of the decision that “the Euro Summit stresses that nominal haircuts on the debt cannot be undertaken” in conjunction with the reference”the Greek authorities reiterate their unequivocal commitment to honour their financial obligations to all their creditors fully and in a timely manner”, import -fully and completely- the current government of Alexis Tsipras to the camp of the enemies of the people and society, who from 2010 until today use the debt in order to circumvent rights and conquests of decades!

Translation: Foula Farmakides

Source of the article: https://leonidasvatikiotis.wordpress.com/2015/07/17/third-memorandum-worse-than-the-previous-ones/

Source of the photos: Depression Era Project/Dimitris Michalakis: http://www.depressionera.gr/262731/1607618/works/dimitris-michalakis