Syriza

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  • #107347
    ALB
    Keymaster

    We Voted ‘No’ to Slavery, but ‘Yes’ to Our ChainsGood title but crap analysis, blaming Greece being in the euro not capitalism and its current slump:http://dialogosmedia.org/?p=5407As if things would or could be better if only Greece left the eurozone…

    #107348
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster
    Quote:
    ‘No’ to Slavery, but ‘Yes’ to Our Chains

    It was a good turn of phrase that i had already noted and saved for using myself for a future blog 

    #107349
    ALB
    Keymaster

    Amusing article from last weekend's Financial Times about what happened in Ireland when the bank workers there went on strike for weeks:http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b8bc4a7a-20c3-11e5-ab0f-6bb9974f25d0.html#axzz3fQMr1QQaUnfortunately, it's not that funny in Greece.

    #107350
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    As all on this thread expected Greece had little option but capitulation to the Troika. The full deal here but still no word whether it is still acceptable to the Troika. http://www.naftemporiki.gr/finance/story/976680/the-greek-reform-proposals

    #107351
    duncan lucas
    Participant

    Sadly -not one to think negative usually  I have to agree with  Alan. How can any organisation be it a government or a group of people call itself left-wing /socialist etc  and in the end after a big show for those that voted for solid action against the IMF/ECB etc  cave in in the  latest  statement from the Greek Government and its watered down opposition admendment practically agreeing with what Big Business want -slavery for the poor as Cameron -neo-con is doing to this country . Very sad and disappointed !

    #107352
    Anonymous
    Inactive
    duncan lucas wrote:
    Sadly -not one to think negative usually  I have to agree with  Alan. How can any organisation be it a government or a group of people call itself left-wing /socialist etc  and in the end after a big show for those that voted for solid action against the IMF/ECB etc  cave in in the  latest  statement from the Greek Government and its watered down opposition admendment practically agreeing with what Big Business want -slavery for the poor as Cameron -neo-con is doing to this country . Very sad and disappointed !

    Nothing new. The left has been doing that for many decades. It is rock inside the shoes of the workers

    #107353
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    If regime change is not on the agenda then i am surprised at the statements of the Troika Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem saying "there were many concerns not only about "the content of the proposals, but also on the even more difficult issue of trust. How can we really expect this government to implement what it's now promising." And the German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was blunt: "We will definitely not be able to rely on promises." They already forced out the Greek finance minister, now it is seems to be the turn of the Prime Minister and the whole Syriza government. To be truthful the last time i heard such diplomatic statements such as those is against Syria's Assad and Saddam Husein and perhaps Putin. Certainy not against another EU leader and to boot Nato ally. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33491776

    #107354
    ALB
    Keymaster

    That's just pre-negotiation rhetoric. Unless they are completely stupid they must know that the only government capable of imposing austerity in Greece to get some of their money back is a Syriza-led one. But then there is some evidence for the Cock-up Theory of History.

    #107355
    duncan lucas
    Participant

    Again I have got to agree with Alan this reminds me of the years of negotiation by the US and Iran on removing sanctions every time they get near agreement they shift the goal posts and demand more the underlying agenda being its not in the US,s interests to to be friendly with Iran due to pressure elsewhere keep on forcing more change on Greece  if  this keeps happening and Syriza keeps caving  in it loses all credibility with its own voters  who have already given leave for the government to get a deal that doesnt destroy the poor. Its humiliating and not something I would personally do  you think/act/ in a straight line when it comes to helping those that are  at the bottom end  of society. Where,s the guts -the driving force to do what is right  for the 99 %  ? This is  an interesting World event a lot of principles hang on it -are you the owner of your own country or does the IMF/ECB/World Banksters rule it.?

    #107356
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster
    Quote:
    are you the owner of your own country or does the IMF/ECB/World Banksters rule it.?

    Duncan, that is the point,isn't it …we actually don't own the country…and only by the grace of God (to use a religious turn of phrase) go we.We don't condemn Syriza for capitulating to the demands of the Troika as many are now doing on the left-wing websites…We understood from the outset that they could extract only a certain amount of concessions and we said that was was they were elected to do, not to have a revolution and certainly not to establish socialism. Have they succeeded? It will be for the Greek people to decide.  As YMS said in an earlier post, there was not much sign of international solidarity. It does not take too much guts to tell others what sacrifices they should make…and that applies to the Left as well as to the EU mandarins.The Socialist Party does what it always does…tries to explain that there are no solutions to workers' problems within capitalism and offer our sympathy to the Greek working class…We don't make fake promises or hold out false hopes. 

    #107357

    Wishy washy words from the ETUC:https://www.etuc.org/press/catastrophe-avoided-incredibly-high-price#.VaODkCxmpMF

    Quote:
    “The EU has avoided the catastrophe of Grexit. But it comes at an incredibly high and hard price for the Greek people.To condemn Greece to years’ more recession would be a very bad outcome for all.The EU now has to deliver its rescue package without adding further conditions or even more austerity in the negotiations that will follow.

    As a few commentators have said, Spain's turn next to try something, if Podemos win.  France sems to have shown a bit of solidarity, offering bilateral loans (One theory doing the rounds is that germany's treatment of Greece is a shot across the bows of Hollande).Sadly, I don't expect the German SPD to suffer at the ballot box for their basic shafting of the Greek workers, more's the shame.Paul mason is sounding angry:http://blogs.channel4.com/paul-mason-blog/greece-wins-euro-debt-deal-democracy-loser/4155

    Quote:
    The big powers of Europe demonstrated an appetite to change the micro-laws of a smaller country: its bakery regulations, the funding of its state TV service, what can be privatised and how. Whether inside or outside the euro, many small countries and regions will draw long-term negative lessons from this. And from the apparently cavalier throwing of a last-minute Grexit option into the mix by Germany, in defiance of half the government’s own MPs

    The big powers of Europe demonstrated an appetite to change the micro-laws of a smaller country: its bakery regulations, the funding of its state TV service, what can be privatised and how. Whether inside or outside the euro, many small countries and regions will draw long-term negative lessons from this. And from the apparently cavalier throwing of a last-minute Grexit option into the mix by Germany, in defiance of half the government’s own MPs. – See more at: http://blogs.channel4.com/paul-mason-blog/greece-wins-euro-debt-deal-democracy-loser/4155#sthash.iniOj89z.dpufThe big powers of Europe demonstrated an appetite to change the micro-laws of a smaller country: its bakery regulations, the funding of its state TV service, what can be privatised and how. Whether inside or outside the euro, many small countries and regions will draw long-term negative lessons from this. And from the apparently cavalier throwing of a last-minute Grexit option into the mix by Germany, in defiance of half the government’s own MPs. – See more at: http://blogs.channel4.com/paul-mason-blog/greece-wins-euro-debt-deal-democracy-loser/4155#sthash.iniOj89z.dpufThe big powers of Europe demonstrated an appetite to change the micro-laws of a smaller country: its bakery regulations, the funding of its state TV service, what can be privatised and how. Whether inside or outside the euro, many small countries and regions will draw long-term negative lessons from this. And from the apparently cavalier throwing of a last-minute Grexit option into the mix by Germany, in defiance of half the government’s own MPs. – See more at: http://blogs.channel4.com/paul-mason-blog/greece-wins-euro-debt-deal-democracy-loser/4155#sthash.iniOj89z.dpufThe big powers of Europe demonstrated an appetite to change the micro-laws of a smaller country: its bakery regulations, the funding of its state TV service, what can be privatised and how. Whether inside or outside the euro, many small countries and regions will draw long-term negative lessons from this. And from the apparently cavalier throwing of a last-minute Grexit option into the mix by Germany, in defiance of half the government’s own MPs. – See more at: http://blogs.channel4.com/paul-mason-blog/greece-wins-euro-debt-deal-democracy-loser/4155#sthash.iniOj89z.dpufThe big powers of Europe demonstrated an appetite to change the micro-laws of a smaller country: its bakery regulations, the funding of its state TV service, what can be privatised and how. Whether inside or outside the euro, many small countries and regions will draw long-term negative lessons from this. And from the apparently cavalier throwing of a last-minute Grexit option into the mix by Germany, in defiance of half the government’s own MPs. – See more at: http://blogs.channel4.com/paul-mason-blog/greece-wins-euro-debt-deal-democracy-loser/4155#sthash.iniOj89z.dpufThe big powers of Europe demonstrated an appetite to change the micro-laws of a smaller country: its bakery regulations, the funding of its state TV service, what can be privatised and how. Whether inside or outside the euro, many small countries and regions will draw long-term negative lessons from this. And from the apparently cavalier throwing of a last-minute Grexit option into the mix by Germany, in defiance of half the government’s own MPs. – See more at: http://blogs.channel4.com/paul-mason-blog/greece-wins-euro-debt-deal-democracy-loser/4155#sthash.iniOj89z.dpufThe big powers of Europe demonstrated an appetite to change the micro-laws of a smaller country: its bakery regulations, the funding of its state TV service, what can be privatised and how. Whether inside or outside the euro, many small countries and regions will draw long-term negative lessons from this. And from the apparently cavalier throwing of a last-minute Grexit option into the mix by Germany, in defiance of half the government’s own MPs. – See more at: http://blogs.channel4.com/paul-mason-blog/greece-wins-euro-debt-deal-democracy-loser/4155#sthash.iniOj89z.dpuf%5B

    #107358
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    For all the respect i have for John Pilger's reporting and despite some of  accurate observations in the article he made, i think he is over-looking the impossibility of anything more radical than what Syriza offered and achieved.http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/07/13/the-problem-of-greece-is-not-only-a-tragedy-it-is-a-lie/Revolution is not just the overthrow of capitalism but is about a replacement for it. Pilger has never ever really presented an alternative. He cannot offer a political vacuum as a solution. If he supports KKE and exit from the EU and the Euro and a realignment of alliances with Russia or whoever, he should not keep silent about it and if that is what he prefers, it is not a class solution nor a solution to class.

    #107359
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    I think Chomsky once defended the so-called respectable press on the grounds that the ruling classes must have a view of reality without the the spin to make its decisions. Seems as the Telegraph has assumed that role in the UK of being rather more accurate in some of its reporting than other papers.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11736779/Greece-is-being-treated-like-a-hostile-occupied-state.html

    #107360
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/07/13/we-are-all-greeks-nowChris Hedges is in fine fettle, trying to show that the US suffer in the same way from capitalism as in Greece ie from class warfareI don't like his qualification of capitalism as 'corporate" or "unfettered" as if these tendencies are not inherent in other supposed forms of capitalism. He calls for the restoration of a rational economy…but i think Andrew Kliman in his talk asked rhetorically why we assume that the economy is not absurd in its basics. 

    #107361
    ALB
    Keymaster
    alanjjohnstone wrote:
    I think Chomsky once defended the so-called respectable press on the grounds that the ruling classes must have a view of reality without the the spin to make its decisions. Seems as the Telegraph has assumed that role in the UK of being rather more accurate in some of its reporting than other papers.

    If I was a member of the ruling class I wouldn't read the Torygraph for objective information to inform my decision-making. It is owned by the notorious Barclay Brothers who have commercial reasons for being anti-EU (see http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/rodopi/es/2004/00000020/00000001/art00008?&authenticated=true). Their reporting on the Greek debt crisis has been consistently Eurosceptic, hoping that the Euro project will fail and revelling in its diffuculties. Not objective or neutrally informative at all. I'd stick to reading the Financial Times myself and leave that Eurosceptic Tory rag alone (except for the crossword or unless I particularly wanted to know what the Barclay Brothers were thinking).

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