Three years down the line, with Europe steadily driving Greece to the brink, the international media continues its smear campaign against the Greek people. By Ingeborg Beugel, Dutch journalist and author of The anti-Greece campaign of the international media, a widely-read essay published by ROAR last year. “Connie, how is the situation there in Greece?” “Well, people are quite afraid of the future. I notic ...

Geplaatst door redactie socialisme.nu, Bij de verkiezingen in Griekenland behaalde de linkse partij Syriza, die zich tegen bezuinigingen keert, een grote winst. Omdat er geen regering kon worden gevormd, gaan de Grieken op 17 juni opnieuw naar de stembus. Dimitris Pavlopoulos, docent aan de Vrije Universiteit en activist, geeft voor socialisme.nu zijn visie op de situatie in Griekenland. Bij de afgelopen ve ...

NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING ECONOMIST Paul Krugman has advised Irish voters to vote No in Thursday’s referendum on the Fiscal Compact. “I’ve thought about it, it’s hard. I would say vote No,” he said on BBC Radio 4 this morning. Krugman dismissed the suggestion that a No vote would anger Germany and see Ireland cut off from bailout funds or from the Eurozone. “At this point the Germans need to face the reality that ...

Recent elections in France and Greece have generated a good deal of comment, suggesting that the years of center-right governance in Europe may be coming to an end. The defeat of President Nicolas Sarkozy of France by the Socialist candidate Francois Hollande, and the collapse in Greece of political parties that allowed unrestrained capitalism and chaos to take hold, are major developments. But whether they ...

“Austerity has failed because Greek society has been destroyed, the production base has been dissolved. Our country has been in a deep recession for five consecutive years. This has never happened in Europe in peacetime.” –Alexis Tsipras, leader of Greece’s Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) Europe is a trainwreck. The signs of a credit crunch are popping up in countries on the periphery, a slow-motion ...

Can the co-op movement be one source of alternatives to marketisation? Hilary Wainwright explores. In the free-for-all over the spoils of the public sector, Tory ministers are playing fast and loose with the concepts of co-operatives and mutuals. They talk blithely about ‘the John Lewis model’. One might smile at the fact that Tories have to raid progressive history, such is the crisis of legitimacy of big ...

In the millions of words written about Europe’s debt crisis, Germany is typically cast as the responsible adult and Greece as the profligate child. Prudent Germany, the narrative goes, is loath to bail out freeloading Greece, which borrowed more than it could afford and now must suffer the consequences. Would it surprise you to know that Europe’s taxpayers have provided as much financial support to Germany ...

Elections in Western parliamentary systems are always about the center. The standard situation is one in which there are two dominant parties – one somewhat right of center and one somewhat left of center. There are differences between the policies these parties pursue when in office, but there are also enormous similarities. The election never reflects a profound political split. Rather, it is about recent ...

By Roger Annis, May 18, 2012 MONTREAL—The strike of post-secondary students in Quebec has taken a dramatic turn with the provincial government rushing adoption of a special law on May 18 to suspend the school year at strike-bound institutions until August and outlaw protest activity deemed disruptive of institutions not participating in the strike. Details of Bill 78 were unveiled the day before and debated ...

The French and Greek elections have already shifted Europe's politics. But it needs real change to hold the right at bay. Revolt against austerity is sweeping Europe. The election of François Hollande has not only opened up the chance of a change of direction in France, but even in the citadels of fiscal orthodoxy in Brussels, Frankfurt and Berlin. In Greece, Sunday's electoral earthquake has all but destro ...