As the global economic crisis—now in its sixth year—drags on, the rich and powerful are still sticking with the same old formula: Do whatever is necessary to save the banks and make poor and working people pay, one way or another. In recent days, a looming financial collapse in the Eastern Mediterranean island country of Cyprus emerged as the latest flashpoint.

In February 2012, a second bailout for Greece included a partial default of the country’s debt, called—euphemistically—a “haircut” and also “private sector involvement.” This was supposed to help make the debt sustainable and avert Greece’s exit from the Eurozone, which would likely have far worse consequences for the finance capitalists involved in the deal.

Last year’s default imposed major losses on Cyprus’s biggest banks, which had used large amounts of its depositors’ money to “invest” in Greek bonds. Cyprus then became the fifth country in the Eurozone—the 17 countries that use the euro currency—to seek international assistance for bailing out its banks. The bailout money required—eventually amounting to 10 billion euros (about  $13 billion)—was to be provided by the “troika”—a bloc composed of the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Union.

Cyprus—outside of the Turkish-controlled northern section of the island—has close political, economic and cultural ties with Greece, almost to the point of being a protectorate. The Cypriot banking sector has been teetering on the verge of collapse ever since the effects of the partial default began to be felt. The fear among the rulers of Europe is that this would cause a full sovereign default and force Cyprus out of the Eurozone, a politically unprecedented development that would have potentially devastating ripple effects.

Cyprus, with a population of roughly 1 million, is among the smallest countries to use the common currency. Since 2009, the Eurozone has been consumed by what has been termed a “debt crisis” that has sent unemployment rates, poverty and general misery skyrocketing across Europe. Although the corporate media portrays the situation as a consequence of out-of-control social spending, the Eurozone is suffering from the generalized effects of the world crisis of capitalism exacerbated by high levels of government borrowing, financial speculation on that debt and the highly uneven development of member states.

From 2008 until the end of February, Cyprus was led by President Dimitris Christofias of the Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL). Although AKEL refers to itself as a communist party—Christofias himself received his doctorate in the Soviet Union—it has adopted a bourgeois electoral and parliamentary approach to dealing with the island nation’s debt crisis. Christofias put through three austerity packages but was unwilling to accept the troika’s terms for a bailout deal.

Nicos Anastasiades of the right-wing Democratic Rally party promised in the lead-up to the February election to negotiate an acceptable deal with the troika. This enabled him to beat the AKEL candidate and become the new president of Cyprus. Anastasiades signaled his intention to finalize a bailout deal as soon as possible and immediately began intensive negotiations.

‘Bail-in’

Last week, Anastasiades announced that he had reached a jarring agreement with the troika. In return for the troika’s bailout money, Cyprus would have to conduct a “bail-in” and seize 6.7 to 9.9 percent of all bank deposits in the country to raise 5.8 billion euros (about $7.5 billion). Doing away with the veneer of “competitiveness,” “restructuring” and “fiscal adjustment” that other austerity measures have been cloaked in, the troika proposed outright theft that would be felt most by poor and working people.

However, the prospect of such blatant robbery was rejected by virtually all sections of Cypriot society. The working class was outraged that what little savings they had managed to scrape together would be diminished to pay for the capitalists’ crisis. But the ruling class in Cyprus also feared losing their recognition as a tax haven for offshore millionaires and billionaires—a cornerstone of the Cypriot economy.

The parliament of Cyprus bowed to this near-unanimous domestic pressure and refused to endorse the plan—President Anastasiades’ deputies abstained and every other lawmaker voted no. The crisis reached its peak as the country’s banks were closed to prevent massive withdrawals and capital flight.

Referring to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Cypriot president reportedly told European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn: “When I warned you that there would not be a parliamentary majority to pass the agreement, you didn’t want to listen. Give my regards to Mrs. Merkel.” At a subsequent meeting of European finance ministry officials, a French representative lamented, “The [Cypriot] parliament is obviously too emotional and will not decide on anything.”

Plan B

The government of Cyprus, scrambling to avert a default and Eurozone exit, pursued a multifaceted bargaining strategy in an attempt to force the troika to soften its demands. It proposed stealing pension funds and publicly owned state assets to create an outrageously named “solidarity fund,” which would also include assets from the Church of Cyprus. This was supposed to raise the 5.8 billion euros required by the troika and render the “bail-in” unnecessary.

The Cypriot government also attempted to leverage the hundreds of billions of cubic meters of natural gas recently discovered in the waters south of the island nation. It was prepared to offer large stakes in future gas production to capitalists willing to immediately put up the money. Many portrayed the sale of gas reserves, which rightfully belong to the Cypriot people, as Cyprus’s ace in the hole.

However, there are several problems that made this proposal ultimately untenable. First of all, the necessary infrastructure—which would cost at least $36 billion—would not be in place until at least 2018 to begin production. At that point, the market will likely be flooded with gas from the United States, Australia and parts of Africa, largely due to the explosion in the practice of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.” Finally, Turkey, which has effectively controlled Northern Cyprus since a war in 1974, is likely to launch an immediate and aggressive legal challenge to the South’s right to exploit the gas reserves.

Politically, President Anastasiades hoped to play Russia and the European Union against each other to strengthen his own bargaining position, weakening the troika by exploring the possibility of a Russian-financed bailout. These two world powers have conflicting geo-strategic interests, finding themselves on opposite sides of major developments like the civil war in Syria and NATO’s “defensive” missile shield in Eastern Europe. Russia sees in the Eurozone debt crisis an opportunity to expand its influence. It already extended a $3.3 billion loan to Cyprus in 2011, and Russian state energy company Gazprom has made moves to acquire the Greek national gas company DEPA, which is, ironically, slated for privatization under orders from the troika.

Russian deposits larger than GDP

Many Russian oligarchs stash huge sums of money in Cypriot banks to evade taxes—amounting to $26 billion, which is larger than the Cyprus’s entire GDP. This gives Russia a tangible economic interest in the stabilization of Cyprus’s economy. The Russian ruling class bitterly opposes the idea of a deposit tax, especially on large accounts.

However, Cypriot overtures to Russia were ultimately unsuccessful as diplomats were unimpressed at offers of partial control over the island country’s gas reserves. Some members of the Russian capitalist class also seemed to be confident that they could avoid losing a portion of their deposits. Prominent millionaire Alexander Lebedev dismissed the issue as “not worth talking about.” He added: “Cyprus was always a transit jurisdiction—money would pass through and then go to Lithuania, Latvia, Belize, Switzerland, everywhere. There are plenty of ways [to avoid capital controls]. … Certain schemes can be put into place.”

The Russian government nevertheless continues to take a politically assertive stance, warning the troika that it may swap a part of its foreign reserves held in euros for another currency.

‘Bail-in’ retained in modified form

With the European Central Bank threatening to cut off massive cash infusions, called Emergency Liquidity Assistance, the Cypriot president turned back to the troika for the desperately needed bailout money and finally reached a deal on March 25. The “bail-in” deposit tax was retained in the final version but in a modified form—only affecting deposits of more than 100,000 euros (about $128,000). While this may seem like a pro-worker decision, it simply sets the stage for the kind of devastating attacks on the rights of poor and working people in Cyprus that have already been seen across Europe. The capitalist rulers of the Eurozone also seem to have wanted to punish Russia for meddling in its sphere of influence.

Under the deal, the second largest Cypriot bank, Laiki, is to be dissolved and split into a “good” bank composed of its profitable assets and a “bad” bank made up of its nonperforming investments. The “good” bank is to be absorbed by the country’s largest bank, Bank of Cyprus, which will now enjoy nearly unchallenged monopoly status—further proving the Marxist assertion that capital consolidation intensifies during periods of economic crisis.

As usual, European politicians and corporate media commentators refer to the bailout deal as a conclusive settlement to the crisis. This, however, is far from the truth. The Cypriot economy is likely to be plunged into a severe recession as a result of this financial meltdown, further weakening the banking sector and calling into question the effectiveness of the agreement that was just reached. As European Union Economic and Financial Committee Chairman Thomas Wieser bluntly put it at a Eurozone meeting a few days prior to the finalization of the bailout agreement, “The economy is going to tank in Cyprus no matter what.”

As capitalist politicians use the livelihoods of poor and working people in Cyprus as bargaining chips, the only available avenue for struggle is militant, persistent and organized mass action. The rulers of the Eurozone hold all the cards at the negotiating table, but the people have the power in the streets.

sofiaglobe.com

World Jewish Congress leaders sent a strong message of solidarity to the Jewish community of Greece as they gathered in Thessaloniki on March 17 2013 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the roundup and deportation of the Jews from this northern Greek city to the Nazi death camps, the European Jewish Press reports.

In presence of Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras and Holocaust survivors, WJC President Ronald S. Lauder urged Greece to take decisive action against the growing neo-Nazi movement Golden Dawn which he called “the new Nazis” and “a threat to democracy.”

On this occasion, Samaras became the first sitting Greek prime minister of the past 100 years to visit a synagogue, the Monastiriotes synagogue of Thessaloniki, as he pledged that his government would do everything to rein in the extremists.

The Greek government would enact legislation that will be “completely intolerant to violence and racism,” he said, noting that with neo-Nazi parties on the rise again in Europe, governments had to “be very careful not to let them gain ground as they did in the 1930s.”

The World Jewish Congress called on Greece to “consider banning political parties, such as the Golden Dawn movement, which pose a serious danger to liberal democracy”. It also called on the European Union to “ensure that political movements that actively espouse a platform of discrimination of ethnic or religious minorities, in contravention of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, are dealt with in a coordinated manner in all EU member states that law enforcement authorities receive all necessary support for the protection of citizens against such crimes.”

Bulgaria held ceremonies last week commemorating the 70th anniversary of the prevention of the deportation of Bulgarian Jews to Nazi Holocaust death camps and honouring the memory of the victims from Northern Greece and Yugoslavia.

Bulgaria’s neighbour Macedonia held commemoration ceremonies of its own last week, marking the 70thanniversary of the deportation of about 7000 Jews from its territory to the Nazi death camps.

At ceremonies across the country organised by the Macedonian Jewish community the country remembered the deportations begun in March 1943 which continued over a two-month period.

In all, about 98 per cent of the wartime Jewish population of today’s Macedonia of about 7000 were deported to the Nazi death camps.

We almost stopped believing it was possible, but apparently some lawmakers in European debtor states still have the guts and ability to stand up to their cocky, greedy and reckless foreign creditors. On Tuesday, an overwhelming majority of Cypriot MPs spectacularly voted against a bank deposit tax imposed by the Troika of lenders — with not a single MP voting in favor, despite the President’s warning that a no-vote would lead to financial armageddon. The tax was a prerequisite for Cyprus to receive its 10 billion euro EU-IMF bailout; the country’s dramatic act of defiance now leaves the eurozone reeling in great uncertainty as to the repercussions for the single currency.

Of course, the neoliberal European Goliath has itself to blame for the rebellious behavior of tiny Cyprus, whose 17 billion euro economy constitutes only half a percent of total eurozone GDP. After all, it was they who on Saturday blackmailed the Cypriot government into imposing a bank deposit tax of 9.9% on rich depositors — mostly Russian oligarchs – and 6.75% on ordinary Cypriot savers with less than 100.000 euros in the bank. The bank deposit tax was needed, according to EU and IMF officials, in order for Cyprus to contribute 7 billion towards the 10 billion euro EU-IMF bailout. If creditors were to take the burden of covering the entire 17 billion euro shortfall, so their reasoning went, it would both outrage German voters and take Cypriot debt levels to unsustainable levels.

But as soon as the “agreement” was announced, it immediately became obvious that the bailout was botched. The 10 billion euro emergency loan alone will already push Cyprus’ debt-to-GDP ratio to an unsustainable 130%, forcing an unprecedented degree of austerity onto the country — the likes of which would make even the Greek plight look like a walk in the park. But more importantly, perhaps, Cypriot depositors were rightly outraged by what effectively amounted to a government raid (spurned on by foreign creditors) on their hard-earned savings. While wealthy bondholders were once again let off the hook, ordinary Cypriots were forced to pay for the reckless behavior of their shady offshore banking sector and the irresponsible crisis management policies pursued by the European Union and IMF.

Taking to the streets in the thousands in an attempt to convince the government to backtrack on its commitment to foreign creditors — and simultaneously taking to the banks in the hundreds of thousands in an attempt to retrieve their savings — the panicked reaction of the Cypriot people threatened not only to spill over into a wholesale loss of confidence in the political system, but also to unleash nothing short of a potentially self-destructive and internationally contagious bank run, which could have had dramatic reverberations across the eurozone as depositors elsewhere might conclude that their savings are no longer safe either. Protesters in Nicosia were therefore right to carry placards into the streets in Spanish and Italian: it may be us today, but there is no doubt that you will be next.

Under this immense popular pressure, and under the general threat of a crippling bank run and mass capital flight that could force the Cypriot government to pump even more liquidity into its banks — which would in turn require it to print money, implying a forced exit from the eurozone and a return to the Cypriot pound — a total of 36 out of 56 MPs voted against the deposit tax, with 19 prominent government MPs abstaining and one absent. Not a single MP voted against. How come? Why did Cypriot lawmakers suddenly decide to listen to their own people, where Greek, Spanish, Irish and Portuguese MPs have made a profession out of backstabbing their voters?

Perhaps, and this may be naive, it is due to some genuine sense of demophobia — fear of the people? Even conservative market analysts have noted that the Cypriot bailout “highlights how post 2007 efforts to resuscitate and rescue western economies have continued to favor the vested interests of the financial sector, while treating the “population at large” with disdain and contempt – this sort of attitude is still a seedbed for social revolution, as has been witnessed above all in the Arab Spring.” Wolfgang Münchau of the Financial Times similarly observed that, “If one wanted to feed the political mood of insurrection in southern Europe, this was the way to do it.”

Luckily, there are other ways. With the total value of the Cypriot banking sector adding up to roughly eight times the tiny country’s GDP, Cypriot lawmakers might take a cue from Iceland, which just allowed its banks to go bust — and then went after the corrupt bankers who rigged the game to begin with. At the moment, the Cypriot economy is little more than a financial washing machine for dubious Russian oligarchs and disgustingly wealthy Greeks. This bizarre state of affairs has to end. If Cypriot politicians are to take the needs of their own people seriously, they should crack down on the island’s financial sector like they would crack down on any other mafia enterprise.

In this respect, the spectacular decision by Cypriot MPs to reject the creditor imposition of a deposit tax on ordinary citizens must not just be the start of some halfhearted attempt to extract better terms from the EU and IMF in return for continued bailouts, nor an attempt to safeguard the special interests of Russian oligarchs and foreign businesses using the Cypriot banking system as an offshore tax haven. Rather, it should be the start of something much more radical: a pan-Mediterranean campaign to reject the imposition of banker control and foreign creditor demands altogether. After all, only if sovereign states are shown to be capable of setting their own social and economic agenda can European leaders begin to rekindle at least the illusion of presiding over a democratically accountable society.

Whether such reformist crumbs will prove to be enough for an increasingly restive European population — which is now starting to demand the whole bloody bakery in revenge for the neoliberal raid on their daily bread — remains a different question altogether…

sports.yahoo.com

The growing sentiment of neo-fascism in Greece appears to have spread to the beautiful game, as AEK Athens midfielder Giorgos Katidis “pulled a Di Canio” by apparently giving a Nazi salute after scoring in his side’s 2-1 victory over Veria on Saturday.

For the gesture, the tattooed 20-year-old has been handed a life ban from the Greek National team, whom he once captained at U-19 level. Katidis, however, will not join Di Canio and Christian Abbiatiin the pantheon of proud football fascists, as he has denied knowing what the gesture meant on Twitter.

The BBC reports:

The Greek football federation called it “a severe provocation” that insulted “all the victims of Nazi bestiality”.

Katidis denied he gave a Nazi salute. “I am not a fascist and would not have done it if I had known what it meant,” Katidis said on his Twitter account.

[...]

He insisted he was simply pointing at a team mate in the stands.

The “pointing at a team mate” excuse is painfully unlikely, but it is quite possible that Katidis is naive/stupid enough to not know the meaning of his offensive celebration. (After all, this is a man half-witted enough to apparently have “Get Rich or Die Tryin‘” tattooed just above his junk.)

While the club will decide his future at a board meeting next week, AEK’s German manager Ewald Lienen has supported his midfielder, insisting he is apolitical and probably saw the salute “on the internet or somewhere else” without knowing what it meant. Which seems a perfectly good defense for repeating it in front of thousands of people.

Widespread posters for entertainer’s shows imply Jewish and German responsibility for country’s financial crisis

Times of Israel

Greece’s Jewish community has complained to authorities in Athens after a controversial entertainer used a symbol of an intertwined swastika and a Star of David to promote his night club shows.

“The design depicted on the poster fiercely insults our very religion, as well as the memory of the six million Jews, victims of the Holocaust,” said a statement from the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, addressed to the country’s Minister of Justice and officials in the education ministry.

The poster advertising the show by singer and comedian Tsimis Panousis, for a series of shows at a club in the port city of Piraeus near
Athens, shows a Magen David intertwined with a swastika.

The poster has been plastered widely across Athens and on major boulevards in the city. Panousis, who has a reputation for being provocative, was apparently trying to imply that Greece’s financial crisis was a result of the combined efforts of a German-led austerity plan and Jewish-controlled financial interests.

The Jewish central board’s statement said the board had appealed to various municipalities to remove the offending posters and that they had received positive responses. However, the posters remained up in many places in the city.

There has been an upsurge in anti-Semitic incidents in Greece recently, but most have been tied to the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn Party.

Sunday October 7 was a day of mixed emotions. First there was coming to terms with seeing black shirted fascists marching along the water front in Samos Town. When I first came here in 1995 I could never ever imagined such an event taking place on Samos. On Sunday it happened.

But, there was also relief that the Golden Dawn (GD) presence was so small. I counted 35 in their ranks, of whom half appeared to be from outside Samos – they were the ones getting them sorted out in ranks of 3 in the car park before they marched, and leading the chants. The others may have been from Samos but none were recognized by those we were with although later I was told by a close friend who lives and works in the town that she recognized 3 police men from Samos amongst the GD marchers. I think there were 3 or 4 women whilst the rest were men mostly in their late 20s and 30s dressed in jeans and black T shirts. Most of them seemed to carry a flag – lots of Greek and some Golden Dawn flags- which I supposed helped disguise their small turn out.

GD called for the demonstration and had publicly invited all Greek Samians to protest against the re-opening and refurbishing of the Detention Centre that had only been built around 8 years ago but had been closed for some years as the flow of the refugees moved to the land border to the north between Greece and Turkey and away from islands such as Samos, Lesbos and Chios. But as that land border has been hardened into a death trap for those who dare, so the older routes to Samos have re-opened. By the end of September the cells across a number of police stations on the island were shamefully crammed with up to 9 adults living in rooms of less than 15 sq metres.

Many of these recently arrived refugees included significant numbers of young children. In the middle of September I went with a friend to take some food and drink to 8 Algerian refugees locked up in Karlovassi police station and being kept inside a single room 24/7 at a time when daytime temperatures were still very high. It was little wonder that the senior police officer we encountered was embarrassed. It was in response to this crisis that the government announced funding to re–open the Samos centre and similar places on other ‘entry point’ islands.

But Samos must represent much more to GD other than just being the site of a detention centre. It as after all well known in Greece for its historic left wing traditions. To call for a demonstration on this island is a statement of clear intent that the GD fears no one and no place and will take every opportunity to demand the most barbaric and inhumane treatment of refugees. It seems even the minimalist warehousing detention facilities being proposed which make no attempt to meet the medical, social, financial and psychological needs of refugees are too good for ‘these’ people as far as GD is concerned. It is important to note that for many protesting the presence of GD on the island their participation on Sunday was in no way an expression of support for Detention Centres, refurbished or otherwise.

So back to Sunday. The GD mustered in a car park at one end of the water front and marched down the road to the other end by the Customs Building and then back again. Each time pausing opposite the central square where we, the counter demonstration, had gathered. They didn’t linger long given that their voices were overwhelmed by the chants of the opposition. Once back in the car park they dispersed. The whole thing couldn’t have lasted more than an hour. For a première performance on Samos it was not at all impressive.

I am not good with numbers but we the anti-fascists far out numbered the GD presence. None of the main left parties were present formally and most of those present were university students with a fair number like us who were not Greek but lived on the island. A group of Samian women originally from Germany had made a banner and produced leaflets in Greek and English setting out their opposition to Fascism and Racism. They made a great impression.

Being a fine sunny day the centre of Samos town was busy and the cafes around the central platia were selling plenty of coffees. Maybe it was related to the absence of the left parties, but the atmosphere was relaxed and friendly with some great music over the PA boosted by a delight (and relief) that we so out numbered the tiny GD contingent. But it was difficult to discern the general public opinion as the Golden Dawn march passed by. There was little or no reaction – calling out and the like – it was more like looking at people watching some theatre from a distance.

That the response was so muted giving no sense of any sympathy for the GD presence was a relief. But then again there was disappointingly no overt negative reaction to the marchers from the people standing outside the cafes and on the street. I expected to see more signs of distaste and disgust from the crowds as the GD marched past. This can never be a matter of neutrality or disinterest. A friend who runs a shop in Samos town knows of many shop keepers who are more than sympathetic to GD and who, she said, turned out to look at them from the cafes but would never dream of joining them on the march in fear of what might happen to their businesses. It would be naive not to think that there were not many others who are drawn to GD who took a similar position on Sunday.

The turn out by the anti-fascists was just enough. This gives some hope. But fascists’ marching in Samos is shocking and a shock. Will they come again? As long as Samos remains a point of entry into Greece and Europe for refugees, I have little doubt that this will not be the last time that GD will come to Samos .