“Reflections on Greece’s fight” by Yiannakis Colocasides, member of the C.C. of AKEL
8TH July 2015, “Haravgi” daily newspaper
The fight waged by Greece has already yielded results. And this, regardless of whether the Greek government will be able to properly utilize the “No” vote of the Greek people, or whether it will lead to a compromise – painful, perhaps even unacceptable – with the lenders. On a European level, the battle of Greece shattered the myth that wants the European Union to be supposedly a union of solidarity, democracy and governed by the respect of human rights. The bosses themselves of the EU in their confrontation with the Greek government have proved to be brutal extortionists and blackmailers, terrorists (the jihadists pale in comparison), coupists/putschists of the ATM bank machines and cruel money lenders. During the days of the climax of the Greek tragedy, the peoples of Europe saw the true face of the notorious EU. One wonders, will the cultivation and existence of illusions about the EU cease from now on? Of course not. The EU obedient propagators (that is to say the mercenaries of capital) whether politicians or economists or the mass media or the journalists (by the way, they shouldn’t feel resentment) are already regrouping their forces and reemerging with a vengeance. But the glass has now broken. All over Europe and the world in general it is now much more difficult to control minds and spread their propaganda. And this is their biggest defeat; a defeat that is due to the Greek people.
Greece’s fight showed that there is a different path; the path of resistance and assertion. It showed that the path of subordination to big multinational and national capital is not inevitable and not the only option. For sure, the path of resistance and assertion is not easy, and its outcome is not certain – at least for the time being. This path has setbacks, disappointments and defeats. However, one thing is certain: it given dignity back to the Greek people which local and foreign “Europeanists” and “modernizers” so brutally wanted to deprive them of. The example of Greece will of course be followed by other people as well. And this is precisely the biggest fear and main nightmare of the gang of money lenders. As from Sunday evening, Mr. Junker and the rest of the gang will not be sleeping comfortably. And this is a great success that we all owe to the Greek people.
In Cyprus, the battle of Greece had another result. It transmitted a powerful slap in the face of the ideology of “national-mindedness”. The Right in Cyprus for decades baptized everything conservative and reactionary as national and on this basis it was exploiting the name of Greece. It identified itself as the “national-minded faction”, supported with fanaticism even dictatorial regimes in Greece and stigmatized other forces as being “anti-Greek”. We of course know that their whole attitude is driven not by national, but by class interests. Many people couldn’t understand us. However, the fight waged by Greece came and the issues themselves were made clear. The governing DISY party and the Anastasiades government found themselves facing the left government of SYRIZA and subsequently aligned themselves with the money lenders because very simply besides the national origins there are also class interests and it is precisely these interests that are playing a decisive role. Thank goodness for the Greek people who through their struggle have unmasked and exposed our own local “national-minded” forces.
In conclusion, I would also like to express my opinion on another aspect. There is a view that the rupture should be made not just with austerity, but with the Euro and the European Union as a whole. However, the deeper the intended ruptures are, the greater is the need for mass popular support. Otherwise these ruptures are condemned to a heroic defeat. It is obvious that the Greek people at the given moment in time was ready to stand against the austerity policies that the Europeans and the International Monetary Fund are imposing, but are not yet ready to accept a total rupture. The EU rulers also know this, which is why they literally did their upmost to put before the Greek people the dilemma “inside or outside the Euro, inside or outside the European Union?” and as a consequence exerted blackmail on order to get a result that would suit and serve their interests.
Nobody can predict how things will evolve. Possibly in the future (in the immediate and longer term nobody can specify it) the conditions will change and then the questions can be put on a different basis. Greece’s batle has not finished, nor of course has the war as well, where the Greek referendum was an important experience.
