Voters write new ending to Greek tragedy

Greek voters cast aside fear and grasped hope to rewrite the script of what had become a Greek tragedy. Austerity measures forced on Greece left an economy in ruins, growing queues at soup kitchens, rising suicides, poverty and half their youngsters without jobs.

Graffiti painted on the side of an international bank in central Athens reads “please stop saving us”. In the end the Greeks stood up to bullying international financiers and saved themselves.

Syriza – a coalition of the radical left – stormed to victory in the Greek elections on Sunday. They wiped out a right wing government, ended agonisingly short of an outright majority but have formed a coalition with the independence party.

The financial “troika” of the European Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund has pushed austerity on Greece. National sovereignty was ripped up and a whole range of measures including privatisation was forced down Greek throats.

Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras told supporters after the vote, “You are an example of history which is changing… Your mandate is undoubtedly cancelling the bailouts of austerity and destruction.

“The troika for Greece is the thing of the past”, saying he will now restore pride and diginity in Greece which had given Syriza a mandate for change. The troika will now face fresh talks with the new government.

Difficult atmosphere

These will take place in a difficult atmosphere and threats against the Greeks are already being thrown. International credit agency Standard and Poor threatened to downgrade Greece’s credit rating within an hour of Tsipras being sworn is as prime minister.

It sounded like an accountant squirting a water pistol in the direction of a tsunami heading the way of the financial credit business. Syriza did not even bother to respond.

The talks will hinge on Greek debt, £27bn of which becomes due this year. These were not loans to “bail out” Greece, but further loans to prevent international bankers from taking a loss if Greece did not have the money to pay off the original loans.

It’s similar to getting money off one loan shark to pay another. Except these international loan sharks wear expensive suits and have their own planes and yachts.

Debt was piled up on debt with the Greeks suffering huge public sector cuts, privatisation, pensions cuts just so they could be lent more money to pay off international loans. Syriza wants half of Greece’s debt written off and a re-negotiation of what is still owed.

As economist Keynes once commented, “If you owe your bank a hundred pounds, you have a problem. But if you owe a million, it has.” And when your people are forming queues at soup kitchens, feeling sorry for international bankers and speculators who created the financial crash will not be top of your concerns.

The negotiations which will start soon are high stakes, with the Germans publicly taking a hard stance on the debt. But as Syriza has pointed out, the post-war German economic miracle was built on the back of the allies – including Greece – writing off the huge German debt.

The rejection of austerity in Greece will rumble around Europe. Podemos in Spain –an anti-austerity party trying to throw off the yoke of international debt – have been buoyed by the Greek vote.

So have the French socialists. And Italian government ministers are making the same sounds about austerity having run its course.

Syriza’s victory “made hope possible for millions across Europe” said Unite General secretary Len McCluskey. “This stunning election victory is a tribute to the Greek people who have now firmly rejected the disastrous austerity policies imposed on them.

“The policies of the troika have done nothing but bring misery and suffering to millions of Greek people. GDP has collapsed by more than 25 per cent, unemployment has soared, wages have been slashed, and welfare provisions and labour protections dismantled. It is no wonder that the suicide rate has risen so dramatically.

“The fight of the Greek people against austerity is the same fight that British, Irish and millions of other working people across Europe are waging against the failed politics that protects the rich and well off at the expense of the poor.

“In voting for Syriza and an end to austerity the Greek people have once again made hope possible for millions of other people across Europe. Unite will watch with great interest the developments in other countries, such as Spain, where anti-austerity parties are also making huge gains, and Unite will continue to play its full part in fighting austerity to make another Europe possible.”