Greece #3

Squaring the triangle of corruption

By now, Greek society is all too familiar with the triangular relationship between the State, the banks and the media. The media are owned by oligarchs who use them to support the political system, in exchange for government contracts. But there is more...

Systemic media companies in Greece are members of groups of companies involved in construction and shipping and are in reality unsustainable businesses, financially speaking. In order to remain in operation, they receive hundreds of millions in loans from banks without any guarantees or collateral. They are the financial engine of the triangular relationship. Today ThePressProject reveals the fourth pillar of the relationship, the mechanism that undertakes the laundering and the movement of money between the state, banks and the media. And this is none other than some very odd advertising agencies....

Polarisation in Syriza as democracy undermined in Greece

quote:

The ongoing struggle in Syriza

Tsipras scored an important victory against the left at a 30 July Syriza central committee meeting. The left pushed for a party conference of the standing delegates to take place before the agreement is finally ratified at the parliamentary sitting on 18 August. Instead, the conference will take place in September, which, as Left Platform leader Panagiotis Lafazanis said in a statement published on the website Iskra, “makes no sense, as the participants will be asked to ratify a fait accompli”.

The left had hoped to consolidate the opposition to the agreement, which earlier was expressed in a statement signed by a majority of the central committee prior to the parliamentary vote on 15 July.

Nonetheless, in the course of the meeting, 17 central committee members resigned. All were supporters of the ex-Maoist KOE group. While the outcome of the meeting was to close off the possibility of the left winning a majority of the party, the fight is not over. The left has not been subdued. Opposition has in fact hardened.

The Left Current (a sub group of the Left Platform) held a rally in a sports stadium in central Athens on 27 July. Lafazanis addressed up to 2,000 supporters. During his speech, which was punctuated by chants of “Oxi!” (Greek for “no”), from the crowd, he argued that the alternative to the agreement was in the party program. Speaking of the overwhelming numbers of young people that had voted “no” in the referendum, he recalled the youth wing of the communist-led resistance, EPON, and called on the youth to be the new generation for the “no”.

Rebuilding the struggle in the streets and workplaces is vital. A meeting of 250 activists and unionist from both the Left Platform and Antarsya was held in Athens on 28 July to establish “No until the end committees”. The report from the meeting states: “It is obvious to everyone that a massive resurgence of the labour-popular movement is an immediate necessity to shift political and economic developments … in order to finally reverse the memorandum”.

The creation of these committees is a concrete step toward rebuilding the broader struggle. It is made possible by the cooperation between activists and revolutionaries both within and outside of Syriza. Six hundred and fifty unionists and activists have signed on to the initial call for the creation of these committees. At the meeting, activists also called a demonstration to coincide with the 18 August parliamentary vote and a demonstration at the annual trade fair in Thessaloniki in September.

 

Tariq Ali weighs in about the Greek crisis:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n15/tariq-ali/diary

Syriza Government Steps Up Repression of Refugees

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/08/13/gree-a13.html

"Refugees fleeing war ravaged Syria, Afghanistan and other countries seeking protection in Greece are being brutally treated by the Syriza government. MSF Director of Operations Brice de le Vingne condemned the sitution in Kos, saying it was 'state abuse, with police using heavy-handed force against vulnerable people.

The indiscriminate violence meted out to people desperate to escape from their home countries, ravaged by years of war and imperialist intrigue, exposes the right-wing, bourgeois character of the Syriza government led by Tsipras."

Quote:

Where is Greece supposed to get the money to treat people any better?

Taking the WSWS article at face value for the sake of argument, how expensive is it to NOT abuse people these days?

from Reuters...

"The fight against the new bailout starts today, by mobilizing people in every corner of the country," said a statement signed by Lafazanis and 11 other Syriza members and posted on the far-left faction's Iskra website.

The statement called for founding a "united movement that will justify people's desire for democracy and social justice", although it did not explicitly call for a new party or a split from Syriza.

Yanis Varoufakis on A New Approach to European Sovereign Debt:

http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2015/08/17/a-new-approach-to-eurozone-sovereig...

The Greek Debt Deal's Missing Piece - the IMF:

http://nyti.ms/1LeacyO

Greece For Sale: Germans To Run Greek Regional Airports as Part of Bailout Deal

http://www.rt.com/business/312852-greece-airports-germany-privatization/

"Athens has approved a deal to hand over the operation of 14 airports to a German company. The 40-year contract worth 1.23 Billion EUR was awarded to Fraport AG, which currently runs Frankfurt Airport.

The airports are not the only things on sale in Greece right now. Other travel hubs like ports and railways, the national lottery, water utilities and even the islands are to be sold off.

The privatization is part of the creditors demands to secure a third bailout for the debt-ridden country."

EU Backs Greece's Tsipras as Left Platform Splits From Syriza

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/08/22/gree-a22.html

"Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' decision to call snap elections is a calculated maneuver aimed at establishing a new political framework for pushing through deeply unpopular austerity measures.

Tsipras' Syriza Party is expecting to be able to win the elections held next month and to form a new government, perhaps with one or another pro-austerity coalition partner."

How many more deaths can we stomach?

Over the past weeks Greece has been facing an unprecedented spike in refugee arrivals in its eastern islands, pushing the country’s limited resources into a breaking point.

On some islands, the number of arrivals-all of them fleeing war and persecution in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq-has surpassed the totallocal population. In July alone over 50,000 people have arrived in Greece, which has seen around 160,000 migrants land on its shores since January. Seven out of ten of the people are refugees from Syria followed by lower numbers of Afghans and Iraqis.

Under the pressure of the influx of people-and in the context of the bleak financial situation of Greece- the country’s reception system is stretched to its limits. There are three reception and identification centers on the islands of Chios, Lesvos and Samos run by the police while on the other islands the police or the coast guard accommodates people in open spaces. Asylum claims can only be filed in Athens, as there are no asylum services on the islands. The two existing servicesof Rhodes and Lesvos are understaffed and hence cannot process any claims. But even in Athens, lack of personnel and coordination hampers the registration and identification process that can last for many months. In the interim, people are either packed like animals for slaughter in inadequate reception centers or are forced to sleep outdoors in squalid conditions....

Yes, or perhaps compare best practices with Lebanon, hardly a rich country either, that now has approximately a million and a quarter Syrian refugees alone to support...USRAEL's ME wars have created a human catastrophe that is crushing countries, including now Greece..

Leaked EU memorandum reveals renewed attempt at imposing water privatization on Greece:

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/32499-leaked-eu-memorandum-reveals-re...

Varoufakis Documents Syriza's Political Treachery

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/08/24/varo-a24.html

"Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is continuing his effort to distance himself from the austerity memorandum Syriza Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has agreed to impose. In doing so, he is succeeding only in confirming the bankruptcy of the entire Syriza project, which has been embraced by pseudo-left groups internationally..."

German Left Party Declares Its Support For Syriza's Alexis Tsipras

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/08/25/left-a25.html

"...The only thing 'left' about the Left Party are its phrases. The latest developments in Greece underscore its capacity to cover up the most reactionary policies with left rhetoric."

KKE: In the Face of the Early Elections

http://inter.kke.gr/en/articles/In-the-face-of-the-early-elections/

"...So, in practice it has been demonstrated that the SYRIZA-ANEL government is another anti-people government, which with 'left' slogans served in an equally faithful way the bourgeoisie, the EU and NATO as the previous governments had done.

At the same time, the bourgeois political system in order to curb and control any radical changes in the people's consciousness that could be brought about by the exposure of SYRIZA's role continues to manufacture new parties.

One such party, with the title 'Laiki Enotita' (People's Unity) was formed by MPs and former ministers from SYRIZA. These forces, which were active as a 'left platform' inside SYRIZA, bear grave responsibilities as regards the deception of the people.."

The poisoned chalice, by James Galbraith:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/james-galbraith-j-luis-...

Note the very interesting links.

Yanis Varoufakis - On German Moral Leadership (have patience, he gets around to Greece eventually):

http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2015/09/14/on-german-moral-leadership-english-...

Days of Revolt: We Are All Greeks Now

In this episode of teleSUR's Days of Revolt, Chris Hedges continues his conversation with Leo Panitch on global neoliberalism and the possibilities for revolutionary change in Greece...

Hi, this is my latest piece for TeleSUR: UNDERSTANDING THE GREEK ELECTIONS AND THE PROSPECTS OF THE LEFT, its a four part series. I was recently in Greece and got some insights from both people involved with Syriza and Popular Unity. This was before the elections.  I hope you find this informative. 

Part 1: http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Syriza-and-Popular-Unity-20150917-0044.html 

Part 2: http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Criticisms-and-Counter-Criticisms-from-Within-Syriza-20150918-0029.html 

Part 3: http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Greece-The-Left-Platform-20150919-0013.html 

Part 4: http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Greece-A-Divided-Left-20150920-0015.html 

In Aristotle's Homeland, Canadian Mining Giant Fights Ban to Get Its Gold

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/10/02/aristotles-homeland-canadian...

"Eldorado Gold must realize that beautiful Halkidiki is not its property, nor is Halkidiki a 'lab-rat' of environmental destruction for its profits..."

Ukrainian Extremists Threaten Greek Delegation in Odessa, Prevent it Meeting City's Greek Minority

http://newcoldwar.org/ukrainian-extremists-threaten-greek-delegation-in-...

"The Greek journalist emphasized that ultranationalists deprived the delegation of any opportunity to communicate with members of the Greek minority here in Odessa.

'The ultrantionalists, wearing paramilitary uniforms along with masks and balaclavas were waving Ukrainian flags and banners and placards that read,

'Foreigners and Russophiles have no place in Ukraine!'

Greece: Tsipras is Eliminating Any Trace of His Rivals

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/26/greece-tspiras-is-eliminating-any...

"Our conclusion is optimistic: It will take much more than the 'cleansing' of the Greek Parliament site, and even much more than the relentless smear campaign and the dirtiest of blows to destroy resistance to those who have sold their soul to the neoliberal devil by agreeing to apply his inhumane policies.

Even in very difficult conditions, the struggle continues as it is now a question of defending all that is most precious: our dignity and our very survival."

screwed by social democratic sellouts

PASOK is the social democratic party of Greece, isn't it?  Do they have much to do with Tsipras?

My comment stands: "real socialists" sneer at all social democrats- even if they usually only do it only when talking amomg themeselves.

So every social democrat if not an out and out traitor like Tsipras is a traitor in waiting.

Anyone still in PASOK is a suspect social democrat in my books. [Or still there a year or 2 ago, for that matter.]

But for example, Varoufakis is in my books just plain a social democrat like me- regardless of whether I always am happy with what he and others do.

ED after seeing cross-post: in NDPP's own words- but SYRIZA quickly moved into social-democrat territory and I consider it of that ilk.

[the territory of hopeless class traitors, etc, etc]

Austerity vs. The People's Health: How Greeks Built an Alternative Health System

quote:

Health care from the bottom-up, in the middle of crisis-stricken Greece and born out of dire need: How did all of this happen and how did a people decide to take health into their own hands?

The first solidarity clinic -the Social Clinic of Rethymno- was to open on Crete, the idyllic island that is especially popular amongst European tourists. The clinic describes its purpose on its website as supporting people who do not have access to free health, medicines and vaccines as well as highlighting the problem that a big part of the population is being excluded from basic health services. Whereas the clinic was initially founded to serve the influx of immigrants and refugees, it soon started getting demand from native Greeks. Those who came were from diverse backgrounds; most just recently lost their health insurance as a result of unemployment. More than 300,000 people fell into this bracket in 2014, making the total share of uninsured Greeks stand at around 33.2% of the population (not even counting immigrants). Even people that are part of the social security register and formally employed have increasingly been making use of the solidarity structure; a decrease in public spending for medicines by more than half, from ca. five to only two Billion Euro means that many are unable to afford co-payments for drugs of sometimes up to 70%.

Whereas Greece has surely never been a pioneer in health matters - it has always been able to guarantee access to care to those that needed it. Its healthcare has been a mix of social health insurance and tax financed services via its own NHS run structure; comprised of a fragmented, corrupted but nevertheless accessible system. And although quality suffered in the last years, the biggest difference now is not that good-quality services are unavailable, but that people´s incomes are too low to pay for them any longer.

Greece Grinds to a Halt Amid Nationwide 24-hour Strike

Unions representing private sector workers and state employees in Greece launched a 24-hour nationwide general strike on Wednesday against the austerity measures put through by the government.

Called by Greece’s umbrella unions ADEDY and GSEE, the industrial action disrupted trains and ferries, as well as public services. Hospitals were operating on skeleton staff and pharmacies were scheduled to close for the day. Teachers, prison staff and court employees were also participating in the strike....

General Strike In Greece Reignites Anti-Austerity Battle (video)

quote:

GORGOS: Yes, it's true that Greek society, not only the party of Syriza, is in a depression. It's many people that are disappointed, and they want some times so as to recover and to get out in the streets, and keep on demanding. I think this strike today, it's a part of a further plan of rejection of memorandums. And people that will start going out to the streets demanding their rights. It's through that the movement in general, it's not in the same situation as it was in the summer, just before the referendum, which was the peak of the movement in Greece against austerity. But slowly, people realize that there is no other way than struggling and demanding for our rights.