Greek crisis is the canary in the mine
Last year the Greek economy suffered a further blow, contracting by 1.2% at the end of 2016, according to revised figures released earlier this week. The figures, published by the Greek statistics agency Elstat show it was the worst quarter since the summer of 2015, when the European Central Bank closed the Greek banks.
The medicine imposed by the EU is killing the patient, not that there was ever any intention of helping the patient to recover.
Capitalism is an adaptive system, or was, 50 year long Kondratieff cycles, each new cycle driven by technological innovation. This came to an abrupt end in 2008. We are now post-capitalism.
2008 a banking crisis, morphed into an economic crisis, into a social and political crisis, and now a geo-political crisis.
2009 the German banks were bankrupt, their ‘assets’ worthless dodgy US financial instrument. They were bailed out by the German taxpayer.
2010 the German banks were in trouble again, back with their begging bowls, the Greek state was bankrupt, could not service their debt, technically the German banks were insolvent. The German taxpayer would not stomach a second bail out of the German banks. A clever ploy, biggest ever loan to a bankrupt state, the money flows to Greece straight back out to French and German banks. Classic extend and pretend. And a bonus, control the Greek state, plunder the Greek state, force sell off of state assets at knockdown prices. The result, Greek economy shrank by 25%. To put that in context, Great Depression following the Wall Street Crash economies shrank by 20%.
2015 Syriza won a landslide victory, with a mandate to challenge the EU.
What we saw in Greece, was not ‘conventional Left politics’, this was a radical, progressive moment with popular support. Greeks were saying, enough is enough.
Most intelligent observers recognise, the EU is close to collapse. It is a rigid hierarchical system. Such systems lack the ability to adapt, they are brittle and cannot survive shocks.
The banking crash of 2008 was one such shock. The election of Syriza was another shock. The example being set by Syriza could not be allowed to spread, the contagion had to be contained.
The mechanism used to destroy the Greek banks and destroy the Greek government was the ECB. The role of a Central Bank when banks are in trouble is to help support the banks, ECB did the exact opposite.
But was the closure process legal and within the ECB’s charter and mandate?
ECB President Mario Draghi wasn’t sure; Draghi commissioned an independent legal opinion on this issue.
Fabio De Masi, a German Die Linke MEP, asked for a copy of this legal opinion. He was denied a copy.
When money flowed into Greece, then back out to bail out German and French banks, why were EU citizens not told what was happening? Instead they were led to believe that hard working Germans were subsidising lazy Greeks.
Greece was bankrupt. The existing debts should have been written off, or at the very least restructured. Instead, more money was loaned to enable the Greeks to continue to service their debts.
ECB is a Central Bank without a government. Countries within the eurozone are countries without a central bank. The eurogroup lacks any legitimacy, legally and a constitutionally it does not exist.
ECB used its powers to interfere directly in the democratic process of a country.
Yanis Varoufakis and Fabio De Masi MEP have launched a public campaign demanding the immediate release of what they are calling The Greek Papers.
Greece is the canary in the mine, symptomatic of a wider problem within the EU and the eurozone.
As it celebrates the signing of the Rome treaty, EU has proposed changes but it is merely a watered down version of business as usual
EU is not Europe.
We should be planning now for the collapse of the EU to be replaced by a network of cooperating democratic countries.
At local level, as we have seen in Spain, Madrid, Barcelona and A Coruña, ordinary citizens seizing control of their local Town Halls, opening to public participation, then networking with other citizen controlled Town Halls.
We need across Europe a Green New Deal.
At local level, establishment of open coops, support for small businesses, collaborative commons.
We need faircoin and fairpay card as cooperative digital alternatives to the euro, at local level, local currencies.
In Foundation, first book of the Foundation trilogy, the Galactic Empire is collapsing. A group of citizens establish at opposite ends of the galaxy, two foundations. They do so in the knowledge that the Empire will collapse, but by preserving what is known, they will greatly reduce the period of instability.
That is the situation we now find ourselves in Europe. 2008 could be our 1929, when Europe descended into Fascism and chaos.
We are already seeing the end, the rise in Fascism, the chaos.
We must work now to plan for the future, otherwise our 2008 will be 1929.
Please support Yanis Varoufakis, Fabio De Masi and DiEM25 in their call for the release of The Greek Papers. Please support their request to release these critical documents by signing the petition calling for the release of #The GreekFiles.
