July 15, 2015
The following selection of articles analyze the draconian austerity measures which the European Union and its financial institutions are seeking to impose upon the people of Greece.
The first of the articles, by Norman Pollack, situates the EU measures in the European-wide drive for austerity by Europe’s rulers, led by Germany. He identifies the people of Ukraine as one of the targets of these measures and reminds readers that another front of European austerity is the drive to isolate and weaken Russia.
The articles analyze the political consequences of the decision by leaders of the governing party of Greece, the left-wing Syriza, to propose acceptance of the EU’s austerity measures to the Greek Parliament. Very importantly, they also look at alternative political courses which the people of Greece and those of other countries in Europe might opt for, including an exit from the economic institutions of the Eurozone, including its currency.
–A Socialist In Canada
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1. Eurocapital vanquishes Greece: A “hard, dark, painful” future, by Norman Pollack, Counterpunch, July 14, 2015
“Now Italy, Spain, etc., will also be forced to toe the mark–or experience the same pain that Greece is going through. But, for the U.S., the EU-ECB-IMF can do no wrong, for behind the jockeying and call for unity lies NATO, the militarized foundation of the EU. With Greece a disruptive force, the West cannot get down to the serious business intended all along: confrontation with Russia aimed at its ultimate isolation and dismemberment. The leaders’ decision in Brussels will be a milestone, marking acceleration of the Cold War. And at bottom, a clarion call for privatization, directly implemented in the agreement….
” Eurocapital (including the US, still power behind the local throne, satisfied that unity ensures confrontation with Russia; and the IMF, providing the technocratic turning the screws, also satisfied, having transformed austerity into an engine for privatization) has won, the Greek people more firmly incarcerated in the political-financial prison ordained for them by forces of capitalist order, have lost—dramatically so…
“I am reminded of the closing years of World War II when ELAS put up resistance to the Nazi occupation (to the hostile response of the US and Britain) followed in 1947 by the Marshall Plan to eradicate all Left social movements in Europe. EU-ECB-IMF symbolically represents a new Marshall Plan; Greece, the same locale, Russia, the same enemy. One hoped the outcome would be different. Varoufakis was right that Greece was up against financial terrorists—terrorists swathed in the legitimacy of capitalist market fundamentalism.”
2. Lessons from a defeat in Europe, by Marty Hart-Landsberg, published on his blog ‘Reports from the Economic Front’, July 13, 2015
“It is hard to see this agreement as anything but failure. Clearly the main responsibility for this disaster rests with the leaders of Germany and the European Union… But, unfortunately,Syriza’s leadership did not make the best of the bad hand they were dealt. They needed to talk more truthfully to the population about the political/class nature of and reasons for the difficult challenges they faced and do the maximum possible to strengthen their negotiating position and prepare the population for the failure that they thought likely.”
3. Fear takes root in Syriza, by Pete Dolack, Counterpunch, July 14, 2015
“Perhaps the signal that was not given due consideration was Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ statement on July 10 that “we have no mandate to leave the euro“. The Syriza-led government also had no mandate for the continuation, much less the intensification, of austerity. Five and a half months into an administration that could have been used to prepare Greece for a different path instead marked time in futile negotiations, allowing the country’s economic crisis to develop to the point where the troika could dictate any terms it wanted.”
4. The Euro-Summit ‘Agreement’ on Greece – annotated by Yanis Varoufakis, former finance minister of Greece, published on Yanis Varoufakis’ website, July 15, 2015
5. The left must put Britain’s EU withdrawal on the agenda, commentary by Owen Jones on The Guardian ‘Comment is free’, July 14, 2015
