The
Greeks became the first in history that went to vote with the banks
closed and said "NO" to austerity
July 2015.
For five years, Greece has been under a memorandum regime of the EU
and the IMF. The salvation promised, eliminated 1/4 of the GDP - the
equivalent of what Germany lost in WWI. The debt, however, didn't
diminish, but grew bigger.
For the
first time, Greek people can decide by referendum if they are going
to say "YES" or "NO" to austerity.
Greek media
that are financed by private banks by means of loan and publicity
packages, threaten that Armageddon will strike if the Greek people
vote for "NO". Journalists broadcast false news and even
show photos from South Africa. Whoever disagrees is banned from the
TV screen.
At the same
time, the EU and the political status quo send a clear message:
voting "NO" means being banned from the euro.
The voters
listened to the warnings and the threats and made their decision.
Well aware of the potential consequences, they said "NO".
But everyone
wanted to give its own interpretation to the result of the
referendum. The EU have always had its view on referendums and
democracy. In the EU, if your vote is 'wrong' you have to try again
until you get it right. When the Danes voted "NO" to the
Maastricht Treaty and the Irish to the Treaty of Nice, the
referendums were repeated. When the French and the Dutch rejected the
EU constitution, the EU went on to include it in the Treaty of
Lisbon. And as the Irish said "NO" to the Treaty as well,
they had to vote again.
The EU
ignored the result of the Greek referendum along with the PM that had
announced it. The new Tsipras administration imposes some of the
harsher austerity measures that the country has seen. At the same
time, it sells out public assets starting from the ports and the
airports.
Before the
elections in January 2015, SYRIZA promised to write off most of the
debt. But this promise has gone in less than a day after the
election.
The EU sees
that the government does not keep its promises, even before the
negotiation, and begins a relentless attack.
The first
blow comes from the ECB once more. Right after the inauguration of
the new government, it stops accepting Greek bonds as a guarantee,
forcing the banks to resort to the Emergency Liquidity Assistance
(ELA). This way, Frankfurt can cut off liquidity any time sinking the
economy into chaos.
The ECB made
sure that the Greek banks will be closed the week of the referendum.
This way, sent a clear message to the Greek people. However, against
all predictions, the referendum was not lost. The Greeks became the
first in history that went to vote with the banks closed and said
"NO" to austerity. But its voice meant nothing to the EU,
or, the Greek government.
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