The Guardian is reporting that the Hellenic Parliament has adopted Alexis "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" Tsipras' latest proposals for "economic adjustment." The report identifies 250 votes "for," 32 votes "against," and 8 abstentions. Ten members apparently didn't show up.
It appears from the tally that Syriza party MPs accounted for all of the abstentions, seven of the no-shows, and only two of the "no" votes. So much for the "left platform," of which so much was made, in which was placed so much hope, just as before so much was made of and so much hope was placed in Syriza itself.
So Tsirpas has rendered his (near) final services to the maintenance of Greek and European capitalism-- a)proving the insignificance, irrelevance of "left platform" formations; how they embody all the sterling qualities--equivocation, bluster, duplicity, cowardice-- of the broader electoral alliance in which they participate; b) removing any further need for his government and his party to exist; and c)setting the stage for eclipse, dispersal, and probable suppression of parliament itself as protests, temporarily quelled by Syriza's election, move back into the streets, as the economy resumes its death spiral, as the police and the military find themselves reinvigorated by capital's demand for "Order!".
I'm guessing that the "no" votes were cast by the KKE (Greek Communist Party) and XA (Golden Dawn), at least that's what I come up with from the numbers. The KKE has 12 seats, and Golden Dawn has 17, and maybe there's one, but probably only one ANEL MP who voted no.
So now what happens? First, the struggle is now as it always has been-- extra-parliamentary. Golden Dawn has been expanding and consolidating its extra-parliamentary gangs, and extra-parliamentary activity-- everything from collecting "protection" money to providing medical treatment for Greeks only-- throughout the memorandum period.
"Responsible action" by Marxists requires, first and foremost, construction of an underground network, embedded in working class areas that can protect activists, organizers, immigrants from official and unofficial repression.
That's a good enough place for a start.
July 10, 2015
Don't know why you only address yourself to "marxists". Anarchists in Greece have consistently opposed SYRIZA. (though I'm neither a marxist nor an anarchist myself). .
ReplyDeleteFor my "News of Opposition" page, last night I quickly translated into English (from the French translation) a short leaflet written by high school anarchists attacking the referendum before it took place - look at the entry on 5/7/15: http://dialectical-delinquents.com/news-of-opposition-5/july-2015/
And if you look at entries from 26th February onwards, you'll see that anarchists have - on and off - constantly attacked aspects of SYRIZA's policies, including burning one of the political offices of SYRIZA.. Regardless of what you might think of the over-simpolications of the ideas coming from Greek anarchists, their actions have outshone those of almost all Greek marxists..
Because I am a marxist, is the simple answer, and the "oversimplification of ideas" is a critical defect. I don't know how many anarchists read this site, but I know a number of marxists do.
ReplyDeleteI'm an anarchist reading your site right now, comrade. ;)
ReplyDelete