What seemed to be the endgame for Greece is still continuing. Discipline and punishment are still the talk of the day in Eurozone capitals, and whichever path SYRIZA chooses that will not change. A default and return to the drachma might ultimately be their only choice and best bet, but such insubordination will not easily be forgotten by EU hawks.

The reality is that without solidarity between Europe’s populations or massive changes in the mood and actions of the Western European public, Eurozone authorities will continue their attempt to crush Greek resistance. More than ever, it is up to us citizens in other European countries to march in solidarity with the Greek people. It is up to us to increase the pressure on our states, to pressure them into concessions and ultimately debt forgiveness for Greece. The brave resistance in Greece has already achieved a lot, but despite their inspiring example they have so far been largely abandoned by the indoctrinated publics of the West.

After years of public-humiliation-accompanied austerity, with much suffering and numerous deaths as a result, nothing seems to move Europe’s boorish leaders. Democracy is so foreign to modern Europe’s mandarins that any hint at listening to the Greek people’s opinions is anathema to them.

To keep up pretenses, media intellectuals refer to the losses ‘the tax-payers’ in Germany and other EU countries stand to make in case of a Greek default. Meanwhile, the ghost in the room that dare not be mentioned – the socialization of the debt – is conveniently left out of the spectrum of permissible debate. The problem of the massive outstanding debt private banks had accumulated in Greece, and for which they were as much responsible as Greece’s corrupt rulers, was solved by their political friends and the burden transferred to the taxpayer.

Throughout this period European rulers have publicly chastised Greek officials and talked to and about them as if they were little children in need of being disciplined. All of this was accompanied by years of media lies and deceptions about the Greek people and the crisis, often with racial overtones. Tragically, on Northern and Western Europe, at least, this propaganda campaign has been successful and gave them a free hand in punishing Greece.

What the Troika has attempted since SYRIZA came to power might seem irrational, but there is a logic to it, the logic of great power. Even when it becomes irrational for the center of power to hold Greece to a non-functional set of rules, it will not let it pass.

Similarly, a mafia boss might choose to order the murder of a former loyal accomplice who criticizes him. In and of itself the hit might not make sense, it might even endanger the organization. The purpose, however, is to set an example. Anyone who crosses this line will be hurt, severely.

This was the core of the famed Cold War domino theory. It was not about stopping ‘Communism’. It was about stopping successful examples of alternative ways of modernization. In the struggle between the U.S. empire and its Stalinist counterpart, the Kennedy government commissioned a report that described the threat of Cuba as being “the Castro idea of taking matters into one’s own hands”, which when successful might spread.

The EU is not like the American empire (in those days at the height of its power), but the principle works in similar ways.

As the BBC wrote in February, the Eurozone bosses “don’t want to show any signs of weakness, because of the signal that could send to anti-austerity movements in countries such as Spain, Portugal or Cyprus.” The real threat is the example of Greece, the disease of (even moderate SYRIZA-style) resistance spreading further, and the solidarity between these nations that might develop.

An even bigger threat, but less likely in current conditions, is the solidarity that can spread between people across Europe, and in this case especially from those in the EU’s most powerful nations.

The dim reality is that populations across Europe probably won’t stand up in solidarity with the suffering people of Greece, and against the symbiotic state-capital tyrannies that are responsible. They have successfully been made to believe in the nationalist lie which pins nation against nation instead of class against class.

The good thing is that fissures seem to be opening up between Germany’s and Europe’s more realistic rulers, but it is unlikely this will lead to major policy changes (or what the media refers to as “concessions”).

In this theatre of discipline and punishment, the ones that need a good spanking are seated in Brussels and Frankfurt.

Who will be at the receiving end of the whip, however, will be up to us all; the Greek people have taken their responsibility and are fighting for their lives. Will they fight alone?

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