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Europe’s Moment of Truth
Greek Premier Alexis Tsipras’ acceptance of an “austerity package” on July 13, which contained measures rejected by the Greek people in a referendum barely a week before, represents not just an abject surrender by the Syriza government, or a sign of contempt on the part of German finance capital for the Greek electorate; it marks […]
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What Would the KKE Do If It Were in SYRIZA’s Place?
We often hear the following, well-intentioned question: “What would you have done if you had been in the place of the SYRIZA government?” The question is not illogical. But we must put it in the right perspective. If we, the KKE, were in the “place” of SYRIZA, meaning the place of bourgeois management, the place […]
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Why Greece Doesn’t Matter
We have to stop talking about Greece. What must emerge from the calamity of SYRIZA-ANEL is a renewed call for democracy. There is a scene in the 1972 political satire The Candidate where Robert Redford looks at the camera and quietly says, “Politicians don’t talk, they make sounds.” For the past five years Greece […]
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With Capitulation in Greece, the Front Moves Outward
Since at least the beginning of this year, the project of achieving a decent, reasonable Europe had set its eyes on Greece. I say nothing of radically transforming Europe into something just and fair and ecologically sound — that prospect is far beyond the present horizon — but hopes that Europe could slowly turn […]
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Berlin, July 1, 1990 — Athens, July 1, 2015
In a recent news video I watched people pushing and shoving at a bank entrance. I immediately recalled another scene, also with people pushing at a bank entrance. In the older scene people looked eager and gleeful, pushing so hard, I believe, that one man’s rib was broken. In the recent pictures they looked very […]
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Lessons from a defeat in Europe
The Troika are celebrating the end of negotiations with Greece, proclaiming that thanks to their tireless efforts the Eurozone remains whole. And why wouldn’t they celebrate? They have demonstrated their power to crush, at least for now, the Greek effort to end austerity and its associated devastating social consequences. Tragically, Syriza has not only surrendered, […]
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General Strike Called in Greece Against the Third Memorandum
There are more powerful things than the Troika Solidarity needed more than before Συλλαλητήριο ενάντια στο νέο μνημόνιο Δευτέρα 13.7.15 και ώρα 7:00μμ http://t.co/RtYvlT17wT — Α.Δ.Ε.Δ.Υ. (@adedygr) July 13, 2015 Civil servant union ADEDY also calls public sector workers for anti-bailout demonstration outside Parliament at 7pm local time. #Greece — Elena Becatoros (@ElenaBec) July […]
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Glory to the Lucid Courage of the Greek People, Facing the European Crisis
The Greek People are an example to Europe and the world. With courage and lucidity the Greek people have rejected the ignoble diktat of European and international finance. They have won a first victory by affirming that democracy cannot exist unless it knows how to put itself at the service of social progress. They have […]
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ΟΧΙ!
For some in other lands and continents Greece may seem distant and marginal, a few narrow peninsulas and scattered archipelagos jutting out of the sea. Some may vaguely recall school knowledge about it. “Didn’t some fellow named Prometheus steal fire from the gods? Or was it Alexander the Great untying some “Gordian knot”? Or a […]
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Marta Harnecker on New Paths Toward 21st Century Socialism
Introduction by Richard Fidler Among the many panels and plenaries at the Conference of the Society for Socialist Studies, which met in Ottawa June 2-5, was a Book Launch for Marta Harnecker’s latest English-language book, A World to Build: New Paths toward Twenty-First Century Socialism (translated by Federico Fuentes), Monthly Review Press. The featured speaker […]
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Changing Captains on the Left
Wealthy, powerful heads of state and other bosses high up in the Bavarian Alps, and the vigorous protests from opposing crowds kept out of earshot downhill, largely stole media thunder this past weekend. Far lower in altitude and attention, with almost no thunder from the media or otherwise, another meeting was held in less scenic […]
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It’s Capitalism, Stupid!
Global capitalism is the 800-pound gorilla. The twin ecological and economic crises, militarism, the rise of the surveillance state, and a dysfunctional political system can all be traced to its normal operations. We need a transformative politics from below that can challenge the fundamentals of capitalism instead of today’s politics that is content to treat […]
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Misconceptions about Neo-Liberalism
Neo-Liberalism is often seen only as an economic policy. This per se might not matter, since a specific set of economic measures do, no doubt, fall under the rubric of neo-liberalism. But by reducing neo-liberalism only to a set of economic measures, a misleading impression is often conveyed that this set of measures are a […]
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Against a New Cold War, For a Rendezvous With Reality
Speech at the Bundestag, 19 March 2015, in response to Angela Merkel’s government’s statement on the European Council, 19-20 March 2015 Meine Antwort auf Angela #Merkel in der heutigen Bundestagsdebatte zum Europäischen Rat: https://t.co/BFcZNoW2Jx #Griechenland #Ukraine #EU — Sahra Wagenknecht (@SWagenknecht) March 19, 2015 Mr. President, honored ladies and gentlemen, Mrs. Chancellor! At your best […]
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Syriza’s Slip
The victory of a Left Alliance, Syriza, in the Greek elections on January 25, was a matter of great significance, especially because that victory was based on a promise that Syriza would get rid of the memoranda imposing austerity on Greece by the “Troika” (the European Union, the European Central Bank and the IMF). Syriza’s […]
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Blockupy the ECB, Blockupy the NATO
I defied my advanced age to board a special train, with a thousand mostly young people, and join in the big “Blockupy” demonstration in Frankfurt am Main, Germany’s big banking city. The trip, though not the usual four and a half but seven hours, retained till well into the night a spirit of happy anticipation. […]
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The European Union’s Anti-People Strategy, with a Special Focus on Greece
. . . So, our party [Communist Party of Greece, KKE] was very clear — for many years now — that the European Union is a union of capital and an anti-people hornet’s nest. The parties of the plutocracy in Greece as well as other countries lied to the peoples, fostered illusions that they […]
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Before It Is Too Late
The renaming of Troika to Institutions, Memorandum to Agreement, and Lenders to Partners, the way fish is baptized “meat,” does not change the previous situation. Neither does it change, of course, the vote of the Greek people in the 25 January 2015 elections. The people voted for what SYRIZA promised: We will overthrow the […]
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On the SYRIZA Government’s Agreement with the Eurogroup
No matter what you call it, the government’s agreement is in form and substance a clear extension of the memorandum, with strict supervision, with evaluation by the institutions (troika), and especially with the continuation of the anti-people reforms. Any revision of the program, e.g. lower primary surpluses, will be done not to actually relieve the […]
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After the Carnival
Tsipras-Schleuder #Rosenmontag #Helau #Düsseldorf #Merkel pic.twitter.com/EiRvyRvf7k — Christoph Ullrich (@ullrich001) February 16, 2015 Every year the Rhine region and southern Germany go crazy. Carnival or Fasching, a cousin of Mardi Gras, officially beginning at 11:11 AM on 11/11 and ending with the Lent period, has been celebrated in Catholic areas since the 1820s — with […]