Martin Schulz, the European parliament’s president and a
so-called social democrat, whose attitude towards democracy can be generously
described as ambiguous, called for the removal of Greece’s elected government in
favour of a technocratic government.It wasn’t bluster.
That’s what the EU and the markets previously pulled off in Greece and, yes, in
Italy: however much justifiable distaste exists for Silvio Berlusconi, it should
have been his own people who removed him. In
Greece itself, the oligarch-owned “free media” acted as a political machine
(sound familiar?), pumping out relentless propaganda in favour of capitulating
to the creditors’ demands. An alliance between Greece’s economic elite and the
EU great powers told the Greek people: however tough your lives have been in the
last few years, your world will cave in unless you acquiesce. And still the
Greek people voted no – not narrowly, but overwhelmingly.
The referendum was, of course, a rejection of an austerity
programme that has unleashed what is commonly described in Greece as a
humanitarian crisis. Since
Lehman Brothers crashed in 2008, austerity has always relied on the
displacement of blame from elites to elsewhere. It was Goldman Sachs who helped
the then Greek government to cook the country’s books to win entry into the
euro. It was German and French banks who profitably and recklessly lent to
Greece, just as US banks disastrously showered subprime mortgages on low-paid
Americans. It was Germany who benefited from being able to export its consumer
goods to peripheral European countries such as Greece.
After the crash, Greece was forced to implement measures that
sent debt hurtling to 180% of GDP, doubled poverty, left a quarter of Greeks and
over half of young people without work, raised the suicide and infant mortality
rate, left many without healthcare, and shrunk the economy by a quarter.
Precious little of the bailouts went to Greece; instead they went to the
European banks that had recklessly lent in the first place. While Germany’s
postwar economic renaissance owed everything to debt relief – including from
war-devastated countries such as Greece – Athens was denied the write-offs it
desperately needed. As French economist Thomas Piketty
points out, “Germany is the single best example of a country that,
throughout its history, has never repaid its external debt”, and Berlin is
“profiting from Greece” because of its high-interest loans. The weak euro makes
German goods so internationally competitive, and has been a linchpin of the
country’s recent economic success.
But this revolt was about something much bigger, and that is
why Greece remains in great danger. This is about the very nature of the
European Union itself. The European project was founded in the rubble of a war
of annihilation, genocide and totalitarianism. It was intended to secure peace,
prosperity and democracy for the people of Europe. This dream has become
something of a nightmare for a growing number of Europeans. A democratic deficit
is unaddressed. The Transatlantic Treaty Investment Partnership is
negotiated in secret with large corporations, conspiring to give them the
power to sue elected governments in secret courts to try to stop policies they
believe hit their profits. The EU treaty negotiated in 2011 effectively forbade
any future eurozone government from
pursuing an expansionary fiscal policy. Other treaties and directives
enshrine free-market dogma in law. Austerity is mindlessly implemented across
the eurozone with terrible human consequences: in Spain, too, around half of
young people are out of work.
Syriza was a revolt against this Europe of austerity and
corporate power, in favour of a democratic, socially progressive Europe. Podemos
in Spain is part of this revolt, as is Sinn Féin in Ireland. If the referendum
had produced a yes, then it would have represented a potentially terminal defeat
for this gathering pan-European revolt. Instead, it has now been emboldened.
Unfortunately the EU elites are not stupid, and realise this. They fear –
justifiably – that if Syriza is seen to win concessions, the rebellion will
spread. The
resignation of Yanis Varoufakis is almost certainly part of an attempt to
allow them to save face and do a deal.
But the EU is in a genuine bind. If Greece is ejected from the
eurozone, the currency is no longer an indivisible union and a precedent will be
set for the ejection of its members. If the ECB abandons Greece, the eurozone’s
reputation will not recover. This is why Greece has bargaining power in its
quest for debt relief and for an abandonment of austerity that has already
ravaged the country. The EU still wishes to make an example of the country: by
forcing Syriza to implement policies that will destroy the government, by making
“the economy scream” (to quote Henry Kissinger) until it is ejected from office,
or even a disastrous default and removal from the eurozone. It may still
succeed. And that is why Greece desperately needs support.
Owen Jones is a columnist and the author of Chavs: The
Demonisation of the Working Class and The Establishment – And How They Get Away
With It