Greece rejects Euro-austerity and social terrorism

At least there is one country in Europe with a spine and some courage and that country is called Greece; at least there is one people in Europe who stand for Democracy and those people are the Greeks. On the other side of the fence, the endemic misery, social terrorism and subservience to Germany practiced by Eurocrats and preached by Euro-austerity.

After the people of Greece voted on Sunday July 5 to reject the European Union's austerity plan (61.3% voted NO against 38.7% who voted YES), two questions are raised: firstly, will the European Union respect Democracy for once and secondly, how viable is the financial and economic system practiced in the West?

The EU history on referendums

In answer to these questions, let us see the European Union's history. The rule is, when the people vote against the Great Project, the referendum is cynically reworded and repeated ad nauseam until people get tired and it passes anyway. It is called Euro-democracy, with a small "d". After the Danish people rejected the Treaty of Maastricht in 1992, the referendum was repeated the following year and it passed. In 2001, Ireland rejected the Treaty of Nice. The referendum was repeated the following year and it passed, with under half the electorate voting. In 2008, Ireland rejected the Treaty of Lisbon. The referendum was repeated the following year and passed.

And now for the system itself. How viable is a decision to impose a new currency on an entire Continent without knowing the consequences of all the vectors in play? How sensible was it to impose constraints on the economy of Greece which it could not possibly follow through with? How logical is it to allow a country's finances to reach a state whereby it is contracting loan after loan to pay interest on previous loans? How predictable was it that these policies would spiral downwards to the point Greece has reached?

Is it fair that the Greek people should foot the bill?

And now for the big one: How fair is it on the Greek people to expect them to pick up the tab and to foot the bill because of the mistakes of today's wonderful generation of Eurocrats, echelons of technicians belched forth from private universities holding diplomas not worth the paper they are printed on, jobs for the boys, jobs for the sons and daughters and cousins and wives and husbands and friends and friends of friends and sons and daughters of friends of friends who would not only be unemployed but unemployable in the private sector?

And the answer to these questions is that the European Union amounts to austerity, misery and economic pain, the policies of the European Union amount to social terrorism, the economic and financial system is unviable, senseless, illogical and predictably unfair. It does not guarantee a job, it has turned education into a business, where the rich pay for qualifications and the poor can fight for scraps of bread in the gutter, it has turned healthcare into a business, where the rich pay for treatment and the have-nots have not access to a doctor, there is insecurity on the streets, Europe is once again fraught with international tensions, unnecessarily.

This from the Continent which enslaved millions of people, drew lines on maps, massacred entire populations, destroyed whole societies and twice sent monsters eastwards into Russia.

When will the social terrorists planning the European Union's wonderful policies as it marches towards the Great Plan realize that the citizens of Europe never wanted a pluri-national State, they never wanted a single currency and they never wanted anything near to a European Constitution? All they ever wanted, and want, and will always want, is nothing more than a loose trading agreement allowing them to trade freely (like EFTA), with the possibility of using their currencies as leverage against the nefarious effects of their wonderful boom and bust capitalist monetarist economic system, enjoying national controls over sovereign issues.

The way forward? There are many possibilities and previous examples of countries divorcing amicably and adopting new currencies. There is the example of Greenland leaving the EU, there is a wealth of new opportunities for Greece outside the (stupid) Eurozone but inside the European Union. Or, now that Greece has shown it has cujones, outside both. No debt. No problem. Greek solutions for Greek questions made by Greeks for Greeks.

And on the subject of debts and debt relief, or pardoning of debt, the key word is Schuldenabkommen, the relief pardon of Germany's debt after the Second World War. For Germany, after what it did, yes. For Greece, the reward for fighting Fascism and Nazism is no. The story of the haves and the have-nots, the rich and the poor, the North-South divide and Deutschland über Alles.

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravda.Ru  

([email protected])

*Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey has worked as a correspondent, journalist, deputy editor, editor, chief editor, director, project manager, executive director, partner and owner of printed and online daily, weekly, monthly and yearly publications, TV stations and media groups printed, aired and distributed in Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Portugal, Mozambique and São Tomé and Principe Isles; the Russian Foreign Ministry publication Dialog and the Cuban Foreign Ministry Official Publications. He has spent the last two decades in humanitarian projects, connecting communities, working to document and catalog disappearing languages, cultures, traditions, working to network with the LGBT communities helping to set up shelters for abused or frightened victims and as Media Partner with UN Women, working to foster the UN Women project to fight against gender violence and to strive for an end to sexism, racism and homophobia. He is also a Media Partner of Humane Society International, fighting for animal rights.