A spectre has been haunting the European Union. The spectre of the “No” at the Greek referendums on July 5. As the Greeks responded to the abominable and unprecedented austerity imposed upon them by the Troika, various theories did rounds. However, none could deny that “stability” measures imposed by the creditors had not only failed miserably, but had acted against their very pompous declarations.
Contrary to projections, in the last five years, Greece’s economy has contracted by 26%, unemployment grew to 27% (it is 60% among the youth). The measures intended to reduce Greek debt has only seen it jump from 120% to 180% of GDP. This terrible economic catastrophe has led to a socio-political crisis. It is unimaginable to witness more than 3 million people brought below the poverty line in a developed country. The very images, emblematic of the poverty-stricken third world -- devastated by centuries of colonial rule -- form part of the Greek tragedy.
The Greek audacity
In January, the people reacted by electing Syriza with a clear mandate to put an end to austerity. Following this election, the Troika took an even harder stand to teach the Greeks a lesson for their audacity. The Tsipras government, caving in on numerous occasions during negotiations, intended to remain in the Eurozone and the EU. The lenders, nevertheless, tried to dictate not only a continuation but a step-up of their failed recipes. Measures that have already made the country collapse.
The German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung was privy to a report: “Preliminary debt sustainability analysis for Greece,” prepared by the creditors (the Troika, which controls 80% of the Greek debt). The IMF, which had earlier profited enormously from the Greek debt crisis, has admitted that the Greek debt is non-viable. Going by the lenders’ own admission, Greece needed, first of all, a cancellation of a large part of their debt, but the Troika seemed least bothered about it. Instead, on June 26, it threatened the country with demands and ultimatums, and offered non-negotiable deals that would have certainly entrenched the austerity further.
For a referendum
Faced with such aggression, the Hellenic government asked its citizens to determine the future of the country through a referendum that was held on July 5. This created political shockwaves across the continent and was seen as a further act of defiance. The president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, at a press conference on June 5, accused the Greeks of betrayal. He even attempted to mislead global opinion by claiming that the recent package was all about ensuring “more social fairness” and blamed Tsipras for deceiving the public and instead calling for a referendum.
In a recent speech, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras responded to the blackmailing of the Troika through the ultimatum that asked the Greeks “to accept a severe and degrading austerity without end.” He called for a referendum and appealed for a “no” vote against the austerity proposals that serve as conditionalities for the bail-out funds by the Troika.
The Troika ruffled
The announcement of the referendum badly distressed the Troika when it was attempting to fire all cylinders to tame the “recalcitrant” left-wing government. It is no wonder that such warped minds settle at horrid oodles of distortion. In the last five months, the Greek negotiators have accommodated a lot and conceded enormously to the Troika. They made commitments to further fiscal austerity -- en enormous compromise of the Thessaloníki program that helped them win mass support and tilt the electoral scales.
The inflexibility of the creditor’s offers complicated matters further. Not only did they refuse to talk about debt relief, which was at the core of any meaningful solution of this human tragedy, they consistently pretended that there was nothing to discuss. The offer was on the plate, the Greeks had to take it or be punished and get expelled from the Eurozone.
Yet, by their own secret admissions, the program had failed to achieve anything near debt sustainability. It has nothing to do except meaninglessly destroying the Greeks even further.
The leading voices in the European order were totally stumped on the Greek response. They could not digest the fact that a debtor may stay morally high and demand concessions instead of meekly complying. They attempted to create impressions that Greece is nothing more than a two-bit socialistic country that grossly overspends on its citizens who have lived a lifetime on public assistance.
With the decision to default on repaying the IMF on June 30, Greece was bracketed with some of the poorest and unstable countries in the planet -- Zimbabwe, Sudan, and Somalia -- countries which had earlier missed IMF payments.
While it is never for a moment acknowledged that the misery and misfortune of the masses in those countries, the decade-old civil wars and financial catastrophe are the results of centuries of pillages and destruction caused by colonial powers and imperial forces. These forces did not just leave the country devastated, they also left it with a huge debt-burden, often borrowed to suppress the anti-colonial movements.
If they are not convinced, confuse them
If the initial response of the European bureaucrats to the referendum was one of fury and delirium, they soon realised that to stay away from it would make them lose ground. Since June 29, most of them, under the leadership of Juncker, were sparing no efforts to openly influence and sponsor the Greeks to say “yes.” They were hoping that a “yes” vote on Sunday might compel Tsipras to resign, and the creditors could take control of Athens once again. There were also attempts to desist Tsipras from calling for a “no” vote. An unashamed exposition of the farcical attempts to prevail upon Greece at any cost.
Greece is at the centre of attention for varied purposes. Canards flew in all directions as the government was forced to close banks and limit withdrawals under inexorable attack by the European authorities, who would have liked to trigger capital flight and let it bleed to death. Stories abound that Greece is now a zombie state. Stores lack food, ATMs lack money, social services are crippled, there is no baby food and no fuel. It is a dying state that is soon leaving Europe notoriously known as the “Grexit.”
No to austerity
This ultimatum was a severe insult to the Greek people and their democratic choices and, therefore, it should have been rejected. The Troika was not only trying to destroy Greece; they were keen on destroying anything democratic in Europe, and seem to serve the rest of the world a notice through their actions. When the Greeks voted on July 5 to serve a decisive blow to the blackmails called austerity, that important moment required all of us to speak up and take a stand. And now, “No” supporters can celebrate their rightful victory.