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1) Greece Referendum: Why Tsipras Made the Right Move by Marianna Fotaki Greek Reporter, June 28 <http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/06/28/greece-referendum-why-alexis-tsipras-made-the-right-move> Greece will hold a referendum on July 5 on whether the country should accept the bailout offer of international creditors. The government’s decision to reject what was on offer and call the referendum is ultimately an attempt to take charge of its domestic policy and reaffirm its credibility with voters. Although Greece is hard strapped for cash this is clearly a political decision with profound consequences for the future of the European Union. It is also the right one. This is not merely useful as a negotiating tactic for obtaining a better deal with its creditors, as many commentators might suggest. The coalition of the left, Syriza, had no choice but to oppose further measures that would lock its economy into a deflationary spiral, the trappings of which are destroying Greek society. . . . The right decision Greece has many problems – including unfair taxation (64% of taxes are paid by salaried employees and pensioners), corrupt elites who have governed the country for at least four decades with fellow European governments repeatedly turning a blind eye to their flouting of rules, and the oligarch-owned media which are neither independent nor free. But accepting the bailout would only feed into the system that got Greece into this crisis. Meanwhile, the newcomer to Greek politics, Syriza, has been told it will only receive the funds agreed under the previous bailout terms if it is ready to implement further policies that will decimate the poor and impoverish the middle class even more. Cutting pensions, many of which are already below the eurozone average when almost one in two of them are facing poverty, would be a mistake. So would conceding to the firing of an additional 150,000 public sector workers when their overall headcount has already been reduced by 161,000 since 2010 – a 19% reduction, according to the IMF. Contrary to popular belief, the number of public sector employees as a percentage of the workforce in Greece is 14% below the OCED average, but austerity has had an even more disastrous impact on employment in the private sector, with an estimated 400,000 businesses closing down in the past five years. No country has ever succeeded in emerging from financial crisis by means of austerity. Further austerity would have made the impossibly bad situation that Greece is in worse still. In rejecting the creditors’ further demands, the Greek government stands for the working people of Greece – and Europe too. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *Marianna Fotaki is Network Fellow, Edmond J Safra Center for Ethics, Harvard University and Professor of Business Ethics at University of Warwick. This article first appeared on The Conversation <https://theconversation.com/us> 2) Europe's Moment of Truth by Paul Krugman New York Times, June 27, 2015 <http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/27/europes-moment-of-truth> Until now, every warning about an imminent breakup of the euro has proved wrong. Governments, whatever they said during the election, give in to the demands of the troika; meanwhile, the ECB steps in to calm the markets. This process has held the currency together, but it has also perpetuated deeply destructive austerity — don’t let a few quarters of modest growth in some debtors obscure the immense cost of five years of mass unemployment. As a political matter, the big losers from this process have been the parties of the center-left, whose acquiescence in harsh austerity — and hence abandonment of whatever they supposedly stood for — does them far more damage than similar policies do to the center-right. It seems to me that the troika — I think it’s time to stop the pretense that anything changed, and go back to the old name — expected, or at least hoped, that Greece would be a repeat of this story. Either Tsipras would do the usual thing, abandoning much of his coalition and probably being forced into alliance with the center-right, or the Syriza government would fall. And it might yet happen. But at least as of right now Tsipras seems unwilling to fall on his sword. Instead, faced with a troika ultimatum, he has scheduled a referendum on whether to accept. This is leading to much hand-wringing and declarations that he’s being irresponsible, but he is, in fact, doing the right thing, for two reasons. First, if it wins the referendum, the Greek government will be empowered by democratic legitimacy, which still, I think, matters in Europe. (And if it doesn’t, we need to know that, too.) Second, until now Syriza has been in an awkward place politically, with voters both furious at ever-greater demands for austerity and unwilling to leave the euro. It has always been hard to see how these desires could be reconciled; it’s even harder now. The referendum will, in effect, ask voters to choose their priority, and give Tsipras a mandate to do what he must if the troika pushes it all the way. If you ask me, it has been an act of monstrous folly on the part of the creditor governments and institutions to push it to this point. But they have, and I can’t at all blame Tsipras for turning to the voters, instead of turning on them. The first will come Monday, when Greek banks that have grown ever more reliant on emergency loans from the European Central Bank face the prospect of reopening for business without new lifelines. The second will be Tuesday, when a $1.7 billion payment to the International Monetary Fund comes due. The IMF has repeatedly said it will not offer an extension on that deadline. Greek officials, meanwhile, say they do not have the money to make the payment unless the country’s creditors unlock $8 billion in bailout funds that have been frozen as the negotiations have stalled. Tsipras has set the referendum for July 5, although it is unclear exactly what Greek voters will be deciding. In announcing the vote, Tsipras said he wanted to give the Greek people the chance to vote on the latest proposal by Greece’s creditors, which he attacked as “an ultimatum” that would place “unbearable new burdens on the Greek people.” But with Greece sliding toward default and a possible break with the euro zone, there is no guarantee that the offer will remain viable by the time of the referendum, even if Greece does vote “yes.” The European Central Bank, the European Commission and the IMF have together provided Greece with $264 billion in bailouts over the past five years as the country has reckoned with sky-high debts. After years of withering austerity policies imposed by European paymasters as a condition of those deals, Greece in January rejected the medicine and elected Syriza, a radical leftist party that promised to tear up the old agreements and start anew. Greece has repeatedly demanded that Europe reduce the nation’s debt load and ease up on austerity, which officials say has devastated the economy and sent unemployment rocketing to 25 percent. But European officials have been unwilling to hand Syriza a victory and have insisted that the country keep to strict targets for belt-tightening. The past week began with rare optimism, as Greece submitted proposals that European officials initially welcomed as a significant step forward after months of deadlock. But by Wednesday, the creditors had submitted counterproposals for slashing pensions and cutting spending. Greek officials rejected them, saying they would cross the government’s red lines. During debate in the Greek Parliament on Saturday over whether the referendum should go ahead, Tsipras was given a standing ovation from supporters who cheered his defiance of European authorities. But opposition leaders and others accused him of recklessly endangering the country’s place in Europe. “The nation’s most vital interests demand that the country remains at the heart of Europe. The E.U.’s actual shortcomings do not, in any way, negate this,” said former prime minister Costas Karamanlis, who spoke out after a long silence. “Foolish choices that undermine this principle push the country to adventures, with unpredictable and possibly irreversible consequences.” 3) Greek workers should say No to Euro austerity - and so should we by Lindsey German Counterfire, June 27 <http://www.counterfire.org/articles/analysis/17880-greek-workers-should-say-no-to-euro-austerity-and-so-should-we> How much exactly did the Troika expect the Greek people to take? The enforced penury of millions of Greeks, the refusal to allow any debt relief, the determination to humiliate a government which has been the first across Europe to stand up to the demands of the unelected and unaccountable emperors of austerity. Such is the infantilisation of the Greek government and by extension its supporters that there are repeated comments about needing adults in the room, their failing their homework. The latest Tsipras proposals were returned to him covered in red ink scrawls as he was told in capital letters 'must try harder'. This was after a new set of proposals this week which crossed a number of Syriza's red lines and which if accepted would have meant a defeat for the Greek working class. But this climbdown wasn't enough particularly for the IMF's Christine Lagarde. The former minister in a right wing French government, whose salary incidentally is tax free, demanded fewer taxes on big business and more cuts for the poor. This is a path which most respectable economists think will only harm the Greek economy further. But it is clear that the trajectory of Lagarde and her friends is as much based on political considerations as economic. They fear that resistance will prove contagious, that anti-austerity parties in Portugal and Spain will take heart from any concessions won by Syriza. They fear that the supine Irish government will see the anger of its working people at austerity turn against them, not against the Greeks. The Troika's intransigence has led to Tsipras calling a referendum, to be held next Sunday, on the proposals. In reality a No will mean an exit from the Euro and from the EU. It is the right thing to do. The government has spent too long negotiating with the enemy, smiling in public while being humiliated behind closed doors. Now Greek working people have a choice: carry on with the anti austerity policies on which the government was elected, or capitulate to the bullying neoliberals who want to force poverty and misery on European workers as a whole. The EU has used its poorer member states as a pool of cheap labour, a reserve army to hold down the wages and conditions of all European workers, while at the same time the euro ties them to the rich German economy. All the European governments have combined to ensure Greece does not buck this trend. So now the Greek people have the chance to vote No. Let's hope they take it. That will confound the pro austerity opposition parties and will be a defeat for neoliberalism and austerity across Europe. It is clear that, whatever the difficulties for Greece if it leaves the Euro, the European ruling classes are desperate for this not to happen. This week is one where the Greek working people need solidarity and support on an unprecedented scale. We should also be saying no. There is a big strike wave in Germany, and here in Britain we had a mass 250,000 demo against austerity last weekend. There is a stark choice facing us all: allow these people to ruin the lives of millions, or build mass resistance across the continent. Really no choice at all, when you think about it. 4) Referendum and democracy: putting the demos on stage by Costas Douzinas openDemocracy, June 27 <https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/costas-douzinas/referendum-and-democracy-putting-demos-on-stage> . . . The perceived threat of a Syriza success and of a haircut of the Greek debt, repeatedly declared unviable by the IMF, is political not economic. The European elites fear a contagion throughout Southern Europe of the anti-austerity stance of the Greek people and government. The result in the Spanish local elections, the Scottish anti-austerity vote and the Sinn Féin opinion poll results indicate that the people hit by austerity have started stirring. The Syriza government is leading the attack on the ‘there is no alternative’ neoliberal mantra. Even a limited success would show that the only fight that cannot be won is a fight not joined. . . . The Greek proposal could change the political landscape. ‘Referendum’ is a dirty word in the Brussels corridors. The elites have been traumatized by popular rebuffs in France, the Netherlands, Ireland and Poland among others and they cancelled the Papandreou proposal to hold a referendum in 2012. The European elites, who have felt unassailable since 1989, are sensing the popular anger and cannot comprehend it. The Tsipras proposal brings back the fear elites feel when the people momentarily enter onto the political stage. The referendum will be an encounter with the anti-austerity resistance of the Greek people and in direct contact with the occupation of Syntagma Square in 2011. It places the people at the centre of politics and prefigures an institutional framework in which direct democracy becomes a permanent supplement to its representative part. . . . 5) “NO” On Sunday July 5, we say “no” to the gang of the lenders! Statement by Xekinima (CWI in Greece), June 27 <http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/7260> The government of SYRIZA took, finally, the right decision! To resort to the will of the Greek people on the question of the “deal” with the lenders and to propose its rejection through a referendum! . . . The Greek people, and by this we mean the workers, the unemployed, the poor, and the small businesses and middle layers destroyed by the capitalist crisis, must fight the battle of a NO vote with all their forces. On the opposite site the forces of reaction will concentrate their forces in one body – the bankers, the ship owners, the industrialists, the big constructors, the mass media, the establishment of the EU, the international organizations (IMF, EB, etc) the multinationals – all of these will try to “convince” us that if we say “no”, we will be faced with catastrophe. . . . But at the same time we must all demand from SYRIZA to not restrict the struggle to the NO vote. But to march forward boldly and decisively, in order to take power away from big capital; to have the commanding heights of the economy passed onto the hands of society; and proceed to the democratic planning of the economy through social and workers’ control and management, to finish once and for all with the plunder of our labour, the scandals, the corruption and theft. With such bold socialist measures, we can bring back hope – and not only to the Greek people, but can become a catalyst for the peoples of Europe and the whole world. The “Institutions” want “regime change” in Greece, they correctly fear that resistance in Greece to the ruling classes’ drive to make the working and middle class pay for the crisis of capitalism will inspire similar movements throughout Europe. Their fear is correct. There is great potential for the resistance from the Greek working people to set off similar movements in other countries. That is why the Irish, Portuguese and Spanish governments are so especially hostile to the Greek people: they fear for their own futures. 6) Tsipras calls referendum: reject troika’s ultimatum, break with capitalism Written by Jorge Martín In Defense of Marxism (IMT), June 27 <http://www.marxist.com/tsipras-referendum-greece.htm> . . . To understand what is intended with the referendum, we can listen to what the minister of administration reform Katrougalos said: “a no vote in the referendum would give the government a mandate to go back to the lenders and seek a better deal from them”. This is also clearly seen in the references to European values in Tsipras speech. The leadership of Syriza remains firmly attached to the idea that it is possible to put an end to austerity by getting a deal from the troika. Their idea of the referendum is not to get a decisive mandate to break with the troika and austerity, but rather to get a stronger bargaining position in the negotiations. They would be in favour of accepting a few modifications to their proposal from June 22 as long as they got substantial debt relief in exchange. But the call for a referendum has set in motion forces which are out of the control of the government. Over the last few days there has been increased polarisation in Greek society and the accumulated sense of being humiliated by the troika will now boil over. The mood of the masses will be one of saying “enough is enough! enough humiliation! enough concessions! time to fight back!” There will be genuine enthusiasm for OXI, a resounding NO vote linking up with the best traditions of resistance of the Greek working class movement. The referendum could get a big majority against the ultimatum. Varoufakis mentioned the figure of 50 plus 1 as a clear mandate against the agreement, but the referendum could perhaps get 60, 70 or even 80% voting against. These were the figures of support for the government we saw in the first week of February when it seemed to be taking a firm stance against the troika. . . . It is now time to take decisive action. This referendum cannot be fought and won just on the ballot boxes, but above all through the class struggle in the streets, workplaces and neighbourhoods. There are already demonstrations called for today and Sunday. These should be massive, as a show of strength of opposition to the troika. The government should immediately take defensive measures including the nationalisation of the whole banking system to prevent massive deposit withdrawals. The government should also seize the property and assets of the main capitalists and companies to prevent capital flight. Workers should occupy their factories and workplaces open the books and establish workers' control and vigilance to prevent sabotage and hoarding. The Greek capitalist class will not hesitate to use all means at their disposal (legal and illegal). The main unions should convene a national congress of the working class, with delegates elected from the workplaces and working class neighbourhoods to coordinate the struggle and exercise vigilance. Furthermore, the struggle cannot be waged nor won simply on the basis of the idea of exerting pressure on the troika for a better deal. That idea has proved to be completely bankrupt by the events of the last 5 months. What is needed is a clear break with troika, through the repudiation of the debt and a program of bold socialist measures. Internationally the labour movement and revolutionary activists have a great responsibility. We should all discuss how can we, in the course of the next few hours and days, mobilise the largest amount of people possible against the troika and in defence of Greek working people. This is also our struggle. At stake is not just the fate of the Greek people but that of workers' across Europe. This is not a national struggle but a class struggle. The greatest battle is being prepared. Victory to the Greek working people. Down with the troika. Break with capitalism. International solidarity. _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
