Anything but the people
One side of the world says that Greece is recovering, that the country is on the right track towards competitiveness, that if the power changes hands, i.e. if Syriza comes to power, it will be the full catastrophe with the country exiting the Eurozone and total bankruptcy.
This is the message delivered, of course, by the present Prime Minister of Greece, Samaras, and his co-PM Venizelos. There is nothing surprising here: after all, they are in power, they have applied the economic policies which have led the country in its present situation, and they represent the two political parties who have managed the country for decades and decades, in the end leading it where it stands now. With a little nuance however: now, the power has moved rightwards and has serious right-wing accointances: notably (but among others) the Secretary of State to Development and Merchant Navy appointed in 2011 A. Georgiadis author of Jews: The entire truth, an antisemitic pamphlet paying tribute to Hitler.
This is the message delivered by the Eurozone representatives (and the IMF), which is not either surprising: their association, called the Troika, have taken the rule of the country, literally speaking, since they have decided which laws have to be passed in the Greek parliament in order to enforce so-called "austerity" measures, now for about 6 years. This situation is called the 'memorandum'.
The message has only the credibility of a wishful thinking. Most of what they call a "recovery" is due to factors that might have little to do with a true recovery. For example, the good touristic season has brought encouraging figures at the end of the summer; the commercial balance has moved a little, but mostly because Greeks' purchasing power has collapsed; the budget is a little better, mostly because of new taxes everywhere crushing people.
And now Pierre Moscovici (French social-democracy) comes to Athens to support the Samaras-Venizelos-Troïka regime; just as Wolfgang Schauble just says today that Greece is doing better, a statement mostly based on the fact that the summer figures show a 0,9% decrease of unemployment (which won't surprise anyone).
Another side of the world contemplates Greece and sees an ongoing disaster under the shadow of plain folly. A folly from the economical point of view. A folly from the human point of view. A folly beautifully wrapped in the poetics of jargonspeak for those who think that a tie, some figures and adverbs of choice amount to rationality if not to reasonableness. A folly, except from the financial point of view of the lenders, certainly.
When children are hungry; when whole families simply can't afford food; when the whole assets owned by a country are sold to the private sector (which will indeed find them profitable), when orphanages can't manage to find the basic food necessary for the kids, so that employees take on their small salary to buy the food themselves, when people are basically dying of the lack of medication and the removal of healthcare, it's commonsense to ask, after 6 long years of so-called "austerity" (which went much further than the IMF had recommended) the good it has provided. And still, more taxes are being set up; teachers are asked to teach for free; students and people are being beaten by furious police.
How come the power in place, in Athens and in Brussels, did not expect that these policies would be one day rejected by the people? Can't they find themselves happy that it is a moderate leftist party, Syriza, and not Golden Dawn, that attracts the people's anger? Or would they prefer the other way round?
Still, fascism, and with it a civil war, can happen, with a potential intervention of neighboring Turkey who is currently in search of a revival of its imperial past. Political instability has been installed by the Troïka seeking to reassure the markets about the Euro with horrendous policies protecting only the interests of the wealthiest, without consideration for the human cost. Yes, there are lots of lost lives: but business is business, or, put it in more politically correct terms, it takes what it takes, they will say.
Stubbornness is shameless, by nature.
This is the message delivered, of course, by the present Prime Minister of Greece, Samaras, and his co-PM Venizelos. There is nothing surprising here: after all, they are in power, they have applied the economic policies which have led the country in its present situation, and they represent the two political parties who have managed the country for decades and decades, in the end leading it where it stands now. With a little nuance however: now, the power has moved rightwards and has serious right-wing accointances: notably (but among others) the Secretary of State to Development and Merchant Navy appointed in 2011 A. Georgiadis author of Jews: The entire truth, an antisemitic pamphlet paying tribute to Hitler.
This is the message delivered by the Eurozone representatives (and the IMF), which is not either surprising: their association, called the Troika, have taken the rule of the country, literally speaking, since they have decided which laws have to be passed in the Greek parliament in order to enforce so-called "austerity" measures, now for about 6 years. This situation is called the 'memorandum'.
The message has only the credibility of a wishful thinking. Most of what they call a "recovery" is due to factors that might have little to do with a true recovery. For example, the good touristic season has brought encouraging figures at the end of the summer; the commercial balance has moved a little, but mostly because Greeks' purchasing power has collapsed; the budget is a little better, mostly because of new taxes everywhere crushing people.
And now Pierre Moscovici (French social-democracy) comes to Athens to support the Samaras-Venizelos-Troïka regime; just as Wolfgang Schauble just says today that Greece is doing better, a statement mostly based on the fact that the summer figures show a 0,9% decrease of unemployment (which won't surprise anyone).
Another side of the world contemplates Greece and sees an ongoing disaster under the shadow of plain folly. A folly from the economical point of view. A folly from the human point of view. A folly beautifully wrapped in the poetics of jargonspeak for those who think that a tie, some figures and adverbs of choice amount to rationality if not to reasonableness. A folly, except from the financial point of view of the lenders, certainly.
When children are hungry; when whole families simply can't afford food; when the whole assets owned by a country are sold to the private sector (which will indeed find them profitable), when orphanages can't manage to find the basic food necessary for the kids, so that employees take on their small salary to buy the food themselves, when people are basically dying of the lack of medication and the removal of healthcare, it's commonsense to ask, after 6 long years of so-called "austerity" (which went much further than the IMF had recommended) the good it has provided. And still, more taxes are being set up; teachers are asked to teach for free; students and people are being beaten by furious police.
How come the power in place, in Athens and in Brussels, did not expect that these policies would be one day rejected by the people? Can't they find themselves happy that it is a moderate leftist party, Syriza, and not Golden Dawn, that attracts the people's anger? Or would they prefer the other way round?
Still, fascism, and with it a civil war, can happen, with a potential intervention of neighboring Turkey who is currently in search of a revival of its imperial past. Political instability has been installed by the Troïka seeking to reassure the markets about the Euro with horrendous policies protecting only the interests of the wealthiest, without consideration for the human cost. Yes, there are lots of lost lives: but business is business, or, put it in more politically correct terms, it takes what it takes, they will say.
Stubbornness is shameless, by nature.
et encore, on n'est pas allés voir sous la ligne de flottaison... les centaines de milliers de gens sortis ou absents des radars, les chômeurs en fin de droit (chômage = un forfait de 349€/mois pendant un an, puis plus RIEN, pas de bouée de secours, rien, sinon la charité sous forme de soupe distribuée par l'église, ou par XA mais là il faut montrer son passeport grec - ces chômeurs là sont hors radar : imaginez 27% de chômeurs déclarés, le reste ?), les fous dans les asiles (vous rappelez-vous les appels au secours du directeur de l'asile de léros, qui demandait simplement de la nourriture pour ses fous ?), les prisonniers dans les prisons moyenâgeuses, sans soins, mourant de turberculose, VIH, etc., les vieux dans les maisons-mouroirs. sans parler des détresses qui n'intéressent personne, par exemple celle des animaux en "refuge", qu'on abandonne à leur sort faute d'argent pour les nourrir. mais les touristes ne voient rien de cela, et les grecs sont humains, à l'arrivée du soleil et de la foule bigarrée et internationale qui vient aimer ce pays, ils sourient et se réjouissent : comment croire que c'est la misère qui se cache à l'ombre de cette lumière magique ? mais bon, on arrive peut-être au bout du tunnel, du cauchemar : 160 voix dimas, 135 voix abstention, le 23 il faut 200 voix pour dimas, le 29, 180 voix... avec un peu de chance, et un peu de courage politique de la part des députés bien au chaud à la vouli, 2015 va voir ce gouvernement aux ordres retourner à sa poubelle.
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