A TURNING POINT IN HISTORY?

JANUARY 25, 2015

A TURNING POINT IN HISTORY?

DEMOCRACY WAS BORN IN GREECE.

WILL IT BE REBORN IN OUR TIME

AS THE GREEK PEOPLE REBEL AGAINST

THE RULE OF A MALEVOLENT PLUTOCRACY?

Is welfare for the rich and austerity for the poor really a solution to our world economic problems. A lot of "experts" say yes. Establishment "liberals" like Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama say yes (while spewing out a lot of "populist" rhetoric to paper over what is happening). Sadly, the Social Democrats in Germany joined in "grand coalition" with Europe's leading advocate of plutocratic policies, Angela Merkel.

A HISTORIC WIN FOR THE LEFT WING PARTY SYRIZA IN 2015

On January 25th, 2015, Greece reached a historic turning point when Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the radical left party SYRIZA, was voted into office as the new Prime Minister. After five years of harsh spending cuts, humiliation, suffering and poverty, the people of Greece said enough is enough. SYRIZA won 149 out of 300 seats at the Hellenic Parliament. This represents a historic win for SYRIZA, since this is their first legislative election win ever. The growth of SYRIZA's popularity is incredible considering that in 2009 they received only 5% of the vote. The Greek people have spoken, they are tired of crisis and are ready for change.

GREEKS VOTE NO TO MORE FAKE AUSTERITY ON JULY 5TH, 2015

On June 5th, 2015, The Greek people voted with a resounding "no" against the bailout offered by the Troika Creditors. Documents leaked from the IMF days before hand revealed that the austerity conditions of the bailout offered would do little to nothing to solve the crisis in Greece. Even in the most optimistic scenario, Greece would still have an unsustainable debt by 2030. So the Greek people voted in a whopping 61% vote against the referendum offered. Alex Tsipras had urged the people to vote no, yet other European officials and Greek opposition parties have warned that a rejection of the creditor proposals in Sunday's popular vote could lead Greece out of the euro zone and potentially out of the European Union itself. The Greek government has replied that this is a scare tactic.

Both a yes and no vote had their own risks. But now that the people have voted no, it will be very important for the EU to come up with a more reasonable deal, and to do it soon. If the problem in Greece doesn't get solved, it could soon become a global financial problem. What is needed is a major program of debt forgiveness and restructuring. Not more fake austerity measures.

To clarify, what the EU is offering Greece is not even real "austerity" to begin with. It's a series of harsh measures for the public and bailouts for the rich.

BANKS GET CHARITY, GREEK PEOPLE GET "AUSTERITY"

When the beginnings of the Greek Financial crisis began back in 2009, it could have been solved quickly if other EU governments bailed them out. But this did not happen, so the crisis got worse and the Greek bond market collapsed.

For any country that is part of the EU, there is an informal agreement that if one country goes under, the other EU countries will band together to bail that country out. Yet that is not what happened in Greece. As Tsipras stated at a forum in Columbia University, Greece became the guinea pig for "barbaric, violent neoliberal policies." If Germany had initially given Greece the money they needed to recover, the crisis would be over by now. Yet instead, the Greek people were subjected to a series of harsh spending cuts that their creditors like to call "austerity."

GERMANY'S HYPOCRISY

There is complete hypocrisy surrounding this situation when it comes to Germany and Angela Merkel's handling of the Greek crisis. Back in 1953 Germany was having their own debt crisis - very similar to Greece actually. Germany was highly in debt, had no access to capital, and were viewed with suspicion by their creditors. Yet half of their debt was canceled. There is no doubt that this event is what helped jump start Germany's "economic miracle" 60 years ago. Post war growth doubled in the new Federal Republic between 1953-1963. It was only with the London Debt Agreement of 1953 that the German economy was given room to breathe again, says historian Ursula Rombeck-Jaschinski of Stuttgart University:

"One could even argue that the economic miracle would have been impossible without the debt agreement."

Yet Merkel has decided to ignore this piece of German history and instead deliver tough medicine to the people of Greece.

In terms of history - Alexis Tsipras has also stated recently that Greece has a right to ask Germany for reparations in repayment for Nazi Germany's four year occupation of Greece during World War II. During this time Germany forced a war-time loan from Greece that saddled the country with a huge debt. The Greeks were powerless to prevent the Third Reich from extracting an interest-free 476 million Reichsmarks loan from the Greek central bank, which devastated the Greek economy.

Tsipras, leader of the anti-austerity Syriza party has said that Athens had a “historical obligation” to claim from Germany billions of euros in reparations for the physical and financial destruction committed during Nazi Germany’s occupation of Greece. Tsipras claims Germany owes Greece around €162 billion ($183 billion) - about half the country's debt load, which is estimated at over €315 billion.

However Berlin has vehemently refused to consider the payment of any reparations, saying that the question has lost all legitimacy 70 years after the war.

GREECE IS NOW ON THE FRONTLINE OF EUROPE'S DEBT CRISIS

Greece has been forced to adopt excruciating reforms and spending cuts in return for rescue packages sponsored by the EU and International Monetary Fund. The Greek economy was delivered shock therapy via wage reductions (bringing wages back to the 1970's) and the Greek unemployment rate is now the highest in the European Union at around 27%, not to mention that youth unemployment is around 50%. Amidst the economic crisis, Greece is experiencing social unrest unseen since the end of the second world war. Much of this social unrest is highlighted by a massive shrinkage of the middle class, a drastic rise in poverty and a political crisis undercut by profound public distrust of the government (public distrust of the government is at 90% truth-out).

There have been many violent riots and protests on the streets of Athens. Back in 2012 for example there was riot that spread to the city of Thessaloniki in which 150 shops were looted and 93 buildings were set ablaze. The Attikon cinema, housed in a neo-classical building dating from 1870, was left a blackened shell. This is just a sample of the public anger that has been brewing over the last six years since the crisis began.

Much of this anger has also been misdirected against foreigners and other minorities. There has also been a sharp rise in the neo nazi activity and violent crimes committed against foreigners. Some immigrants are afraid to walk the streets alone for fear of getting stabbed or beaten to a bloody pulp. Many homosexuals and religious minorities have also been the targets of violent attacks.

This is not to mention the incredible crisis of hunger. In the New York Times, an elementary school teacher Leonidas Nikas describes seeing children picking through school trash cans for food on a normal basis. In 2012, 10% of Greek elementary and middle school students suffered from what public health professionals call “food insecurity,” meaning they faced hunger or the risk of it, said Dr. Athena Linos, a professor at the University of Athens Medical School who also heads a food assistance program at Prolepsis, a nongovernmental public health group that has studied the situation. “When it comes to food insecurity, Greece has now fallen to the level of some African countries,” she said. But it's not only children who are dumpster diving, even teachers and doctors have been seen eating out of trash cans.

In addition to starvation, there are also thousands who have lost their homes. A shocking 20,000 Athenians relied on the Athens Homeless Shelter (KYADA) in 2013 (Greek Reporter).

In short, Greece is in chaos. Greece embraced the euro expecting more economic security and stability and instead they got turned into a third world country.

TSIPRAS SAYS "NO MORE" TO FAKE AUSTERITY, PLANS TO TAKE COUNTRY IN A NEW DIRECTION. THE PEOPLE AGREE

Yet amidst all this suffering, poverty, and chaos caused by draconian economic measures , Tsipras has noted that there is an annual uncollected tax revenue in Greece of 86%. In short, if the rich paid their taxes, much of Greece's financial problems could be solved. While the majority suffer, the rich have been getting a free pass.

But this is not going to last. On the Saturday, a few days before his January victory, Tsipras promised to put an end to this suffering imposed by international creditors. He stated the following to the thousands of his cheering supporters in Athens: "Greece leaves behinds catastrophic austerity, it leaves behind fear and authoritarianism, it leaves behind five years of humiliation and anguish." European leaders are going to have to negotiate a hard bargain with Tsipras as he renegotiates the country's astounding debt - which could raise a major conflict with euro zone partners. Tsipras said on Sunday he would cooperate with fellow euro zone leaders for "a fair and mutually beneficial solution" but said the Greek people would come first.

WHAT IS SYRIZA?

What is this left wing party that Tsipras represents? SYRIZA is highly democratic coalition of euro-communist, ecologist and socialist parties unified into a single organization. The political party has a 40 point platform that focuses on auditing the public debt, raising income taxes, increasing taxes on big companies, raising minimum wage, offering health benefits to the unemployed, the nationalization of banks and a preference for renewable energy policies that protect the environment. SYRIZA will ask for a substantial haircut of the public debt to attempt to bring it to a somewhat reasonable level. Debt levels are currently at 175% of the GDP.

THE IMPLICATIONS OF SYRIZA'S VICTORY FOR EUROPE AND THE REST OF THE WORLD

THE BEGINNING OF A SLAVE REVOLT AGAINST THE PLUTOCRATS

The so called "austerity" policies, which are really just spending cuts for the poor and bailouts for the rich, have been a failure in Europe. The neoliberal management of the economic crisis in Europe from 2008-2014 has resulted in record levels of unemployment and public debt. Many Europeans are ready for a radical political alternative. Does the current activity in Greece pose a portent of the political future for the rest of Europe - and perhaps the rest of the world?

Tsipras could become the modern Martin Luther of Europe. By declaring a populist alternative to current politics that favor the rich, he has in a manner of speaking nailed his thesis to the halls of the corrupt institution of neoliberal economics, an institution that provides indulgences for wealthy banks, while the poor are ordered to pay penance for the sins of the elite. While we don't agree with everything Martin Luther did (because he did some downright awful things), he is an important historical figure because he is one man who forever changed the future of Europe by simply having the courage to speak out against injustice. Just as Martin Luther was able to fracture the stronghold of the Catholic Church over Western Europe, so too may this new reformer Alexis Tsipras begin to put a dent in the religion of neoliberal economics.

Is Alex Tsipras a fresh new face on the political horizon? The radical left, party of Podemos in Spain has stated they hope to emulate the recent success of SYRIZA. Perhaps this will become a trend in Europe. Perhaps this is the start of a global slave revolt against the Plutocrats.

Read the links below to learn more information about the man leading the Radical Left Syriza party in Greece as well as its key policies.