Get ready.... it's coming... hope y'all are prepared. It won't be
long now.
http://truth-out.org/news/item/9335-the-first-domino-falls-in-greece
The First Domino Falls in Greece
Wednesday, 23 May 2012 11:26 By Shamus Cooke, Counter Currents | News
Analysis
After the last Greek elections rejected austerity and caused a global
uproar, early polling indicates that the next Greek elections —
scheduled for June 17 — will do the same, albeit with more fury.
Greece’s situation is not an isolated event, but a bellwether for the
industrial world and beyond. The fallout from the 2008 global crisis
hasn't reached bottom yet, and the depths will be dug deeper as the
Euro crisis spreads — political crisis will create economic crisis and
vice versa, as periods of calm and stability are replaced by
international turmoil and panic.
The media and politicians have portrayed the Greeks as indolent and
stupid, refusing to swallow the economic medicine needed for a healthy
recovery. But the austerity medicine of the bankers — slashing and
privatizing the public sector, cutting wages and benefits, mass
layoffs, etc. — is a cure that threatens to kill.
What will happen in Greece? Its future was hinted at in the last
elections. The centrist parties were devastated by the reality of
economic extremes; the "middle ground" simply fell out from under
them, since society had been torn asunder by the inequality of the
very rich versus everybody else.
In consequence, the radical left party SYRIZA is polled to come in
first in the next elections, based on its firm stance against
austerity and its uncompromising attitude against the bankers of
Greece and beyond. The corporate politicians wanted SYRIZA to take
part in a "unity government" that would magically rebuild the
country’s lost middle ground and continue the pro-banker austerity
policies.
But unity in an economically polarized country like Greece is
impossible, especially when the continued existence of the bankers and
wealthy rests on the continued suffering of everybody else.
Since unity failed during the last elections, Greek "technocrats" are
now overseeing the government until the next elections. What is a
technocrat? Someone who supposedly lacks any class bias; the
professional strata of professors, lawyers, or doctors that attempt to
sit astride an uneven society perfectly balanced, blind to special
interests, while keeping their sights set on the "national interest.”
But the Greek technocrats are continuing the wealthy's austerity
program, exposing their fake objectivity.
Europe has a long history of unity governments, technocratic
governments, and "national salvation governments" (a fancy, more
alarmist term for a unity government). In every case the status quo
attempts to consolidate itself yet again, trying to muddle through the
crisis by putting forth new politicians that have yet to expose
themselves as corporate puppets.
What will SYRIZA do if it places first in the next election? A left
government could be created — only if the Greek Communist Party agrees
— with a plan to get Greece’s working people out of its current abyss.
But the Greek bankers and EU bank-bought politicians will keep a gun
to the head of a left government, striving to either tame or crush it.
Threats will be made to withdraw European bailout funds if an anti-
austerity path is taken; the wealthy who invest in Greek debt will run
for a safe haven (those who haven't already).
Therefore, the Greek lefts must go "all out;” drastic action is
needed. The Greek banks should be nationalized, which SYRIZA has
already promised to do; the wealth of the rich must be redistributed
through progressive taxation and, where necessary, confiscated (such
"extreme" measures are necessary when there is no wealth to be found
elsewhere).
These extreme solutions are the only answers to the extremity of
austerity. Most importantly, if the Greeks took drastic action against
the corporate class, it would set an example for the world to follow.
People everywhere would be inspired to fix the crisis on the backs of
the wealthy versus working people.
If a left government fails to take drastic action or submits to the
bankers, its popularity will plummet, and the right wing will be
empowered by using the demagoguery of anti-immigration rhetoric. The
Greek Golden Dawn Party (neo-Nazi) used this tactic effectively in the
last election to propel itself into parliament for the first time,
though it is greatly outnumbered by the forces on the left at this
time.
The balance of power lies on the side of the left in Greece: the
working class has been radicalized and will not submit; mass
demonstrations and general strikes have become common place. But power
can fluctuate quickly in times of crisis. Unless the left takes
drastic action in Greece, a long period of political instability is
likely, with the left and right taking turns at power, attempting to
solve the country’s economic and political problems by different
methods that favor different social classes. The right wing will seek
to "tame" the trade unions and implement austerity, the workers will
seek to tame the bankers and the corporations and tax their wealth.
But in a polarized, crisis-plagued country like Greece, a showdown is
inevitable. Stability can only be found when one class is forced to
submit to the other, since there now exist two powers in the country —
corporate power and people power.
It's possible that, after a long period of instability that weakens
the left, the right wing will attempt to impose "stability" through
dictatorship, for the "national interest.” But the army is too weak at
this time and the workers too strong; a premature military move would
likely spark an even harsher response from the workers.
Greek austerity has accelerated the Greek economic crisis, but
austerity is a global problem. It is the bank and corporate answer to
an economic crisis which resulted from their passing their private
debts onto the public purse, while pushing down wages low enough for
these same corporations and banks to regain growth through
"profitability.”
The global crisis is structural in nature — the industrial world has
huge debt with little or no growth. The rich insist growth (profits)
must be made on the backs of the workers, who are being made to work
harder for lower wages, fewer benefits, and fewer social programs.
Therefore, all over the world the media reports that worker's wages
are too high, their benefits too lush; social programs are suddenly
too expensive and must be slashed alongside education, transportation,
and other essentials of a civilized society. Unions and immigrants are
made to be enemies of the public. Yet more and more working people are
coming to the realization that the blame for the crisis must be placed
on those who caused it — the banks and corporations — and they must be
made to pay for it.