Does anyone else get the sense that Europe is becoming a dictatorship run by a mafia of bankers led by the IMF? National sovereignty & democracy were main achievements of the democratic revolutions that ended feudalism & ushered in the reign of capitalism. And now, despite massive resistance with general strikes involving millions in Portugal, Spain, & Greece, this mafia is running roughshod over national sovereignty & democracy in order to extract blood out of a turnip. They’re going after pensions, wages, social services--their attacks targeting especially the elderly & children--& trying to get people to pay for the very air they breath. You don’t have to be a socialist to see that capitalist rapacity created this crisis but wants working people to pay for it. The austerity conditions they’re trying to ram through are looking more & more like feudalism. Historical “déjà vu all over again”! But anyone who’s read history knows damn well the serfs back then didn’t like it at all & we’re not likely to take to it either.
The IMF is now negotiating with the Greek government for another round of austerities; the unions have responded with a nationwide general strike for tomorrow. The unions are most often run by compromised leaders who call one-day strikes as a show of force but stop short of exercising the power that can shut the country down until the government & financial dictatorship back off permanently. But the people of Portugal, Spain, & Greece have been under siege for a very long time now & their fighting spirit doesn’t seem open to compromise. Our fullest solidarity with their struggle; their victory is ours. This graffiti is posted in Athens (with no clue given for why it’s in English rather than in Greek). (Photo by Thanassis Stavrakis/AP)
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