Category Archives: Eurozone crisis

Debt Colonialism: A View from Barcelona

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I’m in Barcelona for a couple of days, giving talks and interviews and holding discussion for the visual studies program, the Center of Contemporary Culture and with the movement. There’s not much difference between the people involved. It’s distinctly humbling to get up in front of people from 15M and talk about the global justice movement, even as the wheels are turning in the debt crisis.

Yesterday was an election in Catalunya for the state assembly, called by Artur Mas, the head of the CiU nationalist party. His hope was to sweep the board on his nationalist call for independence. Instead he lost ground to a more extreme nationalist group and the left made some small gains. No one seems quite sure what this all means as yet.

Meanwhile from different sides of the world, furious mainstream politicians are starting to use the language of debt colonialism. In Greece, Syriza’s leader Alexis Tspiras named his country a “debt colony.” In Argentina, the finance minister Hernán Lorenzino called the court verdict compelling his country to repay 2002 debts to vulture funds “judicial colonialism.”

In this latter case, speculative debt buyers have engineered a potential collapse of the national (and perhaps international) economy, just as debt buyers of personal debt ruin individual lives in the pursuit of personal profit after the original lenders have settled. There is late speculation that the EU may finally have agreed some kind of deal on Greek debt. But the process makes Tsipras’s point: the discussion was held in Brussels between France, Germany and the IMF.

Here in Barcelona, activists are in several minds. Some feel frustrated with the constant lack of response from their central government, no matter how dynamic or well-attended their actions become. It’s said that attendance at the legendary neighborhood assemblies is notably down. On the other  hand, there are activist banners hanging in hospitals and doctors’ offices protesting the cuts and entire families from school children to grandparents are reported to have participated in the N14 general strike.

You can’t miss the crisis. There are cranes all over but none of them are working, leaving buildings half-complete. Graffiti and posters are everywhere. For a traveler accustomed to being broke in the Eurozone, prices are notably lower than expected. A light lunch for €5, an express bus from the airport to the city for the same. Museums, galleries and cultural centers are all concerned with the crisis. I’ve written about this many times but, as always, it’s different to be here. It just reinforces the respect that I have had for the resilience of the movement. More to follow.

 

Today the General Strike, Tomorrow the Jubilee!

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Today there was a general strike across Europe. From Spain to Portugal, Greece, Italy, Belgium and the UK. Hundreds of thousands rejecting austerity for the attempt to create social control by fiscal policy that it so clearly is. Tomorrow in New York, we declare victory for the Rolling Jubilee. Before we have even begun the event we are in a position to abolish $2,750,000 of debt and that rises every second. Can you feel it?

Amazing scenes, including surely the best banner drop ever, from the Leaning Tower of Pisa:

No one believes the Troika any more. The Spanish government claimed the strike was not being well observed. Here’s the Gran Via in Madrid, like Broadway in New York:

The police tried to distract attention from the issues by provoking violence in their usual way but this cannot be beaten away.

Here’s Charles Dallara, head of the Institute of International Finance,  the policies of austerity in Greece:

It is time to recognize that austerity alone condemns not just Greece but the whole of Europe to the probability of a painful and protracted era of little or no economic growth. This would be a tragedy not just for Greece and for Europe, but for the world.

It’s a global movement now. in Venice protesters draped a bank with banners reading:

You are making money out of our debts

National Theatre of Spain on strike

Currently, extended families support people in Greece.

“But when that dries up, and it will with these latest measures, there will be no reason not to descend en masse onto the streets,” said Kostas Kapetanakis, a young sociologist holding a banner demanding free education, health and welfare system. “There will be a revolt because we will have absolutely nothing to lose.”

We are not as far gone here in New York but tomorrow will be a day of jubilant revolt and mutual aid. You can follow the Telethon live on RollingJubilee.org. I hope to be in a condition to report on it for you by Thursday. Tomorrow join hands and hearts and:

Strike Debt!

Back to the Autocracy of Austerity

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The post-Sandy crisis can be understood as an intensification of austerity. The result of the storm has been to render New York into a version of Madrid or Athens (with no disrespect to the citizens of those great cities). Increasingly, debt is the means of eliminating what little democracy there is within the representative system, even more than it is the agent of what Naomi Klein calls “disaster capitalism.” What Europe has discovered is that you can’t vote out the debt system. Call it the autocracy of austerity.

And so, we kept the insane misogynists and climate deniers out, which was a necessary and good thing to do. But after the consultation with the state of Ohio as to who is in charge of austerity, the US establishment has returned to its favorite game of cutting benefits and programs to service sovereign debt, as if no interruption had occurred. In Athens yesterday, yet more cuts were voted in against the popular will. The European and Mediterranean social movements are unifying around a platform of resistance. We should join them: ¡No Debemos, no pagamos!

Today in New York: 15,000 school children sat in buildings without heat in 40 degree weather. Gas was rationed, because even though the entire planet is run for the benefit of the fossil fuel companies, they can’t get it together to deliver their product. Only 25% of the city’s gas stations are open in the largest city in America. 100 city housing projects out of a total of 400 still have no power. Up to 40,000 are homeless. FEMA is currently proposing to pay for only 75% of storm-related damage to utilities, leaving householders to make up the rest on increased bills. And on and on.

Athens 11 7 12

In Greece yesterday, the Troika got their tame coalition to pass tax increases, cuts in benefits and so-called “labor reforms,” meaning a reduction in workers’ rights. The Greek left, which is now working together in a bloc, reacted furiously calling a two-day general strike and Athens became a battleground. I wonder which US manufacturer made the tear gas?

Across Europe, this policy of co-ordinated resistance is growing. There will be a general strike across national borders on November 14. At the 99 Agora meeting held in Madrid from November 1-4, the conclusion was clear:

Debt is the major domination tool of the system.

This key axiom was developed into a statement as follows [translation slightly modified]:

Lack of democracy in Europe has allowed that, under the threat of debt, people’s basic rights are being violated. We denounce the agents responsible for emptying democratic institutions of popular sovereignty. We point to transnational corporations, especially international banks, for grabbing wealth through the payment of interest and the privatization of public companies in strategic sectors.

We already know that government debt was not acquired for the benefit of the people. We therefore consider it illegitimate debt and will not pay. The link between debt, austerity and privatization is clear.

We consider it urgent to end the growing impoverishment of the people and ensure that all can cover their basic needs, as reflected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; housing, food, healthcare, education, employment and social services. We call on social movements working on protection of these rights to coordinate protest actions and build alternatives together.

We know that the EU economic policies being implemented are not intended to improve the welfare of the people, neither in mid or long term, and we look at our sisters in the South, whose suffering must serve as a lesson.

Debt abolition requires transnational popular mobilization around a common agenda, just as capital has its transnational agenda. 99 Agora proposed an international agenda of action, education and networking. It’ll be developed in Florence in the days to come at the Firenze 10+10 conference. A calendar of days of action has been suggested, from the G8 meeting in London to the World Social Forum in Tunisia.

In this country, Strike Debt affiliates are active nationwide and the People’s Bailout is almost here. Small traces of resistance against the behemoth of global capital: yes. Isolated and without possible future: no.

Austerity Fails

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This is not a headline I expect you will see in many US papers tomorrow, which will be consumed with whatever gaffe, zinger, or body language is supposed to have determined the “debate.” Sadly, facts and ideas have no place in these bizarre performances that increasingly revolve around the unspoken axis of racial tension.

Meanwhile, it has become clear that the austerity policy of our global hegemons is a failure even on its own terms. The Eurostat agency today reported on the economic condition of the Eurozone and the full membership of the European Union. Short story: despite a minimal decline in budget deficits, government debt is up all over the region.

Details:

• Eurozone government debt: €8.22 trillion in 2011, up from €7.833 trillion in 2010

• Eurozone debt/GDP: 87.3% in 2011, up from 85.4% in 2010

• Eurozone deficit: 4.1% of GDP in 2011, down from 6.2% in 2010

• EU government debt: €10.433 trillion in 2011, up from €9.826 trillion

• EU debt/GDP: 82.5% in 2011, up from 80.0% in 2010

• EU deficit: -4.4% of GDP in 2011, down from 6.5% in 2010

It’s interesting to note that the budget deficit in the U. K. is almost as high as in Greece and Spain at 7.8% and fourth highest in the EU overall, yet there are no urgent IMF missions to London, presumably because the Old Etonian government there is already sufficiently hostile to benefits and social investment. Even Germany exceeds the ridiculous target of state debt being 60% of GDP as if this number had any bearing on reality.

However, the Franco-German leadership of the EU has hinted to Ireland that a “retroactive recapitalization” of Irish banks to the tune of €64 billion may be forthcoming–but no promises. This is the “reward” to Ireland for being a model for how to accept austerity so as to save banks over people. Strangely, the Irish, suffering through mass unemployment, recession and collapsed housing markets, are still not celebrating.

In the vocabulary of Goldman Sachs, we are all “muppets,” unsophisticated clients who do not realize how even apparently beneficial deals being presented by the bank in fact generate high levels of profit for the lender. It is some kind of final acting out of hostility that the one clear commitment made by the Republican candidate has been to abolish Sesame Street and its muppets.

Occupy Goldman Sachs

In more news you won’t have heard, a group of occupiers has set up a new Occupy outside the residence of Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman Sachs. The action follows the O13 mic check at 15 Central Park West, where Blankfein lives. Although there was one spurious attempt to evict them by claiming that the sidewalk was in fact in the park, although it is clearly on the far side of the avenue from the park, the small group of occupiers have held on for several days so far.

The Global Agenda: Europe’s Move

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We Don’t Owe, We Won’t Pay! (Spain 13O)

The global social movements move. First it was Tunisia and Egypt that moved the Arab Spring. Then Spain set in motion the Take the Squares Movement across Europe. Last September, a group of people in New York set off the Occupy movement. Now for good reasons and bad, it’s looking as if Europe may be taking the lead again.

The bad reasons are really bad. As austerity continues to intensify, there’s a real sense of desperation and urgency.This film by Ross Domoney about the situation in Greece over the last two years shows this intensification in process.

Athens: Social Meltdown from Ross Domoney on Vimeo.

Greek dockworkers yesterday managed to occupy the defense ministry in Athens, while conservative prime minister Samaras is reduced to comparing the national situation to that of Weimar Germany. Just to calm things down, Angela Merkel goes to Greece on Tuesday and should be met by a very clear rejection of her austerity plan.

The Troika’s Orientalist plan to build a firewall around the crisis in Southern Europe and pass it off as a set of local errors, caused by laziness and inefficiency, is blowing up in their faces. Occupy Fake Democracy began a week of continent-wide action today in Strasbourg, home of the European Parliament.

On October 17 and in the week around it you’ll see actions around the world but especially in Europe. Check out Barcelona and Madrid (in Spanish) for exemplary days and weeks of action.

What makes this moment feel different to me, however, is that long-term strategizing and planning about alternatives is well underway. In November a four-day meeting called Agora 99 will bring together participants from across Europe. Here’s their call (lightly edited for idiom:

The cuts and plundering policies we are suffering are generated on a global and European level. The financial economy plays its game in a board that very much exceeds national borders.

What does this space mean for the 99%? What made millions of people feel deeply affected by what had happened in Egypt, in Tunisia, in Portugal, in Syntagma Square in Greece, on Wall Street, in Chile, in Mexico and in many other places around the globe? How does this new type of political structure work after the outburst of the Arab Spring, Iceland, Greece, after the 15th May in Spain? Even more importantly, how do we proceed?

What for?
We want to put in relation what we have learned in the square and the networks in the context of the 15M movement with the knowledge of other European and Mediterranean networks. We want to produce a space for interaction, cooperation and organization that could work at least at a European level.

The aim is to end the meeting with a common working calendar and common events around the three axes (Debt, Democracy and Rights) and common working tools.

The themes of debt, democracy and rights are close to those of OWS’s S17 call relating to debt, the corruption of democracy and environmental justice.

Both sets of ideas feed into the major convergence of social movements, networks and civil society organizations called Firenze 10+10 to be held 8-11 November. The name derives from the European Social Forum that was held in the same location ten years ago but the new meeting

aims at creating a space for movements and networks to meet and to work towards the building of convergence of our struggles.

To that end 150 delegates have already met to define a set of “pillars” for the agenda in Florence:

1) Democracy in Europe

Democratic grassroots “constituent process” and development of a citizen pact and assembly; rebuilding European institutions beyond the current undemocratic treaties; migrants and the proposal of an European citizenship by residency; democratic floodwall against the right, neo-fascism and racism; rebuilding social solidarity.

2) Finance/debt/austerity

“Debt tribunal”, audit of the debt; campaigns against austerity measures and the fiscal compact; financial transaction tax etc.

3) Labor and other social rights

Labor and social rights in the time of neoliberal globalization and austerity; sustainable social development; social Pact; adequate income (wages and social protection) etc

4) Natural and social common goods + public services

Land, food, water, energy, climate and post-Rio agenda etc; the defense of territories against useless big infrastructures and projects imposed top-down; the struggle against the financialization of nature etc.

5) Europe in the Mediterranean and the world

Peace and support to the fight for democracy and peoples’ rights; War/peace and social justice; cooperation and solidarity; fair trade; denuclearization of the Mediterranean; arms trade control; “Arab revolutions”; stop the occupations; exchanges between different cultures and identities (building a bridge towards the WSF Tunisia – and the “World Social Forum-Free Palestine” in Brazil)

The gender dimension is transversal to all the pillars.

In addition to these five working groups or pillars, a sixth group will be working to co-ordinate the process of each working group towards a single agenda, comprising of  a general common action in the short term, and a proposal for a joint common strategy in the long term.

There will be “demands” after all. Somehow I don’t think that all those media types are going to like them nonetheless.

 

Austerity Intensifies

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How’s it going for austerity? Mass unemployment, rising interest rates, higher taxes and strikes, since you ask. Today brought grim news for the 99% in Greece, Ireland and Portugal. And the Eurozone as a whole returned to recession in the third quarter. While US media seem to want to keep this crisis off the front pages till November 7, make no mistake. This crisis is our crisis–we, the 99%, not the US.

So let’s do the rounds. In Greece, the Troika are getting cute about when they will release the next tranche of aid to the strapped government. We’re talking €31.5 billion, which in terms of global finance is really chump change. If Goldman Sachs needed this amount, the Fed would have it to them by close of business but as it’s just people not getting paid or having access to services, who cares? A delay has the additional benefit of postponing any crisis till after the US elections. It seems that global austerity apparatchiks are rooting for Obama.

In Ireland the de facto state-owned Allied Irish Bank raised mortgage rates for its customers by 0.5% despite the global recession, in order to raise more money to balance its books. One in five Irish homeowners have their mortgages there and now have to continue to bail out the bank, even after its €21 billion bail out. This is the second increase in six months, even as European Central Bank rates remain very low. The Irish Central Bank reported today that the property market would not even begin to recover till 2018 and it might take till 2029 for a full recovery. Unemployment, as everywhere, remains high for the foreseeable future. Occupy Dame Street (the Irish Occupy) held a sit-in at AIB to protest (above).

In Portugal, official unemployment is about 14% and set to rise to over 16% over the next year. But in order to bail out the banks, the government raised taxes today. While there were some higher taxes for the wealthy, there were numerous redistributive measures, such as moving more people into higher tax brackets; a new income tax surcharge of 4% on individual income; and a rise in the “average income tax rate” will rise from 9.8% to 11.8%,

In response Portugal’s CGTP union, which extends across many trades and professions, has called a general strike for November 14:

This is an authentic programme of aggression against the workers and the people …The consequences for the workers and their families are brutal — general impoverishment, drastic worsening of living conditions and life expectancy.

The graffiti above calls for the fall of Prime Minister Passos but the Troika will come with their demands no matter who is in office.

Debt refusal, debt strike, debt abolition: call it what you will, it’s the only way forward that doesn’t further impoverish the 99% to bail out the banks.

On October 13, make some noise, end the racket!