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Greek elections

brogdale said:
Presumably the Eye's next cover?

Alexis_3242722b_zpsdzeysjtg.jpg


Caption heaven....
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Front rank, aim:D
 
Long-read piece in Jacobin featuring a discussion between Stathis Kouvalakis, Alain Badiou & French journalist Aude Lancelin - includes analysis of comparisons with Mitterrand in 1981, of the relationship between the movement & the politicians, & some really interesting comments about the reality of effecting change in a pared-down, neo-liberal 'small state'.


Essentially that the possibility of taking over the state — rather than political forces being taken over by the state’s counter-action! — derives perhaps most of all from the fact of the state’s weakening, its having been destroyed. Because you don’t have to try and take over a strong, structured, self-regulating state in the classic sense; and in fact, that’s a difference with the Mitterrand case. Mitterrand was dealing with what was a very strong state, there was no particular problem on that score.

What you’re describing is a conjuncture where the crisis of society and the state is so deep that in a sense taking over the state becomes also immediately a matter of reconstruction. Not a question of taking over something that’s functioning smoothly, or ordinarily, but rather one that is in a dysfunctional condition. Its malfunctioning has created the space for horizontal initiatives.
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they stood for election knowing the state was broken and that the numbers would work against them- 3bn repayment in April, 2 in May, another 3 in June, 6bn in July and 3 more in August*. So complaints that the previous tenants didn't look after it properly aren't that persuasive.

where are the reports of these horizontal initiatives? What are the Greek people doing, are they organising and if so how? By what mechanisms are the government engaging with them and listening to them?


* figures from this piece, which sets out their future timetables, including paying 448m they don't have to the IMF on thursday and on the following tuesday 1.7bn for salaries and 'social security'.

“We are a Left-wing government. If we have to choose between a default to the IMF or a default to our own people, it is a no-brainer,”

“We will shut down the banks and nationalise them, and then issue IOUs if we have to, and we all know what this means. What we will not do is become a protectorate of the EU,”
 
newbie said:
where are the reports of these horizontal initiatives? What are the Greek people doing, are they organising and if so how? By what mechanisms are the government engaging with them and listening to them?
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Pamphlet

What's Next: Social Movements In Greece after the Change of Govt (pdf)

What is the current state of social movements in Greece? Which conditions, also historical ones, do they face in their struggles for a free society in solidarity? Which tactics and strategies result from their analyses? What have they achieved in the past years and which defeats did they have to take? And what to do if an all-time enemy as the government becomes a potential ally? What possibilities might open up – and what are possible dangers?

Over ten days, we met 20 activists from various backgrounds. And as always by crossing borders of discourses, our own system of categorization didn‘t work any more. Some call themselves anarchists, others anti-authoritarian, some insist on being antifascists in the first place, to be labeled as „leftist“ is quite unpopular and „communist“ is an insult to many. In the end, we gave up labeling peoples ideological stand: first of all because we just know too little about all the underlying history and secondly because it did not seem relevant to us. What we were interested in were stories of specific projects, places and people, who did not gave up their hope for a better and beautiful life yet. And we met them: in social centers like "K*FOX“ and"Nosotros“, in"Steki metanaston“ and the "Polytechnio", in the squatted theater "Embros“ and the facilities of the archive of social movements, on the former-airport area "Ellinikon" and in the narrow streets of Exarchia.

In many talks, we question our own relation to the fights and fighters we learn about. Aren‘t we just simply political tourist? External observers of a situation, which seems "interesting" or "exiting“ to us? And over all: what is the benefit for the ones we meet here, what can we return, how can we support them? A part of the answer is this brochure. To us, it was important not to keep the experiences and insights to us, but to spread them. Not only to learn from them for other struggles and places, but to pose the question of possibilities of transnational solidarity to you as well. In the first days following the elections, there was a lot of discussion about SYRIZAs affair with ANEL, about refreshed dreams of a rising left hegemony in Europe, about the abstract question of reform and revolution. Now, we want to shine a light to the people being involved in social movements on the grass-root level – on the one hand to share impressions, on the other hand to focus on what we think the important questions are: What are the connecting points? What can we learn? And how can we support them to push forward on our common path to emancipation?
 
Good find, thankyou. Very interesting, they met up with some sober, thoughtful and determined people.

meanwhile with precision timing Cyrpus has declared that controls on the movement of capital have worked, and lifted them today.
 
Bernie Gunther said:
Looks like Syriza are going ahead with the debt audit, although it's not being prominently reported ...

http://www.balkaneu.com/speaker-greek-parliament-working-complete-audit-debt/
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Just been agreed on

"After five years of parliamentary silence on the major issues that caused the bailout catastrophe, today we commence a procedure that will give answers to the questions concerning the Greek people," Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told lawmakers before the vote in the early hours of Tuesday.

The committee, proposed by Tsipras's leftist Syriza party and its coalition partner, the right-wing Independent Greeks, will look into how Greece entered the agreements and any other issue relating to the bailouts and their implementation.

This includes the revision of the 2009 budget deficit, whose wildly gyrating figures triggered the country's fiscal crisis, a debt restructuring in 2012 and the recapitalisation of the country's banks.

The proposal was approved with 156 of the 250 lawmakers present voting in favor, 72 against and 22 abstaining.
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Realpolitik...
Determined to take Greek-Russian relations out of “the deep freeze”, a defiant Alexis Tsipras flew to Moscow on Tuesday for talks with president Vladimir Putin, ratcheting up the pressure on the western creditors keeping his debt-stricken country afloat.

Amid speculation that Putin might make an offer of financial help that the Greek prime minister will find hard to turn down, officials said the controversial trip should be seen through the prism of Athens’ leftist-led government doing “what is best for Greece”.
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So Tsipras got fuck all from Putin, and the clock is ticking on the massive debt repayments Syriza have pledged to fulfil. What they gonna do?
 
Der spiegel is reporting that Greece Might sign a gas deal with Russia next week that could net them up to 5 billion in an advance from Russia . Quoting unnamed senior Syriza official . So might be bollocks . Wait and see I suppose .
 
Interview with Lapavistas for Der Tagesspiegel on the Verso site - stating that the negotiations have failed & advocating an orderly withdrawal from the Euro.

At 2010 I said there are 3 possible solutions. Austerity, ‘the good euro’ and exit. I said that the most likely solution would be austerity and this would be a disaster. As for the good euro strategy (i.e., that you achieve Keynesian policy within the confines of the euro – the strategy of Syriza), I said that the chances of this occurring were close to zero. The strategy of exit is the only logical one. The real issue is will it be contested or orderly? I don’t know. But exit there will be at some point.
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belboid said:
ie, what he's been arguing for months (pretty rightly)
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I guess proving the impossibility of 'the good euro strategy', demonstrating it rather than presuming it, shows 'we tried our best' good faith & helps in the public debate Lapavistas wants to encourage about a Greek exit.
 
In amongst all the arguments and another approaching deadline there's a new opinion poll. Seems the anti-austerity public is still pushing the government on everything up to but not including Euro exit.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the ruling coalition’s leading party SYRIZA retained a clear lead over the opposition, according to a poll conducted by Public Issue and published in the Sunday edition of the newspaper “Avgi”.

Estimated voter support for SYRIZA was more than double that for runner-up New Democracy at 48.5 pct, compared with 21 pct for ND, 6 pct for the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), 6 pct for far-right Golden Dawn, 5.5 pct for Potami, 4 pct for PASOK, 3.5 pct for junior coalition partner Independent Greeks (ANEL) and 5.5 pct for other parties.

Support for the government’s stance in the negotiations was expressed by 54 pct, while 37 pct disagreed, and 56 pct were in favour of a ratification of any agreement by Parliament compared with 34 pct that favoured ratification by referendum.

A further 37 pct said that the Greek government must back down in the negotiations, while 58 pct said it should not give in. On individual aspects of the negotiations, 89 pct were against any reduction in main pensions, 81 pct opposed removing restrictions on mass lay offs, 79 pct opposed reduction in supplementary pensions, 57 pct opposed retaining the Uniform Real Estate Ownership Tax, 52 pct were against imposing a single VAT rate of 18 pct, and 43 pct opposed privatisation of regional airports.

The prime minister retained high levels of popularity at 77 pct, with 63 pct judging him most suitable for prime minister, compared with just 20 pct for ND leader Antonis Samaras, whose popularity was at 28 pct.
On levels of satisfaction with the operation of the government, roughly 44 pct were still satisfied, with roughly 55 pct dissatisfied. Dissatisfaction with the operation of the opposition parties, by contrast, was running at roughly 88 pct, with a mere 11 pct expressing satisfaction.

Public opinion on the European Union was split, with 50 pct having a negative opinion and 48 pct having a positive opinion and 2 pct expressing no opinion.

Support for remaining in the euro in the case of a referendum continued to be strong at 71 pct, with 25 pct against and 4 pct expressing no opinion. Support for a return to the drachma, by contrast, stood at 19 pct, whereas 68 pct considered that a return to the drachma will probably make things worse, 10 pct considered that it would make no difference and 3 pct had no opinion.

(source: ana-mpa)

- See more at: http://greece.greekreporter.com/201...-support-for-euro-at-71/#sthash.SN6fw611.dpuf
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Sounds like the yanks are getting increasingly spooked by the 'Greek crisis'...perhaps this was Syriza's trump-card all along?
The Greek crisis is likely to dominate a meeting of finance ministers from the G7 industrialised nations in Eastern Germany, which begins tonight.

America’s Jack Lew, Germany’s Wolfgang Schauble, Britain’s George Osborne et al will gather in Dresden to discuss the global economy.

One official told Reuters that the US delegation will push for a breakthrough in the long-running talks.

“The Americans are stressing the geopolitical risks and telling us we have to find a solution, that we cannot really put the euro area and Europe at risk because of Greece.”

Washington fears that without aid soon, Athens could be forced to turn to Moscow for help, undermining the West’s efforts to keep Vladimir Putin in check.

As our unnamed official put it:

“If Greece for some reason were to turn to Russia and Moscow would get involved more, they could get too much influence inside NATO and inside the EU when it comes to policies towards Russia.”
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Some other commentators talking about the Euro-bankers offering Syriza a "take it or leave it" offer tonight. Lol....like the yanks would let the Euro-bankers offer Greece a 'leave it' option.
 


Yep, they're all gonna have to cough up if they want the charade of debt repayment to continue.
 
brogdale said:


Yep, they're all gonna have to cough up if they want the charade of debt repayment to continue.
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Hopefully Greece will break free from the Eurozone at last. Hopefully they have been holding out this long so that a contingency plan can be put in place. Maybe adopting ERM-II as an intermediate stage before moving back to the Drachma. I doubt it though.
 
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