Many of us wish that when Syriza realized (according to Varoufakis, right a the outset of sitting to negotiate) that Europe’s masters were out mainly, even only, to destroy them, they had planned accordingly. They of course had to negotiate – but could they have sent Varoufakis to be tough, and devoted all other available energies to organizing a population to be ready to exit and fight on with local organizing, international support, and a clear set of policies to invoke including nationalizations, etc.?
Perhaps they didn’t do that because they still harbored hopes that Europe’s citizens would constrain Europe’s masters. Or perhaps they believed such support didn’t exist and could not be elicited in which case their path wasn’t so incredibly naïve or defeatest, but trying to get as much as possible out of a very barren situation.
But, let’s come closer to the present. When the referendum was relayed to Europe and Europe’s masters said, who cares, ignore democracy, ignore the pain of your people, accept draconian austerity in the interest of our banks, and more so, to preserve our overall class war agenda on behalf of the rich, or we will boot you out – Tripras actually had not two but also a third choice.
The two are obvious. Roughly, cave in – seeking a few accommodations, which he chose. Or say, go to hell, exiting or being thrown out. The third option is apparently not so obvious – and seemingly ignored, and I don’t know why. Believing he had no mandate to stay tough right up to and into an exit, and believing he should not violate the Democratic will of Greek citizens, and believing the polls that told him that the population’s will was not to exit, why couldn’t Tsipras simply have called for another referendum, to be sure those polls were still accurate. This time it would be – should we demand a reversal of austerity and leave the Euro zone if it isn’t granted, or should we accept austerity and remain, hoping to fight another day? And then he could explain in his view the costs and potential benefits of both approaches, indicate his preference, and say, I will abide your vote.
Now if the option to be tough won, and if exit followed, he would have had a country ready to fight. And if surrender won, he would know his task, to organize more support.
I don’t know why this option wasn’t considered, or was considered and rejected. Maybe there was a good reason, maybe not.
But isn’t this option still available? The masters of Europe, and probably of the U.S. too, have said, hold on, you must now literally drop to you knees and accept permanent vassalage. And as this is even worse than what Tsipras had steeled himself to accept, can’t he now go to a referendum saying, it was one thing to seek to stay in the Euro zone via a draconian set of sacrifices in line with the popular will to not exit, but it is is another thing to do so as a mere colony, if that. So – and then he calls for a referendum, indicates his preference, agrees to follow the will of the populace, and so on.
Again, perhaps I am missing something, but this seems to be a democratic, responsible, and militant path forward that has prospects to engage in real struggle preserved, if not immediately then in the not so distant future.
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4 Comments
It was recently put to me that socialism only exists in Latin America. For the moment at least, I find it difficult to mount an argument against this. It was back in 2012 when Manuel Valls was the Minister of the Interior, under Francois Holland’s Government. He didn’t believe in socialism then and clearly doesn’t now. I recall him saying he drew inspiration from Tony Blair’s domestic policies and if one has to be truthful about the matter, Blair’s domestic policies were just as backward as his foreign policy. All this from a “socialist” Government, and lest we forget he was promoted as Prime minister.
How anybody, who reckons themselves to be humane, to force these measures upon the Greeks, is far beyond I could imagine. At times you have to echo Joyce’s Stephen Dedalus and say history was a nightmare which he was trying to awake.
In January Tsipris and Syriza were voted into power based on their anti-austerity platform and willingness to work within the EU. Since then conditions in Greece have dramatically worsened, the referendum meant nothing to the European masters: we don’t care about your democracy; and, as the interview with Varoufakis makes clear, the masters intransigence was clear from the very beginning. So why then did Tsipris continue with an unrealistic mandate? Many initially foresaw the incompatibility between anti-austerity and staying in the EU and they didn’t receive the daily confirmation that Tsipris was getting firsthand. This is why anger directed at Tsipris is justifiable. Knowing what he knew, why didn’t his latest referendum call include not just a question of accepting the EU’s austerity proposal, a proposal that was removed before the referendum vote, but also whether Greece should still stay in the EU at any cost? Of course there should be another referendum, things have dramatically changed for the worse. Greece, a country of only 11 million people, is being asked to sell off $50 billion of their country’s infrastructure to the Germans! And then what? Once their electric grid is privatized will they have any control over electric rates? Is Greece be sold off to become an island paradise for the rich and famous? They definitely need to start organizing and fighting back.
I don’t remember where, but I read that in last week’s referendum the question about Grexit was purposely excluded, under the assumption that if it had been included, the outcome of that referendum would have been quite different (read, the “yes” would have won). Regardless, I think it was a mistake not to include it, at least in the conditional (i.e., “if the troika doesn’t back down from their austerity demands, are you ready to exit?”). But another referendum is simply unrealistic (and the EU leadership would not accept it, which means that just calling for the referendum would probably translate into Grexit).
I think these points are very well taken. The impositions on Greece in the Brussels “deal” are so severe that they leave very little breathing space for any Greek government, let alone the country. A popularly mandated exit from the Euro zone seems to be the only alternative.