How the IMF Broke Greece

by V N Gelis

  3) Send a message that we no longer expect anything from the collaboration of the parties. They created a storm expect a hurricane in return

  www.patari.org

  Eyewitness Account: Local Elections to Become IMF Plebiscite? On 7th November Greece goes to the polls under the infamous Kallikratis plan which creates 13 federated regions for the whole country, with one region Attiki (Athens basin) having 50% of the overall population of the country. The Kallikratis plan creates Super-Mayors with powers reminiscent of governors of ancient Rome. In essence they herald the break-up of central government as they aim to merge thousands of local councils and give Presidential powers to each Mayor in each of the 13 regions. Under this background Papandreou announced last night (25th October) if he doesn‘t win a single region he will resign and go towards new national elections.

  Having attacked on behalf of the IMF-EU creditors vast swathes of the population, pensioners, farmers, small shop owners, workers, unemployed whilst not having imprisoned or even attempted to prosecute a single higher ranking government official or MP involved in bribery scandals for public contracts with foreign multinationals (Siemens being one of them). Already according to media reports one in ten are in food kitchens organised around the churches and the constant increases in VAT rates (food to go from 11% to 13% under EU pressure) are constantly eroding the buying power of those in work. Youth of working age from 18-25% who aren‘t in education or training are more than 80% unemployed supported by families or relatives. The attacks on millions of pensioners with the lowering of pensions has the effect of undermining the social safety net which operates in place of the government. Papandreou realising an electoral wipe-out is on the cards and that he might become the one use Prime minister, attempted to bribe the electorate offering E100 to each pensioner after having cut hundreds already. In addition to this in order to confuse the electorate we have 2 or 3 PASOK prospective candidates in each region with the majority of them declaring they are independent from PASOK without actually having broken from PASOK or even having a single vote in their past which went against the government. Almost all are calling these elections therefore a plebiscite on the IMF.

  IMF-Will not avoid social explosion With daily strikes and struggles all isolated and separate from each other (school students, national railways, part-time museum workers, newsagents etc.) the Left is going from one crisis to the next. Remembering the poor districts of Athens which happen to be in the centre, a leader of the Eurostalinists (who have now split into three factions) Malavazos attempted to speak to an angry public and got yoghurt on his face. The same happened a week before to the KKE‘s candidate. As for the PASOK and New Democracy candidate they dare not even show their face. Crime, prostitution, unemployment and ghettoization with the constant arrival (100,000 in the first six months of 2010) of destitute illegal immigrants has led to conflict in the central Athenian districts which are starting to resemble ‗war zones‘. Add to it the daily rise in unemployment there are no jobs, houses, even food so many sleep in abandoned buildings or in town squares. Under the guise of Greece being unable to control its borders the EU is to send an army (NATO) to Evros (region bordering with Turkey) thus complementing the twin role of the IMF-EU occupation. A NATO presence on Greek soil will obviously have one aim and one aim only, to be used against the Greek population in a period of economic and political instability.

  So the issues that arise in the current period is that the Left continues to disintegrate and with its influence where one would have assumed they would have proven to be a beacon to the population, it continues its policy of supporting separatist struggles without campaigning for them to unite. It might assume that standing candidates in these sham elections (as all economic and political decisions are now taken jointly by the IMF-EU) and that an increase in their votes, due to the fall of the two main parties may allow them a breathing space, cannot be seen on the ground, as no significant IMF imposed measure has been defeated. Without a single defeat of any IMF-EU measure, the issue that will dominate after the public plebiscite of the IMF in the forthcoming elections, will be whether new elections can forestall the coming social explosion or the expulsion of the IMF occurs as a consequence of these new elections...

  Wed 27, October 2010 @ 21:54 There is discussion that if during the first round of local elections this Sunday the ruling party PASOK doesn't achieve a reasonable result they will cancel the 2nd round and go for national elections thus forcing the population to vote for govt thus artificially increasing their capability. A condition for this may be the departure of the PM either after the elections or before.

  The sudden appearance of alleged anarchist terrorists once more as in May (though never have any been seen or shown in any media outlet) may serve the purpose of creating more police presence on the streets by creating a climate of fear as bankruptcy is hanging like the sword of Damocles on the Greek electorate if theydon‘t vote as ...advised.

  Thu 04, November 2010 @ 22:55 VN Gelis said… The abstention rate seems to be massive with over half or around just under half voting depending on the 13 Prefecture districts under which these elections are being held. 10% of those that did vote voted white/blank vote (allowed in all Greek elections). So far 5 of the 13 areas are with New Democracy (Right) which implies Papandreou may go for national elections so as to avoid going to a 2nd round of local elections (under the Kallikratis changes) and not gain any large Prefecture.

  This abstentions rate is similar to so far to the Euro-election abstention rate.

  Left The KKE has increased its electoral showing so far on a smaller voter turnout but if theydon‘t come 2nd in any Prefecture theydon‘t get through to the 2nd round if it is held.

  The Syn/Syriza (ex-Euros) who have had 3 representatives in the Athens area has suffered big defeats. So far there is a big anti-IMF swing taking into account Greeks generally vote so abstention here appears to be taking the form of an anti-IMF plebiscite and the two main parties have lost significantly from the lack of voter turnout and the swing away from them is big.

  So until the elections are finally over (Monday morning) and the main parties make their positions felt we have to wait and see if Papandreou departs as all the media is stating that he does not want to be known as the Prime-Minister who bankrupted Greece (as discussion is occurring constantly about a 'controlled bankruptcy' of Greece) and all the entails:

  i) controlled bankruptcy leading to a possible departure from the Euro,

  ii) expulsion of the IMF,

  iii) possible coalition governments

  not of course in that order or all of them at the same time but these are being discussed widely...as possible future scenarios.

  Sun 07, November 2010 @ 19:47 VN Gelis said… A 40-50% abstention rate added with 10% blank/spoiled vote means that both of the two main parties have lost around 50% of their own electoral base. This has been translated by the FT in an article as a vote for the IMF austerity measures, i.e. thebankster‘s interest paying bond holdings.

  http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3315f114-ea7c-11df-b28d00144feab49a.html?ftcamp=rss#axzz14dBSbhbL The Right hasn't increased its vote so much as to gain from the electoral fallout of PASOK. If they therefore go for a 2nd round and not for national elections, the Right may gain and PASOK may lose more than 50% of the 13 Prefectures, with a possible increase in abstention as the Left won‘t vote for the two main parties‘ candidates in any shape or form.

  Sun 07, November 2010 @ 21:37 VN Gelis said…

  Papandreou announces he won‘t go for national elections in the end.

  PASOK won 8 out of 13 Prefectures now they have to try to keep them

  when they go for the 2nd round. In areas where they gained more than

  50% of the votes there will be no 2nd rounds, which so far are 3.

  Near enough final results

  Abstention, blank and spoiled ballots 45,47%

  PASOK: 19,07%

  NEW DEMOCRACY: 18,37%

  Abstention rate in 20
06 last local elections was 37%

  The KKE has increased its votes to 14% in the Athens basin

  and will get in total around 200,000 votes.

  So on the basis of the figures presented

  1 in 10 of the official electorate (from which thousands have been added

  fraudulently in the last years on the electoral rolls) voted for PASOK.

  This is the lowest share of the vote for any party in power since 1975 and it

  is only two months since the IMF measures have hit the pay packets of workers and pensioners.

  Will the Left campaign now for abstention from the elections where they can ‘t stand candidates nor will they indirectly call for a vote for the Right to defeat PASOK over the next week? Or will they call for a vote for PASOK to not bring back the Right (section of the Euros may go for this)

  Mon 08, November 2010 @ 09:04 VN Gelissaid…

  On the same day reports are posted about the 'low turnout' in the Burmese elections:

  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/07/burma-election-turnout-low

  the extremely low turnout in the Greek elections isn't necessarily headline news. One wonders why? The day after the next round of elections the IMF arrives again for a new batch of measures. The message being, you voted, you shall pay.

  Mon 08, November 2010 @ 17:44 VN Gelis said…

  For those who missed it today or didn't catch it an interesting piece on Greece in today‘s Guardian

  http://tinyurl.com/264ace5

  Some of the comments are also worth reading and they are many....

  Tue 09, November 2010 @ 22:36 VN Gelis said…

  Athens Region Final Results

  Electors 465.888

  Voted: 200.282 / 42,99 %

  Valid: 184.241 / 91,99 %

  Spoiled: 9.841 / 4,91 %

  Blanc: 6.200 / 3,10 %

  Abstention, Spoiled, Blank: 60,5%

  Just below 4 out of 10 voted in these local elections. The KKE has called for abstention in the next round.

  Wed 10, November 2010 @ 00:03 VN Gelissaid… Abstention as expected reached around 68% in the Athens basin for the Mayors position. Add to it the blank/spoiled ballots and another 12% didn't vote.

  PASOK achieved a majority with 11.5% of the voting electorate winning 8 out 13 Prefectures. This they stated is popular recognition that more IMF measures are required as today they arrive once more in Athens. More will follow once all the results are analysed

  Mon 15, November 2010 @ 10:06

  Greece: A Tsunami of Strikes amidst continued Disunity on the Left Despite the recent electoral wipeout of PASOK the government is insistent in implementing every IMF measure turning the country back to the 19th century in terms of labour relations. The new laws have provoked a massive reaction. Having therefore announced they are going to implement the changes to the labour law abolishing collective bargaining, the privatisation of all state owned corporations and continuing indefinitely the IMF payments to foreign bond holders, a tsunami of strikes are occurring this week with a General Strike on 15th December and continued transport strikes as this is being written.

  7th General Strike-Union Parades

  Following the well-worn pattern of meeting in different squares the Greek TUC with ADEDY (UNITE in Greece) and PAME (KKE‘s) Union Federation marched towards Parliament and Sindagma Square and the usual union parades didn‘t take the same course of events as expected. For the last week there have been strikes on different days in the railways, the buses, the banks, air traffic control Aegean Airways etc. A general strike was called, the last of the year, 7th in total, of the by now monthly on average response since the IMF arrived in Greece.

  Police Provocation?

  The size of the demo once more was impressive. Probably the largest since the large demo on 5th May (which led to the death of 3 bank workers at Marfin Bank) probably between 150-200k and the social composition of the crowd wasn‘t the usual ‗suspects‘ of the Left, but many working class people with many students and university youth this time, influenced immensely by the struggles that have erupted in Britain, Italy, Portugal and Spain in the last period, showed a persistence of not wanting to leave the streets. The government had thousands of police and riot police present. They even brought the infamous Dias (motorcycle cops). The police sensing the crowd had ‗evil‘ intentions, wanting their salaries and pension cuts reversed and the IMF out of the country, out of nowhere from the ranks of the demonstrators a couple of black clad characters threw Molotov cocktails, smoke and sound bombs to a group of riot police in the front of the Grande Bretagne Hotel on the corner of Sindagma Sq. opposite Parliament. Was this another police provocation to disperse the demo? What then followed was a violent police reaction with the aim of dispersing the thousands of demonstrators who were on a circular route back towards Omonia and the offices of GSEE passing Parliament on the way. The demo was attacked by teargas and police charges in many different places splitting it into three. The KKE rushed away from the scene of the conflict going towards the other direction of everybody else. Due to the mayhem attacks started to occur to various government buildings such as the Ministry of Economics and the National Post Office as well as the Greek TUC building which was attacked. The police dropped volumes of tear gas making demonstrating near enough impossible.

  Ex-Greek Minister of Transport=Early Xmas Present

  During the last week a near insurrection has occurred in the area on the outskirts of Athens called Katia after hundreds of riot police are enforcing an EU directive to introduce a new dump site after the previous ones have been labelled full. Daily fines have been imposed on Greece by Brussels numbering in the tens of thousands of Euros. Without asking the local population they have imposed a dump site. Over a period of a year protests have occurred and resistance. On Sunday a real insurrection occurred with the local population arming itself with sticks, stones, even weapons and charging against the hundreds of riot police. Battles occurred overnight with many injured on both sides.

  On Monday over 2,000 police, firefighters and navy port workers demonstrated in Athens against the IMF cuts in their wages and benefits which they alleged to be in the region of 20%. Under this background of increased restiveness in many sections of the population when the General Strike came under attack people reacted. They came across an MP and attacked him.

  The media which was also on strike didn‘t report initially anything. It was widely reported on the internet. But the press bureaus of the Left (KKE, Sinaspismos, Democratic Left) condemned the attack. Not a word about what happened in Keratea where many more heads were cracked open. All the parliamentary parties are sensing a social storm is coming. Privatising everything and abolishing collective bargaining will destroy the labour movement in its entirety. This is a battle that cannot be lost. The divisions in the Left have to be overcome and the unions should start to coordinate their strikes indefinitely. Without a political orientation to fight for power, get the IMF out, a social explosion without leadership Argentinian style will provide the alternative, due to the vacuum of the Left. Either which way more incidents against MP‘s will be on the cards

  Euro, Ireland and Usurious Debts

  Monstrous Whilst power is being transferred slowly out of the national terrain into the hands of the unelected EU-IMF vultures, with only a quisling role assigned to the governments of Greece and Ireland (and soon Portugal and Spain), it is becoming clear that the project for a European Union with a single currency but 16 different governments is unravelling right before our eyes. No serious commentator believes it will survive in its present form.

  The stage will arrive in the not too distant future, if it isn't

  actually here already, that the blood required by the vultures of the EU-IMF will no longer be able to be given. Bankruptcy and default of all foreign debts will occur. What does the Weekly Worker assume is going to happen next? That the euro will continue and that the nations of Europe will not fight against their erasure - as announced
by Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, in a speech to the EU, when he stated that the nation-states are dead?

  Where national sovereignty is threatened, economic decisions are passed to the control of unelected bureaucrats - historically Ireland voted 'NO' in the Lisbon treaty referendum, but then had to vote 'yes' in a rerun. A rebellion starting on national terrain will be the next stage of political developments - the City of London has allegedly made loans to the tune of £150 billion and a default on these debts will mean it takes a hit. This will be a progressive outcome, shifting the balance away from the bloodsucking banksters back to the people.

  In attacking the future nationalist response of the Irish people, the Weekly Worker appears to want these monstrous, usurious debts to be paid.

  VN Gelis

  If only VN Gelis decries the statement by European Council president Herman Van Rompuy that the ―nation-states are dead‖ (Letters, December 2). As a Marxist, I could only rejoice if such a statement were actually true!

  Surely, a basic requirement of internationalism is a view that the nationstate is historically dead, and the progressive solutions we need and fight for can only be achieved over its grave, and on the basis of the development of much wider associations. Previous crises in the European Union have provided the fuel to drive towards much greater integration within it, and it is almost certain that, however much nationalists like VN Gelis dislike the idea; such will be the case this time too.

  S/he says that no serious commentator believes that the euro can survive in its current state. That is quite clearly false. Although it‘s possible that the euro may cease to exist in its present form, and I have explored the possibility of that myself, the reality is that it most likely will continue to exist in its present form, and there are plenty of serious commentators who hold that view. The reality is that the euro is a political project. At the end of the day, the political forces behind that project will do whatever is needed to ensure it continues. In a recent TV interview, Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was only the latest leader to spell out what that means: constructing a fiscal union to go along with the monetary union. Already, it has been agreed that next year the EU will issue its own bonds to raise capital in the markets, and that is just another step down the road of constructing a federal European state.