Submitted by Pachamama
It is impossible to understand the current cultural wasteland in the Caribbean unless it is properly located within its wider regional and international contexts. In Barbados, for example, only a Pyrrhic victory is possible by rightfully positioning the local political and economic elites at the centre of the circular firing squad which passes for public discourses. Our basic truth is that the future of the Caribbean, as has the past and present, is being decided elsewhere.
On the 25th January the people of Greece elected a near absolute majoritarian Syriza government. In an election pregnant with meanings for those who contend that no government anywhere truly represents its people’s interests, as a primary consideration. In opposition to the Troika’s colonial mandates, Syriza was serious about its promises to the people of Greece. Our reference to a circular ‘logic’ may even extend to the birthplace of western ‘civilization’ as this alleged ‘mother’ is now being raped by her children.
People power as represented by Syriza may indeed be the straw which will break the proverbial camel’s back. The consequences of the Greek people’s power may lead to the unravelling of the Eurozone for that power cannot coexist with external unjust demands, led by Germany, with Merkel as the banksters representative and cipher for the IMF/World Bank, the European Central Bank and the European Union. Mario Draghi has either taken a back seat or maybe otherwise engaged in printing trillions of Euros for a reckless new phase of ‘quantitative easing’.
This effective deployment of debtor’s power should have been the policy of Caribbean governments. Governments with a radical vision of the future. Governments which would not continue trying to fool the people that they understand what is happening. That things are getting better. That endless growth will return if only a few more tourists will head south. They are lying. We know that they are liars and we continue to let them abuse us with their baldfaced lies. Fruendel Stuart is not only a liar, he must also qualify as a consummate idiot to believe anybody, but ac, thinks that one word, any word, from his mouth is anything other than the opposite of any truth.
Surely, when compared to Syriza, this DLP administration has committed a level of practical and moral crimes against the people of Barbados that have set a new watermark. Crimes for which the whole regime must be held to account. The very existence of these parties should be part of the price for crimes against the people. They have missed every opportunity to tell any version of truth. And yet we are expected to respect them or their offices, using the twisted logic of a colonial conformity. We are to acknowledge the existence of libel and slander laws or the hideous Public Order Act of a nefarious Barrow.
Angela Merker has made the position of the German banks clear. And her position is not merely based in economy. It’s deeply ideological. German banks to which the national government of Greece owes a series of bail-outs….bail-ins to, are demanding continued privatization, further reductions in pensions, further reductions in wages. Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis’s counter argument will be wrongly characterized as Obamaesque but it is properly located within the decades old social justice movements of the peoples of South & Central America. Obama’s plagiarism of ‘si se puede’ was catchy for American electioneering but its deeper meaning could never have a place in that political landscape.
He’s saying that the austerity policies of the previous Greek regime have been counter productive and harmful. That there is a need for public investment. That the people have been too impoverished by past policies. That the society is collapsing, not just the economy. That the Greek people are unprepared for the continued and increasing transfer of wealth to the wealthy, to the bankers. And are prepared to do whatever is necessary to develop a new world, if necessary. That the bankers have taken up to 90% of the proceeds of recent loans which the Greek government must now repay the very banks.
So in simple terms, we had the Troika lending Greece money. Paper money created out of thin air. But instead of helping the people, it was given to the banksters. And the people now have to be further impoverished to repay this dubious debt. The Syriza led government says NO! Barbados must say NO too!
They well know that these right positions challenge all that is. May represent a tipping point for the European project. Acceding to the demands of Greeks will mean that others will want the same, especially those in southern Europe. Countries like Spain, which is soon likely to elect Podemos, a new kind of political party which does not recognize the left-of-centre……right-of-centre social formations, as morphed into a muchness of a muchness. Other countries like Italy and Portugal will also be seeking concessions from the international banksters.
This will lead to the destruction of the austerity economy and a rise of generalized redistributive policies. The opposite of what is hidden by a perverse grab of national assets by economic elites. Did we hear some stupid Bajan talking about Communism again? These idiots are so anchored in this artificial left/right foolishness they would prefer to drag us back to 1917 than try to embrace any creative evolutionary spirit in the political culture.
So far we were writing about a transformation in Athenian ‘democracy’. The type of radical change, projects like Operation Gladio were supposed to prevent. But just like there will be global contagion if Greek demands are not met by creditors we can also anticipate the rising of larger population centre in Southern Europe against a politics of austerity.This tide must sweep again the DLP/BLP.
In Spain, a one year old political party, PODEMOS (We Can) has no commitment to the archaic left-right polity. With its roots firmly located in the global Indignados Movement or M15 (May 15) which gained increasing popularity out of the Occupy Movement of recent years, its popularity is starting to outstrip the established parties. Already opinion polls are showing that it is likely to get 20% of the vote in coming elections. Given the Spanish political landscape that would be enough, with some coalitions partners, to be asked to form the next government.
They will have to confront the three horsemen of the Apocalypse – deep inequality, growing unemployment and unsustainable national, corporate and personal debt. These have been created by the current and past governments as they faithfully followed the dictac of the Trioka. A Troika centered on the consolidation of wealth in the hands of the elites everywhere, with a concomitant destruction of the middle classes and the poor.
The Blackstone Group, for example, with bail-out/bail-in money has been buying up the foreclosed properties of evicted Spaniards. The banksters were able to get the Spanish Parliament to pass laws making it possible for mortgagors to be held liable for debt even after eviction. So we have hordes of homeless people liable for debt to properties foreclosed by leading banks. A revolution is coming. It will not however, be televised in the Caribbean.
All of this is happening when other grave events keep challenging our perceived right to exist. Enter! Putin’s Russia with an offer to finance Greek, and maybe Spanish, debt if the Troika continues to behave unreasonably. This is just the tip of the iceberg for a more seismic intervention by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BRICS and others. This matter of another reserve currency system may soon see the almighty US dollars blowing in the wind.
We are in a fight for survival! The politics of austerity in Barbados, Greece and Spain have proved to be inconsistent with democracy. When we muster the confidence to be honest with ourselves we will known that we’ve never had a real democracy at anytime. We’ve always had other things pretending to be democracies. But not real democracy, with a small ‘d’.
We badly need deep cultural transformation. It must be long past the time when we are to be impressed with some mis-educated idiot trying to impress us with a regurgitation of ancient Greek literature, and the like. We are to be better served and serve ourselves by getting an accurate understanding about the political machinations of today’s Greeks. We must ask ourselves what is so special about this set of islands in the Mediterranean Sea that dares to lead us in history, in the present and the future as well? How come this set of islands, in the Caribbean Sea, can’t have a turn at leading humanity to the better world, we seek?
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