Bridging the Income Gap

Is Canada ripe for a Syriza movement?

Via The Tyee, an article I published on January 27: Is Canada Ripe for a Syriza Movement? Excerpt:

When the Greek colonels overthrew democracy in its birthplace in 1967, the Americans were not directly involved, but they were aware of what was going on and supported the junta. It took seven years before the junta collapsed.

And of course the United States was behind the military coup that overthrew Chile's elected president Salvador Allende in 1972. Henry Kissinger, then the secretary of state, had strongly backed the coup, saying the Chileans could not be allowed to be "irresponsible" in choosing such a leader. Like Iran, Guatemala, and Greece, Chile was consigned to years of state terror.

Unwritten doctrine

An old Chinese saying advises, "Kill the chicken to scare the monkey," meaning you kill the weaker enemy to scare the stronger enemy. Such ousters were intended as a deterrent to anyone who might think their country would be better off with left-wing policies. With Chile it was finally clear: no serious left-winger would be allowed to take power democratically in any region where the U.S. felt it had strategic interests.

Almost 45 years after Allende, that unwritten doctrine was challenged in Greece on Sunday. Syriza won the election with 36 per cent of the vote -- pretty close to the 39.62 per cent that got Stephen Harper a majority in 2011. With 149 seats, just two short of an absolute majority, Syriza has become the government with the aid of a populist far-right party, Anel, noted for its anti-semitism and German-focused xenophobia.

Alexis Tsipras, Syriza's leader and Greece's new prime minister, is only 40. Wikipedia says he was born on July 28, 1975, "three days after the fall of the Greek military junta." He started as a Young Communist but stayed in the left-wing coalition Synaspismos after the Greek Communist Party left it. He is clearly a very smart man with a lot of political experience.

Six years of failure

But his experience on the Athens city council has not equipped him to deal with neoliberals in the European Union like Angela Merkel. The economic powers in Europe have been locked into austerity as the only thinkable response to the meltdown of 2007-08; seven years of failure have not weakened their resolve to continue the beatings until morale improves.

Tsipras's victory has already encouraged others. Spain's Podemos (an ironic translation of Obama's "Yes we can") has grown in less than six months from nothing into the country's second-largest party, with 300,000 members. Like Greece, Spain has taken a beating from its E.U. partners, and morale has not improved.

Least of all has morale improved among the young southern Europeans who have paid the costs of the meltdown and E.U.-decreed austerity -- in careers lost, families struggling, educations wasted.

For Greeks, Italians and Spaniards born since Tsipras, economic depression is the basic condition of life. Ireland is exporting its young people again. Even social democracies like Sweden and Finland are struggling to make ends meet, and neo-fascist groups are raising the spectre of job competition from immigration to attract new members.

Syriza’s program

Via The Greanville Post: The European Situation: SYRIZA’s program. Excerpt with the first 15 points:

The daily bulletin of Italy’s Communist Refoundation Party published today the apparently official program of the Greek coalition of the left, Syriza. Without further comment, I translate here the 40 points of the Syriza program.  

Editor’s Note: I have bolded the programmatic points that in my view merit the denomination of truly radical.  On balance, this is a radical template for the reshuffling of society.  American Occupy, pay attention.—PG 

1. Audit of the public debt and renegotiation of interest due and suspension of payments until the economy has revived and growth and employment return. 

2. Demand the European Union to change the role of the European Central Bank so that it finances States and programs of public investment. 

3. Raise income tax to 75% for all incomes over 500,000 euros. 

4. Change the election laws to a proportional system. 

5. Increase taxes on big companies to that of the European average. 

6. Adoption of a tax on financial transactions and a special tax on luxury goods. 

7. Prohibition of speculative financial derivatives. 

8. Abolition of financial privileges for the Church and shipbuilding industry. 

9. Combat the banks’ secret [measures] and the flight of capital abroad. 

10. Cut drastically military expenditures. 

11. Raise minimum salary to the pre-cut level, 750 euros per month. 

12. Use buildings of the government, banks and the Church for the homeless. 

13. Open dining rooms in public schools to offer free breakfast and lunch to children. 

14. Free health benefits to the unemployed, homeless and those with low salaries.

15. Subvention up to 30% of mortgage payments for poor families who cannot meet payments.

Tens of thousands join Madrid anti-austerity rally

Credit: El País

Via The Local.es: Tens of thousands join Madrid anti-austerity rally. Excerpt:

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Madrid on Saturday in support of new anti-austerity party Podemos, a week after Greece elected its hard-left ally Syriza.

The protesters chanted "Yes we can!" as they made their way from Madrid city hall to the central Puerta del Sol square. The party and its anti-austerity message have been surging in polls ahead of elections later this year. 

"There are many people that agree with the need for change. Enough already with stealing -- that the corrupt take everything and we can't do anything," said Dori Sanchez, a 23-year-old unemployed teacher who came from Manovar in southeastern Spain for the rally. 

Podemos said 260 buses brought supporters to the capital from across Spain for the "March for Change", with hundreds of locals signed on to host travellers. Demonstrators carried banners that read "Universal Basic Income," "Tick, tock its time for change" and "Together we can". 

Syriza beat mainstream Greek parties by pledging to end austerity, as Podemos aims to do in Spain's general election due in November. 

Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias, a 36-year-old pony-tailed former university professor, appeared alongside Syriza's Alexis Tsipras, now Greece's prime minister, to publicly support him during his campaign. Podemos was formed just a year ago, but has surged in opinion polls with promises to fight what Iglesias calls the traditional "caste" of political leaders. 

Like Syriza, Podemos has found popular support by targeting corruption and rejecting austerity programmes aimed at lifting the countries out of deep economic crisis. 

It wants to prevent profitable companies from firing people, abolish private hospitals to return to a fully state-controlled health care system and enact a "significant" minimum-wage hike. 

The party has struck a chord with Spaniards enraged by a string of corruption scandals, as well as public spending cuts imposed by the conservative ruling party and previously by the Socialists after the economic crisis erupted in 2008.Spain has now officially exited recession -- the country grew by 1.4 percent last year according to provisional data released Friday -- but nearly one in four workers is still unemployed. Salaries for many people have dropped and the number of workers on low-paid short-term contracts has soared. 

Spain's street protest movement has died down since 2013 but some of the Indignant leaders formed Podemos in January 2014. Four months later, the party won five seats in the European Parliament, with more than 1.2 million Spaniards voting for it. 

Podemos has overtaken the mainstream opposition Socialist Party in several opinion polls, and in some has topped the list ahead of the conservative ruling People's Party (PP). The Socialists and the PP have ruled Spain alternately since the country returned to democracy after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.