Owen Jones`s excellent article on the political situation in Greece was, sadly,
too optimistic.(Greece`s radical left could kill off austerity in the
EU,22/12/14) The prospect of the first "radical left-wing government assuming
power in the EU" is, I fear, only a remote possibility, not because Syriza`s
policies do not attract sufficient support in Greece, but because austerity in
Europe is now clearly judged to be much more important than democracy; the
chances of an imminent general election taking place in Greece are remote. Only
if Greek MPs fail to elect the government candidate as president will an
election be called, and as the Greek prime minister equates this failure with
"political turmoil", everything possible is being done to ensure the candidate
becomes the new head of state.(Greek election
uncertainty fuels concern over eurozone stability,18/12/14)
Bribes of up to 2-3million euros are being
offered to ensure votes are cast "correctly", seven leaders of the neo-Nazi
Golden Dawn party are being allowed to participate in the election, even though
they have been imprisoned for using their fascist group "as a front to run a
criminal organisation", and as Jones reported, veiled threats are being made,
both to Greek politicians and people, by the president of the European
commission,Jean-Claude Juncker. The fact that the likely victor of the election
is a party committed to ending austerity and to ruling Greece on behalf of its
people, not its banks and financial interests, explains why, in Jones`s
words, "a democratic challenge to economic madness" is being "strangled to
death".
Ironic, isn`t it, that when politicians attempt
to justify their needless wars, the "threat to democracy" is viewed as having
paramount importance, but when democracy in Europe is threatened because it
could result in a national government favouring anti-austerity policies, no
mainstream politician bats an eyelid?
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