Alexis Tsipras: The Bell Tolls for Europe
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Jack Delano Brockton, Mass., Enterprise newspaper office on Christmas Eve 1940 This is a letter From Greek PM Alexis Tsipras in today’s Le Monde. I ha
[See the full post at: Alexis Tsipras: The Bell Tolls for Europe]In 1959, our family was privileged to a three month summer tour of Europe. The Rome Treaty was about a year old then. Being 16 years, the curiosity was about everything and everybody; as all who can attest or still attest in the main of experiencing that age, there is a propensity to have more answers than one has had time to discover questions for. Those who I encountered had in general some reticence as to the viability of the Treaty, being a road they had never traveled before, caution held the day. With the unfolding of the modern version of Greek tragedy, indeed that caution was well conceived.
The wounds of war were then fresh and suppurative, the fine words and ideals of the Treaty were well enough, actions were then still a matter in the future. That Camelot age has given way to the new ideology, the high religion of the neoliberal thought collective (read: P. Mirowski, “Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste”; as well as; C. Rubin, “The Reactionary Mind”) who have insinuated their beliefs into the operation of the original institutions devised to accomplish the socio-politico-economic juncture of sovereign states. Few if any so-called neoliberal programs or policies have ever been put to public referendum or even been exposed to public discussion or scrutiny in any meaningful way; but the control of the troika enforcing austerity upon the greater population of the EMU is firmly held in their grasp and shall not be relinquished until wage enslavement is firmly established throughout that block and those peripherally associated to it. Neoliberal theology does not self-correct, it denies error. Doing so, it cannot but fail. That is the future of the EU, unless fundamental changes are not immediately made. May you live in interesting times – indeed they are so.Does anyone, other than Tsipras, even believe that the first strategy exists?
Kumbaya Oh Lord, KumbayaThe first strategy was the model on the sales floor.
It went out the door first, but the ad is still running.
It is good to hold up the advertisement in public and say, “I want this one you advertised”.
Actually, Varoufakis is the right guy to help the EU thorough massive debt restructuring, for all EU members.
The other finance ministers cannot bear to gaze in that direction.
Massive debt restructuring makes their entire class disgorge their wealth and privilege.I admire the intellectual independence of the new Greek leaders. And I hope that their stance will bring about change to the undemocratic structures in the EU and the EU countries. Unfortunately the economic analysis of Tsipras is not completely correct. Or if it should be correct it is not visible from his article in Le Monde: The Greek economy and it’s citizens will never recover unless Greece is relieved from it’s current debt burden which is probably closer to 500 billion than to 200 billion. The amount to be forgiven is already big enough to change the foundations of the EU and this is why this will never be agreed. Greece is terminally entangled in debt slavery with Schäuble being it’s master unless it frees itself from the EURO and the debt service. The last chapter in the Le Monde article is therefore either missing or not yet visible.
Christoph, Tsipras doesn’t have the mandate to write such a chapter. He has to very carefully guide his country there, and in the meantime he can’t say it out loud.
Writing from Athens:
A friend suggested 60% seriously today ‘Shall we all go to Syntagma and start burning euros?’Tsipras has done a great thing here: he has shattered the ‘cone of silence’ that has so far shrouded ALL EU decisions and negotiations since 2009. Europeans are only informed of general results, usually in one liners: these are never spelled out. The tradition of silence and Greece’s previous collaborative crisis governments has allowed the European-American press to take the lead in coordinated disinformation, incrimination (always of Greece), coordinated insult and myth-making, blame, threats and last but not least 5-6 years of trolling in both the English language greek press (I invite you to look at the comment threads at Kathimerini Opinions) and international press.
Not only, but Tsipras has pierced the veil that has shrouded the previous Greek governments’ relationship with Troika that we Greeks were simply left to deduce (at least 70% is unknown as to details), helped along by activist lawyers, economists (Yanis Varoufakis being one) and brave independent journalists. To this day we do not know details or even the entirety of the burden the citizens have been left to assume. No information, no explanation and certainly never consultation. What we do know is bad enough. Meanwhile the total of Greek oligarchic wealth has risen from 14 BN in 2010 to 18 BN today. Yes, huge fortunes are being made on the back of the Greek crisis / people. Yet we still don’t know how or exactly by whom.
Most important, Tsipras has opened out the truth to the Greek people. In my quite extensive circles I hardly know anyone, left OR right, who wants to stay in the euro: we are all mystified by the polling – since in their circles they too hardly know anyone who doesn’t want OUT. And this has only grown over the last 3 months, following the last 5-6 years.
My hope – HOPE! – is that Yanis Varoufakis was removed from the front line of the grindstone to oversee strategy (on the one hand) and coordinate Plan B (on the other).
And my feeling is that this “act of betrayal” (as Tsipras’ letter will surely be perceived by the Institutions) and this Greek end run round the goal (as it will be perceived by awake Europeans – there are many) is a signal to Greeks. If the Institutions back down (reacting or not to the letter) it will have worked. If not, the purpose of this letter will be to shift the apocryphal Greek pro-Euro opinion toward exit, a preparation for freedom.Fasten your seat belts.
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Thank you Tsigantes for your comments about Greece. We in America only hear or read what the media wants us to believe, not what is really going on.
Tsigantes and others,
A few things:
• “Greek oligarchic wealth has risen from 14 BN in 2010 to 18 BN today”
I would love some info on that, haven’t seen any.• “Yanis Varoufakis was removed from the front line of the grindstone:”
I see no reason to believe that is true. Western media never tire of repeating it though. Yanis has always denied it.• I’m thinking of spending some time in Greece (Athens) soon.
I’d love contacts, people to talk to, maybe a place to stay (we avoid hotels as much as we can). Nicole is in New Zealand, so I’ll be traveling alone. I simply think it’s the place to be.Contact • at • TheAutomaticEarth • com
In my opinion Tsipras and Varoufakis are two of the most important people in the world right now. There is some coverage in the MSM about the possible GREXIT but it doesn’t really expose the implications for the already debt supersaturated EU and therefore all the other economies.
The European neo-cons, those who run the big banks and the ECB and the IMF could not help themselves (like in the scorpion and the frog fable) in pushing the Greeks to the limit in their drive to extract as much wealth as possible. It may be that this insatiable destructive greed will be the thing that pushes the European project off it’s knife edge.
I think the neo-cons have painted themselves into a corner and have to be seen to punish the Greeks to prevent anyone else form exiting the Euro. This Euro project was doomed from the point it a. made life unbearable for any of the peripheral countries and b. build a financial system so fragile it would collapse when the first country left. Hubris and fate. Scorpion and frog.
Now it may be that a deal can be made to avoid default for now, it may also be that they can somehow strongarm Syriza or somehow remove them from power, but the writing is on the wall for the Euro, the sensible thing to do would be an orderly planned Euro breakup and the admission that taking financial autonomy from countries is a mistake.
And to think I used to be a Euro-phile
I had the same impression some weeks back, when the center news cycle was that Varoufakis was being removed, replaced by his minister, in order to (perhaps) break the logjam in negotiations. ‘Cause he’s such a horrible person. News, and I’m sure it was right here, how *gasp* no one would talk to him at parties, especially because he *gasp* wore jeans and had his top button undone. Not making it up.
Anyway, same idea: there’s no way Varoufakis is backing off the negotiations, although sure they may want to take a cooler on his personality clash for a bit. So what was he up to? And top guess was, yes, Plan B. So if EU negotiations were going nowhere (i.e. “Submit or Die.” “No.” “Submit or Die.” “Um, no.” “Submit or Die.” “Still no.”) maybe there’s a tiny chance that Tsipras instead send the A Team to Russia/BRICS side to set up the REAL negotiations there, leaving his placeholder behind? And Lo! We had the pre-pay of the pipeline profit news shortly after, along with the fruits and veg embargo end. If the EU is so hot to privatize, they’ll privatize the port to the Chinese, and sell a military base to Russia, which of course is simply ridiculous! Greece can only be sold to OUR billionaires! Now this week, they may have gotten a response from the EU, as talks are to open a joint weapons factory in Greece with Russia–Kalashnikovs in this case. And given what’s happening in neighbor Macedonia, they may need them. I suspect one reason they haven’t tried to get into Venezuela a lot more was the hundred thousands of Russian AKs Chavez bought back when. They can go toe-to-toe with fighter jets, but not urban rifles. No way. Ominous sign, terrible choices, but it is what it is. All Europe has to do is not kill and eat Greece, an amount of favor and debt forgiveness any single-digit billionaire could afford. A City like Frankfort could probably bail them out—they only have to get through June 2015. They won’t, steering EU away from democracy and into rule-by-force, exactly as Tsipras just wrote yesterday. So if that’s the case, what can you do? Greece had the exact same option in 1941, although back then Hitler gave 5 hours for the decision. But the options were the same. Submit and be occupied, thousands killed, your workforce enslaved forever, or be attacked by a unified and superior army and cease to exist as a nation and people.
PS. “Furiously defiant” Tsipras? Really? The puffed up green Incredible Hulk Tsipras? The letter to Le Monde was the most thoughtful, thorough, nuanced, and somewhat bureaucratic thing I’ve read in some time. So when Tsipras says “hey, let’s step back and think about what we’re doing” it’s “Furiously Defiant” (from Ambrose Pritchard) but when Schäuble won’t budge or “negotiate” in a “negotiation” it’s perfectly normal. How does that work??? How do we set up this meta-context, this expectation, so radically skewed from sense and equality? How do people swallow this and not choke?
Tune in next week….
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