Speech delivered by Vassos Lyssarides, the ex-President of the House of Representatives and Honorary President of the Social-Democratic party EDEK, Cyprus
20-21 June, 2015
Delpi-Greece
Χρηματοκρατία (the rule of Finance)
“The Experiment of Europe”
When we were discussing the unification of Europe (elimination of import duties etc) it was suggested that this will make the rich European countries richer and the poor poorer. The counterargument was that there was going to be a transfer of capital and technology from the north to the south to protect their weak economies and the creation of new units to exploit the national possibilities of the south and thus establish a correct equilibrium. The measure was implemented in a non-satisfactory degree and thus we witnessed the phenomenon of increasing the gap between north and south.
The phenomenon was further complicated by the obvious attempt of the economic element to control the political one (Χρηματοκρατία – rule of Money, of Finance) with the money lending capital in cooperation with some strong national economies to impose socio-economic structures to strangulate people’s rule and democracy and the social state. We moved from colonialism to post-colonialism with a nouveau bourgeois elite and now to χρηματοκρατία (the rule of Finance).
Χρηματοκρατία (Chrimatocratia) took advantage of some negative phenomena (bureaucracy, corruption etc).
The European democratic deficit was widened with global economic circles trying to dictate government policies with the threat of bankruptcy.
They try to dictate alliances, new borders and finally control the national resources of countries, especially in regard to the newly discovered gas and petrol.
The effort of Greece to resist the control by Xρηματοκρατία was natural to meet the strong resistance of the global economic circles. The phenomenon was not Greek and the working strata of Europe initially demonstrated with the slogan “We are all Greeks”.
Unhappily the lack of compass, of common strategy and unified leadership led to evaporation of the initial resistance.
In Cyprus they are trying to even dictate political solutions contrary to the international law and the European legal regime. The principles on which the European unification was attempted faded away. A clear example is the attitude toward the Cyprus problem. Turkey which invaded a European country and imposed ethnic cleansing and actual partition, is a candidate member refusing to implement even the presuppositions of its membership. She does not recognize the existence of the globally recognized government of Cyprus whose signature they need to achieve membership. They strangulate the will of the Turkish Cypriots and they exercise a policy of piracy, claiming rights on the Exclusive Economic Zone of Cyprus. Davutoglu declares openly that their aim is to become a regional superpower with global dimensions and that they have to put Cyprus under the control of Turkey by changing the demographic structure through colonization, repeating the Alexandretta experiment. Further they declare themselves as the protectors of the Muslim communities of the ex-Ottoman empire, something that finally led to a confrontation with the “Arab Spring”.
The democratic gap in Europe widens.
The vision to create a Europe based on the principles of solidarity, respect for human rights and peoples rule remains distant.
The circumstances now are more difficult. An effort should be undertaken to achieve unity of action of the people involved, the strata who reject the control of the economic over the political.
The reversal of control from the political to the economic element is of global dimensions, though now more predominant in Europe.
The first reaction now should come from the European countries involved.
With the means of production being more effective, we face deprivation and poverty.
The waves of immigration is another serious European problem. It cannot be faced by police measures as long as the gap between developed and underdeveloped countries exist.
We must adopt a strategy to face Xρηματοκρατία.
We can start with common action by the trade unions and proceed to a wider co-action.
Global unity should not be based on writing off national civilizations, but on the correct approach of patriotism which includes love for all people and the understanding that the violation of rights anywhere involves all of us.
Democracy is indivisible and freedom has no borders
We face a new effort of cration of monopolist planet controlled by the U.S.A.
The Ukraine “crisis” is part of this development. A great number of countries reject this monopoly and are trying to consolidate a resistance front with Russia playing a protagonistic role.
Ending I stress that a co-ordinating committee of all concerned and involved into that struggle might act as a first step to lead the coming explosion of the international reaction to Finance.
