“In Greece, the ruling class and the government are destroying democracy,” Eric Toussaint, professor of political science and militant, told the Greek Daily of Journalists. According to Eric Toussaint, only a determined government which has the support of the people will be able to find a solution to the debt problem. In his view, SYRIZA must not slide towards more moderate positions.
Éric Toussaint, professor of political science at the University of Liège, is president of the CADTM – the Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt – and a member of the scientific council of ATTAC France. In 2007 he was appointed by Ecuador’s president Rafael Correa to that country’s internal and external public debt audit commission. He is known in Greece, where he has visited several times as part of his efforts toward liberating the countries of the South from the influence of international speculators and credit entities.
Clearly, all of Europe is in a deep crisis. The capitalist class and the European Commission, which operates on their behalf, have launched a terrible attack against Europe’s peoples. Greece is at the center of the crisis, but is also at the center of the resistance to that attack. Countries like Ireland, Portugal, and Spain, but also Romania and Bulgaria, etc. are also victims of that attack.
However, Greece is at the center because Greece represents the start of the new phase of the crisis, with the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding of May 2010, but also because of the resistance of the Greek people. I am aware of the last general strike of 20 February 2013, which was a very large one. Millions of people throughout Europe and on other continents are looking towards the forms the resistance is taking in Greece. We are doing whatever we can to bring about a European-wide cooperation between peoples’ movements in order to build a broad resistance that can turn the situation around. It is very difficult for the citizens of one country to face this attack alone.
- For the moment we are not seeing that kind of cooperation.
That is why we should be concerned. However, many attempts have been made to bring it about. For example, the European Trade Union Confederation is working at it, but that’s not nearly enough. |1| There will be demonstrations throughout Europe on 13 and 14 March, 2013. I hope that they will meet with success, but that is still not enough.
- In Greece, we are in a very precarious political situation, with many possible scenarios. We live under a government that is more and more authoritarian, that has succeeded in several legislative coups d’état, and that systematically resorts to repression of social movements. At the same time, it is possible that SYRIZA could become the leading party in the next elections. What is your view of the situation?
You are facing a major challenge. I agree with you that in Greece the ruling classes and the government are destroying democracy at several levels. They are not respecting the people’s vote; they have imposed Memoranda of Understanding and treaties with no recourse to the democratic process; they are undermining the legislative power; and they are seeking to destroy the ability of the working class to negotiate collectively. So you are facing a major challenge, and SYRIZA’s ability to provide a truly radical response to this attack is crucial. If SYRIZA adopts more moderate policies and proposals, the consequences could be enormous.
- Recently, many have said that SYRIZA is making an effort to adopt more moderate positions.
I hope that SYRIZA will radicalize its positions. If SYRIZA succeeds in becoming the next government, it is very important that they unilaterally suspend repayment of the debt, for example.
- You feel that that is realistic?
I feel that it is absolutely imperative that the balance of power be changed. If the government does not adopt a combative position and contents itself with saying ‘we want to renegotiate,’ it will be very difficult to impose a solution on the creditors that will be in the interest of the masses of the people. If you begin a negotiation without changing the balance of power, you cannot arrive at a really positive solution. That is why, first of all, there has to be a payment default, which will force the creditors to negotiations. And suspension of payments needs the support of the people, as was proven in the cases of Ecuador and Argentina. Only a determined government can do it.
- We are seeing a gradual elimination of common property with the privatization of health, education and most public-sector companies and services. What are the consequences of that?
There is a considerable deterioration of the living conditions of the majority of the population. It is clear that with these attacks, the capitalist class seeks to destroy what was built after the Second World War with the victory over Nazism and Fascism in Europe. This is a historic moment for the capitalist class, who see this crisis as an excellent opportunity to bring about their dream of doing away with all the achievements of the people.
- What is your message to the Greeks?
First, the pan-European social movement must be strengthened. That requires action in cooperation with the Greek people. The issue is not only solidarity with the Greek people. The challenge is to join our struggles together, since other peoples of Europe are also suffering. The circumstances may be different, but they are victims of the same attack. We cannot face this attack unless we unite all the strengths of the continent in order to achieve radical change. So my message is that we need to unite and that all our efforts must converge in that direction.
YESTERDAY, the whole world was watching Greece as its Parliament voted to pass a divisive package of austerity measures that could have critical ramifications for the global financial system. It may come as a surprise that this tiny tip of the Balkan Peninsula could command such attention. We usually think of Greece as the home of Plato and Pericles, its real importance lying deep in antiquity. But this is hardly the first time that to understand Europe’s future, you need to turn away from the big powers at the center of the continent and look closely at what is happening in Athens. For the past 200 years, Greece has been at the forefront of Europe’s evolution.
In the 1820s, as it waged a war of independence against the Ottoman Empire, Greece became an early symbol of escape from the prison house of empire. For philhellenes, its resurrection represented the noblest of causes. “In the great morning of the world,” Shelley wrote in “Hellas,” his poem about the country’s struggle for independence, “Freedom’s splendor burst and shone!” Victory would mean liberty’s triumph not only over the Turks but also over all those dynasts who had kept so many Europeans enslaved. Germans, Italians, Poles and Americans flocked to fight under the Greek blue and white for the sake of democracy. And within a decade, the country won its freedom. […]
If no deal is reached in next few days, new elections will be called, amid concerns over country’s future in eurozone.
Source: Aljazeera
Greece’s coalition talks have remained deadlocked, with conservative leader Antonis Samaras denouncing calls by the head of the runner-up party to reject the country’s international bailout.
Alexis Tsipras, whose Radical Left Coalition came a surprise second in Sunday’s election, has been entrusted with seeking partners for a governing coalition after Greeks deserted the two main parties in droves, angry at the pain that harsh austerity cuts have brought.
Tsipras is to meet both Samaras, who heads the conservative New Democracy party that placed first with 18.9 per cent and 108 seats in the 300-member parliament, and the socialist PASOK leader later on Wednesday, as well as other party leaders.
Samaras himself failed to cobble together a coalition on Monday. If Tsipras also fails, the job will move on to former finance minister and PASOK head, Evangelos Venizelos. […]
At a press conference in Athens, Alexis Tsipras head of the Left SYRIZA party has said that the country’s commitment to an EU/IMF rescue deal has become null after voters rejected pro-bailout parties in Sunday’s election..
“The popular verdict clearly renders the bailout deal null.”
He said said that Antonis Samaras and Evangelos Venizelos must take back their written support for the memorandum – by writing a letter to Brussels informing them of this. He presented his policy platform which he said was based on 5 pillars:
1. Immediate negation of the memorandum
2. Negation of all coming measures that will affect all aspects of employment law
3. Immediate changes to election legislation and negation of the ministerial culpability law
4. State control of banks
5. The creation of an international auditing body, with the purpose of finding a serious and logical solution to Greece’s debt repayment. […]
In these short video clips, Professor Wolff offers quick commentary on topics relating to capitalism, the economic crisis, strategies for social change and current events.
It didn’t take long to crank up the backlash against European voters. This is inevitable whenever a socialist wins a major election, but particularly now, when new French president François Hollande rode to victory shouting, “Austerity can no longer be inevitable!”
This sounds like the beginning of what will be a very heated debate over who has to pay for the excesses of the financial crisis. It was previously assumed that everybody but the actual financial services sector would have to pay, but voters in Europe now are refusing to go along, sparking a wave of eye-rolling editorials in the financial press. Even David Brooks got into the act today, penning a lugubrious editorial about the errant political instincts of the populist masses here and abroad.
Markets all over the world freaked out over the prospect of having ignorant European voters meddling in the recovery process the geniuses of the high finance world had already painstakingly laid out for them. The model for economic progress in the financial bubble era, after all, is supposed to go something like this: […]
* CHICAGO PULLS PERMIT FOR NURSES RALLY PLANNED FOR NATO SUMMIT
By David Heinzmann, Chicago Tribune
The city of Chicago today yanked a permit for the first demonstration planned for the weekend of the NATO summit in a dispute over where the National Nurses United can hold its rally May 18.
The organization says it has begun talks with American Civil Liberties Union lawyers about a challenge to the city’s about-face. “If the nurses are a threat to Rahm Emanuel, then heaven help the U.S.,” said RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United.
Chicago’s Department of Transportation approved the march from the Sheraton Hotel in Streeterville to Daley Plaza months ago, but on Tuesday the California-based group received word the city had changed the terms, according to DeMoro. […]
As heads of state and foreign ministers descend on McCormick Place for the May 20–21 North Atlantic Treaty Organization confab, so too comes the great debate about NATO. The military alliance was formed in 1949 by the U.S., Canada and ten European countries largely to defend North America and Western Europe from Soviet attack. But since the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO has grown to 28 member countries and become arguably more offensive, engaging in conflicts in Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War in 1999, in Libya last year and, through 2014, in Afghanistan. So is NATO an international gang of thugs or a global peacekeeping force? We talked to people on both sides of the issue.
On NATO’s mission
PRO NATO
“NATO’s mission is to prevent war. And when it’s not able to prevent war, to intervene to make it end as quickly as possible. Frederick II of Prussia described it like this: Diplomacy without weapons is like an orchestra without instruments.”—J.D. Bindenagel, former U.S. ambassador to Germany, DePaul University vice president for community, government and international affairs
ANTI NATO
“NATO is a military bloc that describes itself as a force for peace, security, democracy, goodness and justice. But it’s a military bloc. A military organization exists for one reason: to wage war.”—Rick Rozoff, author of the blog Stop NATO […]
Thirteen doctors and nurses who treated anti-government protesters given 15-year jail terms for crimes against state.
Source: Aljazeera
Thirteen doctors and nurses who treated anti-government protesters during demonstrations in Bahrain earlier this year have been jailed for 15 years for crimes against the state.
Seven other medical professionals were given sentences of between five and 10 years by a special tribunal on Thursday that was set up during the emergency rule that followed the demonstrations.
The doctors’ trial has been closely watched and criticised by rights groups for Bahrain’s use of the security court, which has military prosecutors and both civilian and military judges, in prosecuting civilians. […]
* HUMAN RACE BEING TERMINATED BY ‘SCIENTIFIC SUICIDE’
By Mike Adams, Truth Theory
This is, without question, the most important article I’ve ever penned, because it discusses the idea that the human race is being destroyed in the name of science.
Stopping these “scientists” from destroying our world and our civilization must become our top priority if we hope to survive.
The entire Northern hemisphere is now imminently threatened by a massive, “global killer” radiation release from failing Fukushima reactor No. 4. (http://www.naturalnews.com/035789_Fukushima_Cesium-137_Plume-Gate.htm…). Our world is right now just one earthquake away from a radiological apocalypse, and we were put into this position by scientists who promised us that nuclear power would be safe and inexpensive.
Even as we live under the immediate threat of Cesium-137-induced radiological extinction, another group of genetic scientists threatens the future of our world with self-replicating genetic pollution. These scientists work for Monsanto, Dupont and other biotech firms that have compromised the future of life on Earth in order to seek their own selfish profits. Bill Gates and all the others who have promoted GMOs and allowed them to be unleashed into our world are guilty of nothing less than crimes against both the human race and nature itself.They are a threat to the continuation of life on Earth and must be stopped.
In the realm of human biology, our very existence is now being widely threatened by toxic vaccines. Always promoted in the name of “science,” these vaccines actually cause severe neurological damage and widespread infertility, compromising the ability of members of the human race to reproduce.
And in terms of our global food supply, the accelerating collapse of the honey beesis now solidly linked to the widespread use of chemical pesticides manufactured by pharmaceutical companies (http://www.naturalnews.com/034678_honey_bees_colony_collapse_pesticid…). These pesticides, of course, are always promoted in the name of “science!”
Real science is the quest for understanding, not the quest for profit […]
* FULL-BODY SCANNERS USED ON AIR PASSENGERS MAY DAMAGE HUMAN DNA
By Mike Adams, Natural News
In researching the biological effects of the millimeter wave scanners used for whole body imaging at airports, NaturalNews has learned that the energy emitted by the machines may damage human DNA.
Millimeter wave machines represent one of two primary technologies currently being used for the “digital strip searches” being conducted at airports around the world. “The Transportation Security Administration utilizes two technologies to capture naked images of air travelers – backscatter x-ray technology and millimeter wave technology,” reports the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a non-profit currently suing the U.S. government to stop these electronic strip searches. (http://epic.org/privacy/airtravel/backscatter/)
In order to generate the nude image of the human body, these machines emit terahertz photons — high-frequency energy “particles” that can pass through clothing and body tissue. […]
* HOMELAND SECURITY CONCEDES AIRPORT BODY SCANNER ‘VULNERABILITIES’
By David Kravets, Wired
Federal investigators “identified vulnerabilities in the screening process” at domestic airports using so-called “full body scanners,” according to a classified internal Department of Homeland Security report.
DHS has spent nearly $90 million replacing traditional magnetometers with controversial X-ray body scanning machines that are intended to detect items that could be missed by a metal detector.
Exactly how bad the body scanners are is not being divulged publicly, but the Inspector General report made eight separate recommendations on how to improve screening. […]
Ex-Homeland Security secretary’s company lobbies for body scanner maker
[…] Chopra’s company manufactures the Rapiscan brand of body scanners, currently being deployed across US airports. He joined the CEOs of such companies as GE, PepsiCo and United Technologies on the trip.
The president announced commercial deals worth some $10 billion during the trip, which he said would add some 50,000 jobs to the US economy. India decided earlier this year to implement body scanners at its airports, in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai attacks. (An early experiment with body scanners was quickly scuttled in 2007 due to privacy concerns.)
That a manufacturer of body scanners accompanied the US president on a foreign trip shows the extent of the ties between the industry and the US government. With anger growing at the intrusive news screening procedures, many observers have focused attention on Michael Chertoff, the former Homeland Security secretary whose consultancy, the Chertoff Group, counts OSI as a client. […]
[…] “Airport security has always been compromised by corporate interests,” wrote James Ridgeway at Mother Jones. “When it comes to high-tech screening methods, the TSA has a dismal record of enriching private corporations with failed technologies, and there are signs that the latest miracle device may just bring more of the same.” […]
RT: Just a week after Obama visited Afghanistan to confirm his future commitment to the country, we have yet more news of civilian deaths at the hands of the US military. Just how strong do you think this partnership really is?
Ahmed Quraishi: I think president Karzai will have to learn the hard way that he cannot trust commitments by the US military and the CIA. And when we talk about President Karzai, let’s talk about someone else in Kabul who was complaining quietly about the latest attacks that killed Afghan civilians. I’m talking about American diplomats who actually negotiated the instituted partnership agreement and memorandum of understanding last week that enabled Obama to say that he is moving forward in Afghanistan.
Now, the American diplomats in Kabul are complaining quietly the CIA and the US military by taking actions such as the ones that kill Afghan civilians are undermining the entire body of work, a very hard work over several months that led to the partnership agreement.
And today we have the news that the American ambassador here in Pakistan has actually cut short his assignment here and flown back to Washington because basically the American diplomats here too are complaining that the US military and the CIA are out of control. They do the hard work; they try to work with the Afghan government and the Pakistani government. But when it comes to the US military and the CIA, they destroy everything.
So basically what you see happening right now in Kabul is that President Karzai is in the same position as the US State Department and the US diplomats are in Kabul, which is basically: they cannot trust the US military, they cannot trust the CIA. […]
