The Digital Dispatch

From NOEBIE.net

Greece

Popular Unity Arises in Greece

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Stathis Kouvelakis and Miri Davidson report that early this morning, 25 SYRIZA MPs left the parliamentary group of the party to create a new group under the name of “Popular Unity.” Most of these MPs are affiliated to the Left Platform, but some others also joined. They are now the third largest party in the Greek Parliament, ahead of Golden Dawn, the neonazi party. This means that in the next few days their leader, Panagiotis Lafazanis, will get a mandate to constitute a government.

Read More: Greece: “Popular Unity” is born! – VersoBooks.com

A Conversation With Chomsky

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Isabelle Kumar of Euronews interviews Noam Chomsky on a range of topics. On the subject of Greece’s debt (and that of Portugal and Spain and others) this is what he said.

Who incurred this debt? And who is the debt owed to? In part, the debt was incurred by dictators. So in Greece it was the fascist dictatorship, which the US supported, that incurred a large part of the debt. The debt I think was more brutal than the dictatorship, and that’s what’s called in international law, “odious debt” which need not be paid, and that’s a principal introduced into international law by the United States, when it was in their interest to do so. Much of the rest of the debt, what is called payments to Greece are in fact payments to banks, German and French banks, which had decided to make extremely risky loans with not very high interest and are now being faced with the fact that they can’t be paid back.

Read the Transcript: Chomsky says US is world’s biggest terrorist | euronews, the global conversation

Here’s the video.

SYRIZA’s Historic Win

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European politics has been plunged into a volatile new era following a historic victory in Greece’s general election by far-left radicals committed to ending years of austerity.

More than five years into the euro crisis that started in Greece in October 2009 and raised questions about the single currency’s survival, Greek voters roundly rejected the savage spending cuts and tax rises imposed by Europe which reduced the country to penury.

The Guardian reports: Syriza’s historic win puts Greece on collision course with Europe | World news | The Guardian.

What’s At Stake in Greece

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The Coalition of the Radical Left, or SYRIZA, is favored to win parliamentary elections on January 25, giving it a strong chance to form a new government that could confront the catastrophic austerity agenda that has plunged Greece into severe economic and social crisis. Lee Sustar answers your questions about the rise of SYRIZA and what a victory for it on January 25 would mean.

Read it: Why the whole world is watching Greece | SocialistWorker.org.

All Eyes On Greece

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Alexis Tsipras, the person who looks destined to be the next Greek prime minister, speaks about history and prospects.

“While the mainstream parties led people on — rather brazenly, I might add — we were vehement that austerity would have severe negative consequences and lead to recession; these policies simply weren’t sustainable. We supported grassroots initiatives, including major demonstrations and the social solidarity movement. Lastly, our political emphasis has been on uniting the Left. This was critical — and it really resonated with people.”

Read the interview: A Historic Opportunity | Jacobin.

AnalyzeGreece!

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The current class struggles in Greece may presage what is to come elsewhere. With elections happening on January 25th, and so much at stake, I’ve been looking for good sources of information.

Cutting through the clichés and the caricatures, AnalyzeGreece! reports to English-language readers from the frontline of the crisis.

Learn more: About Us | AnalyzeGreece! News and Left Politics.