Greece: This Is A Coup

Protesting  Wolfgang Schäuble is not enough

We now know that the Greek parliament has voted to accept the EU’s starve the Greek people’s policy package by 229 to 64.  Because 32 Syriza legislators voted no and 6 abstained we have a situation where Tsipras and Syriza that urged the Greek workers and middle class to vote “no” to austerity in the referendum has now joined the opposition parties in Parliament to impose the Troika’s austerity agenda, although it was reported in a small column in the Wall Street Journal today that the IMF is calling for a 30 year grace period and a debt write off for Greece.  The EU is afraid that would encourage Ireland, Portugal and other poorer countries to seek the same deal. American capital must be feeling a little nervous about the implications of placing Greece on rations and what this might mean for the EU as a project and the stability of the global economy in general. As the author points out below, Greece has been reduced to a colony of European capitalism.

This is an article by a Comrade who writes for our Blog. He is traveling and could not fully finish it. We think however it is more than adequate. We think in fact it hits the nail on the head. This was a "soft" coup" in Greece and before it is over it will not be too "soft." There are already multitudes of people starving on the streets in Greece and there will now be multitudes more. We must point the finger directly at the leaders of Unions and Labor organizations and Left so called leaders in Europe and internationally who fought and fight ferociously in support of this coup. They are the scum of the earth. They are supporting a coup which will force millions more Greek people into starvation.

As for the leader of Syriza, he went from posing as leading a movement which said NO to the capitalist counter revolution against the Greek people, to leading a movement that said  YES in a matter of a couple of weeks. From the possibility of moving towards revolution to leading a counter revolution in a matter of a few weeks. And all the time bleating about how hard it is for him. We are in especially explosive times. Parties and individuals will be thrown up, looked to for leadership, and then fail and be crushed in the shortest of times. The offensive of the capitalist counter revolution will take no prisoners. It will roll over all who tries to stand against it until tens of millions take to the streets and take it on physically. Until a new leadership is built which will deal with these criminals with the utmost ruthlessness and crush them. Sean O Torain.   

This is a Coup

   

from Stephen Morgan in Brussels

At the time of writing, some 400,000 people watching the events in Greece have sent Twitter messages with the hashtag #ThisIsACoup.  Behind them stand millions of working people in Europe and around the world who have drawn exactly the same conclusion.

   

The representatives of the European ruling class have carried out a “soft” coup against the government of Greece and the Greek people. There is no doubt that from the vociferous nature of their attack that the possibility of a hard coup had been considered behind the scenes, involving the army to replace the present government with a technocratic junta backed by Greece's opposition party. As it turned out, the Greek leader, Tsipras, has acted as a “democratic cloak” for the European bourgeoisie and the Troika of the IMF, European Central Bank and European Commission to take control of the Greek political system, its economy, all its assets and national wealth.

   

Using the threat of forcing Greece out of the Euro and the specter of economic crisis on the basis of capitalism, the leaders used the talks to intimidate and humiliate Greece.

   

In the final “deal”- which was really a dictated directive- the EU vampires demanded unlimited attacks on the rights of the working class, taking away job security by giving bosses unlimited rights to sack workers, massive privatization and severe austerity measures which will hit the poor and elderly worst. It is worse than any right-wing government has enforced in Greece.

   

On top of this, they demanded that Greek assets worth  €50billion (the national wealth) should be put in the hands of a institution based in Luxembourg for selling off to foreign buyers. As it turns out, this "Institution for Growth" is a wholly owned subsidiary of German KfW and the chairman of its board is a certain Wolfgang Schäuble, the German Finance Minister, who introduced the proposal.

   

Greece has now been reduced to the status of a colony of European capitalism. There is no real democratically elected government any more. It is only a charade, behind which a dictatorship of European bourgeois representatives, bureaucrats and global capitalist servants now runs the country. Tsipras's so-called left government, and the probable coalition of capitalist parties, which will replace it, are just pathetic puppets dancing to the tune of the European powers.

   

The responsibility for this tragic turn of events rests squarely on the shoulders of the European representatives of the capitalist class. They smelt blood once Tsipras ignored the wishes of the Greek people, who voted with a thundering NO to austerity in last Sunday's referendum, and pushed through a package of concessions in the Greek parliament far worse than the proposals the Greek people had already rejected. And once they knew that Tsipras was bending, they lured him into their snare, fangs bared.

   

This agreement forced on the Greek government wasn't just a question of economics. In reality, it solves none of the fundamental problems of Greek capitalism, and nearly all the serious capitalist analysts believe Greece will be unable to avoid exit from the Euro in the next few months. The deal has simply kicked the can down the street a little.

   

Instead, this was essentially a political decision to force a left-wing government onto its knees and publicly break its neck. The European leaders wanted to send a clear message to the left and the workers' movement throughout Europe that they should never dare challenge the interests of capitalism on the continent

   

Greece’s former finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, who was forced to resign because of his more vociferous, face-on opposition the EU leaders rightly described the tactics of the EU thugs as “terrorism”. The fact is, that the fanatical leaders of the German capitalist “caliphate” wanted to put Greek heads on poles along the streets of Europe as a warning to the European working class.

   

The tactics they employed in the weekend negotiations should leave no doubt in people's minds of how rabidly devoted these people are in defending capitalist interests. Anonymous EU bureaucrats involved in the negotiations told the press that Tsipras was “mentally waterboarded” by EU leaders in the behind-the-scenes discussions, and that in the final stage of negotiations, one of them said, “They crucified Tsipras in there, Crucified.”

   

The Press Project has done some digging on the Luxembourg "Institution for Growth" to which the 4-page eurogroup paper demands that €50bn of Greek state property must be transferred. Guess what. This Luxembourg "institution" is wholly owned subsidiary of German KfW and the chairman of its board is a certain Wolfgang Schäuble.

   

Unfortunately, only a handful of principled SYRIZA MPs opposed the programme of capitulation, which Tsipras pushed through the Greek parliament last Wednesday. The majority of his “hard-left” party supported his anti-working class policies.

   

Rudderless in the storm, they clung to his coat tails and with trembling knees bowed down and prayed for salvation. Out of 149 SYRIZA MPs only two members of the party had the guts to stand up and vote against it. Another 8 abstaining and 7 not turning up.

   

Socialism for these people is just a romantic notion, which one day will be magically brought about by the tooth fairy. They have no real idea of what the class struggle is and how to conduct it.