By Jaspal Singh
The Greek government has declared a referendum for people of Greece to vote on the concessions that the consortium of banks headed by IMF is dictating, which includes cut backs on health,education,pensions and salaries of the government employees.The people of Greece voted a new government few months ago not to bow down to the dictates of the banks.German banks being the largest lenders have been threatening the Greeks through the Merkel government of dire consequences.The Greek people have refused to kneel down in face of the dictates of the banks.They really had no other choice.Their back is against the wall but banks like the proverbial Moloch want all of their children.
This uprising by the Greeks against the new liberal agenda in the heartland of Europe is being watched very carefully by the rest of the Europeans and other people of the world.Portugal ,Spain,Italy and many other countries that are being held hostages by the banks through the European Union are watching these developments closely and carefully.
I remember in the eighties, some of my very well meaning friends were gaga about European Union.I pointed out then to them that this will bring disasters to the people of Europe.I remember having a very heated debate with professor Eqbal Ahmed on the subject at MIT.He was of the opinion that European Union is a model that people in South Asia could and should follow.I disagreed and said that the Euro and European Union is the Union of big banks and monopolies and will rain disasters on the people.Thirty years later it is for all to see.
I was talking to a philosopher friend of mine who is going to Athens next week for a conference,who pointed out that Greece is the cradle of European civilization and offered new ideas against the barbarism of the Germanic tribes in ancient times.Once again that dialectic may be playing out,the Greeks may offer a new way out of this maze created by the banks and European Union ,with Germany in the lead.Greeks still remember the battles they fought against the Nazi occupation during the Second World War.These dictates by the German banks remind them of those times when the Germans had taken over their country with the force of arms but now they have taken over by some clicks of the computer backed by arms of NATO and European Union.
The ruling party Syriza and the government of Greece have recommended to the people to vote down the concessions demanded by IMF and the European Union.The Greeks are at a cusp of something new and something big that may open path for rest of Europeans who are reeling under tyranny of the big capital.Will they rise to this historic occasion to make history? Only time will tell.One certainly wishes that the people of Greece will once again have a darshan-revelation of Sophia .
There is hardly any coverage in the U.S. of what is happening in Greece and Europe.In India also there is almost no news about Greece and problems of Europe,as it will discredit the neo liberal agenda of Manmohan and Modi.All the claims that have been made for last couple of decades lie dashed in the streets of Europe.
Jaspal Singh is a philosopher based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.