Greek Unrest the Result of Suppressed Democracy

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from truthdig:



Greek Unrest the Result of Suppressed Democracy

Posted on Feb 15, 2012
By William Pfaff


When the first international effort to impose an economic austerity regime upon Greece was completed, George Papandreou, the prime minister, surprised and infuriated the negotiators from the IMF, European Commission and European Central Bank by proposing that the draft agreement be submitted to a popular referendum in Greece. The negotiators and their governments knew very well that the Greek people would reject it.

Mr. Papandreou was hustled out of the limelight, and foreign leaders, the EU, international financial officials, and right-thinking commentators in Europe and the United States all deplored his proposal, since democracy was not part of the deal.

If it had been, some 45 buildings would not have burned in Athens last Sunday night, and some hundred thousand or so Greeks would not have taken to the streets, smashing the marble walls of banks and shop windows. If they couldn’t express their opinions one way, then they would do it in another.

This gives reason to doubt that the international austerity plan, or the Diktat, as the Greeks prefer to call it, which was presented in Athens and reluctantly voted on, will actually be carried out. (The vote was 199 members of the National Assembly in favor, 74 opposed, with 27 abstentions.) A failure to enact the plan will have the disastrous consequences for Europe, the monetary union and Greece that nearly all have predicted. The figures are such that, of the money now promised Greece (assuming the EU’s other national parliaments approve), three-quarters will go to pay current debts. What remains is unlikely to stave off national bankruptcy this spring, and probably Greek exclusion from the euro zone. So what has it all been about? ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/greek_unrest_the_result_of_suppressed_democracy_20120215/?ln

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