I have just finished reading a report published by the Transnational Institute(TNI), which is an “international research and advocacy institute committed to building a just, democratic and sustainable world”. The Report (published November 19, 2018) – Democracy Not For Sale – is harrowing, to say the least. We learn that in an advanced European nation with a glorious tradition and history an increasing number of people are being denial access to basic nutrition solely as a result of economic policy changes that have been imposed on it by outside agencies (European Commission, European Central Bank and the IMF). The Report shows how the food supply has been negatively impacted by the austerity programs; how food prices have been forced up at the same time as incomes have been forced down, and how collective and cooperative arrangements have been destroyed by privatisation and deregulation impositions. The Report concludes that the Greek State and the Eurozone Member States violated the Greek people’s right to food as a result of the austerity measures required by three Memorandums of Understanding (2010, 2012 and 2015). In other words, the austerity packages imposed on Greece contravened international human rights law. Not one person has gone to prison as a result of this deliberate and calculated violation of human rights.Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Greek austerity – a denial of basic human rights, penalty should be imprisonment
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
“(Greek) people are being denied access to basic nutrition solely as a result of economic policy changes that have been imposed on it by outside agencies (European Commission, European Central Bank and the IMF).” ~ Mitchell
ReplyDeleteWe humans love to blame external entities for our internal failures.
The fact is, the Troika could not keep Greece enslaved if Greek politicians and the Greek people did not freely allow it.
Greek politicians allowed it by adopting the euro, in return for being personally put on the bankers’ payroll. Since Greece has a severe trade deficit, and since the Greek government cannot create euros out of thin air, Greece must borrow all its euros. The result is endlessly worsening debt and austerity. (The German government cannot create euros out of thin air, but Germany’s trade surplus is so huge that billions of euros flow into Germany each month.)
Average Greek people allow it by refusing to acknowledge what I just wrote above. They cling to the euro, and thus to the Troika vampire that is killing them. Greeks could leave their torture chamber any time they wished, since the door is always open. However they fear what might be outside the torture chamber. They fear the new and unknown world of using Greek drachmas, which Greece had used from 700 BC until Greece adopted the euro on 1 Jan 2001.
Greece can never recover as long as Greece remains part of the euro-zone. Everyone knows this. Greeks suffer because they deny it.