Greek Solidarity Statement
Wednesday 29th February 2012
1. Austerity now dominates the economic policies of the advanced capitalist world. In response to a global crisis precipitated by the speculative drive of the big banks, the Western ruling classes have chosen to shift the cost onto the backs of working people and the poor. Slashing public expenditure has trapped the world in slow growth. But it has also provided an opportunity to drive through more of the neoliberal ‘reforms’ that allowed the financial markets to escape control in the first place.
2. It is the unhappy fate of the Greece to be the main testing ground for these policies. The eurozone has just agreed a second ‘rescue’ package for Greece. This is a rescue of the mainly French and German banks that lent Greece the money that it now owes. This is made visible by the creation of an escrow account into which the new loans will be paid ...