On Mon, Jun 29, 2015 at 9:02 PM, peter waterman <[email protected] > wrote:
> The announcement struck like a bombshell. > > Tsipras’ spectacular decision late on Friday to fly back to Athens and > put the Eurogroup’s final bailout offer to a referendum — with the > government advising voters to reject the deal — has stunned friends and > foes alike. > > Now, with depositors lining up at ATMs to withdraw cash, the Eurogroup > refusing to extend the current bailout program, the ECB capping its > emergency liquidity assistance for Greek banks, and Greece set to miss a > €1.5 billion IMF payment on Tuesday, the long-awaited endgame is finally > upon us. After five long and exhausting years, the euro crisis has exploded > into its dramatic climax. > > Those who now lambast the Greek government for its supposed “recklessness” > in calling the referendum are profoundly mistaken. Yes, as I have argued > many times before, Tsipras’ and Varoufakis’ belief that they could somehow > extract an “honorable compromise” from the creditors was always extremely > naive. But in the end it was the creditors’ utter contempt for democracy > that pushed Tsipras with his back against the wall, forcing him to sign up > to an agreement that they *knew* would split his ruling party and > government. > > Deliberately tabling one outrageous proposal after another, the creditors’ > intention was clear from the very start: they were never even remotely > interested in any positive “deal”; the only thing they would settle for was > Syriza’s complete and total surrender — ideally followed by technocratic > regime change inside Greece. Paul Krugman was therefore entirely right when he > referred > <http://send.zcomm.org/wf/click?upn=9PHos1J7-2FD2Lw6jereECeNLGs3ocss1O2kcgD4VkZGzNB08H5a0-2F7oLbRs6XGH5XMznf-2Bp5RNoDiodwPt5x0Edvk0LVe1OHm-2B2GiZWtI3DD0cmKfhkH5PtmYp5gGWkiuCq7yJl-2BcH0uL-2BX6dUP7l57kJxR-2B1eo6rGw5yBjljQ0zAEMVoiHJbutrF8VziMJToT-2BW6gnrw5PvGIpBI-2BBeSUM9WjP4pJDwfM6fIoqDeeiPCIsFU2hT2vYuMQ48H-2BekZFqL89bSBoSPqvC90Dy6kFkp9OsY43cydeP-2FiS5OsEVrWvuDREwalngR5dv0Z7dBa_N4B-2Bv1F4-2F1jAyC0cyQWlK1j-2FodWP3k-2B9nh5nJdNMXaIBZzrBReTekjskMOl-2Fj3aUolKUllL6Pc3sfwFZuH1HLXqauTPdzEVEl82tIzGnthpiDCnvSZhZlGoM-2B5DTlg8CnHA0oLcWXuHkLn4YY7H2NY84-2F-2BJPKsLvERUHxHxgmZIYFQYQVrnPRZJBZX6CsXEGu1icps33RWt31K8ZUmczLw-3D-3D> > to the creditors’ ultimatum as “an act of monstrous folly.” > > Backed into a corner by the virulent moves of the Eurogroup and the IMF, > Tsipras responded in the only sensible way: he rejected the absurd proposal > that the creditors had put on the table, took the decision to his people, > and advised them to vote against the creditors’ disastrous ultimatum. What > is surprising is not that he made this move *per se* — but that it took > him so long to do it. > > For five months, the creditors suffocated Greece, depriving it of all > liquidity in a brazen attempt to force Tsipras to sign up to humiliating > concessions that would have condemned the Greeks to years — if not decades > — of extreme austerity. For five months, they doubled down on their > cynicism and steadfastly refused to make even the most minimal concessions. > For five months, they publicly belittled and degraded the > democratically-elected representatives of millions of Greeks who had > already suffered untold hardship. > > If Tsipras had signed up to this unacceptable deal, it would not only have > meant political suicide for him and his party; it would also have spelt an > unmitigated disaster for the Greek people — not to mention the lasting > damage it would have inflicted upon the political prospects of the European > Left more generally. If there’s anything reckless about Tsipras’ approach, > it’s that he even let the creditors get this far to begin with. > > It was high time for the Big No — the resounding *OXI!* > > For *five years*, European leaders and Greek elites sacrificed this > beautiful country and its exceptional people at the altar of the financial > markets to save a handful of reckless speculators inside the European banks > and to convince international investors that the monetary union was > irreversible. For* five years*, they punished the Greeks for a > deep-rooted structural crisis they had no part in creating. For *five > years*, they kicked the can down the road, hoping that the fundamental > contradictions of financialized capitalism and the European monetary union > would somehow magically disappear if only the inevitable moment of > reckoning could be indefinitely pushed into the future. > > This approach has now been exposed as a catastrophic but utterly > predictable failure. Doubling down on their extreme positions with the > malicious intent of forcing the Greeks into a self-defeating deal or > disorderly exit, it was the creditors themselves who brought the Eurozone > to the brink. Of course they will boast that Greece has long since been > “ring-fenced” and that the fallout of a Greek default can now be contained, > but investors will draw their own conclusions when they see a full-fledged > member of the Eurozone descending into chaos. It is no surprise that the > euro is already tanking in the Asian markets. > > The gravest irony is that, all this time, there was a very straightforward > and socially acceptable way out of the deadlock. The sensible solution > would have been to write off a significant chunk of Greece’s debt. But, as > even the IMF has since officially admitted > <http://send.zcomm.org/wf/click?upn=9PHos1J7-2FD2Lw6jereECeNLGs3ocss1O2kcgD4VkZGzNB08H5a0-2F7oLbRs6XGH5XMznf-2Bp5RNoDiodwPt5x0Edvk0LVe1OHm-2B2GiZWtI3DD0cmKfhkH5PtmYp5gGWkiuCq7yJl-2BcH0uL-2BX6dUP7l5xW-2B1umjhEZz7x9MT8U89-2BPRjU68d-2BsvKkkSPqHt8jWxjRvDMziEOP9xrKiPu1UUJTTAahBOyKsi-2BQp6p4XWldAtzPfYztLnPiLRMzQLfi0-2Bnv9js21A7HM7TzCknWhuQg-3D-3D_N4B-2Bv1F4-2F1jAyC0cyQWlK1j-2FodWP3k-2B9nh5nJdNMXaIBZzrBReTekjskMOl-2Fj3aUysKMQxDKUam0Gx-2Ba3x1UZkceRAr7zvUpCOm0TTYj-2B1zKxhdzuCNrT-2FHCE79A-2B2ov7UTReCYhkZGx-2B8vMq0A7oY9-2FeLSXgumyCe911xhMCsuIDm9R1hQgFJkotykPpngkvy69-2F19U-2FX-2FweKl0UuKHUg-3D-3D>, > this option was politically unpalatable to Greece’s “partners” from the > very start. In the early years, the Europeans feared that a debt write-down > would lead to the collapse of some of their biggest private banks. Now that > Greece’s debt has effectively been socialized, these same European leaders > fear an electoral backlash from their Euroskeptical taxpayers, who now > stand to bear the brunt of the impending Greek default. > > In other words, it was the very intransigence of the creditors, the utter > unwillingness to tell their own voters the truth about the Greek bailout > and their stubborn refusal to even *contemplate* a sustainable and > socially just resolution of the crisis, that led us to this dramatic > apotheosis. > > Greece and Europe now find themselves on the eve of a rancorous rupture. > At the start of a week that will undoubtedly go down in history as a > make-it-or-break-it moment for Europe’s ill-fated neoliberal project, the > skies over Greece are already darkening. A full-fledged bank run over the > weekend forced the government to keep the banks closed on Monday and to > impose an ATM withdrawal limit of 60 euros per day. The knock-on effects on > the economy and society will make it very difficult for the Greeks to vote > in peace. > > In this respect, the creditors’ intentions are once again crystal clear: > shocked and outraged by Tsipras’ unexpected move, they will do everything > within their power to obstruct the democratic process and influence the > outcome of the vote. Their goal won’t even be to keep Greece inside the > Eurozone anymore; their number one priority right now is simply to prevent > Syriza from being able to publicly claim a victory — for that would risk > emboldening other anti-austerity forces across the continent, most > significantly Podemos in Spain. They would rather see Greece go down in > flames than cut Syriza some slack. > > This is why the Eurogroup refused to extend Greece’s current bailout > program, not even for a few days: they *knew* the ECB would not be able > to maintain its emergency support of the Greek banks without such a > program, and they *knew* that without this support the Greek banks would > not be able to open on Monday. This, in turn, would force the Greeks to > vote under conditions of extreme financial uncertainty, emboldening the > terror-campaign of the neoliberal opposition and possibly skewing the vote > in favor of a fear-induced yes. > > Meanwhile, the unelected wing of the Troika technocracy has taken the > trolling to a whole new level. IMF chief Christine Lagarde argued that, > since the creditor offer expires on Tuesday, Tsipras is technically > asking his people to vote on a deal that no longer exists anyway. European > Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker added on to this by releasing a *new* > proposal that was supposedly in the works before the Greeks “unilaterally” > walked out of the negotiations. Both moves are clear attempts to > destabilize popular expectations ahead of the vote and confuse the > electorate about the clarity, legality and historic significance of the > choice that now lies ahead of them. > > Make no mistake: Sunday’s referendum will mark a defining moment in > Greece’s modern history and a decisive turn for Europe’s neoliberal > project. The choice is very clear. Five years after the people of Greece > first rose up against the anti-democratic imposition of the Troika’s > austerity measures, they have finally been given the chance to decide upon > their own destiny: either they will vote yes to a lifetime of austerity > within the eurozone, or they will roar back at the creditors’ inhumane > demands with a proud and resounding “NO!” — thereby opening the way for a > thousand yeses to a new, democratic and socially just Europe, freed from > the shackles of debt servitude, the noose of a deflationary single > currency, and the tyranny of an unaccountable financial technocracy. > brilliant, thank you so much for forwarding this Peter! -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/
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