[Marxism] Ecuador: Opposition leaders now made to pay tax

[Stuart Munckton via Marxism]

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Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa singled out opposition politician Jaime
Nebot, who has been calling for protests against the government, as a clear
example of the progress the country has made with respect to the collection
of taxes.

Correa came to power in 2007. He said in 2006, Nebot paid just US$1994 in
income taxes, but by last year the opposition leader was paying US$66,593.

https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/59351

-- 
“Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is humanity’s
original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made,
through disobedience and through rebellion.” — Oscar Wilde, Soul of Man
Under Socialism

“The free market is perfectly natural... do you think I am some kind of
dummy?” — Jarvis Cocker
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[Marxism] Morales praises social movements for changing Bolivia

[Stuart Munckton via Marxism]

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Bolivia's President Evo Morales highlighted the importance of social
movements in driving the changes and the economic growth experienced by the
South American country in recent years.

https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/59352

-- 
“Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is humanity’s
original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made,
through disobedience and through rebellion.” — Oscar Wilde, Soul of Man
Under Socialism

“The free market is perfectly natural... do you think I am some kind of
dummy?” — Jarvis Cocker
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[Marxism] not Syriza & not Tsirpas

[Gary MacLennan via Marxism]

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There is some truth in the line "we'll do a deal  but not with Tsirpas";
 but not a lot of truth.   The truth is hat Syriza has frightened the
bourgeoisie, and they will heave a sigh of relief if Syriza are defeated.
The neoliberals will still want their pound of flesh, though.

The clarity of the politics in Greece contrasts remarkably with those here
in Oz.  We are expected to worry about boat people (refugees) and ISIS who
according to the Prime Minister are coming for us.  We are also supposed to
believe the budget is broken and needs fixing.

In Greece the enemy is out there for all to see. Syriza have stayed true to
their mandate (given a wobble or two), so even if they are driven from
office, they will be able to stay proud.

Those who have heard their masters' voices, may win on Sunday.  They
campaign under the slogan "We are not traitors". But that fools no one.

The result though will be a terrible tragedy for Greece.  All talk of a
better deal, if Tsirpas goes, will vanish like bubbles. Defeating Tsirpas
and his party will solve nothing & that will become clearer over the next
few months.

comradely

Gary
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Re: [Marxism] A capitalist restoration in the Cuban style?

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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On 6/30/15 9:40 PM, Celeste Murillo via Marxism wrote:

Political support to Raúl’s government and to the monopoly of the Cuban
Communist Party is a support to the Cuban road to restoration[6] . A
workers’ and socialist alternative for Cuba, part of independence facing
the government and criticism of its measures from a strategy and a program
to defend and restore the conquests of the Revolution, by confronting the
imperialist maneuvers, interference and blackmails (like the blockade), as
well as putting an end to the power and privileges of the bureaucracy, by
building a new regime based on the democratic organizations of the masses.
In summary, it is about the program and strategy of political revolution,
the only one that can regenerate the CubanRevolution.


Yawn.
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[Marxism] A capitalist restoration in the Cuban style?

[Celeste Murillo via Marxism]

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Cuba: Times of a "thaw" with imperialism
​ /

​The complete article here:
http://leftvoice.org/Cuba-Times-of-a-thaw-with-imperialism

​---​


Support to the program of Raúl Castro or defense of the revolutionary
conquests

The spokesmen of Havana do not cease to insist that the reforms have as an
aim the "updating of the economic model," in order to construct a
prosperous "socialism," a proposition ever less credible in light of the
facts.

Some groups of the left, although critical of this path, justify it because
of Cuba’s isolation in the capitalist world, as a "lesser evil" facing the
danger of a violent capitalist restoration. But the Cuban plan is not an
intelligent "third way" that will avoid the restoration, but the road to
take to it, in a controlled manner, "in the Cuban style," keeping the
monopoly of political power in the hands of the bureaucracy, for their
conversion into a new property-owning class, after the example of their
peers in China or Vietnam. This course, that is increasingly accepted by
imperialism (as Obama’s calculations show), is enormously demoralizing for
the Cuban people and for all of Latin America, since it appears to show
that there is no other road than "market socialism" (or a "twenty-first
century socialism," with capitalists included), and that it is useless to
struggle against imperialist oppression.

For example, the Marxist economist Claudio Katz justifies the Cuban
government in terms of a mandatory "NEP." [5] But a retreat, although
mandatory, cannot be presented as an "improvement," and, in addition, it
strengthens the internal enemies of socialism and thus must be explained.
Katz also denies that introducing a genuine socialist democracy could be a
"panacea." It is not a matter of a "panacea," but that the regime of a
"single party" of the bureaucracy stifles every trace of independent
political life of the masses, and it reduces the space to the minimum or
directly represses the critical groups on the left. Facing that, it is
essential that the workers and the youth have a full right to get organized
and express themselves, which includes the right of the political currents
that declare themselves against imperialism and for the defense of the
revolution, to act freely. It is the working people who must discuss,
decide and review the measures in place to adopt, according to the people’s
interests, and exercise collective control over all aspects of economic
life. Workers’ democracy is a practical necessity, in order to confront
reaction,combat the bureaucracy and balance the relationship between the
centralizing plan and the margins to offer the "market," not a "luxury"
that can be replaced by the plebiscitary, ultra-controlled mechanisms of
elections like the recent municipal elections.

Political support to Raúl’s government and to the monopoly of the Cuban
Communist Party is a support to the Cuban road to restoration[6] . A
workers’ and socialist alternative for Cuba, part of independence facing
the government and criticism of its measures from a strategy and a program
to defend and restore the conquests of the Revolution, by confronting the
imperialist maneuvers, interference and blackmails (like the blockade), as
well as putting an end to the power and privileges of the bureaucracy, by
building a new regime based on the democratic organizations of the masses.
In summary, it is about the program and strategy of political revolution,
the only one that can regenerate the CubanRevolution.
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[Marxism] Critique of Capitalism for Kidz!

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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Now presenting:
Critique of Capitalism for Kidz!

Critique of Capitalism for Kidz! will help you inoculate your child 
against the insidious ideology of the rich-- the 1%, the owners of the 
means of production.



Share! It's not stealing! See our VOTS (Voluntary Own To Share) 
licensing agreement.

PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!
BHP is run by volunteers. Donations go to the creators. 
Volume 1: The Working Class

By C.R. Hayne

The Working Class is the heart warming story of Carlos, who falls under 
the influence of "funny little men" in stovepipe hats and three piece 
suits who advise him to maximize profit by mistreating his burro. In the 
end, Carlos realizes that properly caring for his burro gets better 
results than abusing him.


The Working Class will familiarize your child with basic concepts such 
as the alienation of the workers from their labor, capitalism's 
relentless push toward starvation wages, the physical brutality visited 
on workers in a capitalist society, and the strategy of the general strike.


Howard Gindoff wites The Great Cartoon of Life, and is the creator of 
the Elvis Buddha.


http://bluehighwaypublishing.com/
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[Marxism] Greece Misses Debt Payment, Deepening a Crisis

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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NY Times, June 30 2015
Greece Misses Debt Payment, Deepening a Crisis
By JIM YARDLEY and JAMES KANTER

ATHENS — The International Monetary Fund said shortly after midnight 
Wednesday that Greece had missed a crucial debt payment to the fund.


“We have informed our executive board that Greece is now in arrears and 
can only receive I.M.F. financing once the arrears are cleared,” said 
Gerry Rice, a spokesman for the fund.


Greece is not technically in default, but missing the payment is yet 
another an unmistakable warning that the country will probably be unable 
to meet its other obligations in coming weeks, to its bond holders and 
to the European Central Bank. That may might make the European Central 
Bank, one of its principal creditors, less willing to continue emergency 
loans that have been propping up Greek banks for the past several months.


By declaring Greece in arrears, the I.M.F. avoided using the term 
“default.” Credit rating agencies also will not consider Greece to be in 
default based on missing the I.M.F. payment, for the technical reason 
that the I.M.F. is not considered a commercial borrower.


The weak link in the 19-nation eurozone is struggling to tame its debt. 
On Tuesday, Greece missed an important payment to the International 
Monetary Fund.


But the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said in a statement Tuesday 
that it would designate Greece as being in default if the country cannot 
make payments to private creditors, like €2 billion in Greek Treasury 
bills that are due on July 10.With just hours to go before the deadline 
for the payment, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had asked the other 
nations that use the euro to provide another bailout that would buy 
Athens time to renegotiate its crippling debt load.


Finance ministers of the eurozone countries discussed the proposal on 
Tuesday night and left open the possibility that Greece could eventually 
win a new aid package, but dashed any hopes Athens had for immediate 
action. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany had said earlier in the day 
that no deal with Mr. Tsipras’s government could be negotiated until 
after a referendum on Sunday in which Greeks will be asked to accept or 
reject an offer made last week by Greece’s creditors.


Mr. Rice confirmed that the I.M.F. had received a request on Tuesday 
from the Greek authorities for an extension on the repayment.


That request, he said, “will go to the I.M.F.’s Executive Board in due 
course.”


Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the head of the Eurogroup of finance ministers, 
also said on Tuesday night that Greece was effectively in default and 
could now face even tougher conditions for a new aid package.


Mr. Dijsselbloem was speaking to CNBC shortly before midnight Central 
European Time when Greece formally missed a payment due the 
International Monetary Fund, and the European part of the country’s 
current bailout program expired. During a conference call earlier in the 
evening, the Eurogroup ministers refused a last-minute bid by Mr. 
Tsipras to extend that program.


“I think the fact of the matter is that Greece is in default or will be 
in default tomorrow morning on the I.M.F. and also, I believe, on a loan 
to their own central bank,” Mr. Dijsselbloem told CNBC. “But they will 
be in default, and I don’t think can alter that in the short term.”


Any new program for Greece from the European bailout fund, the European 
Stability Mechanism — something that was requested by Mr. Tsipras on 
Tuesday — would require a number of procedural steps and raise 
significant new challenges for Greece.


“Any talks about a future program will have to be discussed in the 
Eurogroup" and "will have to be assessed by the institutions,” Mr. 
Dijsselbloem said.


He was referring to the three institutions — the European Commission, 
the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank — that 
oversee Greece’s compliance with the terms of the two giant bailouts it 
has been granted since 2010.


Earlier, Alexander Stubb, the Finnish finance minister, wrote on his 
Twitter account that extending Greece’s current bailout program had not 
been possible. But Mr. Stubb said the request for what amounts to a 
third bailout for Greece would be “dealt with through normal 
procedures,” as was “always” the case after such requests.


The developments came after top European Union officials had outlined 
another offer to Mr. Tsipras on Monday night, and suggested that both 
sides were interested in defusing a crisis that has left Greece 
financially crippled and at risk of becoming the first nation to leave 
the euro currency union. France and the United States, among oth

[Marxism] Telegraph: For Greece's international creditors, regime change is the ultimate goal

[Shalva Eliava via Marxism]

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"It’s not that the troika won’t do a deal with Greece, it’s just that it won’t 
do a deal with Syriza. Even if the basis for one could be found, the IMF, the 
European Commission and the European Central Bank would not trust the current 
government to implement it. In such circumstances, they would rather not have 
one at all, and damn the consequences.


If, on the other hand, a more centrist government were to emerge in Greece, a 
far more conciliatory offer would immediately be on the table. Greece would be 
welcomed back with open arms. 

As long as Greece remains led by Syriza, there is virtually no chance of 
achieving the stated goal – remaining in the euro, but with a less severe form 
of austerity. 

The irony is that an alternative government would be much more likely to 
achieve this outcome than Syriza."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/11706630yy/For-Greeces-international-creditors-regime-change-is-the-ultimate-goal.html


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[Marxism] Guardian: IMF: austerity measures would still leave Greece with unsustainable debt

[Shalva Eliava via Marxism]

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Secret documents show creditors’ baseline estimate puts debt at 118% of GDP in 
2030, even if it signs up to all tax and spending reforms demanded by troika

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jun/30/greek-debt-troika-analysis-says-significant-concessions-still-needed

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[Marxism] U.S. Labor: AFL-CIO blog supports Greece vs. troika

[Dayne Goodwin via Marxism]

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Economics as Religion
by William E. Spriggs
AFL-CIO NOW blog

. . .
In the U.S. we must take the side of Greece in this fight...

More importantly, we must also revolt against this economic order. It
is the same order that saved JP Morgan Chase, but let Detroit and now
Puerto Rico fail. It is the same religion that would sacrifice the
earnings of American students with rising student debt and de-invest
in public higher education. It is the same religion that would
sacrifice American jobs and labor standards and back the Trans-Pacific
Partnership. We must see these as the same struggle to restore sanity
and purpose to role of government and its servant, the economy.
. . .
please sign petition:


Congress: Oppose IMF Assault on Greek Democracy
To be delivered to The United States House of Representatives and The
United States Senate
Oppose what the IMF is doing to Greece by making a public statement
against the hardline austerity demands and dangerous brinkmanship of
the IMF in its debt negotiations with Greece.

Petition Background

Greece is experiencing a financial crisis imposed by the hardline
austerity demands and dangerous brinkmanship of its official
creditors, especially the International Monetary Fund [IMF]. The IMF
is a US-taxpayer financed institution. President Obama [1] and US
Nobel-prize winning economists Paul Krugman [2] and Joseph Stiglitz
[3] have criticized the IMF policies which have led to this crisis,
which is coming to a head this week with threats that Greece may be
forced to default on its debt and leave the Euro if Greek voters don’t
approve new austerity demands, including cuts to public pensions and
raising the retirement age.

Urge your Representative and Senators to make a public statement
against what the IMF is doing to Greece by signing our petition.

References:
1. “Obama joins ally list on Greek austerity relief,”
http://news.yahoo.com/obama-joins-ally-list-greek-austerity-relief-033040983.html
2. “Greece Over the Brink,”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/29/opinion/paul-krugman-greece-over-the-brink.html
3. “Europe’s Attack on Greek Democracy,”
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/greece-referendum-troika-eurozone-by-joseph-e--stiglitz-2015-06

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[Marxism] DNow!: As Greece Heads for Default, Voters Prepare to Vote in Pivotal Referendum on More Austerity

[Dayne Goodwin via Marxism]

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As Greece Heads for Default, Voters Prepare to Vote in Pivotal
Referendum on More Austerity
DemocracyNow! June 30


Tens of thousands of Greeks have protested against further austerity
cuts ahead of a key referendum on a new European bailout. The
demonstrations come as the country confirms it will not meet the
deadline for a $1.8 billion loan repayment due by 6 p.m. Eastern time
tonight, deepening Greece’s fiscal crisis and threatening its exit
from the eurozone. Greece will hold a vote this Sunday on whether to
accept an austerity package of budget cuts and tax hikes in exchange
for new loans. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has urged a "no"
vote, calling the proposal a surrender. We go to Greece to speak with
Costas Panayotakis, professor of sociology at the New York City
College of Technology at CUNY and author of "Remaking Scarcity: From
Capitalist Inefficiency to Economic Democracy."

AMY GOODMAN: We begin today’s show in Greece, where tens of thousands
of Greeks protested Monday against further austerity cuts. The
demonstrations come as the country confirms it will not meet the
deadline for a $1.8 billion loan repayment due by 6:00 p.m. Eastern
time tonight.

NIKO: [translated] We have come here today because we want to tell the
government and the whole of Europe that the government must not back
down. Austerity is destroying people. And this must end. The Greek
people have suffered a lot.

AMY GOODMAN: The European Commission wants Greece to accept an
austerity package in exchange for new loans that would help it avoid a
default. But Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has refused to accept
the bailout deal, calling it a, quote, "humiliation." Over the
weekend, Tsipras announced a national referendum set for this Sunday
on whether Greece should accept the terms of a new bailout. The
European Central Bank followed by rejecting Greece’s request to extend
an emergency loan program until after the vote. In response, Tsipras
announced the closure of Greek banks and the stock market, as well as
restrictions on bank transfers. During a nationally televised
interview Monday night, Tsipras called the rejection of a loan
extension "blackmail" and called for Greeks to vote no this Sunday.

PRIME MINISTER ALEXIS TSIPRAS: [translated] If the Greek people want
to proceed with austerity measures in perpetuity, with austerity plans
which will leave us unable to lift our heads, to have thousands of
young people leaving for abroad, to have high unemployment rates and
new programs and loans, if this is their choice, we will respect it,
but we will not be the ones to carry it out. On the other hand, if we
want to claim a new, dignified future for our country, then we will do
that all together. People have power in their hands when they decide
to use it.
. . .
AMY GOODMAN: Well, for more, we go directly to Greece, just outside
Sparta, where we’re joined by Costas Panayotakis. He is a professor of
sociology at the New York City College of Technology at CUNY and
author of Remaking Scarcity: From Capitalist Inefficiency to Economic
Democracy.
. . .
AMY GOODMAN: Can you explain exactly what the referendum puts to the
people of Greece Sunday?

COSTAS PANAYOTAKIS: Yeah. There are two documents with the proposals
of the Europeans regarding what should have been the measures adopted
by the Greek government in order to get the latest installment of the
loan that it would need to keep servicing its debt in the coming
months. And this has very heavy, very harsh measures. The idea that
Chancellor Merkel, as in your clip, suggested that this was a generous
offer would seem like a cruel joke to all Greeks, even opponents of
the government. We are talking about, you know, reducing pensions even
further. We are talking about escalation of sales taxes. We’re talking
about undermining the livelihood of people who have seen their living
standards already decrease dramatically in the last five years.

AMY GOODMAN: On Monday, the EU Commission president, Jean-Claude
Juncker, accused the Greek government of betraying efforts to broker a
deal.
. . .
COSTAS PANAYOTAKIS: Well, I think there is a contradiction in his
speech. He starts, as in this clip, to try to seem like he’s above
this dispute and claiming he wants to bring the two sides together,
but then, a few minutes later into the same speech, he basically
attacked the Greek government as basically lying to Greek people as to
what the terms were, and that even as—even foreign journalists, from
Financial Times and elsewhere, pointed out that he was the one who was
lying when he claimed that there w

[Marxism] solidarity rally w/ Greek people: NYC tomorrow/Wed. July 1 6:30pm Athens Square Park, Astoria, Queens

[Dayne Goodwin via Marxism]

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Please Forward & Post on Websites, Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

RALLY
SOLIDARITY WITH THE GREEK PEOPLE!
OXI (NO) TO THE BANKERS' BLACKMAIL
WEDNESDAY, JULY 1

Athens Square Park, 30th Avenue at 30th Street
Astoria, Queens, NYC
6:30pm

Stand with the people of Greece for democracy and against the
insistence of the Troika on deepening austerity and misery! Greek
voters have been called upon to judge the Troika's proposals in a
popular referendum next Sunday. They face a decisive week in the
financial and economic crisis that has plagued the country since 2008.
The people in Greece are besieged and blackmailed and need a show of
international solidarity. Join us at the heart of the Greek community
in New York City.

Bring OXI (NO) placards, banners, etc. to show your solidarity.

Please help publicize and invite your friends! Let us know on Facebook
if you can join us:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1463548867294456/

Subway: N/Q to 30th Avenue; Bus: M60 to the first stop in Queens, Hoyt
Ave at 31st Street.

Initiated by AKNY-Greece Solidarity Movement, Syriza NY, Antarsya NY.
Endorsed by Campaign for Peace and Democracy, Socialist Alternative,
Working Families Party.

Map: 
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Athens+Square/@40.7678385,-73.9222962,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x9fdde87dcc38a5ec

# # # # #
Find us on Facebook: Campaign for Peace and Democracy
Email: c...@igc.org
Web:  www.cpdweb.org
Twitter: @CampPeaceDem
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Re: [Marxism] ToI: Israel acknowledges it is helping Syrian rebelfighters

[Andrew Pollack via Marxism]

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Of course not (military victory). There will certainly be a violent stage
at some point before, during and/or after liberation. The question is will
it occur in the context of a revolutionary mass mobilization led by
democratic movements and parties, with decisive support from elsewhere in
the region.

On Tue, Jun 30, 2015 at 3:20 PM, Joseph Catron  wrote:

> On Mon, Jun 29, 2015 at 2:45 PM, Andrew Pollack 
>  wrote:
>
> Then neither can Palestine.
>>
>
> A military conflict? Well, no. Of course they can't!
>
> Sorry, I'm literally sputtering here at the implied notion that they could
> .
>
> You don't think that, do you?
>
> --
> "Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen
> lytlað."
>
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Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Next Steps for Electoral Action Conference

[Rick Sklader via Marxism]

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On Monday, June 29, 2015, Louis Proyect via Marxism <
marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote:

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>
> Recommendations:
>
> --A national common name & label, so that local efforts can be part of
> something larger
> --Structures and forums which empower all participants, regardless of
> organizational affiliation or lack thereof; the power of group
> representatives should be present, but balanced by the power of an
> --individual-membership component
> --An extremely short list of common demands, to give the network a clear
> political content as opposed to being a free-for-all with no boundaries,
> and also to help bring the Left’s critical wedge issues to the national
> stage in a coordinated fashion
> --Systematize the collection & display of educational materials for mutual
> support
>
> Immediate Conference Aftermath
>
> Already rumors begin to circulate that the Left Electoral conference was a
> “one-off conference” instead of the beginning of a network.  I think that
> is a bit unfair, but it’s also a bit inevitable.  The network is currently
> structured around a “Continuations Committee,” which is a fine name in my
> opinion (because it is an accurate name for the committee), but is also a
> closed committee structure of about 12 people with no clear means for
> participation by the attendees or others who support the conference’s goals.
>
> full: http://www.thenorthstar.info/?p=12330
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Re: [Marxism] ToI: Israel acknowledges it is helping Syrian rebelfighters

[Joseph Catron via Marxism]

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On Mon, Jun 29, 2015 at 2:45 PM, Andrew Pollack 
 wrote:

Then neither can Palestine.
>

A military conflict? Well, no. Of course they can't!

Sorry, I'm literally sputtering here at the implied notion that they could.

You don't think that, do you?

-- 
"Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen
lytlað."
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[Marxism] Fwd: Translation: Pablo Iglesias on the Left | Cunning Hired Knaves

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://hiredknaves.wordpress.com/2015/06/30/translation-pablo-iglesias-on-the-left/
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[Marxism] Thousands march in Honduras to demand resignation of president

[Dennis Brasky via Marxism]

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Some 25,000 protesters chanted slogans against Hernandez as they marched to
the presidential palace from a poor neighborhood in the capital, past a
commercial zone filled with malls.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/27/us-honduras-protest-idUSKBN0P703V20150627

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[Marxism] bosses try to force workers to attend Yes rally

[Andrew Pollack via Marxism]

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* *

*There are reports from Athens

that some firms have been pushing their staff to take part in tonight’s Yes
rally.*

Not sure how substantial they are, so I’ve alerted our people on the ground
- in the meantime, regular reader equusmulusoctopus
 has kindly
provided the details:
  [image: User avatar for equusmulusoctopus]

  equusmulusoctopus 
 30 June 2015 3:49pm


The labour inspection of the Greek ministry of work and social insurance
says that it has been receiving dozens of complaints since early this
morning about employers trying to force their employees to participate in
the "yes" demonstration this evening. The attempt appears to be well
organised and the employees are told to gather at certain places where they
will be given placards and whistles and be marched to Syntagma. Those who
don't go are threatened by immediate dismissal.

The attempts to force employees to the demonstration are made at all sorts
of companies, mostly big and medium-sized. The ministry mentions shipping
companies, companies trading in foodstuffs, German companies trading
electric goods and insurance companies explicitly, but adds that the
complaints come "from everywhere imaginable".

Source: Efsyn



http://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2015/jun/30/greek-debt-crisis-day-of-decision-for-tsipras
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Re: [Marxism] ToI: Israel acknowledges it is helping Syrianrebelfighters

[Michael Karadjis via Marxism]

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-Original Message- 
From: A.R. G via Marxism



I also wonder what sort of

treatment a Palestinian would get if he were simply giving "humanitarian
aid" to a member of Al Nusra.

Problem is that no-one has demonstrated that Israel has given any 
medical aid to a member of Nusra. All we know is that Israel doesn't do 
a check. Do people assume Nusra gives out membership cards that they 
keep in their pocket? Do you think if the IDF asks them "are you Nusra" 
they will just tell them? Should they check with a Syrian regime data 
base on Nusra members?


If their aim is to keep the flames stoked, then they could easily do 
either

bombs or medical aid, I don't see why it makes a difference as far as
understanding exactly what Israel is trying to do on the ground. Bombs 
or bandages,
what's the difference if the aim is to maintain a stalemate between 
Assad

and the rebels?

I disagree that the aim is to keep the flames stoked. The flames are 
stoked and there is not a damn thing Israel can do about that even if it 
wanted to. It may well be that Israel prefers "both sides to lose" as 
Kissinger famously proposed for the Iran-Iraq war, but it is not doing 
much to help this process. How do you "keep the flames stoked"  by 
providing medical aid as a "weapon" against warplanes, helicopters, 
barrel bombs, ballistic missiles, chlorine gas etc? The absolutely 
overwhelming superiority in weaponry in the hands of the regime is 
obvious; if Israel wanted to "balance things a little, not for the 
rebels to win, but just to give a fight to the regime", then surely 
Israel would at least supply some half-useful weapons, as opposed to the 
large amount of nothing which the UN reports show it has supplied. Of 
course, the flames remain stoked because, as in other revolutionary 
guerilla wars, the people have nothing to lose, and over time they 
capture weaponry from the regime.


Joseph Catron:

"As for Michael's comparison with Palestinians, it's hardly substantial
enough to merit commentary. Israel is the occupying power, and pressure
from the international community forces it to make some meager 
allowances

for the welfare of Palestinians under its control, including advanced
health care not available in the '67 territories"

So Israel looks after Palestinian civilians and fighters due to 
"pressure from the international community." Geez, that's good, because 
I've never heard much about that before. But given this, I wonder if 
there might be some kinds of pressure from the reality on the ground, 
from "the international community", in relation to the total devastation 
next door. Israel is a front-line state to the Syrian Nakba. However, 
front-line states supply different amounts and types of support. Turkey, 
Jordan and Lebanon have taken in millions of refugees, Iraq a few and 
Israel none. The US/Iranian regime in Iraq's main contribution to Syria 
has been Shiite and Sunni extremists/mass killers. Turkey has taken in 
nearly half these refugees (1.75 million) and has contributed some 6 
billion USD to the refugees. Israel's contribution is a bit of medical 
aid to civilians and fighters near the occupied Golan, about 1500 people 
over 2 years. That's a mere 1500 people from a country where 100s of 
1000s have been killed and many 100s of 1000s more - probably 
approaching a million - have been wounded. Yet this pissy little effort 
is derided not for being pissy, but as being some great concrete 
material support for the rebellion, even for "al-Qaida." You're kidding, 
right?


"Including advanced health care not available in the '67 territories."

Are you saying that any kind of health care is "available" in 
rebel-controlled territory in Syria, where the hospitals have been 
bombed to bits and 100s of medical staff murdered by the regime?


"government terms 'military gear') and that later Babar delivered these
materials to the third-ranking member of al-Qaida in South Waziristan,
Pakistan."
http://slate.me/1g2V1Lk
I wonder what he makes of Israel flipping military aid from the same
government that prosecuted him to help fighters in Syria for the same
group? Egad."

Huh? One moment you are talking about al-Qaida, the next about "helping 
fighters in Syria for the same group." Which group? Al-Qaida? But as you 
well know, the entire "evidence" for Israel helping "al-Qaida" in Syria 
are the lying article *titles* by Winstanely, Khalek, Silverstein etc.


Luko:

"Well, it's not that those anti-government fighters wander aimlessly 
across the Syrian territory, and quite accidentely stumble about the 
Israeli border."


?? Ah, they live there. The fight goes on where people live. So th

[Marxism] Fwd: Samuel Farber’s dodgy reference to Cuban per capita income under Batista | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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On June 10th an article titled “Cuba’s Challenge” by Samuel Farber 
appeared in Jacobin that was sufficiently wrongheaded to provoke me into 
writing a response. Not long after his book “Cuba Since the Revolution 
of 1959” was published by Haymarket in 2011 (the ISO publishing wing), I 
had plans to write a systematic critique but terminated the project 
after the first installment that dealt with his claim that the 
government had imposed a Stalinist straightjacket on culture.


Although I find Farber’s scholarship on Cuba mendacious, I had simply 
lost the motivation for the time being back in 2012 to answer him 
because of the Cuban government’s wretched support for the dictatorships 
in Libya and Syria. I was especially upset with articles that were 
appearing in Prensa Latina that were indistinguishable from the garbage 
on Global Research et al. I suppose that the naked brutality of the 
Baathist dictatorship plus Cuba’s rapprochement with the USA might have 
had the effect of toning down Cuban media. It is too bad that it had not 
followed an independent and radical editorial position from the start.


full: 
http://louisproyect.org/2015/06/30/samuel-farbers-dodgy-reference-to-cuban-per-capita-income-under-batista/

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Re: [Marxism] ToI: Israel acknowledges it is helping Syrian rebelfighters

[Clay Claiborne via Marxism]

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This "Israel supports Nusra" story is to certain "Leftists" what the
Benghazi story is to anti-Hiliary Republicans, they think its a good angle
from which to attack the enemy to they will keep regurgitating it in
various ways. That's not important. What is important is that it shows
whose side they are on and it ain't the side of the revolution.

Clay Claiborne, Director
Vietnam: American Holocaust 
Linux Beach Productions
Venice, CA 90291
(310) 581-1536

Read my blogs at the Linux Beach 

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Re: [Marxism] Greek SWP on referendum+; IMT on KKE's stance, general situation

[A.R. G via Marxism]

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Hi,

Does anyone have a good, readable summary of the historical background to
the Greek debt crisis -- particularly one that it is thorough and
analytical but still accessible to those of us with limited knowledge about
finance?

Thank you,

- Amith

On Tue, Jun 30, 2015 at 2:03 PM, Dayne Goodwin via Marxism <
marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote:

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>
> No to blackmail and compromise with austerity in Greece
> Socialist Worker, Britain, June 28
> <
> http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art/40807/No+to+blackmail+and+compromise+with+austerity+in+Greece
> >
>
> The Greek government, led by the left party Syriza, has called a
> referendum on the austerity agreement the European Union (EU) and
> International Monetary Fund (IMF) are trying to impose. These bodies
> hold most of Greece’s foreign debt after bailing out the bankers, and
> have pushed through vicious austerity measures in “memorandums” with
> previous governments. The vote is set to take place on Sunday of next
> week. The following is a statement by the Greek Socialist Workers
> Party (SEK).
>
> *Statement by the Greek Socialist Workers Party*
>
> We vote NO to the agreement. The government should get back all the
> concessions that have been made.
>
> We need a united front for cancelling the debt, leaving the EU and
> nationalising the banks.
>
> The government has announced a referendum. The massive resistance to
> compromise with the blackmailers of the IMF and the EU forced the
> government not to sign an agreement.
>
> This development is a step forward for all those who fought and fight
> against the old and new memorandums.
>
> The dockers who went on strike against the privatisation of Piraeus
> port, the hospital workers who went on strike asking for money and
> more staff for the health service, the thousands who came out against
> the agreement—this is the force that said no to blackmail, no to
> compromise.
>
> Now we must continue to crush the right wing and liberal parties that
> are loyal to the Troika and its memorandums. On Sunday vote a massive
> No to the agreement.
>
> But do not stop there.
>
> We demand that the government of the left proceed directly to
> implement the promises it made to the labour movement in order to get
> elected.
>
> Cancel the old and new memorandums, provide work for the unemployed,
> increase wages, pensions and money for schools, hospitals, local
> governments and pension funds.
>
> The money to fund them should come from
>
> Cancelling the debt—here and now, without exceptions.
> Nationalising all the banks
> Leaving the euro and the EU and embarking on a struggle for workers’
> control
>
> In this battle we have support from the working class throughout
> Europe. They have rallied against the EU and the IMF in all major
> cities.
> What is needed is the strengthening of the revolutionary left. To
> fight together to overturn the agreement and make way for a new
> society without the burdens of bankrupt capitalism.
>
> Do not stop the fight against extortionists and compromises.
>
>
>
> Greece imposes capital controls as Troika escalates blackmail
> Written by Jorge Martín Monday, 29 June 2015
> In Defense Of Marxism, IMT
> <
> http://www.marxist.com/greece-imposes-capital-controls-as-troika-escalates-blackmail.htm
> . . .
> Analysts at JP Morgan, probably summarised the position of big capital
> when they said: “We expect the referendum to vote in favour of
> accepting the creditors' proposal. Our base case is that Tsipras steps
> down as PM, and a unity government is formed which negotiates a deal
> with the creditors.” Although when it says “we expect” one should
> perhaps read “we hope”.
>
> … and the government response
>
> The response of the government was to impose a bank holiday lasting
> until 7 July, during which people will only be able to withdraw 60
> euro a day. Capital controls will also prevent any outflow of money
> from the country. This was the only possible response to the
> provocative moves of the Troika. For the duration of the bank holiday,
> public transportation in Athens will be free.
>
> In announcing these measures, Tsipras made an appeal for calm. He
> lambasted the decision of the Troika not to grant Greece a temporary
> extension of the bailout: “It is clear that the objective of the
> decision of the eurogroup and the ECB is to at

[Marxism] Greek SWP on referendum+; IMT on KKE's stance, general situation

[Dayne Goodwin via Marxism]

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No to blackmail and compromise with austerity in Greece
Socialist Worker, Britain, June 28


The Greek government, led by the left party Syriza, has called a
referendum on the austerity agreement the European Union (EU) and
International Monetary Fund (IMF) are trying to impose. These bodies
hold most of Greece’s foreign debt after bailing out the bankers, and
have pushed through vicious austerity measures in “memorandums” with
previous governments. The vote is set to take place on Sunday of next
week. The following is a statement by the Greek Socialist Workers
Party (SEK).

*Statement by the Greek Socialist Workers Party*

We vote NO to the agreement. The government should get back all the
concessions that have been made.

We need a united front for cancelling the debt, leaving the EU and
nationalising the banks.

The government has announced a referendum. The massive resistance to
compromise with the blackmailers of the IMF and the EU forced the
government not to sign an agreement.

This development is a step forward for all those who fought and fight
against the old and new memorandums.

The dockers who went on strike against the privatisation of Piraeus
port, the hospital workers who went on strike asking for money and
more staff for the health service, the thousands who came out against
the agreement—this is the force that said no to blackmail, no to
compromise.

Now we must continue to crush the right wing and liberal parties that
are loyal to the Troika and its memorandums. On Sunday vote a massive
No to the agreement.

But do not stop there.

We demand that the government of the left proceed directly to
implement the promises it made to the labour movement in order to get
elected.

Cancel the old and new memorandums, provide work for the unemployed,
increase wages, pensions and money for schools, hospitals, local
governments and pension funds.

The money to fund them should come from

Cancelling the debt—here and now, without exceptions.
Nationalising all the banks
Leaving the euro and the EU and embarking on a struggle for workers’ control

In this battle we have support from the working class throughout
Europe. They have rallied against the EU and the IMF in all major
cities.
What is needed is the strengthening of the revolutionary left. To
fight together to overturn the agreement and make way for a new
society without the burdens of bankrupt capitalism.

Do not stop the fight against extortionists and compromises.



Greece imposes capital controls as Troika escalates blackmail
Written by Jorge Martín Monday, 29 June 2015
In Defense Of Marxism, IMT

[Marxism] vote NO!: tens of thousands rally in Athens; solidarity around Europe

[Dayne Goodwin via Marxism]

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Anti-austerity protests in Greece as bank shutdown bites
by Michele Kambas and Lefteris Papadimas
Reuters, June 30


ATHENS - Tens of thousands of Greeks rallied on Monday to back their
leftwing government's rejection of a tough international bailout after
a clash with foreign lenders pushed Greece close to financial chaos
and forced a shutdown of its banking system.

With a popular referendum on the bailout planned for Sunday, Prime
Minister Alexis Tsipras put his own position on the line, saying he
would respect the result of the vote but would not lead a government
to administer "austerity in perpetuity."

"If the Greek people want to have a humiliated prime minister, there
are a lot of them out there. It won't be me," he said in an interview
on Greek state television as one of the biggest rallies seen in Athens
in years was taking place.

The show of defiance came at the end of a day that started with
stunned Greeks waking up to face shuttered banks, long supermarket
lines and overwhelming uncertainty over Greece's future in the euro
zone.
 . . .
The referendum poses a simple question: "Should the proposal which was
submitted by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and
the International Monetary Fund at the Eurogroup of June 25, 2015,
which consists of two parts that together constitute their
comprehensive proposal, be accepted?"

The "No" box appears as the first option, above the "Yes" box. The
government says a "No" will strengthen its hand at the negotiating
table, though other European leaders say it will instead push Greece
out of the euro.

No public opinion polls were available, but the Economist Intelligence
Unit said a "No" vote was more likely, raising the probability of
Greece leaving the euro zone to 60 percent.


Thousands Demonstrate Against Greece’s Deal with Creditors
by Philip Chrysopoulos
The Greek Reporter, June 30


Thousands of Greeks rallied on Monday evening at Syntagma Square in
downtown Athens to protest against the proposed deal by Greece’s
creditors.

Most protesters said they are against “the blackmailing of the
European Union and the International Monetary Fund.”

The rally was organized by SYRIZA, extreme leftist parties ANDARSYA
and EPAM [ANTARSYA, and PAME?], as well as other leftist unions and
factions. The placards were bearing slogans like “Dignity, democracy
and life,” “No to new Memoranda,” “No to austerity,” “Debt writeoff,”
“Our lives belong to us.” Protesters were also shouting that Greeks
should vote “no” on Sunday’s referendum.

Commenting on the rally with a tweet, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras,
who was giving an interview to state broadcaster ERT, said people’s
reaction gives him strength.

“On my way to @ErtSocial, the people’s grand rally on Syntagma square,
for the proud ‘No’, gives us strength,” he tweeted.

SYRIZA’s left platform leader, Productive Reconstruction, Environment
and Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis, participated at the rally
saying that the “No” crowd will be present on Sunday’s referendum and
will shout “no” to agreements that feel like robbery.


'No to Austerity': Tens of Thousands Back Syriza at Rally in Athens
'We believe that this ultimatum to the Greek people and democracy
should be rejected,' write international academics
by Deirdre Fulton, staff writer
Common Dreams, June 29


Tens of thousands gathered in Athens on Monday night, adding their
voices to the ranks of the Syriza government officials and
international observers who are urging Greek citizens to act boldly
and reject the terms of an aid deal offered by Greece's
austerity-loving international creditors.

While numerous governments and financial institutions warned Monday
that the referendum vote could determine whether or not Greece stays
in the Eurozone, other critical implications loom.

A 'No' vote would be a clear rejection of austerity measures as well
as other regressive and punitive policies being foisted on Greece by
the so-called Troika.

On the other hand, notes Reuters, "a 'Yes' vote would pile pressure on
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to resign—given his adamant resistance
to opening the door to new elections and possibly a return to the
negotiating table with creditors."

In fact, getting Tsipras out of the way appears to be a major goal of
the European leaders and lenders, economist Joseph Stiglitz wrote on
Monday.

"After all, it is extremely inc

[Marxism] Paul Mason: thoughts on referendum, Syriza

[Dayne Goodwin via Marxism]

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Greece in chaos: will Syriza’s last desperate gamble pay off?

The banks are closed, the bailout referendum is looming – and Europe’s
only far-left government is struggling to hold on to its mass support.
In less than a week, it will either be triumphant or finished

by Paul Mason
The Guardian, June 29


If it all ends on Monday, with the Greeks voting for austerity in
order to keep the euro, the first far-left party to hold office in
modern Europe will be judged by its critics a failure.

By calling a referendum, Syriza has gambled that it can strengthen its
hand in negotiations with its lenders. But with no extension to its
bailout programme, and emergency funds from the European Central Bank
(ECB) on a knife-edge, the move has prompted this week’s “bank
holiday” and the rationing of cash at ATMs.

With the opposition and business groups warning of economic
catastrophe, Syriza – which means “coalition of the radical left” –
faces a nail-biting week. What is at stake is whether this party of
around 20,000 members can hold the left half of Greek society together
long enough to force the lenders to negotiate – or whether it will
crash and burn under the pressure of popular anger and disillusion.

If they win, on the other hand, they will be seen as heroes by
opponents of austerity across Europe.

But win or lose, Syriza in office has been a work in progress,
impossible to read for people ignorant of Greece, let alone people who
don’t know there are subcategories to moderate Marxism.

Greece under austerity has become frenetic. Athens right now is slick
with perspiration; every public space is charged with hormonal tension
and political disagreement – even the bakery where you buy your
morning bread. The politics are brutal. Last week, stick-wielding
anarchist youths attacked the HQ of the Antarsya – a far-left
anti-capitalist party – because the latter had tried to make them pay
to go into a music festival when the anarchists thought it should be
free.

I’ve seen, in the bohemian Exarchia district, a troupe of black-clad
15-year-olds distrupt a whole street full of similarly bohemian
cafe-goers on a Saturday night, using petrol bombs and flaming rubbish
bins, simply because “creating mayhem” is their doctrine.

Athens has become, in short, the stage for flamboyant acts of
self-dramatisation: sporadic riots, public kissing, street theatre and
ill-advised scooter techniques. It is, to use a phrase Huxley once
used about Shanghai, “life with the lid off”, and for the same
reasons: “so much life, so carefully canalised, so rapidly and
strongly flowing”.

Antonis Vradis, a geographer at Durham University who has studied the
impact of repeated waves of unrest here since 2008, describes how the
youth networks have been preparing for this week’s “rupture” with the
ECB: “They are creating structures you can’t default on.
Self-organised clinics, the social centres you see all around you.
Structures that will help them survive.”

I meet Vradis in Floral cafe on the corner of Exarchia Square. He
points out that the building – shabby as it is now – is a Bauhaus
masterpiece. More importantly, during the 1944 uprising against the
British, “the communists were snipers on the roof”.

The young here live always with a portion of their brain operating in
the past. They don’t need wall plaques. When they move through
Exarchia, or Syntagma, or up the side of parliament towards the
mansion prime minister Alexis Tsipras now occupies, they can “see”
where the resistance fighters died; where the students of 1974 stopped
a tank.

It was the young people radicalised amid this landscape who pitched a
tent camp outside parliament in 2011. They organised a movement most
foreign journalists didn’t see: local assemblies in small squares
across the city and its suburbs, where young mums, migrants and
outraged pensioners could have their say. The communists denounced
them; the socialists sent riot police to disperse them; Tsipras is
said to have looked out of the window of his office and declared:
those are the people who will put us into power.

But Syriza is different. Syriza is a coalition whose colours are red
for socialism, green for ecology and purple for feminism. But it is
primarily red. It was born out of Eurocommunism – when the communist
parties of the west declared loyalty to parliamentary democracy
instead of Moscow. Its most influential activists are aged 50 and
above: people who have read all three volumes of Karl Marx’s Capital,
plus the Grundrisse, Theories of Surplus Value and Friedrich Engels’
Anti-Dühring. A lo

[Marxism] Kevin Ovenden "Greece: No to the deal, No to the political order"; +2 from openDemocracy

[Dayne Goodwin via Marxism]

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Greece: No to the deal, No to the political order
by Kevin Ovenden
Counterfire, June 29


The following is a letter to the Turkish and Kurdish organisation Day
Mer by Kevin Ovenden regarding the situation in Greece and the lessons
for the Left

. . .
This has become more and more evident to the popular masses in Greece
who voted for the left – Syriza and the left as a whole – in January.
On Friday 26 June, the popular feeling registered directly in the
political system. Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras rejected, as
thousands of us who demonstrated outside the parliament last weekend
had demanded, the humiliating terms of the Troika.

There will be a referendum on Sunday 5 July to give a popular Oxi, No,
Hayir to the forces of capitalism and reaction across the continent.
Some will hope that the referendum – an unpredictable bourgeois
mechanism – will put the popular revolt back in the old framework
which has been rejected by many people in Greece at the heights of
struggle over the last five years.

The government may hope that it will simply be a bargaining chip to
secure a less humiliating deal from the Troika. That all may be so.
But that is their business.

What is gathering now and in the next few days is a popular No. A No
from the society. A social movement around a plebiscite. This is what
friends in Greece have taken from the practical experience of the
victorious referendum on sexual equality in Ireland and the Scottish
referendum campaign.

This No is not just to the bad deal, but to the political order which
has bled the working masses of Greece dry over the last five years. It
is not a No to political engagement. It is a yes to a different
politics, based upon popular mobilisation and directly challenging the
instruments of oppression and exploitation.

Friends across the Greek radical left and social movements here have
also drawn strength from the historic advance of the democratic, left
and Kurdish forces in the last legislative elections in the Turkish
state: teşekkür ederim, s’efharisto, thank you.

The evolution and development of the radical left is complex. There
are national specificities. There are also some generalised lessons. I
want to offer some here:
 . . .
full at:  



Why I will be voting NO in Sunday's Greek referendum
by Antonis Vradis
openDemocracy, 29 June 2015


The symbolism of NO in Greece
by Alex Sakalis
openDemocracy, 29 June 2015


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[Marxism] on Greek referendum: time for a proud and dignified ‘NO!’; euro crisis explodes into dramatic climax

[Dayne Goodwin via Marxism]

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No more ‘Yes to all’: time for a proud and dignified ‘NO!’
by Leonidas Oikonomakis
ROAR magazine, June 29, 2015

. . .
However, this time we are being asked by the government — that of
Alexis Tsipras — what we really want it to do. And for once, we will
be able to say a proud and dignified ‘NO!’, as we had always wanted
the deputies who were supposed to be representing us to say! We owe it
to our friends who migrated, our parents and grandparents who saw
their salaries and pensions being slashed, our comrades who were
beaten up and arrested by the cops, and to our dead: to Pavlos and
Shehzad Luqman, who were assassinated by Golden Dawn, and to the
thousands who committed suicide over the course of the past five
years.

It is a matter of dignity — something that can not be measured and
cannot fit into the Troika’s economic statistics, but that can give
strength to the humiliated to rise up against those who have
humiliated them for so long.
   _   _   _   _   _   _   _   _   _   _
Leonidas Oikonomakis is a PhD researcher in Social Movement Studies at
the European University Institute, a rapper with the Greek hip-hop
formation Social Waste, and an editor for ROAR Magazine.


Greek referendum: euro crisis explodes into dramatic climax
by Jerome Roos
ROAR magazine, June 29, 2015

. . .
In other words, it was the very intransigence of the creditors, the
utter unwillingness to tell their own voters the truth about the Greek
bailout and their stubborn refusal to even contemplate a sustainable
and socially just resolution of the crisis, that led us to this
dramatic apotheosis.

Greece and Europe now find themselves on the eve of a rancorous
rupture. At the start of a week that will undoubtedly go down in
history as a make-it-or-break-it moment for Europe’s ill-fated
neoliberal project, the skies over Greece are already darkening. A
full-fledged bank run over the weekend forced the government to keep
the banks closed on Monday and to impose an ATM withdrawal limit of 60
euros per day. The knock-on effects on the economy and society will
make it very difficult for the Greeks to vote in peace.

In this respect, the creditors’ intentions are once again crystal
clear: shocked and outraged by Tsipras’ unexpected move, they will do
everything within their power to obstruct the democratic process and
influence the outcome of the vote. Their goal won’t even be to keep
Greece inside the Eurozone anymore; their number one priority right
now is simply to prevent Syriza from being able to publicly claim a
victory — for that would risk emboldening other anti-austerity forces
across the continent, most significantly Podemos in Spain. They would
rather see Greece go down in flames than cut Syriza some slack.

This is why the Eurogroup refused to extend Greece’s current bailout
program, not even for a few days: they knew the ECB would not be able
to maintain its emergency support of the Greek banks without such a
program, and they knew that without this support the Greek banks would
not be able to open on Monday. This, in turn, would force the Greeks
to vote under conditions of extreme financial uncertainty, emboldening
the terror-campaign of the neoliberal opposition and possibly skewing
the vote in favor of a fear-induced yes.

Meanwhile, the unelected wing of the Troika technocracy has taken the
trolling to a whole new level. IMF chief Christine Lagarde argued
that, since the creditor offer expires on Tuesday, Tsipras is
technically asking his people to vote on a deal that no longer exists
anyway. European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker added on to this
by releasing a new proposal that was supposedly in the works before
the Greeks “unilaterally” walked out of the negotiations. Both moves
are clear attempts to destabilize popular expectations ahead of the
vote and confuse the electorate about the clarity, legality and
historic significance of the choice that now lies ahead of them.

Make no mistake: Sunday’s referendum will mark a defining moment in
Greece’s modern history and a decisive turn for Europe’s neoliberal
project. The choice is very clear. Five years after the people of
Greece first rose up against the anti-democratic imposition of the
Troika’s austerity measures, they have finally been given the chance
to decide upon their own destiny: either they will vote yes to a
lifetime of austerity within the eurozone, or they will roar back at
the creditors’ inhumane demands with a proud and resounding “NO!” —
thereby opening the way for a thousand yeses to a new, democratic and
socially just Eur

[Marxism] Socialist Resistance Re: On the brink of Grexit?

[Dayne Goodwin via Marxism]

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[Socialist Resistance has produced a new article on Greece ("Tsipras
calls referendum on Greek debt crisis," June 29) which reports on the
new referendum development.  It appears to be largely a re-writing of
the June 26 one ("On the brink of Grexit") which Andrew said seemed to
leave off unfinished.  It does have two new/additional paragraphs
following what was the last paragraph in the June 26 report.  Link to
the article is next; i've copied the concluding paragraphs below, d]

Tsipras calls referendum on Greek debt crisis


. . .
We have been seeing a major class-polarisation taking place in Greece.
The right wing and middle class business people have been taking to
the streets to demand the acceptance of all the austerity demands of
the Troika in order to stay in the Euro.

There have been alternate protests outside the Parliament. One day
there have been Syriza supporters calling for the government to stand
firm and the next the right wing calling for the opposite. The mood
had already darkened and passions close to spilling over.

The election of a Syriza-led government in January, at the head of a
mass anti-austerity movement, and after 30 general strikes, was an
historic victory for both the working class of Greece and of Europe
giving a powerful lead to the struggle.

Since it was elected Syriza has been criticised by many on the
left—leaving aside the ultra left who have long written Syriza off as
‘reformist’ or as the ‘new PASOK’ and (in Greece) stand against it in
elections—for dropping many of its pre-election pledges in order to
avoid an early default.

This undoubtedly strengthened the elites who will always demand more.
It was also deeply controversial within Syriza itself both amongst its
leadership and its membership.

There was always, however, another side to this that the ultra lefts
failed to recognise. This is that even after Syriza had dropped some
of its pledges—and it did implement some important promises of
course—what was left, which was Syriza’s core position, and what
defines it as an anti-austerity party – no further austerity, remained
totally unacceptable to the EU elites. In fact it has always had
transitional implications.

The outcome of this remarkable confrontation therefore will define the
future not only of the people of Greece but also the future of all
those across Europe who struggle against austerity and for more
democracy and equality. From this point of view the European left has
now, more than at any time during this crisis, a responsibility to
build solidarity with the struggle of Syriza and the Greece working
class.


On Fri, Jun 26, 2015 at 12:03 PM, Andrew Pollack  wrote:
> The editorial (whether as copied here or on the SR site) seems to be missing
> something at the end. A lost concluding paragraph?
  . . .
>
> On Fri, Jun 26, 2015 at 1:55 PM, Dayne Goodwin via Marxism
>  wrote:
>>
>> On the brink of Grexit?
>> by Socialist Resistance, June 26
>> 
>> . . .

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[Marxism] Greece

[Gary MacLennan via Marxism]

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I read Hudson's Counterpunch article. He is of course pro-Syriza.  That
party seems to have assiduously cultivated the Keynesians and is fighting
under the banner of "Save capitalism from the capitalists'; not "Save the
people from capitalism".  Still, as I have said before, sooner Syriza than
PASOK or British Labor or the Australian Labor Party or even worse the
Democrats..

The polls are said to predict a defeat for Syriza in the coming referendum,
and that the people will say Yes to the deal being offered by the Troika.
Frankly, I do not believe that.  I think the proposal will be defeated and
that the No vote will prevail.

But a defeat will not now be the end of Syriza.  Only a climb down, that is
 a betrayal of their supporters,would have destroyed them. Tsirpas has
emerged as a champion of responsiveness rather than an avatar of
responsibility (as defined by the Troika and News LTD).  The dialectic
between responsibility and responsiveness is one of the keys to
understanding electoral politics as the Irish political scientist Peter
Mair pointed out.  The latter wrote

“The age of party democracy has passed. Although the parties themselves
remain, they have become so disconnected from the wider society, and pursue
a form of competition that is so lacking in meaning, that they no longer
seem capable of sustaining democracy in its present form.”

It is because Tsirpas and his party represent a challenge to this trend
that the elite in Europe and elsewhere want them crushed. These attacks,
especially the ones directed at Tsirpas, serve to build the legend of
Syriza and that is why they will survive a Yes vote if it happens.

For those of us (and I count myself among them) in the closet still
dreaming of soviets and barricades and of the dictatorship of the
proletariat, the temptation is to think that this is all just a spat
between Keynesian and Neoclassical economics. After all one only has to
read Stiglitz' halfhearted endorsement ("It is hard to advise Greeks how to
vote on 5 July.") to realize that Keynesians do not revolutionaries make.
And that is putting it mildly.

Yet to see the conflict only in terms of Keynes versus Hayek, would be a
mistake, I am inclined to believe. This could turn out to be a very
decisive moment indeed. I am doubly inclined to believe so after hearing
that the KKE is calling for a boycott of the referendum. When Stalinists
tell us to go back, you know we must press forward.

comradely

Gary
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