Podemos in Support of Greece

1.- Last Monday, the Greek government presented a proposal to the Eurogroup which included important concessions and was unanimously welcomed by the lenders as being reasonable and viable. In the following days, however, the international creditors led by the IMF did not accept the Greek government’s proposal to tax the wealthiest sectors of society, restructure the debt and launch an investment plan to revive the economy. Instead, they demanded to raise VAT on basic services and food and required further cuts on pensions and wages. In their effort to demonstrate that there is no alternative to austerity, the creditors only seem to accept the money of the poor, and insist on imposing the same logic and measures that led the country into a humanitarian disaster. The Greek economy is asphyxiated. To keep strangling it is the precise opposite of what must be done.

2.- Facing such blackmail and extortion, the Greek government has reacted to the ultimatum in an exemplary manner: by calling on the people to decide their own future in a democratic and sovereign way. Unlike the Spanish governments of 2011 and 2012, the Greek government has refused to violate the popular mandate derived from the January election. All the attempts at coercing, intimidating and influencing this vote by unelected powers, especially by the European Central Bank -which is willing to suffocate the Greek financial system to influence the outcome of the referendum-, constitute a flagrant and unacceptable violation of the democratic principle. We say that Europe without democracy is not Europe: all democrats should join their voices in denouncing these intolerable interferences and pressures. Democracy is incompatible with letting unelected powers govern and decide for us. It is democracy what is at stake.

3- With their intransigence, the creditors have demonstrated that they have no interest at all in solving the Greek debt crisis; their aim is rather to subject and overthrow a democratically elected government so as to prove that there is no alternative to the politics of austerity. Their blindness is such that they are willing to put at risk the integrity and the stability of the financial system and the European project itself, exposing them to speculative attacks whose price will ultimately be paid also by the citizens of other countries. We will say it once and again: they will be the ones to blame, they will be responsible for the consequences of this disaster.

4- Syriza did not create the tremendous economic crisis that affects Greece. It was the governments of New Democracy and PASOK, the friends of our PP and PSOE, who falsified data and accounts, surrendered the sovereignty of the country to the Troika, and handed Syriza an economic and social catastrophe that is necessary and urgent to reverse.

5.- Many international actors have already distanced themselves from the dogmatism of the creditors. Hundreds of thousands of people across the world have expressed their solidarity with the Greek people in their defense of the democratic principle. We demand that the Spanish Government and the European institutions respect the sovereignty and dignity of the Greek people, and that they consequently guarantee that the referendum takes place in conditions of freedom and complete normality. The democratic will and the fundamental rights of the Greek people, which have been systematically attacked during the long years of austerity, must be respected.

There are two contradictory fields in Europe: austerity and democracy, the government of the people or the government of the market and its unelected powers. We stand firm on the side of democracy. We stand firm with the Greek people.

Leading Intellectuals In Support of Greece

Over the past five years, the EU and the IMF have imposed unprecedented austerity on Greece. It has failed badly. The economy has shrunk by 26%, unemployment has risen to 27%, youth unemployment to 60% and, the debt-to-GDP ratio jumped from 120% to 180%. The economic catastrophe has led to a humanitarian crisis, with more than 3 million people on or below the poverty line.

Against this background, the Greek people elected the Syriza-led government on 25 January with a clear mandate to put an end to austerity. In the ensuing negotiations, the government made it clear that the future of Greece is in the Eurozone and the EU. The lenders, however, insisted on the continuation of their failed recipe, refused to discuss a write down of the debt – which the IMF is on record as considering unviable – and finally, on 26 June, issued an ultimatum to Greece by means of a non-negotiable package that would entrench austerity. This was followed by a suspension of liquidity to the Greek banks and the imposition of capital controls.

In this situation, the government has asked the Greek people to decide the future of the country in a referendum to be held next Sunday. We believe that this ultimatum to the Greek people and democracy should be rejected. The Greek referendum gives the European Union a chance to restate its commitment to the values of the enlightenment – equality, justice, solidarity – and to the principles of democracy on which its legitimacy rests. The place where democracy was born gives Europe the opportunity to recommit to its ideals in the 21st century.

Etienne Balibar

Costas Douzinas

Barbara Spinelli

Rowan Williams

Immanuel Wallerstein

Slavoj Zizek

Michael Mansfield

Judith Butler

Chantal Mouffe

Homi Bhabha

Wendy Brown

Eric Fassin

Tariq Ali

Originally published in the Guardian.

A view from Athens: why I believe there will be no exit for Greece

While queueing at a cash point after hardly any sleep amid last night's drama, the Athens-based teacher Evel Economakis still believes his country will hang on in the eurozone.

http://www.newstatesman.com/economics/2015/06/view-athens-why-i-believe-there-will-be-no-exit-greece

This has never happened to me before. On Friday, I expressed in an article my confusion and amazement at all the speculation – and panic – concerning Greece’s imminent exit from Europe and the eurozone. I argued this would not happen for good and sufficient reasons that benefit both sides in the five-month-long negotiations that have been going on between Alexis Tsipras’ Syriza party and the EU, ECB and IMF. Then, short hours later, at half past midnight on Saturday morning, the announcement hit the news that the government has called a plebiscite for next Sunday, 5 June.

Ever since, my friends here in Greece have been kidding me about how off the mark I was in my appraisal of Syriza. They said the referendum is proof Syriza is not play-acting with the other side(s) in Brussels, Berlin, and New York, and that it will not sign off on a tough austerity package that condemns the country to harsh austerity and poverty for the next 20 years. 

“See,” said my friend Yannis, a pro-Syriza journalist who’s been unemployed for three years, “no one’s sold out – Tsipras is going to the people and his government won’t cross any of the red lines it set for itself.”

Yet are things so simple? I remain convinced that Syriza will sell out. I must confess though that some doubt did cross my mind when images appeared on TV, images instagrammed by foreign correspondents in Athens of people lining up at ATMs at three in the morning to withdraw euros. Perhaps the “catastrophe” was finally upon us?

I went to bed at 4am and woke up at 9am. With my ten-year-old son in tow, I drove off in search of an ATM, and we only found one that still had cash after visiting eight. We stood in line behind an elderly man. When he’d completed the transaction, he showed me his receipt. There were €13 left in his account.

Most of Sunday, the TV channels showed the debates in the Vouli, or Parliament. Deputies from the centre-right New Democracy party waxed indignant about Syriza’s decision to hold a plebiscite. This was irresponsible brinksmanship, they contended, suggesting in no uncertain terms that Greece’s exit from the EU and eurozone was Syriza’s policy all along since 25 January, when this “radical” (some said “Bolshevik”!) party of 4 per cent managed to capture 36 per cent of the vote and was propelled to power.

Others, like the former centre-left Pasok (Panhellenic Socialist Movement) leader Evangelos Venizelos, condemned the “anti-constitutional” nature of the referendum decision, going so far as to call it a “putsch”. His argument was multi-faceted:

a) the decision was taken “clandestinely” in the wee hours of the morning; b) the EU, ECB, and IMF were never informed, and learned the news from the media; c) the Greek people will have just five days' “preparation” to make a decision that will affect generations to come; d) because of its “weakness”, “inexperience”, “lack of guts” and unwillingness to admit failure, Tsipras’ government was irresponsibly passing the buck to the Greek people; and e) the referendum question is “unclear” and “cowardly” as it focuses only on the deal put on the table on Friday by the institutions, rather than boldly asking the nation to decide whether or not to remain in Europe, with all the attendant consequences.

Anti-Syriza deputies also pointed to the hypocrisy of a plebiscite that asks people what they think of the so-called foreigners’ new austerity proposal, when just a few days ago Syriza itself tabled a proposal for €8bn in austerity measures that surpassed in harshness all previous proposals by the Pasok and “bourgeois” New Democracy governments.

Interestingly, both the Communist Party and the fascist Golden Dawn insisted the referendum question be phrased so that voters have the opportunity to reject both the proposal of the Troika and that of Syriza. That is highly unlikely to happen.

 By contrast, the Syriza-Anel coalition (Anel: Independent Greeks, Syriza’s junior partner in government, a right-wing and anti-Europe party led by Panos Kamenos), which together have a comfortable majority in Parliament, responded with arrogance and indignation.

They pointed out that the negotiations have been going on for a full five months now; that the Greek people have had enough; that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with asking the people their opinion. Alexis Tsipras committed himself to obey the outcome of the referendum, whatever this may be. And, finally, quite a few Syriza-Anel politicians made patriotic speeches likening the coming decision to Greece’s historic “no” to Mussolini’s ultimatum in 1940.

So what will happen? To be sure, we are dealing with human beings, supremely unpredictable animals, and no possibilities may be excluded with mathematical certainty. Still, I strongly believe that in the end a deal will be signed.  Greece will remain in Europe and the eurozone, and its government will agree to a raft of austerity measures. In other words, what we are witnessing is a continuation of the theatre, the play-acting on both sides.

The referendum decision was taken by Tsipras in order to keep Syriza united and himself in power. It has only added drama to a poorly performed play. Does anyone honestly believe that the European Union will be torn apart over little Greece? This may eventually happen, but not before major players like Britain or France ask for a divorce from the EU.

Is it reasonable to expect that agreement will not be found because the creditors and their Greek debtors cannot agree on how much VAT to impose on macaroni and other foodstuffs? Or how much to tax businesses on the beautiful Greek islands, especially elite tourist magnets? The stakes, after all, are very high. North American and northern European banks stand to lose a hell of a lot of money. 

Besides, polls taken show that around 60 per cent of respondents want the government to come to an agreement with the creditors – regardless of how tough these may be – and remain in the European Union and eurozone.

Let us not fool ourselves. The lenders will continue to play hardball. The Eurogroup meeting of finance ministers convened in Brussels without the presence of their Greek counterpart, Yanis Varoufakis. This has been criticised by Syriza as a flagrant violation of EU regulations. Who ever heard of not allowing one of the EU’s 18 finance ministers to participate in a Eurogroup meeting?

Worse, the lenders rejected Varoufakis’ request for a one-month “bridge loan”. This clearly raises the prospect that after 30 June the country will receive no more injections of cash. If that were to happen, the 5 July referendum will be held in conditions when all banks will be closed for lack of funds.

So what are the likely scenarios? The institutions could remove their tough proposal and come forward with a slightly milder one before Tuesday – one Athens will accept. Or they will keep their present proposal and wait for Greece, bloodied but proud in a resounding “No” referendum vote, to table a milder proposal before Tuesday – one Berlin, Brussels, and New York will accept. Either of the above possibilities will occur, but some time after 30 June. 

Or, finally, Greece – with all financial stopcocks closed – will be forced to issue its own coin, the drachma, and thus effectively withdraw from the eurozone.

One thing seems certain. No one can kick Greece out of the European Union and eurozone. A Grexit can only happen if Syriza desires it, which it certainly does not. Neither does the Troika. That is why the title of this article is meant both literally and – much worse – figuratively. At least not unless the icebergs begin to crack and break elsewhere, and crises break out in France, Italy, Britain, or any other combination of important EU players.