Greece Faces French-German Pressure And Mounting Human Crisis

Casting away all confusion related to “socialist” stance the French and German bankers’ interests unite to press down Greece while the Greek people face human crisis.

Echoing the German chancellor Angela Merkel’s voice the French president “socialist” François Hollande has told the Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras, in a meeting in Paris, to wait for an EU-IMF-ECB troika inspectors’ report on progress Athens has so far made in privatizing public resources, changing labor market and imposing austerity measures. “There’s no time to lose, […] and the sooner the better,” Hollande said. He offered no concessions to the Greek leader.

Only a few weeks ago Evangelos Venizelos, the leader of Greece’s socialist party Pasok, pinned hopes on the election of Hollande as the best guarantor of the growth policies. In an interview with the Guardian, Venizelos said: Hollande is “by far the best solution.”

But now, with Hollande’s backing Merkel has rejected pleas from the debt-pressed Greek leader for a two-year repayment extension. She said: Germany would await “reliable evidence”, a reference to the Troika report.

Germany is the single largest contributor to two Greek bailout packages. Earlier, Merkel and Hollande met in Berlin and agreed to take a uniform approach: No extra time to Athens, and Athens has to meet commitments of privatization-belt tightening measures in return for the bailout money.

Samaras’ meetings with the French and German leaders have failed to bring anything for Greece but renewed pressure and humiliation. He promised voters that he would request extra time to make additional cuts.

Samaras had to face mocking, humiliation indeed, by a section of the German press. Bild, one of Germany’s most popular tabloid newspapers, interviewed Samaras and asked him to sign a letter of guarantee that Greece will pay back its international loans. It included provisions that he “vows personally” to ensure repayment. The letter mentioned that financial aid provided to Greece will not cause trouble to German tax payers, and Athens will take any necessary measure to exit from the crisis including sales of uninhabited islands if needed. On the question of returning to drachma, the Greek prime minister had to swear in the name of god: “For God’s sake, no. The consequences would be catastrophic for Greece.” It was not a dignified show for a prime minister of a country. But bankers’ power tolerates dignity of none but its. Bild has already published articles mocking Greek politicians, football players and singers.

Leading German politicians, sections of German finance-political elites are not willing to grant more time and money to Greece in its fifth straight year of recession. Parts of the German mainstream media reflect the interest. The German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble also rejected Samaras’ plea for extra time.

The Troika bosses are due to reach Athens within days to assess Athenian efforts to appease the creditors, virtual owners of Greek life, honor and sovereignty. The bosses will report to the Eurozone finance ministers’ Oct. 8 meeting and the ministers will decide whether to release a $38.8 bn installment, the last in a first series of $152 bn in bailout loans while a second for $173 bn is in limbo until Athens imposes more austerity.

Uncertain Greek economy is annoying many others. Possibility of a Greek default is making the US president Barak Obama anxious as the default could negatively affect his re-election result. Obama and the British prime minister David Cameron discussed the Eurozone crisis during a conference call on Aug. 22. Citing British sources The Independent said: “The Obama Administration is fearful of the fall-out on the US economy if Greece tanks and the ripples affect the Eurozone and world markets.” Obama is “reportedly squeezing European leaders not to do anything that could force Greece out of the Eurozone before the American elections in November.”

Capitalism is really delicate! A far-flung smaller economy can impact politics of a bigger economy.

Continued pressure to slash $14.16 bn and accelerate privatization process is being faced by the unstable conservative-Socialist coalition government in Greece.

To meet the demands of its international creditors, the Greece government, promise-bound to the lenders, have slashed pay, trimmed pension and increased taxes on everything, which have worsened recession in Greece. The draconian measures accompany bailout money loaned to Greece. Without this loaned money Athens would not have enough funds to pay salaries and pensions. Athens has already stopped paying its bills. Recapitalization of Greece’s four largest banks will not be completed until the end of the year, or in early 2013.

State of the German economy is playing a role behind the inflexible German position of bankers and politicians. Concerns about the German economy’s future are increasing. The German Federal Statistical Office recently informed a surplus of $10.4 bn for the first half of the year, which is 0.6% of GDP. In 2011, Germany had a budget deficit of 0.5%. The German labor market remained strong and revenues from wage and income tax increased by 6.3%.

However, economic growth of Germany is largely stagnant. According to the FSO, the German economy grew by 0.5% in the first three months of the year against just 0.3% in the second quarter. Amidst high state and municipal budget deficits the euro crisis has affected Germany’s exports. “Faith in German state finances are an important factor for stability in the current crisis, but that faith is not unshakable”, the Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank, said in its monthly report released in August.

On the other pole, with declining wages, condition of the Greek people has turned unbearable. The face of a human crisis in Greece is coming to public view.

Archbishop Ieronymos, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church, has described austerity measures demanded by creditors as “lethal medicine”. In a letter to the prime minister, Ieronymos wrote: “Homelessness and even hunger – phenomena seen during the war – have reached nightmare levels [....] We must all understand the feeling of insecurity, desperation and depression in every Greek home. This, unfortunately, is continuing to lead to suicide among those who can no longer stand the drama in their family and the suffering of their children.”

A recent central bank of Ireland study has found that the Greeks are making deeper cuts, measured according to GDP, than all other crisis-hit Eurozone countries. Since 2010, Greece has responded to pressure from the IMF-EU by cutting down expenditures and increasing taxes worth the equivalent of 20% of GDP that represents the most brutal austerity program in the EU-history.

“Greece is bleeding”, a Bild headline said. Ta Nea newspaper describes the Greek society as a “society on the verge of a nervous breakdown.” The living condition the creditors created for the Greek people is making deep changes in the Greek society.

In the last three years, quality of life in Greece has fallen down by 30% while pensioners have lost one-fifth of their monthly benefits. Charity funds are being organized in the US and Australia to aid the poor in Greece. With these funds, food is being supplied to scores of Greek homes.

Citing a recent survey by Thessalonica University BBC reported 76% of Greeks would like to emigrate, but for those who cannot afford to start a new life abroad, going back to farming the land is an increasingly attractive alternative. (“ Greeks go back to basics as recession bites”, Aug. 20, 2012) In the face of financial crisis Albanian immigrants, in thousands, seem to be leaving Greece. Their destination is Australia.

Capitalism is a depopulating force. It deports populace. It makes people restless. Its old practice is still being upheld.

In 2011, the BBC report said, the Greek economy shrank by 7% and 2012 could make a similar slide busting thousands of businesses and lying off tens of thousands of people. Around 1,000 Greeks a day are losing their jobs and already the percentage of the population not working is higher than the employed. The present unemployment benefit in Greece is now around $431 a month for only one year, but only those who have up-to-date national insurance contributions are eligible.

Hardship imposed on the Greek people is getting reflected in the number of suicides.

From Athens, Barbara Hardinghaus and Julia Amalia Heyer wrote: “Greece, a country whose Orthodox Church does not condone suicide, has always had one of the lowest suicide rates in Europe. But now, there were 350 suicide attempts and 50 deaths in Athens in June alone. Most of the suicides were among members of the middle class and, in many cases, the act itself was carried out in public […]” (“Troubled Times Wave of Suicides Shocks Greece”, Aug. 15, 2012)

Referring to rising suicide rate in Greece, Wall Street Journal wrote: “The social impact of the economic crisis has become increasingly apparent on the streets of Athens and other cities, while suicide rates have jumped.” (“Greek pensioner commits suicide in central Athens”)

Citing police data WSJ said: “[T]he number of suicides in both 2010 and 2011 surpassed 600 each year, a 20% jump over the rate in 2009, the year before the start of the Greek debt crisis.”

“Painful austerity measures and a seemingly endless economic drama”, the Guardian wrote in late 2011, “is exacting a deadly toll on the [Greek] nation. Statistics released by the Greek ministry of health show a 40 percent rise in those taking their own lives between January and May [2011] compared to the same period in 2010,” This surge in suicides was the highest in Europe during that time period.

The Greek Orthodox Church, it was reported, denies church burials to people who have committed suicide.

There are reports of school students unable to afford food. A program has been initiated in February to distribute early-morning snacks to them in a school. A municipality has documented about 1.9% of all students in the municipality arrive at school without having breakfast. This figure is higher among primary school and middle school students, 2.8% and 2.16% respectively. The education ministry has to introduce similar program in 18 state schools in greater Athens. The program has been introduced following reports by teaching unions that children of unemployed parents were showing signs of malnutrition and are even fainting in class rooms.

Reports of primary school students fainting during classes due to starvation in downtown Athens surfaced in 2011. Primary school teachers union from the districts of Ampelokipi-Erythros-Polygonon in a statement depicted horrifying condition of students. Dimitris Margiolis, a teacher, confirmed that students came to school with torn shoes. In school canteens the number of students buying snacks has decreased.

“The incidence of HIV/Aids among intravenous drug users in central Athens”, citing Reveka Papadopoulos, the head of Médecins sans Frontières Greece the Guardian reported, “soared by 1,250% in the first 10 months of 2011 compared with the same period the previous year […] while malaria is becoming endemic in the south for the first time since the rule of the colonels.” The extraordinary increase in HIV/Aids among drug users is due largely to the suspension or cancellation of free needle exchange programs. (“Greece on the breadline: HIV and malaria make a comeback”, March 16, 2012)

Reveka informed: Following savage cuts to the national health service budget including heavy job losses and a 40% reduction in funding for hospitals, Greek social services were “under very severe strain […]” There was a 24% increase in demand for hospital services “largely because people could simply no longer afford private healthcare. The entire system is deteriorating.” Cases of transmission between mother and child surfaced for the first time in Greece, a phenomenon usually found in sub-Saharan Africa, not Europe. There is also a sharp increase in cases of tuberculosis among the immigrants. Nile fever caused 35 deaths in 2010.

Capitalism is really powerful. It can push down a capitalist society in Europe to the level of a continent ruthlessly exploited and kept dispossessed for centuries by colonial powers! Capitalism also carries a backward force.

Mark Lowen of BBC reported from Athens: Hundreds of citizens queuing in front of municipal soup kitchen is not an unusual sight today. The number of food-seekers has increased. Homelessness has increased by an estimated 25% since 2009. There is the “new homeless” – well-dressed and well-educated. Until 2011 the “new homeless” had a good flat or a nice car, but now they have nothing. Some homeless people lie buried behind subway tunnels and in parks. (“Meeting the ‘new homeless’ on Greece’s freezing streets”, Feb. 4, 2012)

Mark quotes Vicky Kolozi, a former journalist with the state broadcaster ERT, and one of the new regulars at the soup kitchen as Vicky lost her job a year ago and now can’t afford to feed herself and her daughter: “It is hard to feel that I have to depend on this now. I have dreams and when you come here, the dreams go out of yourself. You must accept reality - and the reality is very difficult.”

Capitalism snatches away dreams of ordinary people.

The BBC Aug. 20, 2012 report refers to a young Greek working as a cleaner, but making barely enough to feed his family: father, mother and his fiancé – all unemployed and depend on food handouts to supplement the little they manage to grow in their garden. He and his finance are unable to plan a future together. Starting a family is completely out of the question. (“Greeks go back to basics as recession bites”)

Capitalism takes away future of common people.

The last winter with freezing temperatures was brutal for the poor in Greece as snow blanketed almost all around. An intense, harsh cold intensified the human crisis “gifted” by the finankers, financers and bankers, speculasters, and their ruling system – capitalism. Today’s Greece is a live example of capitalism’s catastrophic power – connected through ideology, economy and politics – that creates havoc in civilization.