Austerity & Fascism In Greece – The Real 1% Doctrine

[Lauren Johnson]

The privatization of Greece's rail system is set to begin in June, the Greek government announced on Monday, as it continues to mete out the austerity including privatizations the troika imposed as a requisite for receiving bailout funds.

Writing "Greece on the Auction Block," the International Business Times explains that the Hellenic Railways Organization, referred to by its Greek acronym OSE,

owns and maintains the country's rail infrastructure except for the Athens rapid transit lines. It consists of about 500 freight and passenger routes on 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles) of railways. [...]

Greece initially unveiled plans in 2011 to privatize €15 billion ($19.3 billion) worth of state-owned assets by the end of this year and €50 billion by 2015, according to the Wall Street Journal. [...]

The country lowered its privatization goal to €19 billion by 2015, and then lowered it again in December to €11 billion by 2016. Last year it raised only €1.7 billion in the sale of state-owned assets.

Agence France-Presse adds that the Greece must raise 2.6 billion euros through asset sales this year.

"The privatization of Trainose is now on track," Development Minister Costis Hatzidakis said in a statement.

"The procedure will begin in June…and in a short space of time we will have a very different landscape in Greek railways," Hatzidakis added.

The austerity measures have been widely denounced by Greeks, prompting national strikes and protests.

https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/04/02-3

[Jan Klimkowski]

Robber barons for the C21st, looting the assets of an entire people in pursuit of the false god, PROFIT.

[Lauren Johnson]

Robber barons for the C21st, looting the assets of an entire people in pursuit of the false god, PROFIT.

I've gotten to the point that the "robber baron" explanation seems to be a secondary motive. The first is the destruction of a social fabric -- particular labor unions and political parties that would appeal to labor -- and its replacement with a new and wondrous future -- a golden dawn. Making a few bucks? Sure, that works, too. It gives credibility to the claim that, 'We are all in this together.'

[Jan Klimkowski]

Robber barons for the C21st, looting the assets of an entire people in pursuit of the false god, PROFIT.

I've gotten to the point that the "robber baron" explanation seems to be a secondary motive. The first is the destruction of a social fabric -- particular labor unions and political parties that would appeal to labor -- and its replacement with a new and wondrous future -- a golden dawn. Making a few bucks? Sure, that works, too. It gives credibility to the claim that, 'We are all in this together.'

The original robber barons also set out to destroy organised labour such as unions, and a social fabric based on mutual respect and humanity, replacing it instead with a New Dawn.

Usually fascist in nature.

I agree that Profit is not the ultimate driver, Power and Control are.

However, Greece is being looted and plenty of the Mechanics and Facilitators will be rewarded with Profit, with Filthy Lucre.

[Magda Hassan]

Golden Dawn: Greek fascists come Down Under

Melbourne has long been known as one of the biggest cities for Greek diaspora in the world, and the "world's most liveable city" is fast becoming the latest battleground for the swelling fascist movement sweeping Greece. Golden Dawn, the nascent political party capitalising on deep resentment to the…

• [URL="http://theconversation.com/profiles/james-arvanitakis-12196"]

  James Arvanitakis

  Lecturer in Cultural and Social Analysis at University of Western Sydney
  [/URL]
  

Disclosure Statement

James Arvanitakis receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Office of Learning and Teaching. He is affiliated with a number of progressive thinking organisations including the Centre for Policy Development.


The plans of far-right Greek political party Golden Dawn to visit Australia have caused much consternation in the local Greek diaspora communities. EPA/STR Melbourne has long been known as one of the biggest cities for Greek diaspora in the world, and the "world's most liveable city" is fast becoming the latest battleground for the swelling fascist movement sweeping Greece.
Golden Dawn, the nascent political party capitalising on deep resentment to the European Union's austerity measures, recently secured 18 seats in the national parliament. In further concerning developments, it is now looking beyond Greece to countries with a large Greek populations like Australia, England and Canada to broaden its political reach.
Typically described as fascist or a neo-Nazi movement, Golden Dawn is currently led by Nikolaos Michaloliakos, a Holocaust denier who has spent time in prison for attacking journalists and carrying illegal guns and explosives. Golden Dawn has been accused of sparking xenophobic violence by promoting anti-immigration policies, and its political symbol bears a striking resemblance to the swastika.
The group now plans to "create cells in every corner of the globe", and as part of this plan has established a group in Australia to "fight and defend both of our countries with pride and honour".
Reports suggest the group has more than 200 members and 3000 followers in Melbourne, and plans for Golden Dawn MPs to visit later this year have sparked a firestorm of protest from Greek communities and civil activists. Many prominent Greeks are attempting to prevent them from entering the country, but early indications suggest the government won't deny them visas.
The rise of Golden Dawn is alarming. There is widespread anger in Greece at the austerity measures imposed by the government and the EU, and by tapping into this fury, movements such as Golden Dawn can draw a level of support previously unattainable.
Expanding the base beyond Greece is the obvious next step when you consider the Greek diaspora is estimated at over seven million, compared to the 11 million people living in Greece. Of the diaspora, 300,000 live in Melbourne alone, making it the world's third largest Greek city. Many of these expats would now be relatively wealthy compared to those still living in Greece, and their support would go a long way to prop up the organisation financially and give it a sense of international legitimacy.
In saying that, many within the Greek community I have spoken to are both concerned and adamant that the Golden Dawn has no place in contemporary politics. It was reported the Golden Dawn did turn up at the annual Greek festival in Melbourne in mid-March.
This was a sore point with many in the Greek community who were quite angry at their attendance, while simultaneously emphasising that in democracy, all voices emerge. The organising committee, whose members recently invited me to speak at the Antipodes lecture series, made it clear in conversations that the Golden Dawn were neither invited nor welcomed.
This group of progressive, liberal-minded cultural and even political activists, also raised the irony of migrants taking an anti-migrant position.
The rise of far-right extremists in Europe, however, is not just limited to Greece, as many new parties in countries from the United Kingdom to Finland are seeking to capitalise on growing unemployment and rising immigration to help spread their nationalist sentiments. Most of these groups target young adults, pointing to the depressed economic conditions and entrenched youth unemployment to promote strident anti-immigration rhetoric.
Like Golden Dawn, these groups typically espouse extreme right-wing positions of blaming migrants, detecting Jewish conspiracies in any successful business and communist sedition in anyone wearing a red t-shirt, it has no other discernable features.
This is not to make light of an organisation like Golden Dawn that seems to be comfortable promoting violence, racism and take advantage of genuine frustrations. Rather like any other fascist movement, it is based on a brittle and somewhat absurd foundation that would be comedic if not so concerning.
Melbourne is home to the third largest Greek population in the world, many of whom have voiced their displeasure at the prospect of Golden Dawn coming to Australia. AAP/Joe Castro These are the unintended consequences of the austerity package placed on nations such as Greece: and it is time to recognise that forcing a nation into ever deeper recession sows the seeds for such movements.
Golden Dawn is not alone in looking beyond national borders to further the cause. In February this year, the Dutch far-right nationalist Geert Wilders visited Australia on a speaking tour organised by the anti-Islamic Q society who even hate halal food sparking protests and renewed discussions about immigration. It appears as though Australia might have to get used to MPs from these far-right movements visiting our country.
I am not a fan of withholding visas from visitors I do not agree with. But perhaps the government should prepare a series of behaviour protocols for those who do come explaining to them the history of migration, the thousands of years of peaceful co-existence of cultures and as Paul Keating still reminds us, the many risks of letting the racial genie out of the bottle.
http://theconversation.com/golden-dawn-g...rsation%29

[Magda Hassan]

Prosecution overreach Greek-style: anarchists get life for property damage; neo-nazi got 13 months: spot the difference

Posted on April 11, 2013 by admin

Last week a Greek court handed down life sentences to leading members of the insurrectionist Revolutionary Struggle. This contrasts dramatically with the 13 month sentence that was given to the Golden Dawn leader some years back for plotting to cause explosions and related offences. We also report on an attack by neo-nazis and police on an anarchist centre in Patras three days ago: the 200 strong anarchists, however, succeeded in defeating the onslaught, despite tear gas used against them. More below….
A. Anarchists sentenced to decades in prison
Note the persons in the above photo are as follows… Konstantinos Gournas (top-L), Nikolaos Maziotis (top-C), Panagiota Roupa (top-R), Christoforos Kortesis (bottom-L), Sarantos Nikitopoulos (bottom-C) and Vangelis Stathopoulos(bottom-R).
Revolutionary Struggle claimed responsibility for a string of bombings and shootings, targeting the police and others between 2003 and 2010 (no one was killed). The group first appeared in 2003 to claim responsibility for several bomb attacks in Athens, including against the Athens Stock Exchange, planting a massive bomb that failed to explode outside Citibank offices, and the 2007 U.S. embassy strike which caused no injuries. Last week guilty verdicts were determined as follows:
- Conviction of Vaggelis Stathopoulos and Christoforos Kortesis for alleged participation in the organization.
- Conviction of Nikos Maziotis, Pola Roupa and Kostas Gournas for simple synergy' with the actions of Revolutionary Struggle (without a shred of evidence concerning their involvement in specific actions).
- Acquittal of Marie Beraha, Sarantos Nikitopoulos and Kostas Katsenos of all charges (on benefit of doubt).
- Acquittal of Nikos Maziotis, Pola Roupa and Kostas Gournas of the charge of directing a terrorist organization'.
(Note… The verdict was issued in absentia for the organization's self-professed leader, Nikos Maziotis, and his partner Panagiota Roupa, who have been on the run since last June when they were released from prison after completing the maximum permitted period of 18 months in pretrial custody.)
Nikos Maziotis was sentenced to 86 years but commuted to 50 years. Pola Roupa and Kostas Gournas were both sentenced to 87 years; each commuted to 50 years and 6 months. For all three., the maximum prison term is 25 years (which are typically served either as a full sentence or by day wages in prisons, or after the completion of 3/5 of the prison term, when a prisoner can be granted conditional release under specific conditions). Vaggelis Stathopoulos and Christoforos Kortesis were sentenced to 8 and 7 years' imprisonment, respectively. The sentence against Vaggelis Stathopoulos was commuted to 7 years and 6 months.
Meanwhile, a reminder that Nikos Michaloliakos, the head of Golden Dawn, was imprisoned in 1978 for his part in plotting a series of bombings in Athens (he was found in possession of guns and explosives). Michaloliakos was sentenced to 13 months. Conclusion…?
B. Attack on anarchist centre by neo-nazis
On the night of Monday, April 8th a group of comrades who were at the Ipsila Alonia square [in Patras] came under attack by fascists who frequent the Psitalonia grill-house (owned by the Golden Dawn member Sipsas). The attack was sparked by a t-shirt with an anti-fascist symbol wore by one of the comrades. The fascists attacked our comrades with stones, bottles and chairs from the inside of the grill-house. The comrades resisted and then moved toward the Maragopouleio occupation, where they pushed them back, despite being fewer in numbers. The neo-nazis moved toward the occupation, where they were pushed back for a second time, effectively.
The intervention of the cops was instant, supportive and salvational for the para-statists, who were causing damage to parked cars for that reason. In the next few hours, and in perfect coordination between them, the cops attacked the gathered comrades with tear gas shots in a straight line and stun grenades onto the heads of those at the centre's entrance, while at the same time offering cover to the neo-nazis who were hurling stones and flash-grenades into the courtyard of the occupation, from a side street.
For two hours Maragopouleio was under siege by the hounds of the riot police, in an attempt to cut off the space from two impromptu demonstrations trying to approach it. The sheer number and the determination of the 200+ comrades averted new attacks until the moment when first the fascists and then the cops retreated.
Last night's attack by the MAT [riot police] and Golden Dawn at the Maragopouleio occupation is nothing other than the continuation of the repressive moves by the state against squats and self-organised spaces, against the world of struggle that keeps resisting the state's anti-social plans with zeal, against the attempted imposition of impoverishment and social cannibalism. Despite continuous declarations of its supposedly anti-systemic nature, the neo-nazi organisation in question once again proved through its cooperation with the forces of repression what it really is: the faithful hounds of the regime, ready to support its work in any way possible.
Despite the desperate attempts by the sovereignty-controlled mass media to present the events as some clash between the "extremes", the mass and multiform presence of a multitude of people in struggle outside the occupation space proved that social and class memory is still alive, arming an entire world with determination, ready to defend with all its power the structures and the projects of our struggle, the world of resistance and freedom.
Yet another time, after their similar attempt on October 2012, the fascists of the Golden Dawn retreated disorderly, with the polite accompaniment of the Greek police.
FASCISTS BACK OFF, ONWARD COMRADES. THE STRUGGLE FOR SOCIAL EMANCIPATION WILL TRAMPLE OVER THEM!
Patra, April 9, 2013
See also http://intothefire.org/refugees-hunger-s...n-centres/
Posted from the darker net via Android.
http://darkernet.in/prosecution-overreac...ifference/

[Magda Hassan]

Greece: Golden Dawn coup plan confirmed; street violence escalates; Greek offshore accounts exposed

Posted on April 5, 2013 by admin
Recently the neo-nazi Golden Dawn party indicated that they hope to make inroads on foreign shores by setting up cells in countries such as Australia, Canada, the United States, etc which is interesting as this announcement coincides with confirmation from a Greek investigative journalist that the strategy of tension' campaign (to encourage a coup or martial law) that Darker Net forewarned some six weeks back is now fully operational (see below for more). We also report on a recent, vicious attack that took place by Golden Dawn members on the island of Paros. A breaking news update on a list of 23,000 Greek offshore accounts is provided too.
Note: the above video (slow to load) on Golden Dawn looks at current events but also on events last summer, providing a snapshot of Golden Dawn activities/views.
Breaking 1… ICIJ reveals secret offshore accounts of Greeks: 2,400 companies registered in tax havens in the Pacific and the English Channel. 23,000 Greek companies are incorporated in other countries, including tax havens.
Breaking 2… Golden Dawn thugs were forced to leave the village of Potamia on the island of Thasos. They had come to hand out food to Greeks (i.e. not to immigrants). But locals stopped them unloading and the GD were forced to leave. In Hania, Crete, local antifascists fought with GD members, one of whom was thrown into the sea off the harbour.
A. Golden Dawn's strategy of tension' confirmed
Six weeks back Darker Net ran an article arguing that Golden Dawn, in league with Greek police, were pursuing an Italian-style, Third Positionist strategy of tension' campaign. In support of this we reported on the arrest of several members of Golden Dawn and police after they had been found in possession of explosives and arms (as well as a warning from a former Greek ambassador about a possible coup attempt). The Greek President also aired his concerns on what was happening. It was our understanding that Golden Dawn were plotting to conduct a massacre, which they would then blame on anarchists so that a military coup would be organised, or at least martial law declared. Yesterday Vice' published an interview with Dimitris Psarras, a Greek investigative journalist, whose book, The Black Bible of the Golden Dawn, is one of the most thorough investigations of the party. Psarras confirmed that it is his understanding, too, that the strategy of tension' terror campaign planned by Golden Dawn is in fact operational. Here we quote from the relevant parts of the interview…
Vice: Do you think Greece is starting to see a "strategy of tension" enacted? Golden Dawn trying to manipulate the public with fear?
Psarras: I believe it's already happening. The Golden Dawn's strategy today is exactly that. Ilias Panagiotaros, one of Golden Dawn's MPs, actually said, "There is already civil war," in an interview. They want to force the other side's hand into committing similar violent acts, just like during the strategy of tension in Italy in the 70s.
Vice: So what you're saying is not that it might happen, but that it's definitely already happening?
Psarras: Definitely. Maybe not with the same intensity as Italy's blind bombings in the 70s, but let's not forget that Golden Dawn and Michaloliakos' heritages both involve the Italians. Even recently, actually, the Golden Dawn magazine Meandric which they circulate internally in the organisation ran a piece on Pino Rauti, one of the leaders of the neo-fascist Ordine Nuovo, the far-right group directly involved with the bombings in Italy in the 70s.
Vice: Do you think Golden Dawn might try other tactics as well, like carrying out hits that make it look like anarchists are responsible, for example?
Psarras: I can only hypothesise. Taking the fact they've never cut their ties with the idea of a "deep state" [an alleged clandestine group of military officials and civilians who frame their opponents for the murders of dissidents they commit themselves] into account, I wouldn't rule it out. But that would be a worst case scenario.
Note: Nikos Michaloliakos, the head of Golden Dawn, was imprisoned for 13 months in 1978 for his part in organising a series of bombings in Athens. In prison he was instructed by Ghiorgos Papadopulos, the lead colonel in the military junta, to set up Chrysi Avghi (Golden Dawn).
B. Vicious attack by GD on Paros
This section is translated from Ethnos' newspaper, 22/03/2013. The victim's aim in telling the following story is to unite her voice with those of people that have also been victims of fascist attacks, in order to claim the conviction of the Golden Dawn through the European courts.
"Regardless of what the supporters of the Golden Dawn champion, the individuals members constitute a public danger. They threaten not only immigrants, but every citizen that wishes to express themselves freely and claim their rights. The official authorities and political powers have demonstrated their inability to deal with this fascist violence. I hope there is an end soon, otherwise many innocent and peaceful people will pay for it. Wherever Golden Dawn has stepped in, someone has paid with their blood. This barbarism must stop". M. Troullou.
The attack referred to above took place on 28 February 2013. A delegation of Golden Dawn had gone to Paroikia [the island's capital] to hold an event and a demonstration was scheduled for the same day by the Antifascist Initiative. Strong police forces, including the Athens riot police were sent to the island.
Shortly before the end of the march riot police cornered' the protesters in a dark alley of Paros near the tavern where the demonstration of Golden Dawn was taking place. The police then used chemical gas and charged against the crowd. Immediately behind the riot police there were people in civilian clothes identified by bystanders as supporters of Golden Dawn who were throwing stones against the demonstrators.
Maria Troullou, a teacher, took refuge on a balcony with her ​​partner Savvas Mavridis, but failed to escape from the hands of one hefty person. She explained…"The attack was so cruel and violent. Hideous, without any justification. It was as if the attacker had deliberately selected me in the crowd. What is more threatening than a female antifascist, I ask? He grabbed me by the hair and slammed my head furiously against the wall. He then hit me on the forehead and I fell and stayed down, dizzy. I then felt my partner's hand on my arm. He was trying to lift me. I then received a second blow, from the same direction as the perpetrator. Something hit me on the top of my head something hard, like a crowbar or a baton. I bent down again. Then I collapsed feeling the blood flowing".
She added…"My partner managed to keep me under his control. We received more strikes from the police at various points. but also at the hands of the perpetrator. The only thing we could do was instinctively defend ourselves. We were getting beaten from all sides. My partner received multiple blows to the head, body and neck. He has scars on the calves from the resistance he exercised with his legs to keep us both on the balcony. If my partner had not been there to protect me, risking his own life, the worst would have happened".
After the attack, Maria and Savvas were conveyed to Paros Health Centre. In the medical report it was confirmed that when they went to the hospital on the evening of 28/02/2013 Savvas was diagnosed with rupture of the frontal and the left occipital bones of the skull. The wounds were cleaned and required 17 stitches. Maria suffered intense headaches, neck pain and eye pain and she received four stitches to the head. Wounds were sustained all over the bodies of the teacher and her partner altogether, they left the hospital with 21 stitches.
A crowd gathered outside the hospital, to offer support and to demand the intervention of the police to identify the perpetrator. It took the police more than one hour to go to the hospital to take the testimonies of the injured.
Maria stated in her testimony that the perpetrator was an unknown man in civilian clothes, with light complexion and short hair, hefty and with height of 1.90. Although Maria chose to speak publicly about the attack, she decided not to proceed with a lawsuit against that individual. One reason was that after the recent trial of Ilias Kasidiaris, in which he was acquitted in a court room full of Golden Dawn supporters, she believed that her own case would have resulted in the same fate. The second reason is that she was scared, as the man who beat her furiously did so in front of the police, who did not protect her from the attack nor arrest the offender (which made her think he enjoys immunity). She also believed that there would be many willing witnesses to provide an alibi for the perpetrator.
The next day, Friday 1st of March 2013, more violent attacks took place in the port of Paroikia. In one such attack, a German, who lives permanently on the island, tried to capture with his camera Golden Dawn supporters and MPs Giannis Lagos, Ilias Panagiotaros and Nikos Michos. According to the police, a number of followers, including MP N. Michos, moved menacingly towards the German and the police were forced to intervene. Tension built up, which only ended with the boarding of the Golden Dawn delegation on the boat back to Athens. It was on that day that the perpetrator of the attack against Maria Troullou was recognised as a member of the Golden Dawn delegation.
Links
http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/are-golden-dawn-turning-to-terrorism-to-get-their-message-across
[/url]
http://gu.com/p/3ea9z
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/return-of-the-far-right-greeces-financial-crisis-has-led-to-a-rise-in-violent-attacks-on-refugees-8551798.html
http://intothefire.org/racist-violent-channel-4-golden-dawn/
http://www.newstatesman.com/austerity-and-its-discontents/2013/03/we-are-powerful-and-we-will-soon-be-dominant-golden-dawns-inti
[url=http://eng.babelmed.net/cultura-e-societa/67-greece/13021-greece-chrysi-avghi-the-darkest-side-of-the-crisis.html]
Posted from the darker net via Android.
http://darkernet.in/golden-dawn-neo-nazi...n-rampage/

[Jan Klimkowski]

Scratch the surface of a fascist, and reveal the abusive neo-Nazi thug underneath.

Golden Dawn MP 'swung at mayor of Athens but hit 12-year-old girl instead'

Member of parliament for Greek extreme-right party also accused of trying to pull out gun during incident at charity event

Associated Press in Athens
The Guardian, Thursday 2 May 2013 18.40 BST

Police confront Golden Dawn party members at a food giveaway for 'Greek citizens only' in Athens denounced by the mayor as a 'soup kitchen of hatred'. Photograph: Yannis Kemmos/AP

A member of parliament from Greece's extreme-right Golden Dawn party allegedly tried to punch the mayor of Athens on Thursday, swinging at him but reportedly missing and hitting a 12-year-old girl instead.

The confrontation came hours after police used pepper spray to prevent the nationalist party from distributing free food to Greek citizens only in the city's main Syntagma Square in defiance of a municipal ban the mayor had vowed to uphold.

Once a marginal group, Golden Dawn saw a meteoric rise in the polls in recent years, becoming the third most popular party as the country slid further into financial crisis and unemployment rocketed. Its members have been repeatedly accused of involvement in violent attacks against immigrants and others.

"The only thing these people know is the language of violence," said the mayor, Giorgos Kaminis, after the incident, in which he said MP Giorgos Germenis also tried to pull out a gun before being restrained by the mayor's bodyguards.

Germenis turned up at a charity event where Kaminis was handing out gifts to children of unemployed parents ahead of Sunday's Orthodox Easter.

"This man sneaked in, we didn't notice him … and he tried to hit me," Kaminis told Vima FM radio. "At the last minute my personal guards stopped him." The mayor said Germenis had a gun tucked into the back of his waist band, and attempted to pull the weapon out.

Television footage showed the mayor's bodyguards struggling with Germenis as a woman carrying a baby scurried out of the room. The security guards pinned the MP against a wall before marching him out of the building.

Greek media said the blow intended for Kaminis ended up hitting a girl, leaving her with a bruised forehead but no serious injuries. "Extreme actions, especially when their victims are innocent 12-year-old children, do not befit our democracy," said government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou.

Golden Dawn issued a statement denying a girl had been hit and vowing to sue Kaminis and his security guards. For his part, Kaminis intends to sue Germenis for the attempted attack, the municipality's press office said. Police said they were investigating complaints against the MP for threats and brandishing a weapon.

Golden Dawn had announced it would hand out free Easter food to Greeks only on Thursday. Kaminis had banned any such events in the city's main square, and vowed Wednesday not to allow the "soup kitchen of hate" to take place.

But party members with Golden Dawn logos across the backs of their black T-shirts arrived more than two hours before the announced time with a truck carrying meat, potatoes and other goods and began handing out bags of food after checking recipients' identity cards.

Scuffles broke out with riot police, who used pepper spray to repel party members wielding Greek flags on thick wooden sticks.

Giving up on the idea of a charity handout in the capital's main square, the party moved the distribution to its own offices in downtown Athens not far from where Kaminis later attended the separate municipal charity event.

"Today in Syntagma Square, the law was implemented against the Golden Dawn neo-Nazis who once again displayed their wares: racist hatred, the use of violence and bullying," said Fofi Gennimata, spokeswoman of the Socialist PASOK party that is a junior member of the governing coalition.

Though Golden Dawn rejects the neo-Nazi label, its website shows great fondness for Nazi literature and symbols.

[Magda Hassan]

Greek Bail-Out: 77% went into the Financial Sector

Attac investigation shows: EU crisis management policy saves banks, not the general population

Since March 2010, the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have applied 23 tranches comprising €206,9 billion to the so-called "Greek bail-out". They have however provided hardly any documentation on the exact usage of those huge amounts of public funds. ATTAC Austria has therefore put up an investigation on the issue: At least 77% of the bail-out money can directly or indirectly be attributed to the financial sector.
The results in detail:

• €58,2 billion (28,13%) were used to recapitalise Greek banks instead of restructuring the too big and moribund sector in a sustainable way and letting the banks' owners pay for their losses.
  
• €101,331 billion (48,98%) went to creditors of the Greek state. €55,44 billion of these were used to repay maturing government bonds instead of letting the creditors bear the risk for which they had received interest payments before. Another €34,6 billion served as incentive to make creditors agree to the so-called "haircut" in March 2012. €11,3 billion were used in a debt buyback in December 2012, when the Greek state bought back almost worthless bonds from its creditors.
  
• €43,7 billion (22,46%) went into the national budget or couldn't be definitively attributed.
  
• €0,9 billion (0,43%) were used as Greek contribution to the new bail-out fund ESM.
  

Sources: www.attac.at/uploads/media/backgroundmaterial_bailout_english.pdf
"The goal of the political elites is not the rescue of the Greek population but the rescue of the financial sector", Lisa Mittendrein of ATTAC concludes."They used hundreds of billions of public money to save banks and other financial players and especially their owners from the financial crisis they caused."

POLITICAL ELITES DISTORT PUBLIC VIEW OF "RESCUE PACKAGES"

These findings refute the position publicly taken by European politicians that it is the Greek population who benefit from the so-called "rescue packages". They are rather the ones paying for the rescue of banks and creditors by suffering from a brutal course of austerity and its well-documented catastrophic social consequences.

BILLIONAIRES AND HEDGE FUND BENEFIT

Among those actually rescued is the multi-billion Latsis clan, one of the richest families in Greece, owning large parts of the state-rescued "Eurobank Ergasias". (1) Speculators benefited, too: During the debt buyback in December 2012, the hedge fund Third Point pocketed €500 million with the aid of European public funds. (2) "When Barroso, the President of the European Commission, labels the so-called Greek bail-out an act of solidarity, you have to ask: Solidarity with whom?", Mittendrein comments. (3)

ANOTHER €34,6 BILLION IN INTEREST PAYMENTS

A maximum of €43,6 billion (22,46%) of the so-called "rescue packages" went into the Greek national budget. However, this amount has to be seen alongside other state expenses during the same period which didn't benefit the general population. More than €34,6 billion were yet again paid to creditors as interest payments for outstanding government bonds (2nd quarter 2010 to 4th quarter 2012 (4)). Moreover, the Greek state put another €10,2 billion into military spending (2010 and 2011 (5)). According to insiders, the governments in Berlin and Paris pressure Greece not to cut military spending because that would affect German and French arms companies. (6)

NOT THE FIRST BANK BAIL-OUT

"The so-called Greek bail-out turns out to be another bail-out for banks and wealthy individuals", Mittendrein says. European banks have already received €670 billion of direct state support (not including guarantees) since 2008. (7) Still, the financial sector in Greece and all over Europe remains unstable. This is once again proven by the recent disbursement of two more tranches dedicated to bank recapitalisations comprising €23,2 billion since December 2012.

POLITICAL ELITES FAIL TO IMPLEMENT NEEDED REGULATIONS…

The Greek state's haircut hit local banks so hard that the state is forced to go into debt again to save them with a billion-euro bail-out. "In the five years that passed since the financial crash, Europe's politicians have failed to regulate the financial markets and adopt a bankruptcy regime for banks. So taxpayers are still forced to help out in case of losses, while the banks' owners are getting away scot free. The governments have to stop giving this kind of blackmailing opportunity to the financial sector", Mittendrein criticises.

…AND RESCUE CORRUPT GREEK BANKING SECTOR

What's even worse is that billions of bail-out money go to Greek banks even though some of them only meet the official conditions by resorting to dubious methods. In 2012, a Reuters report exposed the banks' scandalous practices of using a Ponzi scheme of offshore companies to shove unsecured loans on to each other. They did this to appear to still be able to attract private capital and thus meet the conditions for state recapitalisation. (8) "While the European and the Greek political elites demand blood and tears from the ordinary Greek people, they turn a blind eye to the secret deals amongst financial oligarchs, who are in fact the main beneficiaries of the bail out money given to Greece", confirms economist Marica Frangakis, a member of the Athens-based Nicos Poulantzas Institute, and a founding member of ATTAC Hellas.

INTRANSPARENT HANDLING OF PUBLIC FUNDS

"Our results reveal that the main goal of our governments' crisis management policy since 2008 has been to save the fortunes of the wealthiest. The political elites accept tremendous unemployment, poverty and misery to save a financial sector beyond remedy. The Austrian government has taken part in this inhuman course of action for years, too", Mittendrein adds. It is furthermore alarming that those in charge at the Troika and the EFSF are barely documenting their handling of public funds. "It is a scandal that the European Commission publishes hundreds of pages of reports but fails to specify where the money went to exactly", Mittendrein explains. "We call upon those responsible to impose real transparency and prove who is actually benefiting from the payments."

RADICAL CHANGE OF POLICY IS OVERDUE

A radical change of course is overdue in European crisis management policy. "Our governments save European banks and the wealthy with billions and billions of public funds while pretending to their voters that the money is transferred to the Greek population. This has to stop", Mittendrein and Frangakis demand. Banks "too-big-to-fail" have to be split and return to serving public welfare instead of private profits. Creditors and the rich have to pay their share of the crisis' costs while the financial sector must be severely regulated. "After three years of devastation caused by imposed austerity, Greece is in need of real rescue packages that actually reach the general population", Lisa Mittendrein concludes.

MORE BIZARRE DETAILS

Moreover, the investigation conducted by ATTAC brought to light several bizarre details of the so-called "Greek bail-out":

• Several times, EU and IMF reneged on their announcements and withheld promised disbursements by weeks or even months to put pressure on Greek democracy: in autumn 2011 to prevent a referendum on austerity policy; in May/June 2012 to raise the chances of Troika-friendly parties in the national elections. By withholding promised funds, the Troika forces the Greek government to issue short-term bonds to avoid imminent bankruptcy. Since those "treasury bills", maturing within a few weeks or months, carry a higher interest rate, this actually increases Greek government debt. This serves as further evidence that debt reduction is not the Troika's main interest, but rather a pretext to push forward the destruction of the welfare state and workers' rights.
  
• A tranche of €1 billion disbursed in June 2012 was primarily used to finance Greece's compulsory contribution to the EFSF-replacement ESM. Thus, the EFSF financed its own successor yet not directly but by raising Greek government debt.
  
• Klaus Regling, managing director of EFSF and ESM, has switched between politics and the financial sector numerous times during his career. Before joining the EFSF, he worked in turn for the German government, the hedge fund Moore Capital Strategy Group, the European Commission's Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs and the hedge fund Winton Futures Fund Ltd. Regling thus stands as a symbolic example of the intertwining between financial markets and politics which partly explains why the EU's crisis management policy is primarily aimed at saving the financial sector.
  
• According to its Annual Accounts, the EFSF's personnel costs amounted to €3,1 million in 2011. (9) According to media reports, 12 people worked for the EFSF in this year, (10) so an average €258.000 was spent per person. Managing director Klaus Regling allegedly earns €324.000 plus extra pay per year (11). People making these amounts of money supervise the reduction of the Greek gross minimum wage to €580 per month (€510 for youths) (12).
  
• http://www.attac.org/en/Stories/greek-ba...ial-sector
  

[Jan Klimkowski]

In the UK, we have what the press have labelled "a rockstar central banker", bought in from Canada to run the Bank of England.

The first thing he's done is signal no interest rate rises in the UK.

The bankers loved it.

They were Waiting for the Man.

And a brand new dealer, with plentiful gear, landed in the City....

:nurse: nort: