Eight months will have passed since the election of Syriza on January 25 up to the snap elections in September. During that time Syriza’s leaders play-acted their ‘opposition to austerity’ and then knelt down in submission to the ‘Troika’.
My father made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Luca Brasi held a gun to his head and my father assured him that either his brains, or his signature, would be on the contract.
— The Godfather (1972)
In May, voters grasped Spanish political orthodoxy and shook it like a rag doll:
The anti-austerity party Podemos claimed its biggest victory in Barcelona, where activist Ada Colau seized control of the city hall. Podemos and Ciudadanos… made advances across the country that will give them a chance to shape policy for the first time.
The Greek people’s efforts to end the economic depression, recover their sovereignty and reverse the regressive socio-economic policies, which have drastically reduced living standards, have been thrice denied.
On July 16 this year protests erupted outside Greek parliament as lawmakers were approving further harsh austerity plan in exchange for a third European bailout. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras won by 229 votes to 64 while 32 members of his own Syriza party voted against the measures, including his ex-finance minister Yanis Varoufakis.
The vote took place after a fiery debate when Tsipras energetically defended his stand under threat of resignation.
German Economics & Syriza's Dismal Options
Building on the previous podcast's discussion of Greece and Europe's crisis, this episode examines German economic orthodoxy, known as Ordoliberalism, and the effects this has on German policy and strategy, as well as that of the European Central Bank. In addition, this episode examines the context of Syriza's decision to capitulate to Germany and the Troika in negotiations over a third bailout. What are Syriza's options to get out of this mess?
Listen to the full episode here:
By John Halle | Outrages and Interludes | July 16, 2015 That Syriza has made mistakes isn’t in dispute: they themselves have admitted to two main ones. 1) They failed to recognize, despite early warnings from party members such as Costas Lapavistas, that the EU was negotiating in bad faith. The EU’s intention was never to […]
A historic betrayal has consumed Greece. Having set aside the mandate of the Greek electorate, the Syriza government has willfully ignored last week’s landslide “No” vote and secretly agreed a raft of repressive, impoverishing measures in return for a “bailout” that means sinister foreign control and a warning to the world.
