[p2p-research] john pilger on the greeks

[Michel Bauwens]

Interesting George, I think that the Argentinian scenario is probably of
great interest to Greece, is anyone studying the lessons ?

On Mon, May 24, 2010 at 10:50 PM, George Papanikolaou <
georgepapani at gmail.com> wrote:

> Though the prime minister is keeping reassuring his EU partners and the
> markets that Greece will pay back every cent of its debt is becoming more
> and more clear to the population that this is impossible. At present people
> are shocked by the austerity measures but they are just in the beginning.
> The economy is almost frozen and the consequences will be visible in
> September when a lot of business will bankrupt leading to massive
> unemployment. But of greater importance is the rapid sinking of the middle
> class which will be evident by the end of the year. There is a widespread
> mistrust to the established political system that can handle the crisis and
> when the economic consequences of the "business as usual" model will become
> evident, a coalition of precarious youths (already mobilized in December
> 2008 riots) along with the middle and working classes will occupy Athenian
> streets. If this occurs then a domino effect starting from Greece might be
> possible during the forthcoming year. Still there is a huge gap in political
> representation and the political configuration might change rapidly during
> the forthcoming months.
> I believe that even the ruling class will be deeply divided in view of the
> tempting decision to renegotiate the debt and the major question in my
> opinion is whether the left will be able to participate in the process. This
> is of mandatory importance since this government will make all the decisions
> and agreements that will determine the extend of the lowering of the debt of
> the state but also that of individuals.
>
> G.
>
> O/H Michel Bauwens Ýãñáøå:
>
>
>> via
>> http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2010/05/greece-pilger-britain-imf
>>
>> The crisis that has led to Greece's "rescue" by European banks and the
>> International Monetary Fund is the product of a grotesque financial system
>> that itself is in crisis. Greece is a microcosm of a modern class war rarely
>> reported as such, but waged with all the urgency of panic among the imperial
>> rich.
>>
>> What makes Greece different is that it has experienced, within living
>> memory, invasion, foreign occupation, military dictatorship and popular
>> resistance. Ordinary people are not cowed by the corrupt corporatism that
>> dominates the European Union. The right-wing government of Kostas Karamanlis
>> that preceded the present Pasok (Labour) government of George Papandreou was
>> described by the sociologist Jean Ziegler as "a machine for systematically
>> pillaging the country's resources".
>>
>>
>>    Epic theft
>>
>> The machine had infamous friends. The US Federal Reserve board is
>> investigating the role of Goldman Sachs, which gambled on the bankruptcy of
>> Greece as public assets were sold off and its tax-evading rich deposited
>> ¤360bn in Swiss banks. This haemorrhaging of capital continues with the
>> approval of Europe's central banks and governments.
>>
>> At 11 per cent, Greece's budget deficit is no higher than America's.
>> However, when the Papandreou government tried to borrow on the international
>> capital market, it was effectively blocked by the US corporate ratings
>> agencies, which "downgraded" Greek debt to "junk". These same agencies gave
>> triple-A ratings to billions of dollars in so-called sub-prime mortgage
>> securities and so precipitated the economic collapse in 2008.
>>
>> What has happened in Greece is theft on an epic, though not unfamiliar,
>> scale. In Britain, the "rescue" of banks such as Northern Rock and the Royal
>> Bank of Scotland has cost billions of pounds. Thanks to Gordon Brown and his
>> passion for the avaricious instincts of the City, these gifts of public
>> money were unconditional, and the bankers have continued to pay each other
>> the booty they call bonuses and to spirit it away to tax havens. Under
>> Britain's political monoculture, they can do as they wish. In the US, the
>> situation is even more remarkable. As the investigative journalist David
>> DeGraw has reported, the principal Wall Street banks that "destroyed the
>> economy pay zero in taxes and get $33bn in refunds".
>>
>> In Greece, as in America and Britain, the ordinary people have been told
>> they must repay the debts of the rich and powerful who incurred them. Jobs,
>> pensions and public services are to be slashed and burned, with privateers
>> put in charge. For the EU and the IMF, the opportunity presents to "change
>> the culture" and to dismantle the social welfare of Greece, just as the IMF
>> and the World Bank have "structurally adjusted" (impoverished and
>> controlled) countries across the developing world.
>>
>> Greece is hated for the same reason Yugo­slavia had to be destroyed
>> physically behind a pretence of protecting the people of Kosovo. Most Greeks
>> are employed by the state, and the young and the trade unions comprise a
>> popular alliance that has not been pacified; the colonels' tanks on the
>> campus of Athens University in 1967 remain a political spectre. Such
>> resistance is anathema to Europe's central bankers and regarded as an
>> obstruction to German capital's need to capture markets in the aftermath of
>> Germany's troubled reunification.
>>
>>
>> --
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>>
>> Think thank: http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>


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