July 5:
Day of Reckoning in Greece
The ancient
Athenians invented the concept and the word “Democracy.” Though citizenship was
much more limited than modern conceptions – women, slaves and foreign residents
were excluded – for more than a century a system flourished in which ordinary
people exercised a direct and decisive control of public policy that has never
been equaled since. Most public offices were chosen by lottery and
legal cases were decided by large randomly-chosen juries with secret ballot
verdicts. Of course, this system was not immune from terrible mistakes, as the
ancient historian Thucydides documented and the execution of Socrates
illustrate. Popular sovereignty was regarded as so dangerous by America’s
founding politicians that they chose to model our “Republic” more on Rome’s
elite-guided system than on the democracy of Athens.
This Sunday, Greeks
will vote in a referendum that is as much about national sovereignty and
democracy as it is about economic policy.
Maybe not much of a
practical solution, but a showing or moral support. . .
DPPer Rosemary
Keane writes:
Here is info about
the 'Greek Bailout Fund' on Indiegogo- do you think some DPP folks might be
interested in making a donation or just in knowing about it via the update?
Take a moment to check it out on Indiegogo and also share it with your friends.
All the tools are there. Get perks, make a contribution, or simply follow
updates. If enough of us get behind it, we can make 'Greek Bailout Fund' happen!
The form is set up using Euros but it converts to dollars at the end. The
exchange from Euros to dollars means 50 Euros is about $56.00 http://igg.me/p/greek-bailout-fund/emal/800369=
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“July
5, 2015: Let’s Vote NO for Democracy and Dignity” (In 1940, Greek
general/strongman Ioannis Metaxas famously answered
with one-word
–
OKHI
(NO!)
–
to
a demand from Italian Fascist Benito Mussolini for territorial concessions and
loss of Greek sovereingty.)
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GREEK
FINANCE MINISTER: “Why we recommend a NO in the referendum”
The
future demands a proud Greece within the Eurozone and at the heart of Europe.
This future demands that Greeks say a big NO on Sunday, that we stay in the Euro
Area, and that, with the power vested upon us by that NO, we renegotiate
Greece’s public debt as well as the distribution of burdens between the haves
and the have nots. More
JOSEPH
STIGLITZ: Europe's Attack on Greek Democracy
The
rising crescendo of bickering and acrimony within Europe might seem to outsiders
to be the inevitable result of the bitter endgame playing out between Greece and
its creditors. In fact, European leaders are finally beginning to reveal the
true nature of the ongoing debt dispute, and the answer is not pleasant: it is
about power and democracy much more than money and economics… It’s about using
“deadlines” to force Greece to knuckle under, and to accept the unacceptable –
not only austerity measures, but other regressive and punitive policies… Many
European leaders want to see the end of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s leftist
government. After all, it is extremely inconvenient to have in Greece a
government that is so opposed to the types of policies that have done so much to
increase inequality in so many advanced countries, and that is so committed to
curbing the unbridled power of wealth. More
Alexis
Tsipras’s Enemies in Europe See Their Chance in Vote on Greece’s Bailout
Terms
By
long-established diplomatic tradition, leaders and international institutions do
not meddle in the domestic politics of other countries. But under cover of a
referendum in which the rest of Europe has a clear stake, European leaders who
have found Mr. Tsipras difficult to deal with have been clear about the outcome
they prefer. Many are openly opposing him on the referendum, which could very
possibly make way for a new government and a new approach to finding a
compromise. The situation in Greece, analysts said, is not the first time that
European politics have crossed borders, but it is the most open instance and the
one with the greatest potential effect so far on European unity… Martin Schulz,
a German who is president of the European Parliament, offered at one point to
travel to Greece to campaign for the “yes” forces, those in favor of taking a
deal along the lines offered by the creditors.On Thursday, Mr. Schulz was on
television making clear that he had little regard for Mr. Tsipras and his
government. “We will help the Greek people but most certainly not the
government,” he said. More
Syriza
can’t just cave in. Europe’s elites want regime change in Greece
There’s
no suggestion of genuine compromise. The aim is apparently to humiliate Tsipras
and his government in preparation for its early replacement with a more pliable
administration. We know from the IMF documents prepared for last week’s “final
proposals” and reported in the Guardian that the creditors were fully aware
they meant unsustainable levels of debt and self-defeating austerity for Greece
until at least 2030, even on the most fancifully optimistic scenario. That’s
because, just as the earlier bailouts went to the banks not the country, and troika-imposed
austerity has brought penury and a debt explosion, these demands are really
about power, not money. If they are successful in forcing Tsipras out of office,
a slightly less destructive package could then be offered to a more
house-trained Greek leader who replaced him… The worst outcome of this crisis
would be for Syriza to implement the austerity it was elected to end. A yes vote
in next weekend’s referendum, if it goes ahead, would probably
lead to the government’s fall, and almost certainly new elections. But even a no
vote, which would offer the best chance for Greece, would need to be followed by
more radical measures if the government was going to strengthen its negotiating
hand or prepare the ground for euro exit.
More
Greece:
Only the 'No' Can Save the Euro
For
the North Europeans, the professionals at the “institutions” set the terms, and
there is only one possible outcome: to conform. The allowed negotiation was of
one type only: more concessions by the Greek side. Any delay, any objection,
could be seen only as posturing. Posturing is normal of course; politicians
expect it. But to his fellow finance ministers the idea that the Greek Finance
Minister Yanis Varoufakis was not posturing did not occur. When Varoufakis would
not stop, their response was loathing and character assassination… Ultimately,
the Greek government found that it had to bow to the creditors' demands for a
large and permanent primary surplus target. This was a hard blow; it meant
accepting the austerity that the government had been elected to reject. But the
Greeks did insist on the right to determine the form of austerity, and that form
would be mainly to raise taxes on the wealthiest Greeks and on business profits.
At least the proposal protected Greece's poorest pensioners from further
devastating cuts, and it did not surrender on fundamental labor rights. The
creditors rejected even this. They insisted on austerity and also on dictating
its precise shape. In this they made clear that they would not treat Greece as
they have any other European country. The creditors tabled a take-it-or-leave-it
offer that they knew Tsipras could not accept. More
KRUGMAN:
Europe's Many Economic Disasters
Why
are there so many economic disasters in Europe? Actually, what’s striking at
this point is how much the origin stories of European crises differ. Yes, the
Greek government borrowed too much. But the Spanish government didn’t — Spain’s
story is all about private lending and a housing bubble. And Finland’s story
doesn’t involve debt at all. It is, instead, about weak demand for forest
products, still a major national export, and the stumbles of Finnish
manufacturing, in particular of its erstwhile national champion
Nokia.
What
all of these economies have in common, however, is that by joining the eurozone
they put themselves into an economic straitjacket… One of the great risks if the
Greek public votes yes — that is, votes to accept the demands of the creditors,
and hence repudiates the Greek government’s position and probably brings the
government down — is that it will empower and encourage the architects of
European failure. The creditors will have demonstrated their strength, their
ability to humiliate anyone who challenges demands for austerity without end.
And they will continue to claim that imposing mass unemployment is the only
responsible course of action. More
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