"The flames in Athens are flames of rage, and we rejoice in them. And yet, rage is dangerous. If it is personalised or turned against particular groups of people (the Germans, in this case), it can so easily become purely destructive. It is no coincidence that the first minister to resign in protest against the latest round of austerity measures in Greece was a leader of the extreme right party, Laos. Rage can so easily become a nationalist, even fascist rage; a rage that does nothing to make the world better. It is important, then, to be clear that our rage is not a rage against the Germans, not even a rage against Angela Merkel or David Cameron or Nicolas Sarkozy. These politicians are just arrogant and pitiful symbols of the real object of our rage – the rule of money, the subjection of all life to the logic of profit.
Love and rage, rage and love. Love has been an important theme in the struggles that have redefined the meaning of politics over the last year, a constant theme of the Occupy movements, a profound feeling even at the heart of the violent clashes in many parts of the world. Yet love walks hand in hand with rage, the rage of "how dare they take our lives away from us, how dare they treat us like objects". The rage of a different world forcing its way through the obscenity of the world that surrounds us. Perhaps."
to read John Holloway's article published in: The Guardian, Feb 17, 2012, click on
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/17/greece-protest-failed-system/print
The financial collapse of the Greek government and imminent financial failures of other European governments is the inevitable outcome of the EU having adopted "neo-liberal" economic theory. Neo-liberal economics is just a prettied up term for the financial rape of an economy. Hopefully the people themselves will take charge of their fate rather than falling into the trap of empowering some far left or far right-wing radical government that could destabilize the region like what happened after WW1 when the defeated peoples were pushed up against a wall and turned to madness to escape.
The more austerity that gets imposed on the Greeks the more their tax receipts fall exacerbating the problem. The other day I heard that their tax collections were down by 18%. It seems as though there is a schizophrenic tragedy playing itself out with other governments interested in stabilizing Greece while the financial elites are more interested in taking the country apart than in solving its debt crisis. The banks now have such a stranglehold over its economy that the Greek govt. is being forced into a "fire" sale, liquidating huge swaths of public assets in order to satisfy its creditors. It seems nonsensical to me to expect that selling off public assets at rock bottom prices for short term gains and lowering the wages of tax paying consumers will result in a positive economic outcome but that's the absurd logic being peddled just so that some select few can benefit from the disaster the Greeks have been driven into.
to hear Naomi Klein from Greek Left Review, click on
greekleftreview.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/naomi-kleins-interview-about-papademos-government/