(en) wsm.ie: Greece votes OXI against austerity in referendum
by Andrew Flood
The plans of the EU leadership for an engineered 'soft coup' are in tatters given the
likely size of the OXI victory. They won't be able to pretend its a society 'divided down
the middle'. The opposition leaders they hoped would head up a caretaker government are
instead now under pressure to resign as it appears every district in Greece is voting NO.
---- What comes next is unclear. In the last minutes financial commentator after financial
commentator has been predicting a Gexit from the Euro. We should be clear about this. The
left is divided on the question of whether Greece should stay in the Euro but if it is
forced out by the bankers this would be an anti-democratic measure of epic proportions.
The must be opposition to any forced exit on the bankers terms. The question of whether to
stay or not is a question for ordinary Greek people and not the ECB.
In the short term what must be demanded is a debt write-off not only for Greece but also
for the other countries of the PIIGS who have been saddled with the enormous debts arising
from the gambles of the European banks.
Beyond that the huge energy that can come from the Greek OXI must be used to revitalise
the social movements fighting austerity across Europe and not simply channeled into the
electoral projects of the left.
The world we are fighting for is not one that can be created by having a different set of
leaders running the EU, the whole structure must be torn down and rebuild from the bottom.
We demand a Europe of radical direct democracy where needs rather than profit are the
basis of the new world we build together.
In the aftermath of the huge No vote Yanis Varoufakis has just announced his resignation
as Greek Finance Minister saying he will wear the creditors loathing with pride. The
resignation as minister is supposedly to help placate other EU leaders who don't want to
deal with him.
It may well be a reminder that any deal reached will still be austerity but 'with a human
face' and perhaps even 'sustainable' if there is also a huge debt write off. So EU leaders
aside today is probably a good day to resign having won a battle spectacularly but with
your hands tied in the war to come.
Workers Solidarity Movement (Ireland)
http://www.wsm.ie/c/greece-votes-oxi-against-austerity-referendum
