سايت سازمان کارگران انقلابی ايران (راه کارگر)

شنبه ۹ اسفند ۱۳۹۳ برابر با ۲۸ فوريه ۲۰۱۵

Greece: After Eurogroup agreement, internal debate erupts in Syriza

Stathis Kouvelakis, member of the Central Committee of SYRIZA and one of the leading exponents of the Left Platform, has written an account of the turbulent meeting of the party’s parliamentary group, which reveals doubt and opposition to the agreement reached with the Eurogroup.

شنبه ۹ اسفند ۱۳۹۳ برابر با ۲۸ فوريه ۲۰۱۵

Syriza and the Radical Break

Nantina Vgontzas

That the elected representatives of Syriza and its popular bases lie to the left of the party leadership is a very heartening sign. It is on them and on other forces of the Left to facilitate discussions where questions about capital flight, currency devaluation, rationing of basic goods, trade partnerships, and even the longer-term prospects of disciplining capital are raised, deliberated, answered.....It is only under conditions where people are informed and inspired, where they feel as though they’re not leaping into the dark, or at least that there are concrete ways of navigating it together rather than around it in fear, that any alternative could work....

پنجشنبه ۷ اسفند ۱۳۹۳ برابر با ۲۶ فوريه ۲۰۱۵

The Greek Debt Interim Agreement: Necessary Step or Sell-Out?

Jack Rasmus

Syriza’s severe critics should therefore assess the situation as it is, using their heads, instead of just passionately declaring all is lost because they didn’t get everything they wanted immediately and overnight on February 28th. Negotiations are not over, they have just begun. And so has the fight. Meanwhile, it is too early to voluntarily and arbitrarily throw much needed solidarity overboard. As workers know full well when their bargaining team goes into negotiations, you don’t declare sell out and split your ranks even before you’ve gone out on strike. There’s ample time to better determine if that bargaining team’s doing its job. Right now, it looks like Syriza—Tsipras and Varoufakis—have made the right tactical decision on February 28. Let’s see if they can now make the best strategic choices going forward as well. ....

پنجشنبه ۷ اسفند ۱۳۹۳ برابر با ۲۶ فوريه ۲۰۱۵

'Syriza wins time—and space\' by Étienne Balibar and Sandro Mezzadra

Étienne Balibar and Sandro Mezzadra

But the collective force on which the advances of future months and years depend must be materially established also on the terrain of this other ‘continent’. So the terrain this force has to take to is – can only be – Europe itself, with a view to a constituent rupture with the current course of its history. Hence the importance of mobilisations like the one that the Blockupy movement has called for 18 March in Frankfurt, upon the inauguration of the new ECB headquarters.......

پنجشنبه ۷ اسفند ۱۳۹۳ برابر با ۲۶ فوريه ۲۰۱۵

Yanis Varoufakis interview: ‘Anything’s better than austerity'

Yanis Varoufakis

“Michael Noonan is quite right. We need to restructure Greek debt. My proposal for GDP-linked bonds has one purpose: to increase the amount of money we give back to your partners by encouraging them to allow us to grow.”

Greece can’t be left to sink, like Winnie in Beckett’s play.

“Anything is better than confining us to an austerity hole where we shrink every day,” he says.

پنجشنبه ۷ اسفند ۱۳۹۳ برابر با ۲۶ فوريه ۲۰۱۵

Greece: Time for Plan B?

Jerome Roos

All of this will require a level of radicalization and preparation that currently seems both utterly irresponsible and completely unrealistic. Yet this is precisely where the brutally anti-democratic methods of the Eurozone are pushing Greece today. For five years, Greeks have been living in total despair. Desperate times call for desperate measures — and the time for unilateral default and Grexit may be approaching faster than most people are willing or able to recognize. If the left truly cares about ending austerity, it should start preparing Plan B.

پنجشنبه ۷ اسفند ۱۳۹۳ برابر با ۲۶ فوريه ۲۰۱۵

Missing from the Greek deal: figures

Paul Mason

The shock in Syriza’s upper echelons, symbolised by the expression on Alexis Tsipras’ face as he addressed the nation on Saturday, was real. It was the shock of realisation that, Germany was stronger than Italy and France combined, and that there really is no space inside the euro for a radical left government.

Since this realisation, many ordinary Greeks, and some previously pro-euro politicians and advisers, have come to the conclusion that Syriza should prepare Greece for a “controlled exit”. Instead of “we were kicked out”, it would be sold as “we escaped” – and I think however positively today’s deal is spun, the push for Grexit will grow stronger as constraints become obvious

پنجشنبه ۷ اسفند ۱۳۹۳ برابر با ۲۶ فوريه ۲۰۱۵

European Banks vs. Greek Labour

Greece's Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is proposing austerity on the banking class, rather than the working class, to balance the budget

Michael Hudson

Because what's at issue really is a class war. It's not so much Germany versus Greece, as the papers say. It's really the war of the banks against labor. And it's a continuation of Thatcherism and neoliberalism. .....

پنجشنبه ۷ اسفند ۱۳۹۳ برابر با ۲۶ فوريه ۲۰۱۵

The Greek Tragedy: Some things not to forget, which the new Greek leaders have not

William Blum

Will the United States, Germany, the rest of the European Union, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund – collectively constituting the International Mafia – allow the new Greek leaders of the Syriza party to dictate the conditions of Greece’s rescue and salvation? The answer at the moment is a decided “No”. The fact that Syriza leaders, for some time, have made no secret of their affinity for Russia is reason enough to seal their fate. They should have known how the Cold War works.

I believe Syriza is sincere, and I’m rooting for them, but they may have overestimated their own strength, while forgetting how the Mafia came to occupy its position; it didn’t derive from a lot of compromise with left-wing upstarts. Greece may have no choice, eventually, but to default on its debts and leave the Eurozone. The hunger and unemployment of the Greek people may leave them no alternative.

پنجشنبه ۷ اسفند ۱۳۹۳ برابر با ۲۶ فوريه ۲۰۱۵

The Perspective of an Anti-Fascist in Athens

Understanding Syriza and the Situation in Greece

JAZRA KHALEED

Actually, the whole political spectrum in Greece has moved right to appeal to the nationalist demands of the majority of the electorate. The success of Syriza drew mainly on the disaffection of the working and lower middle class voters to the politics of the pro-Memorandum governments. In the five years since the agreement was signed, the Greek working class have seen their incomes dwindle, and have been forced to accept low-wage and insecure jobs, while unemployment climbed to 27%.

پنجشنبه ۷ اسفند ۱۳۹۳ برابر با ۲۶ فوريه ۲۰۱۵

No, Syriza has not surrendered

Default was always going to be a last resort, not an opening gambit: it will only be politically possible if no alternative remains

We need a huge movement across Europe in solidarity with Greece, and we need to be throwing ourselves into building that movement, not reclining in our armchairs ready to say 'I told you so'

Tom Walker

... Some on the left, of course, had written them long before January election. Syriza, you see, has failed to declare the revolution. So far, so familiar. But over the last few days some more sensible forces seem – as with the coalition deal in the early days of the Syriza government – to have got a little carried away in their horror at this week debt deal, believing the German government crowing rhetoric that Syriza has suffered total humiliation.This is a deal that has been described in quite the opposite terms by Greek prime minister Alexis Tspiras: he called it is a decisive step, leaving austerity, the bailouts and the troikav. Unless he has quite suddenly and unexpectedly taken leave of planet Earth, there is more going on here than meets the eye.

پنجشنبه ۷ اسفند ۱۳۹۳ برابر با ۲۶ فوريه ۲۰۱۵

Reading The Greek Deal Correctly

James K. Galbraith

That appears to be what happened. And it happened for the reason given in my essay: in the end, Chancellor Merkel preferred not to be the leader responsible for the fragmentation of Europe.

Alexis Tsipras stated it correctly. Greece won a battle – perhaps a skirmish – and the war continues. But the political sea-change that SYRIZA’s victory has sparked goes on. From a psychological standpoint, Greece has already changed; there is a spirit and dignity in Athens that was not there six months ago. Soon enough, new fronts will open in Spain, then perhaps Ireland, and later Portugal, all of which have elections coming. It is not likely that the government in Greece will collapse, or yield, in the talks ahead, and over time the scope of maneuver gained in this first skirmish will become more clear. In a year the political landscape of Europe may be quite different from what it appears to be today......

سه-شنبه ۵ اسفند ۱۳۹۳ برابر با ۲۴ فوريه ۲۰۱۵

A Different Kind of State

by Leo Panitch

It’s a difficult thing and I’m not sure it’s done well anywhere, but I think that you’re pointing at the right thing. It’s not just a matter of program, and it’s not just a matter of organization; it’s learning how to speak popularly in a way that is nevertheless socialist.

To speak in a way that is not just anticapitalist, but gives people a validation of a socialist conception of running the state in a different way — not just more state or less state, but a different kind of state. Not just more market or less market, but a different kind of economy. That’s how we need to be articulating a new political language.

سه-شنبه ۵ اسفند ۱۳۹۳ برابر با ۲۴ فوريه ۲۰۱۵

‘Going on this way can only mean defeat’

Stathis Kouvelakis

After Greece’s agreement with the European Union – with the aid programme being extended in exchange for the continuation of structural reforms – the new government has arrived at an impasse. The hopes of those seeking an end to austerity have not even lasted a month. Stathis Kouvelakis, member of the Syriza central committee and reader in political theory at King’s College London comments on these developments in the interview below.....

سه-شنبه ۵ اسفند ۱۳۹۳ برابر با ۲۴ فوريه ۲۰۱۵

The Alternative in Greece

Stathis Kouvelakis

et us begin with what should be indisputable: the Eurogroup agreement that the Greek government was dragged into on Friday amounts to a headlong retreat .....The memorandum regime is to be extended, the loan agreement and the totality of debt recognized, “supervision,” another word for troika rule, is to be continued under another name, and there is now little chance Syriza’s program can be implemented... Such a thorough failure is not, and cannot be, a matter of chance, or the product of an ill-devised tactical maneuver. It represents the defeat of a specific political line that has underlain the government’s current approach.......If, therefore, we wish to avert a second, and this time decisive, defeat — which would put an end to the Greek leftist experiment, with incalculable consequences for society and for the Left inside and outside this country — we must look reality in the face and speak the language of honesty. The debate on strategy must finally recommence, without taboos and on the basis of the congress resolutions of Syriza, which for some time now have been turned into innocuous icons.....If Syriza still has a reason for existing as a political subject, a force for the elaboration of emancipatory politics, and for contribution to the struggles of the subordinated classes, it must be a part of this effort to initiate an in-depth analysis of the present situation and the means of overcoming it .....“The truth is revolutionary,” to cite the words of a famous leader who knew what he was talking about. And only the truth is revolutionary, we may now add, with the historical experience we have since acquired....

سه-شنبه ۵ اسفند ۱۳۹۳ برابر با ۲۴ فوريه ۲۰۱۵

Show Solidarity And Stop Bashing Greece!

el and Schäuble are incapable of admitting that their economic course for Europe has failed and it’s time to set out on a new course. In Germany Angela Merkel is not only identified with this course, it’s also popular. Basically, public opinion as a whole has been trumpeting for years that German economic prowess is tied to the fact “that we worked hard” and “never lived beyond our means.” So, it’ll all get better if only all the others tightened their belts even more. Merkel is practically unbeatable as long as this mood prevails. Of course, that’s hardly a spur for a powermonger like the German Chancellor to change course....

سه-شنبه ۵ اسفند ۱۳۹۳ برابر با ۲۴ فوريه ۲۰۱۵

What The Eurogroup Demands Is Absurd

Paul Krugmann

That’s not gonna happen. Let’s put it this way: it is an absurd demand. Maybe this Greek government might agree to it; if so they will fall and something much more radical will take its place. So the question is whether the Eurogroup is so determined to make an example of Greece that they are willing to see that happen. It’s very frustrating to see Syriza portrayed as asking for easy terms, asking for a lot of money. They are actually prepared to continue with the enormous sacrifices Greece has already made. What they are not willing to do is to substantially increase those sacrifices going forwards.....

سه-شنبه ۵ اسفند ۱۳۹۳ برابر با ۲۴ فوريه ۲۰۱۵

Greece’s fate: In Angela Merkel’s hands?

Shawn Tully

Will Varoufakis fold to keep Greece in the Euro by dropping the growth platform that got the new government elected in the first place? “That’s impossible,” says Galbraith. “He’d get on his motorcycle and drive off. He gnashed his teeth to take the job. He wanted to put his ideas into practice.”

Europe’s finance ministers have never witnessed anything like Varoufakis. Merkel will need to decide if compromising with someone regarded as this radical and outrageous is really an option. The Euro’s future may hang in the balance......

سه-شنبه ۵ اسفند ۱۳۹۳ برابر با ۲۴ فوريه ۲۰۱۵

Varoufakis Keeps Greece in the Eurozone, by its Fingernails

MIKE WHITNEY

Athens it most certainly was. It got the promise that no self-defeating, excessive austerity would be asked of it any more, the assurance that it could devise its own economic and social policies, as long as they did not impact negatively on the interests of its partners, rather than having to execute and leaving in place all the measures accepted by the former government and strongly rejected by the people. These are huge improvements for Athe, with no significant counterbalancing downside compared to 16 February......

سه-شنبه ۵ اسفند ۱۳۹۳ برابر با ۲۴ فوريه ۲۰۱۵

The Creation of Global Financial Serfdom

Greece, Germany and Global Finance

ROB URIE

Regardless of rumors of pending resolution, the crisis in Greece is escalating with capital flight, an imminent government funding shortfall and terms being forced on it by the European North, particularly Germany, that are (1) politically, economically and socially untenable and (2) guaranteed to exacerbate the manufactured economic crisis that the EU claims it wants to resolve. The intransigence of the European North in the face of its clearly failed policies is increasingly punitive and risks rapid decline into regional, and possibly global, crisis......

سه-شنبه ۵ اسفند ۱۳۹۳ برابر با ۲۴ فوريه ۲۰۱۵

Greek Debt as Labor Contract Negotiations

Jack Rasmus

It’s not likely the Troika will agree this early, well before February 28, to start removing austerity measures in exchange for an extension of the rest of the bailout program for another 4-6 months. They will instead push Greece to the 11th hour, deepening pressure on Greek banks in the interim by hinting of no further liquidity assistance, and then declaring on March 1 that no more money will in fact be loaned to Greek banks, just to see how Greece responds.