Greece: The End of Austerity?
Director: Theopi Skarlatos
Syriza had 22 days to make history. This is how they did it. We followed Syriza’s activists, candidates and leadership from the waterfront, to remote mountain villages, to the nail biting final days.
(C) Theopi Skarlatos 2015 facebook.com/EndOfAusterity
I hope there is going to be a longer version, I realise they only had a few days but would it very interesting to see how Syriza won and to hear the stories of ordinary people as they realised they could vote for change
Powerfully moving documentary. I lived in Greece for 18 years and I celebrate their victory of hope over year. Znto Ellada!!
Nice play on words Maureen fear ,year.Fear again???
It didn’t take them long to form an unholy alliance with a right wing party. Fair enough the communists took a sectarian position by refusing to form a coalition with Syriza but then we had the spectacle of the new PM announcing that they had no intention of defaulting on the budget. The first thing any left government should do is to nationalise the banks. The outlook is not good, I fear.
The thing about Greece is that it really isn’t a normal situation. We’re talking about a country that would essentially be bankrupt without foreign support – and the country it relies on principally for that support happens to be obsessed with fiscal consolidation. You could install Noam Chomsky as Prime Minister and it would be difficult to be genuinely left-wing in those circumstances.
The alternative (cutting ties with Germany, leaving the euro, going bankrupt) is being trumpeted by people outside the country, but it’s incredibly risky. There is no easy solution and a default could cause as many problems as it solves.
The best solution for Greece is to try and convince the rest of the EU to work with it toward a compromise – one where Greece gets some debt relief, but doesn’t have to take the nuclear option of a default and leaving the euro.
Here’s another option to clearing their debt:
http://ringoffireradio.com/2015/01/greeces-prime-minister-has-the-good-sense-to-make-germany-pay-for-nazi-war-filth-finally/
This is an issue that has been going on for years. Tsipras has the sense to bring it up with the one country that is insisting on full payment.
Question now is – who owes what to whom??
Greece has a large trade (in goods) deficit…..just like England. Scotland’s trade surplus is needed to prop up the latter.