by system failure
Until now, the middle class in the European periphery, was playing the role of the “safety pillow” between the lower class of the very poor and the upper class of the superrich. Through a false – as we see clearly now – wealth and a culture of overconsumption, with the neoliberal way of the gambling economy, bubble economy and banking loan, middle class became the vast majority of the population in western countries generally.
Since the beginning of the
current crisis, Germany
tried to present it as a Greek problem, in order to hide the responsibilities
of the banks and the big capital, and the fact that Germany itself is gaining from this
crisis. The propagandistic role of the mainstream German media – and also large
portion of the Greek media - of mass consumption on this, is well known.
Until now, the middle class in the European periphery, was playing the role of the “safety pillow” between the lower class of the very poor and the upper class of the superrich. Through a false – as we see clearly now – wealth and a culture of overconsumption, with the neoliberal way of the gambling economy, bubble economy and banking loan, middle class became the vast majority of the population in western countries generally.
But today, the middle class
itself, is characterized by a multilevel structure, with groups of citizens who
often have conflicting interests that emerge on the surface or motivated, especially
during such an economic crisis. This fact is used successfully by the
representatives of the new order, to prevent primarily a possible massive
dynamic reaction, with unpredictable results for their plans. A typical example
in Greece,
is the conflict between the hotel owners – even small hotels – and hotel stuff.
Another characteristic example, is that many owners of small and middle
businesses, accept the cuts in the public sector wages nearly as a fair
treatment, while, on the other hand, they accept with realism, the continuing
strengthening of the banking monster with rescue packages of billions, waiting
patiently but vainly for the gates of banking loan to open again and believing
what the governments say, that this is necessary to secure deposits.
But as the prescription of
austerity and fiscal discipline fails dramatically and the game of the big banks
and their role in crisis is revealed more and more clearly, the European elite
understands that the middle class “safety pillow” in the countries of the
periphery is shrinking dangerously, and threatens to create unpredictable
unbalances. The alarm has been activated in recent Greek elections, where for the first
time in modern history of the country, a leftish party threatened the dominance
of the two-party establishment of PASOK and Nea Dimokratia which governed the
country since 1974, and is directly connected with the domestic and European
elites, beyond the fact that for the first time, the same establishment lost so
much power through recent elections.
The German leadership, which
of course is completely controlled by the big banks and multinational
corporative cartels, is now turning to its own middle class and the middle
class in developed countries of north, searching for a new counterweight, so
that, this geographically displaced middle class, could take the role of a new
“safety pillow” against the dangerous imbalances that are rising in the
southern countries and the periphery.
But the Germans now also worry,
that the excessive highlighting of the national characteristics of the
“undisciplined” and “wasteful” countries (the “lazy” Greeks, the PIIGS of the
south and the periphery etc.), against the “good students” of the north, in a –
among other things – fragmented or even multi-divided European Union, and given
the significant rise of the extreme nationalist parties across the whole
Europe, will create other imbalances much more dangerous, with an even greater
surge of extreme nationalism and the awakening of the ghosts of the past.
The only way to avoid this
type of imbalances that might prove fatal to the initiators of the new order,
is to move rapidly to a kind of federalization of the eurozone initially. It
started with the statements of Merkel-Hollande speaking for “more Europe” and then with the recent statements of Schauble
about “one parliament”, “one government” and “one minister of finances”.
In this way, the middle class
of the north will accept without question the hard austerity measures and the
destruction of the social state in the countries of the south and the
periphery, considering that these are indispensable in order to maintain its
own privileges, while on the other hand, the vast majority of the people of the
south and the periphery, will be discovering that it is pointless to seek for
the invisible enemy attacking them in a vast federation, guided by the monster
of the faceless markets, which will threaten Europe, every so often, with a
total financial disaster.
But over the time, the
“Chinification” of Europe will be planned and forwarded rapidly and spread to
every corner, in the name of economic competition against the huge cheap labor
tanks of China, India and South-East Asia.
Unless
the people of Europe react massively, and
understand that, the neoliberal experiment that is carried out in Greece until
now, will eventually turn against them and against all those things conquered
with hard work and decades of sacrifices, such as the labor rights and the social
state, and through new struggles, manage to change the course of Europe, not
for the benefit of the dominant politico-economic elites, but for the benefit
of the vast majority of the people.
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