By Stephen Lendman
Berlin and Brussels colonized Greece, debt entrapping it in the euro straightjacket, the country pillaged, its people impoverished, its crown jewel enterprises and assets sold off at fire sale prices. It continues to grab what’s left.
Paying bankers comes first, a wealth grab against sovereign states and their most vulnerable people.
The more Greece borrows in so-called “rescue” packages, the deeper in unrepayable debt it becomes, heading for eventual default and economic oblivion.
Its long-suffering people are entrapped in dystopian harshness, force-fed austerity taking a terrible toll to enrich financial oligarchs, wanting everything of worth in Greece pillaged.
Serving them created mass unemployment, poverty wages for workers, drastic cutbacks in vital services, higher taxes, slashed pensions, weakened or eliminated labor rights, transferred losses onto the public sector, and a brain drain, many of Greece’s best and brightest gone, others leaving.
On Thursday, Greek parliamentarians again surrendered to Berlin and Brussels. They imposed additional draconian measures, the price for more bailout help, the country mired in deep Depression.
Since spending cuts and higher taxes were initially imposed in 2010, one-fourth of its national output was lost, its unrepayable debt increasing exponentially.
In the last seven years, it’s gotten about 260 billion in bailout loans, ballooning its debt to 179% of GDP.
New austerity measures imposed include more spending and pension cuts, higher taxes, increased privatizations, and reportedly promised new legislation to curb or entirely eliminate strikes.
On Monday, eurozone finance ministers will discuss more bailout relief, contingent on Athens repaying 7.5 billion euros to bankers in July—instead of responsibly defaulting and ending banker occupation.
Prime minister Alexis Tsipras lied, saying “I’m confident we’re entering a period of stability and strong recovery.” In 2015, he lied, promising to end austerity.
Youths suffering from around 50% unemployment, hard-hit public-sector workers, and pensioners aren’t buying it anymore.
On Wednesday and Thursday nights, violent protests raged, public fury over more draconian measures on top of many others earlier.
Thousands gathered in Syntagma Square near parliament. Masked demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails and smashed windows. Police responded with tear gas.
The only responsible solution in Greece, elsewhere in Europe and America is nonviolent revolution. Nothing else can work.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book as editor and contributor is “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.” Visit his blog at sjlendman.blogspot.com . Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.
