[Marxism] Kevin Ovenden in Greece on the resignation of Yanis Varoufakis and more
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Kevin Ovenden in Greece on the resignation of Yanis Varoufakis and more Two great pressures now. One to give a bourgeois stabilising meaning and limit to the great Oxi revolt. Two to create the feel of compromise and consensus within Greek society and in the negotiations to put the whole radicalising process back in the box. http://enpassant.com.au/2015/07/06/kevin-ovenden-in-greece-on-the-resignation-of-yanis-varoufakis-and-more/ _ 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
Re: [Marxism] On Tsirpas
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Well I hope you are right Sheldon. My analysis was based on the offer Tsirpas made at the last minute. Mind you I was heavily influenced by the Guardian headline which said Tsirpas climbs down. Also, Galbraith hinted that Tsirpas sidelined Varoufakis and put more concession minded negotiators in charge. As well as the obvious danger of taking angles and spin from corporate press on face value, there is another danger here. Tsipras *did* replace Varoufakis as head of negotiating team, and this *was* spun as taking a softer line. But what Tsipras, other commentatots speaking to Syriza and Varoufakis themselves all said was it was simply to remove a false argument. The creditors were saying they couldn't work with Varoufakis, he was too confrontational etc etc. So Syriza said fine -- you can work with someone different. There was no obvious change *at all* in Syriza's actual approach, and Varoufakis is not one to be silent, if he disagreed with things he would say (as he has at times). Syriza are trying to prove to Greek people and to other people, that they are doing what they can to get the best deal, and that all of the intransigence is on the other side. Why let *an individual* get in the way? It is a false argument, a straw argument, to say Varoufakis is the problem -- though one that plays on his public persona - so they got rid of it. This is important given what has just happened -- with Varoufakis resigning as finance minister. Through the prism of bourgeois politics, it makes no sense. Varoufakis is at the height of his political powers, his capital could not be higher after that win. He is hugged and mobbed when he appears on the street. It *also* can't really be understood if viewed as he was pushed out as some sort of back down. I don't believe Varoufakis would just go if he thought it would mean caving to the troika. And he wouldn't *have* to go either, he would be very difficult to remove if he didn't want to be removed. So when he says he is going to make it as easy as possible for the government to negotiate, to avoid all false arguments, I thikn the safest bet is take his word at face value. I thikn his explanation that this is a tactical decision to call out the troika's attempts to divert attention by saying they can't worth with Yanis to say fine, you don't have to. Now negotiate properly. If the Troika had accepted his last minute offer, then that would have destroyed him and his party and demoralized the people. A hell of a bluff, I would call that. But maybe you have access to more information than myself. In any case, this is a victory for the people. And that is what we must now concentrate on. Again the problem is this is read through a certain lens. And gets to the heart of what is a sell out etc. I think Tsipras genuinely wants a deal and is trying to get the best deal he can. that is what he says. that, for the matter, is what the supposedly more hardline Varoufakis says *repeatedly* whenever asked. I think the reason is a weighing up of the consequences of each decisions, combined with popular views. That is what they always said and everything they have done is in this direction. Of course, they won't do a deal *at any price*, as we have just seen. But I think this is weighing up the reality that a grexit is not necessarily automatically going to improve their position, and certainly, unless it is widely understood as the Troika's fault, could badly affect Syriza's standing. But also it is about understanding that there is no real way to improve their position without a breakthrough elsewhere in Europe, or with more more pressure across Europe on the ruling classes to force a backdown. Regardless of whether you think this approach is right or wrong, there is no back down from their *actual position* involved in offering concessions, or a sell out. if you pretend to be one thing and do another, you may be a sell-out. But this is the course they have always advocated and, we have seen, they are willing to be very firm on the principles underpinning it -- even if we concluded the approach is strategically wrong. VBut even more than that -- the point around the world is not to focus on betrayal or sell-out or even cheering their strategy on. It is understanding that, whatever their strategy is and its strengths and weaknesses, they are carrying it out under the most intense blackmail and sabotage imaginable and the KEY thing is that must end. They must stop their economic war on Greece. How those facing war, those with guns against their hand, those taking the most savage beating seek to end or ease their suffering is their business.
Re: [Marxism] The Greek working class overwhelmingly rejects austerity
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On 06/07/2015 08:56 πμ, Sheldon Ranz via Marxism wrote: All along, Tzipras' offer of concessions was a bluff. He knew that the Troika would reject them, so he 'offered' them knowing that the Troika's arrogant rejection of them would galvanize the Greek electorate into giving him a majority Too speculative per se. Yet facts are very stubborn and this http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/01/news/economy/greece-prime-minister-letter-bailout-concessions/ does not look like three dimensional chess. You can not bluff with no cards. JA _ 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
Re: [Marxism] The Greek working class overwhelmingly rejects austerity
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On 06/07/2015 10:53 πμ, Lüko Willms wrote: on Montag, 6. Juli 2015 at 02:07, ioannis aposperites via Marxism wrote: * And we in ANTARSYA had the right thing to say. It was us who have something to say about the next day. * and what did you say? I just don't know. How do you think to mobilize the 25% unemployed back into productive activity, really taking their destiny in their working hands? Cheers, Lüko Willms Well it was not a legislative election and the point of gravity was not on your question. Of course you can find Antarsya's positions summed up at: http://antarsya.gr/node/2867 and this article http://rs21.org.uk/2015/01/21/greek-elections-the-strategic-challenges-for-the-left/ by P Sotiris of ARAN, ANTARSYA's right wing. JA _ 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
Re: [Marxism] The Greek working class overwhelmingly rejects austerity
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * on Montag, 6. Juli 2015 at 02:07, ioannis aposperites via Marxism wrote: And we in ANTARSYA had the right thing to say. It was us who have something to say about the next day. and what did you say? I just don't know. How do you think to mobilize the 25% unemployed back into productive activity, really taking their destiny in their working hands? Cheers, Lüko Willms _ 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
Re: [Marxism] On Tsirpas
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On Jul 6, 2015, at 4:41 AM, Stuart Munckton via Marxism marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu wrote: Again the problem is this is read through a certain lens. And gets to the heart of what is a sell out etc. I think Tsipras genuinely wants a deal and is trying to get the best deal he can. that is what he says. that, for the matter, is what the supposedly more hardline Varoufakis says *repeatedly* whenever asked. I think the reason is a weighing up of the consequences of each decisions, combined with popular views. That is what they always said and everything they have done is in this direction. Of course, they won't do a deal *at any price*, as we have just seen. But I think this is weighing up the reality that a grexit is not necessarily automatically going to improve their position, and certainly, unless it is widely understood as the Troika's fault, could badly affect Syriza's standing. But also it is about understanding that there is no real way to improve their position without a breakthrough elsewhere in Europe, or with more more pressure across Europe on the ruling classes to force a backdown. Regardless of whether you think this approach is right or wrong, there is no back down from their *actual position* involved in offering concessions, or a sell out. if you pretend to be one thing and do another, you may be a sell-out. But this is the course they have always advocated and, we have seen, they are willing to be very firm on the principles underpinning it -- even if we concluded the approach is strategically wrong. My impression also. Concretely, I think the Tspiras leadership is seeking debt relief and an end to the vicious austerity which has smashed the living standards of the Greek masses as its immediate priorities. This requires the troika of creditors to write off and postpone interest payments far into the future and to allow more room for government spending by abandoning the current targets for primary budget surpluses, ie. fiscal restraint. In exchange, as the Tsipras letter leaked to the press last week indicated, it has promised to implement the nefarious structural reforms demanded by euro-capitalism, beginning with lifting impediments to the employment of cheap, transient labour markets which would weaken the power of trade unions, rolling back pension benefits, raising consumption taxes (the VAT), and proceeding with the privatization of important public assets. However, these reforms require further elaboration, negotiation, and parliamentary approval and the devil will lie in the details, with the government seeking to fudge and soften their impact during this process, or at least hoping it can do so. The final shape these concessions will take will largely depend on the evolving relationship of forces within Greece and within the other debtor countries of the eurozone, within both the ruling and popular classes. The troika has transparently behaved like an arrogant bullying employer supremely confident it could cow its workers and destroy any resistance by their not fully compliant union. Instead, it has provoked an angry worker backlash and the equivalent of a strengthened strike mandate to their union. Whether this miscalculation by the euro-capitalist hard-liners will result in an acknowledgement that some accommodation with Syriza is now necessary to stabilize the Greek situation and prevent the referendum example from inspiring resistance elsewhere in the eurozone remains to be seen. _ 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
[Marxism] Tariq Ali on Syriza triumph; Paul Mason on Varoufakis
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * [at Verso blog] Tariq Ali: The Syriza triumph is a victory for Verso blog by Kieran O'Connor, July 6 http://www.versobooks.com/blogs/2095-tariq-ali-the-syriza-triumph-is-a-victory Tariq Ali, author of The Extreme Centre, gives his verdict on the resounding 'No' from voters in Sunday's referendum, backing its leader's call to reject the harsh terms outlined by the Eurozone for a potential bailout. This a historic triumph for Greece, its people and democratic accountability. The disgusting campaign waged by the EU Group and ECB has backfired sensationally. The invertebrate Greek politicians who voted YES misjudged the mood of their people. The EU leaders who waged a financial war on Greece should look in the mirror. If what they see is ugly, they should not blame the mirror. The Syriza triumph is a victory. How should it be interpreted? A slap in the face of the EU elite and the Troika; a signal that people are ahead of the politicians and prepared to go further. They have seen their government pleading, begging on its knees for an agreement. They have seen SYRIZA abandon its programme and their response is don't go any further. Take a tougher position. Don't capitulate. Fight back. We are with you. The minute Tsipras decided to go for a referendum, the mass movement was revived. The questions that arise immediately are the following: If there is no serious agreement on any meaningful debt restructuring is the government prepared to default? If the EU stance remains the same is SYRIZA prepared to quit the Eurozone and implement Plan B? I hope so. The Greek negotiators now know that their people will support them further if they are told the truth. That is what Tsipras did at the historic Syntagma mass demonstration last week and we have the response. The Greek people have reasserted their sovereignty. Their government must now do the same. Explaining Yanis Varoufakis: Greece's Anti-Austerity 'Rock Star' by Kieran O'Connor for Verso blog, July 6 http://www.versobooks.com/blogs/2097-explaining-yanis-varoufakis-greece-s-anti-austerity-rock-star Varoufakis's anti-austerity ideas are spelled out in his book The Global Minotaur: America, Europe and the Future of the Global Economy, published by our comrades at Zed Books. Below is the foreword to that book by Paul Mason, economics editor for Channel 4 News and author of Meltdown: The End of the Age of Greed. . . . Video: Mason on Varoufakis http://www.versobooks.com/blogs/2094-paul-mason-on-yanis-varoufakis-the-economist-who-wouldn-t-play-politics _ 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
Re: [Marxism] Test -- please ignore 3
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * another test _ 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
[Marxism] Joint Statement by Greek Political Party Leaders, July 6
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Joint Statement by Greek Political Party Leaders translated by The Greek Analyst, July 6 https://greekanalyst.wordpress.com/2015/07/06/joint-statement-by-greek-political-party-leaders Following the result of yesterday’s referendum, where the Greek people responded with a resounding ‘NO’ to a highly ambiguous (and void) question, the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called for a meeting with the rest of the political leadership in the country. After making his request official yesterday night, at the President of the Democracy, Prokovios Pavlopoulos, the President called the meeting earlier today at the Maximos Building. What follows is the joint statement released after the conclusion of the meeting, translated in English. You can find the original statement (in Greek), here. http://www.efsyn.gr/arthro/koino-anakoinothen-tsipra-me-politikoys-arhigoys-ektos-toy-kke Updates (perhaps) to follow, as more info comes in. After a request by the Prime Minister Mr. Alexis Tsipras, the President of the Democracy Mr. Prokopios Pavlopoulos, convened today, 6th of July 2015 and time 10:00, a meeting of the Political Leaders of the Parties represented in the Hellenic Parliament, under his Presidency. In the meeting participated: The Prime Minister, Mr. Alexis Tsipras. The transitional Leader of New Democracy, in his capacity as leader of the Opposition, Mr. Evangelos Meimarakis. The Head of “To Potami” party, Mr. Stavros Theodorakis. The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Mr. Dimitrios Koutsoumbas. The President of the Independent Greeks, Mr. Panagiotis Kammenos. And the President of PASOK, Mrs. Fofi Genimata. During the meeting, the Prime Minister proceeded in informing the Political Leaders regarding the initiatives he intends to immediately undertake, after the result of yesterday’s referendum. Consequently, the Political Leaders expressed their individual proposals. At the end of the meeting, the Political Leaders – with the reservation of the overall disagreement of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the KKE, Mr. Dimitris Koutsoumbas, which was registered in detail in the proceedings of the meeting – resulted in the following joint statement: “The recent verdict of the Greek people does not comprise a mandate of rupture, but a mandate for continuing and strengthening the effort of achieving a socially just and economically sustainable agreement. Towards this direction, the Government assumes the responsibility of continuing the negotiations. And each Political Leader will contribute, respectively, within the framework of his/her institutional and political role. The common goal is to seek a solution that will ensure: The adequate coverage of the financing needs of the Country Reliable reforms, based on the criterion of the just distribution of burdens and the promotion of development, with the least possible recessionary effects. Powerful, front-loaded, growth program, first and foremost for combatting unemployment and for the encouragement of entrepreneurship. A commitment towards the beginning of substantive discussion on dealing with the problem of the sustainability of the Greek public debt. Immediate priority is to restore the liquidity in the financial system, in consultation with the ECB. The Prime Minister has promised to inform the Political Leaders, immediately after the forthcoming EU Summit, for the first conclusions to be drawn and for the overall progress of the negotiations.” _ 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
[Marxism] Greek Victory
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * I've never been so happy to be wrong in one of my predictions. In fact, I am happy, period. I have not had such encouraging news in a very long time. The Greek people's spirit of resistance and defiance is unparalleled in recent decades. They voted as they did despite a propaganda barrage from the oligarch-controlled media, threats from employers, personal interventions from top EU officials and government heads, economic blackmail and the vacillation and panic of Tsipras and the Syriza leadership. Their courage will resound throughout Europe, and beyond. TINA died a long overdue death in Athens yesterday. The consciousness of the Greek working class may not yet be revolutionary, but its fighting spirit is the stuff out of which revolutionary consciousness can emerge. Jim Creegan _ 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
[Marxism] Test -- please ignore
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * xxx _ 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
Re: [Marxism] Test -- please ignore
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * another test On 7/6/15 3:47 PM, Louis Proyect wrote: xxx _ 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
[Marxism] ECB holds Greece ELA funding as is; Tsakolotos replaces Varoufakis; new deal remote
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * European Central Bank maintains funding for embattled Greek banks by Griff Witte and Michael Birnbaum Washington Post, July 6 http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/greeks-reject-bailout-offer-in-landslide/2015/07/06/827b840f-f803-443d-a478-5d257b1af1fe_story.html [WaPo reports ECB's ELA funding level at $98B, it is actually $89B] _ 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
[Marxism] What it's like to work at the Huffington Post
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * This article isn't surprising. Huffington is a pig, and her enterprise runs like one overseen by a pig. Yet, people keep writing for her. OneRobert Naiman, who runs a liberal advocacy organization and is always posting some stupid thing or another explaining how, if we support progressive Democrats, utopia will sooner or later descend upon us, writes regularly. When writers a few years ago were urging a boycott, Naiman said labor stalwarts like Robert Reich weren't honoring the boycott, so this must have meant that the boycott efforts really were not legitimate and refusing to honor them was not the same as crossing a picket line. _ 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
[Marxism] AnalyzeGreece! the Greferendum
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Greferendum: The second earthquake by Nicos Sarantakos AnalyzeGreece!, July 7 http://www.analyzegreece.gr/topics/greece-europe/item/271-greferendum-the-second-earthquake . . . * The yesterday vote had strong class overtones. It was not the Syriza voters who voted for No, rather the poor and the unemployed. The results of two Athens suburbs are eloquent: in the posh Northern suburb of Ekali, the Yes vote won with a resounding 85%; on the other hand, in working-class neighbourhood of Perama, a suburb of Piraeus, it was the No that gathered 76%, with similar results (between 72% και 75%) in Nikaia, Aghia Varvara, Drapetsona and other working-class suburbs. In upper-middle-class Chalandri, where Syriza had come first back in January elections (and also won the local elections with a far-left ticket) Yes came first by a short margin. * Voters’ age played a role in the yesterday vote. According to a poll, three quarters of students voted for No. Interestingly, a lot of young people opted for No, despite the fact that in January they had voted for parties that supported the Yes option. * A beneficial side-effect of the big margin was that it made irrelevant the Golden Dawn vote. The Nazist party had appealed for No... Moreover, the Golden Dawn voters did not follow the party line: according to polls, more than half of them voted for Yes. Not by a coincidence, the Yes vote registered its highest result in Lakonia, the constituency where Golden Dawn made the best national showing in January. * Communist voters, including very many party members, ignored the official party line in favour of an invalid vote, and they voted massively for No. It should be noted that in [its] almost centennial existence the Communist Party had always taken a clear-cut side in past referendums, so the yesterday call for an invalid vote was a novelty –which failed to convince the communist voters though. . . . _ 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
[Marxism] A message from within Syriza: a great NO from the Greek people
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Redline blog regularly receives reports from friends within Syriza. We received the following communique from our friends, one of the left currents in Syriza, yesterday: 1) We are in front of a *great NO* by the Greek People, who stands defiant and fighting against the ultimatums and the destructive policies imposed on Greece by the troika and its local supporters. Today’s NO has a *pan-hellenic, national, popular, democratic character*. It proves once again that the Greek People has a great reserve of courage and resisting spirit, and storms the political scene, as it has always happened in critical moments of our History. 2) This great NO, around 61,5%, comes despite the (unforeseen in post-war Europe) *terror campaign and direct threats *by all the systemic reactionary forces on European and international level. Moreover, it has been achieved despite the manifest weaknesses of the Greek Left’s forces. It is a result that was not expected by all those who underestimate the Greek people’s courage, and this remark is valid no matter how huge difficulties we shall face tomorrow (literally!). 3) The referendum’s result represents a crushing defeat of the pro-troika internal opposition, which, in vain, spared no effort to distort the meaning of the referendum and to multiply the fear amongst the Greek society. It represents *a crushing defeat of the whole old political, business and media system*. Already. . . . full at: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/07/07/a-great-no-by-the-greek-people/ _ 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
[Marxism] Germany Maintains a Hard Line on Greece Debt After Vote
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * NY Times, July 6 2015 Germany Maintains a Hard Line on Greece Debt After Vote By LIZ ALDERMAN and JACK EWING ATHENS — Germany maintained a hard line with Athens on Monday after Greek voters rejected Europe’s austerity policies in a referendum, intensifying pressure on Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to restart bailout talks and opening a rift with European countries that appeared more inclined now to consider softening the push for austerity. As Mr. Tsipras changed his finance minister Monday and laid plans to restart bailout negotiations with creditors, however, it appeared the jubilation that followed the no vote in Greece could fade quickly as signs of financial collapse become more evident. While the referendum may have lifted Mr. Tsipras’s popularity and bought some time to return to negotiations, Greek banks are almost out of cash and are expected to stay closed for at least several more days, analysts and people close to the situation in Greece said. The government decided on Monday that a bank holiday scheduled to end Tuesday would now be extended through Wednesday, and a daily cap on A.T.M. withdrawals of 60 euros, about $66, in place since last week, could be tightened. An announcement was expected later in the day. Long lines formed again at cash machines in Athens on Monday as people continued to take out money in dribs and drabs. The European Central Bank decided Monday to maintain emergency loans to Greek banks at about 89 billion euros, a level that keeps them from failing but will not prevent them from running out of cash they can issue to depositors within a few days. Ominously, the central bank also said it would tighten requirements for collateral that Greek banks must post in return for loans. The decision means that, even if the European Central Bank decides to increase the lending limit, Greek banks might not have enough collateral needed to qualify for more emergency cash. The decision was a concession to hard liners on the central bank’s Governing Council, and a sign the central bank is worried about losses it would suffer if Greek banks fail. If a deal for emergency financial aid or a reduction of the nation’s mountainous debt is not struck soon, Greece will probably default on international loans this month, and paying civil servants and pensioners will be increasingly problematic. Should Greece run out of euros in the absence of a deal, it could soon be forced to issue a parallel currency or i.o.u.s to pay its domestic bills, leading it out of the euro currency. Mr. Tsipras on Monday took the first steps toward conciliation with Greece’s creditors. The combative finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, abruptly resigned at Mr. Tsipras’s behest, and was replaced by Euclid Tsakalotos, an Oxford-educated economist who took over from Mr. Varoufakis as Greece’s lead negotiator at the end of April. After a six-hour meeting, the leaders of Greece’s five main political parties issued a statement saying they would seek discussions with creditors to secure sufficient funds for the nation’s financing needs. They also pledged to carry out “credible reforms,” tackle unemployment and broach the issue of making Greece’s large public debt more sustainable. Still, Germany, the eurozone country to which Greece owes the most money and the one that has tended to take the hardest line in the debt talks, warned on Monday against hopes for a quick resolution. A spokesman for the Finance Ministry said Berlin saw no new basis for negotiations with Athens at this point. The spokesman for Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, said that while Greece was still in the eurozone, it was up to Athens to determine whether the country would stay. The Greek government said Monday afternoon that Mr. Tsipras and Ms. Merkel had spoken by telephone and had agreed that he would present new debt proposals on Tuesday, when eurozone leaders are to meet in Brussels. Other European leaders seemed eager to avoid the specter of a Greek exit from the euro, especially since the narrative over the wisdom of austerity appeared to have shifted in popular opinion, as images of Greeks celebrating their repudiation of austerity were broadcast worldwide. Officials in France and in Brussels said on Monday that they were unhappy and dumbfounded with the no vote, but let it be known that they would hold the door open to the possibility of a compromise between Greece and its creditors. At a news conference in Brussels on Monday, the European Commission’s vice president for euro affairs, Valdis Dombrovskis, said that the no vote in Greece would
Re: [Marxism] ECB holds Greece ELA funding as is; Tsakolotos replaces Varoufakis; new deal remote
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * ECB toughens terms on Greek lifeline Financial Times, July 6 http://www.ft.com/intl/fastft/355591 The eurozone's central bankers have toughened the terms of its lifeline to the Greek banking system, raising the discounts — or haircuts — on the collateral Greek banks are swapping for their emergency funding. The move, made by the European Central Bank's governing council on Monday, means Greek lenders will have to stump up more assets in exchange for the Bank of Greece's Emergency Liquidity Assistance, Claire Jones reports. The ECB refused to disclose the size of the new haircuts, but all four of Greece's main banks are thought still to have enough collateral available to roll over their emergency loans. Two people on the governing council objected to the decision, according to Eurosystem sources. Both of the objectors wanted the ECB to take stronger measures. The governing council left the ceiling on Emergency Liquidity Assistance from the Bank of Greece frozen at €89bn, but said in a statement that the financial situation of Greece has an impact on Greek banks since the collateral they use in ELA relies to a significant extent on government-linked assets. Greek banks were thought to be using government bonds and government-backed bank debt to access loans worth just below €50bn. In this context, the governing council decided today to adjust the haircuts on collateral accepted by the Bank of Greece for ELA, the ECB said in a statement. On Mon, Jul 6, 2015 at 12:31 PM, Dayne Goodwin daynegood...@gmail.com wrote: European Central Bank maintains funding for embattled Greek banks by Griff Witte and Michael Birnbaum Washington Post, July 6 http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/greeks-reject-bailout-offer-in-landslide/2015/07/06/827b840f-f803-443d-a478-5d257b1af1fe_story.html [WaPo reports ECB's ELA funding level at $98B, it is actually $89B] _ 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
[Marxism] What it's like to work at the Huffington Post
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/05/magazine/arianna-huffingtons-improbable-insatiable-content-machine.html The Huffington Post remain at their desks during lunch and keep an eye on the web at all times. If, while you’re offline, three new Instagram filters are announced and you’re late to post the news, that’s a problem. ‘‘Just about everyone works continuously, whether you’re at the office or not,’’ one former employee said. ‘‘That little green light that says you’re available on Gchat is what matters.’’ Low pay worsens the strain. One former employee said that some staff members take second jobs to cover their expenses. Some tutor; others wait on tables; others babysit. (A representative for The Huffington Post said the company was unaware of any moonlighting.) Many staff members rely on what has been called ‘‘HuffPost lunch’’ — Luna Bars, carrots, hummus, apples, bananas and sometimes string cheese, all served gratis in a kitchen area of the office. Inevitably, there is burnout. At the New York office, nearly two dozen employees have left since the start of this year, either because they were laid off or found more enticing and less hectic jobs. A Gawker post in early June, written by an anonymous former staff member, said the recent departures were hardly a surprise because the place has long been ‘‘so brutal and toxic it would meet with approval from committed sociopaths.’’ A former editor told me about a period in 2013 when a series of departures left a cluster of empty desks along a wall that Huffington walks past on the way to her office. ‘‘Someone told my manager, ‘Arianna is really stressed out about the number of people leaving, so we need a bunch of people to sit at those desks in the path from the elevator to her office, to make her feel better,’ ’’ the former editor said. ‘‘So we sat there, waiting to say: ‘Hello! Greetings!’ as she walked by. It was supposed to be for two hours, but she got there at about 3 in the afternoon instead of 11 in the morning. It was absurd. I had to interrupt my workday because this woman was stressed out, because so many people had left, because they were stressed out.’’ (A Huffington Post representative denied this story, saying it was ‘‘clearly made up by someone with an ax to grind.’’) Staff members in Huffington’s inner circle must also contend with her superhuman endurance. Her oft-repeated claim to sleep eight hours a night notwithstanding, she rarely seems to be idle. Emails from her cease, several ex-employees told me, only between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. There are staff members who have stuck it out for years and speak highly of the site as a place to work. They say they form lasting bonds with co-workers and relish the sense that they are writing for millions of readers. Some, like Daniel Koh, a former A-Teamer, speak with a reverence and fondness for Huffington herself. Koh described her as a perfectionist of exceptional intellectual wattage, a leader who never raises her voice and never holds a grudge. ‘‘Was it intense, and long hours, and did she teach me to maximize my workday?’’ he said. ‘‘Absolutely.’’ But others who have worked closely with Huffington have found it a bruising experience, saying that she is perpetually on the lookout for signs of disloyalty, to a degree that bespeaks paranoia or, at the very least, pettiness. Employees cycle in and out of her favor, hailed as the site’s savior one moment, ignored the next. (The Gawker post called the office ‘‘essentially Soviet in its functioning.’’) ‘‘Everyone’s stock is shooting up or falling at any given moment, so everyone is rattled with uncertainty and insecurity,’’ one former employee said. ‘‘I’ve never seen anything like it.’’ _ 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
[Marxism] Kevin Ovenden in Greece: Europe's 'leaders' have learnt nothing
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Kevin Ovenden in Greece: Europe's 'leaders' have learnt nothing The result of the little game by the geniuses who run the EU was to further shatter New Democracy, the party of big business. The left has hegemony in Greek society for the first time since 1944. http://enpassant.com.au/2015/07/07/kevin-ovenden-in-greece-europes-leaders-have-learnt-nothing/ _ 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
[Marxism] Education for anti-capitalists (mainly pieces on political economy, exploitation, crisis etc)
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/03/29/education-for-anti-capitalists/ _ 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
[Marxism] Imperialism in search of a new world order after the Cold War
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/06/17/from-the-vaults-in-search-of-a-new-world-order-1998/ See also: The postmodern abyss: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/06/10/from-the-vaults-staring-into-the-postmodern-abyss-1990/ _ 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
[Marxism] The White New Zealand policy
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * The first seven chapters of my old PhD thesis on the White New Zealand policy - written between 1997-2002) are now up on Redline. There are several chapters still to go. The first seven chapters can be reached via: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/02/07/pieces-on-the-white-new-zealand-policy/ Phil _ 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
[Marxism] Yanis Varoufakis resigns from Finance Minister post
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Minister no more: Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis resigns The Guardian, July 6 http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/jul/06/greek-referendum-eu-leaders-call-crisis-meeting-as-bailout-rejected-live-updates In another extraordinary development the Greek finance minister has just announced his resignation. In a move likely to spark further concerns about the role of other European leaders in Greece’s internal politics, Varoufakis said he was made aware of a preference by “some European participants” of his absence throughout the continuing negotiations. The post was made on Varoufakis’ blog and there is nothing to suggest it is not authentic. It has also been cross-posted on his Twitter account. Minister No More! Yanis Varoufakis blog Posted on July 6, 2015 by yanisv http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2015/07/06/minister-no-more/#more-8433 The referendum of 5th July will stay in history as a unique moment when a small European nation rose up against debt-bondage. Like all struggles for democratic rights, so too this historic rejection of the Eurogroup’s 25th June ultimatum comes with a large price tag attached. It is, therefore, essential that the great capital bestowed upon our government by the splendid NO vote be invested immediately into a YES to a proper resolution – to an agreement that involves debt restructuring, less austerity, redistribution in favour of the needy, and real reforms. Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners’, for my… ‘absence’ from its meetings; an idea that the Prime Minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement. For this reason I am leaving the Ministry of Finance today. I consider it my duty to help Alexis Tsipras exploit, as he sees fit, the capital that the Greek people granted us through yesterday’s referendum. And I shall wear the creditors’ loathing with pride. We of the Left know how to act collectively with no care for the privileges of office. I shall support fully Prime Minister Tsipras, the new Minister of Finance, and our government. The superhuman effort to honour the brave people of Greece, and the famous OXI (NO) that they granted to democrats the world over, is just beginning. _ 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
[Marxism] LeftWord Books
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Dear Friends, I am writing to introduce you to LeftWord Books, a Marxist and Left publishing house based in New Delhi. LeftWord is not a new press. We began in 1999. We have a considerable backlist, which includes authors such as Aijaz Ahmad, Prabhat Patnaik, Utsa Patnaik, Irfan Habib, Prakash Karat, A. G. Noorani, G. P. Deshpande and others. Our website (mayday.leftword.com) is a premier site for the sale of left and progressive books from India published by LeftWord and by those in our community of independent small presses - such as Tulika, Navayana, Stanza, Aakar and others. I wanted to introduce you to some of our new titles: (1) From India to Palestine: Essays in Solidarity, edited by Githa Hariharan. Electronic Intifada said of this collection, To understand how India shifted from being a bulwark against imperialism to allying itself with western interests, one can gain a great deal of insight from this book. Fascinating. http://mayday.leftword.com/view-book.php?slug=from-india-to-palestineisbn=9789380118208. (2) A. Mangai, Acting Up: Gender and Theatre in India, 1979 Onwards. This is a landmark study of theatre and gender, art and social activism. There is simply no book with its range and depth. http://mayday.leftword.com/view-book.php?slug=acting-upisbn=9789380118055. (3) Vijay Prashad, No Free Left: the Futures of Indian Communism. The Hindu says of this book, Vijay Prashad's commanding knowledge of the material...his passion for the subject and his meticulous research combine to show that for the left,new tomorrows await. http://mayday.leftword.com/view-book.php?slug=no-free-leftisbn=9789380118277. (4) Rosa Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution, with a fine introduction by Brinda Karat. http://mayday.leftword.com/view-book.php?slug=reform-or-revolutionisbn=9789380118246. We, at Leftword, welcome your thoughts and suggestions. Warmly, Vijay Prashad. Chief Editor, LeftWord Books. _ 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
[Marxism] On Tsirpas
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Hi Sheldon, greetings from Down Under and thank you for your comment. Sheldon wrote and there is no proof that Tsipras is some sort of sell-out, your claims notwithstanding. All along, Tzipras' offer of concessions was a bluff. He knew that the Troika would reject them, so he 'offered' them knowing that the Troika's arrogant rejection of them would galvanize the Greek electorate into giving him a majority during the ensuing referendum. Getting a majority was crucial since Syriza itself won less than a majority during its initial election victory. Well I hope you are right Sheldon. My analysis was based on the offer Tsirpas made at the last minute. Mind you I was heavily influenced by the Guardian headline which said Tsirpas climbs down. Also, Galbraith hinted that Tsirpas sidelined Varoufakis and put more concession minded negotiators in charge. If the Troika had accepted his last minute offer, then that would have destroyed him and his party and demoralized the people. A hell of a bluff, I would call that. But maybe you have access to more information than myself. In any case, this is a victory for the people. And that is what we must now concentrate on. comradely Gary _ 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
[Marxism] Drought Sends U.S. Water Agency Back to Drawing Board
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Drought Sends U.S. Water Agency Back to Drawing Board By CORAL DAVENPORT Drew Lessard stood on top of Folsom Dam and gazed at the Sierra Nevada, which in late spring usually gushes enough melting snow into the reservoir to provide water for a million people. But the mountains were bare, and the snowpack to date remains the lowest on measured record. “If there’s no snowpack, there’s no water,” said Mr. Lessard, a regional manager for the Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency that built and operates a vast network of 476 dams, 348 reservoirs and 8,116 miles of aqueducts across the Western United States. For nearly a century, that network has captured water as it flows down from the region’s snowcapped mountains and moves to the farms, cities and suburbs that were built in the desert. But as the snow disappears, experts say the Bureau of Reclamation — created in 1902 by President Theodore Roosevelt to wrest control of water in the arid West — must completely rebuild a 20th-century infrastructure so that it can efficiently conserve and distribute water in a 21st-century warming world. Brown’s Arid California, Thanks Partly to His FatherMAY 16, 2015 “The bureau is headed into a frightening new world, an uncertain new world,” said Jeffrey Mount, an expert on water resource management with the Public Policy Institute of California. For most of the 1900s, the bureau’s system — which grew into the largest wholesale water utility in the country — worked. But the West of the 21st century is not the West of Roosevelt. There are now millions more people who want water, but there is far less of it. The science of climate change shows that in the future, there will be less still. “We have to think differently,” said Michael Connor, the deputy secretary of the Interior Department, which includes the Bureau of Reclamation. “It’s not enough just to conserve water. We need to rethink these projects. We have a lot of infrastructure, but a lot of it doesn’t work very well anymore. We need to undertake what amounts to a giant replumbing project across the West.” Mr. Connor said that in the future, the nation’s water agency would have to put climate change at the center of its mission. President Obama has already started to grapple with that change. Under orders from the White House, the Bureau of Reclamation has begun studies on the impact of global warming on 22 Western water basins and is drawing up multidecade plans to begin rebuilding its Western water management systems. But a new water infrastructure across half of the United States could cost taxpayers billions of dollars — at a moment when Republicans are still focused on cutting taxes and lowering government spending. In Congress, the Republican majority has targeted climate change research as well as federal policies intended to stop climate change. full: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/06/us/california-drought-sends-us-water-agency-back-to-drawing-board.html --- http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/ecology/harvey_oconnor.htm In an essay Is Sustainable Capitalism Possible that appears in a collection Is Capitalism Sustainable edited by Martin O'Connor (no relation), he defines both the first and second contradictions of capitalism. The first contradiction is generated by the tendency for capitalism to expand. The system can not exist in stasis such as precapitalist modes of productions such as feudalism. A capitalist system that is based on what Marx calls simple reproduction and what many greens call maintenance is an impossibility. Unless there is a steady and increasing flow of profits into the system, it will die. Profit is the source of new investment which in turn fuels technological innovation and, consequently, ever-increasing replacement of living labor by machinery. Profit is also generated through layoffs, speedup and other more draconian measures. However, according to O'Connor, as capital's power over labor increases, there will be contradictory tendency for profit in the capitalist system as a whole to decrease. This first contradiction of capital then can be defined as what obtains when individual capitals attempt to defend or restore profits by increasing labor productivity, speeding up work, cutting wages, and using other time-honored ways of getting more production from fewer workers. The unintended result is that the worker's loss in wages reduces the final demand for consumer commodities. This first contradiction of capital is widespread throughout the United States and the other capitalist countries today. No amount of capitalist maneuvering can
