Gar, you will disagree with this tentative summary, but it might lead you to consider whether it is important to recount the history since 2008 even as concisely as you do. Other European countries will likely have similar problems, just as Ireland and Iceland preceded Greece, so emphasis on events that set Greece apart is more of a nuance, whatever the exculpatory value.
- - - The bitter lesson of Greece is that social-democrats are incapable of confronting capital in hard times. Sure, they might get a few crumbs from capital in prosperous times. But since its election, Syriza has done almost nothing to mobilize and educate the Greek people for a successful course of action. Instead, Tsipras and Varoufakis dwell on how to be clever negotiators. So clever that they not only united the bourgoisies of Europe north and south against Greece, they drove Podemos in Spain to distance itself from Syriza. Chile's Allende was an honorable social democrat, and his failure was a tragedy. Syriza's Tsipras and Varoufakis are con men, and their failure is despicable. Of course, it is up to the people of Greece to decide what they must do. Around the world, let us learn from Greece the difference between social democracy and socialism. Charles Andrews My new book, The Hollow Colossus, is calmer than the above. Info at http://www.hollowcolossus.com _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
