Julian Assange, Gianna Papadakou, Kostas Vaxevanis: Western post-democracy becomes more authoritarian than ever

globinfo freexchange
 

When a dominant system begins openly and mercilessly go after top investigative journalists, you can understand that we have already entered the post-democratic era beyond doubt. But it is also a sign that the system becomes increasingly authoritarian because it loses the control of the flow of information and the narratives that reach the wide public.

 

The Western former crypto-fascist and now openly fascist neoliberal establishment wants to preserve the power of the corporate elites and the super-rich, even if it has to suspend more and more democratic principles that have been conquered in previous decades through struggles and blood. Like freedom of press, for instance.

 

And it's certainly not a coincidence that the system is going through a transition phase, (from capitalism to a modern type of corporate feudalism), in which, naturally, democracy has to be defeated decisively. 

 

As we mentioned recently, Mitsotakis regime in Greece is taking steps to suppress further press freedom in the country, through some proposed amendments to Article 191 of the Criminal Code. 

As a consequence, investigative journalist Gianna Papadakou, was targeted for exposing officials believed to have received bribes from the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, and, for writing about wealthy people suspected of evading taxes. Shortly after the targeting of Papadakou, the regime went after another top investigative journalist, Kostas Vaxevanis, as he has been for many years the main target of the old corrupted political establishment (part of which is the current Mitsotakis regime), for investigating and exposing its biggest corruption scandals.

 

In an important development, many major organizations that monitor freedom of press globally, have expressed their concerns about these incidents in Greece. As The National Herald summarized: 

                       Reporters Without Borders (RSF) joined seven other media groups to ask authorities to drop the charges after an earlier virtual fact-finding mission said the New Democracy government was trying to muzzle the media, including with a fake news law to block misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic but which provides penalties for journalists and publishers too. The groups said they wanted assurances that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ government isn’t meddling with justice but were ignored, as have other critics complaining of a heavy hand by the administration. “Our organisations are following these two legal cases with utmost scrutiny given the obvious concerns they raise with regard to press freedom. Authorities must issue guarantees that the process is demonstrably independent and free of any political interference,” a joint statement said.

 

As we wrote back in July, 2019, right after the general elections in Greece, the current New Democracy party is a product of the Greek oligarchy establishment. The party - especially after the eruption of the Greek crisis in 2010 - has been transformed into an unprecedented and peculiar mixture of some of the most fanatic neoliberals and some of the most fanatic nationalists.

 

And the Mitsotakis administration evolves into one of the most corrupted regimes since the fall of the military junta in 1974.

 

If we were to attempt an analogy with the US political establishment, Mitsotakis regime could be described as a sort of mixture of the two major parties of the US bipartisan dictatorship. A kind of Biden/Trump hybrid administration in a smaller scale. The only difference is that in Greece, apparently because of the much smaller economy, the oligarchic elites are not significantly divided and they support tooth and nail the regime. In the US, the giant economy and the enormous interests led to the eruption of a capitalist civil war between the capitalists, especially after the 2007-08 big financial meltdown. 

 

What we see now in the United States with Trump, is a counter-attack by the part of the American capital against the globalist faction. The faction that is primarily consisted by the liberal plutocracy. Therefore, as the capitalist class splits, the capitalists around Trump are now taking with them the most conservative part of the American society, as they need electoral power. They have the money and their own media network. Their first big victory was Trump in the US presidency and this explains why the liberal media attack him so hard and so frequently.

Yet, either with Biden or Trump, (or Mitsotakis in Greece), the ultimate goal of the elites is to preserve the destructive neoliberal doctrine, which is vital for the successful transition towards the 21st century corporate feudalism. That is, for-profit wars, fast-track operations of privatizing everything like there is no tomorrow, and wiping-out any remnants of the social state. So, naturally, in the process, investigative journalism must be eliminated as it exposes all the brutality and corruption behind these operations.

Consequently, the uniformity of the way in which the establishment in the West treats investigative journalists and whistleblowers is also impressive.

The US corporate media are trying to downplay the Assange case, completely ignoring the serious violations by the various US administrations concerning human rights, freedom of press and other issues. On the other hand, they are constantly reporting on related violations in other countries - especially in those that the US empire considers to be rivals or barriers against its global hegemony.

Similarly in Greece, all major media, as well as the public broadcaster (ERT), which are fully controlled by the oligarchy and the regime, almost ignored the persecutions of Gianna Papadakou and Kostas Vaxevanis. Instead, they are frequently reporting on the persecution of journalists in the neighboring Turkey by the Erdogan regime!

 

Also, almost all important information around the Assange case comes from independent sources and the social media. And these, together with thousands of Julian Assange supporters have become a pain in the neck for the establishment. Similarly, all the important information around the persecution of Gianna Papadakou and Kostas Vaxevanis came on surface from the opposition press in Greece, and reached the Greek public mostly through the social media. And the social media have become also a pain in the neck for Mitsotakis, who already made some attempts to suppress them.

 

Here is another global-scale similarity. As we enter the era of technofeudalism, (according to Yanis Varoufakis), where the social media are controlled by a few tech companies, the uniformity in censorship is perhaps even more impressive. 

So, if you wonder why we put Assange, Papadakou and Vaxevanis in the same headline, it's because what happens now in Greece remarkably reflects, on a smaller scale, the Assange case. And proves that the Western post-democracy becomes rapidly, uniformly and simultaneously more and more authoritarian in the entire West.