This is not a crisis but a war. That’s what you hear constantly on the street in Athens, beneath the wounded stereotypes of before yesterday evening. The illusory European package is openly taking the attention of the German elite already involved in Mediterranean Europe in Cyprus and Portugal. “Über alles” and “To arms” were headlines in Greek press just yesterday, March 26 2013 and not October 29 1940.
| Newspapers of March 26 |
Paraphrasing Karl Kraus, I would say that Europe is in the fourth Walpurgis Night that starts with the parallel usage of computers and of myth, of technology and funeral pyre, everything that is already happening and which no longer works, in other words the European Union. On the funeral pyre in Cyprus is the Bank of Cyprus CEO (resigned) who was dismissed this afternoon by the Director of the Central Bank of Cyprus, while “on the island, nine out of ten businesses will close”, as Yorgos Trangas guaranteed on his radio show this morning, “this is the establishment of the Argentine scenario at its worst. The Wolfgang Schäuble gang in collaboration with Athens is burning Cyprus, using Nazi tactics... These psychopaths” (sic) “are now blasting the Eurozone, dear listeners, do not collaborate with the enemy, do not keep your money in German banks do not buy goods imported from enemy countries... Angela Merkel’s Eurozone is not safe, nor is anywhere, German investors have also realized this and they fear for their savings and they are right. We even hope that this concern of German citizens will grow and this is positive...”, this is what was said on Real-FM on Wednesday March 27.
| Cyprus: Today, our money, our homes tomorrow, the day after that our Motherland (Nicosia) |
Everywhere in Greece, people are profoundly shocked after the blitzkrieg in Cyprus, as such events are being factually presented to us. Kyriakos the Cypriot colleague of a friend (the rare extant worker here), no longer says a word to anyone, he is a different person, obviously he doesn’t sleep and he isn’t eating much. Colleagues say “in a week, Kyriakos is no longer himself, but his ghost, surrounded by all of us, who are also economic political prisoners in our own country. All of a sudden, everyone is aware that something has happened”. In Cyprus, it’s the enormous economic silence. The streets are empty, businesses are closed, salaries are not paid and grocery stores are almost empty. This is the aporia of an economic model which has been dismantled by the invasion (of a new type) of a single country, exploiting also all its humans, as the example for others.
We feel we are dispossessed exiles at home without any political representation... and at the summit of a deepening historical moment which has been deepening for three years now. Obviously in Cyprus but also in Greece itself, many of us, no longer sleep through the night, and our Left (or the other political entities in the country), is discredited in the eyes of public opinion, “not a single demonstration for Cyprus...” is heard here and there. Manthos an activist who recently joined the ranks of the radical Left is outraged: “Tsipras and his group, senior Syrizans are increasingly ignoring social realities on the ground. Surrounded as they are by former Pasokiens, they see nothing coming, or even going. They think the Samaras government will fall like a ripe fruit and then they will govern. What is more worrying is that the other night, at a public debate, open to the many elements of the Greek Left, Panagiotis Lafazanis”, (head of the Left movement in Syriza), “did not say a single word about the Euro”.
| Athens, March 24 |
“When finally another comrade remarked publicly, Panagiotis then bowed his head. Already on the website of his movement”, iskra.gr, “you can find recent editorials which are emphasizing the need to renegotiate the Euro, not to replace it. So I gather that in Syriza there are some who are pondering their personal political gain, and perhaps party funding by the State, as in other establishments in Parliament, except that since June 2012, Syriza is the second largest party in the country... It will not get any further I think. So, as I’m almost already dismissed as an activist, I now vote for Alavanos” (former political mentor Alexis Tsipras, now close to the left party Antarsya), “and am in favor of its new anti-Euro movement, which does not mean that I will not participate where possible in any Syrizan effervescence. In any case, this silence on Cyprus, the absence of involvement of all political forces or of Greek unions is in my opinion, very suspicious...”
| Ex-Cyprus Popular Bank closed, Athens, March 26 |
In my view, as in any war, there is here also a form of collateral collapse... of political representation which crystallizes rapidly, in Greece as well as in Cyprus and Italy. Except, that the radicalization of opinion (regarding the Euro and the EU) has not been followed by political parties, either pro or anti-memorandum, but who really cares about that... Yannis Stournaras, our puppet in the Ministry of Finance recently wished to meet Alexis Tsipras, “politically to prevent social risk”, according to some analysts, in the Greek press. A phony war in this spring of 2013... I have never experienced such a historical time! Concerning my ethnographic participant observation... we are all well served! There are people among us (unemployed or not) who, since the “Cypriot crazy week”, are on the verge of suicide, because this new collapse, just after the (obviously) German attack, is added to our own. The time is bad, very bad in Athens and beyond.
“The EU must not choose its victims at will, because by doing so, it creates a chasm in the dream of European peoples, for a Europe that protects the weakest”, said our president Karolos Papoulias, expressing his “hope of getting this message across to all major European cities, including Berlin. The decision of the EU on Cyprus is unacceptable because it is selective”, said Mr Papoulias, who then declared that “This day, the Greek national holiday of March 25, is a great day, a day of honor to all those who rebelled having as a single weapon, the passion of the soul, by which finally, we inherited a free state. This is an example to follow through all the difficult moments of today”.
| Athens, March 26 |
Although many Greeks have taken this presidential statement with a pinch of salt, now the tone rises: “the old guy should resign and not ratify laws from Troika memoranda”, this is clear! “The German steamroller is advancing on southern Europe”, the political satirical weekly, To Pontiki, observes this morning, March 27.
“German domination is already in uniform and is obviously openly confronting peoples and states. This Germany knows that it has become undesirable... The battle seems unequal because German policy has been proven, by beating three years of economic crisis, which explains why Germany insists on the fabrication and propagation of the crisis elsewhere than at home. Its goal is to pulverize the social gains of recent decades, leaving half of the population unemployed, in poverty and eventually helpless”.
But what is causing more abhorrence here (among citizens) than the alchemy of the German elite, is the attitude of the Greek banker raptors and other métanthropes1, regulars of the political salons of the barony of Athens. Yorgos Trangas, already claims that “more than six billion Euros out of a total of nine billion from the European mechanism of emergency capitalization and granted to the defunct People's Bank of Cyprus, were transferred to Greece to serve the Greek oligarch bankers and others, and in this particular case to the director of the Greek Central Bank Provopoulos who carries the weighty responsibility” (Real-FM, March 27). An auditor, manager at Alpha Bank, immediately sent a message to alert other auditors “that soon Greek savers will be dispossessed in turn”, while another anonymous source, but cited on the air waves, affirming that according to an email sent by the Morgan Stanley employee, “the bank will no longer be considering Cyprus as a Eurozone country, since Capital restrictions are now in force in this country”.
| Educational Institute for rent, Athens, March 26 |
These last few days (and nights), have been a rumor feast all sorts. But besides the rumors there are also realities, statements but also some inescapable analyses: “...This agreement of March 25 in Cyprus, demonstrates the triumph of German strategy. Germany seems to be contradictory in the following: it wants to keep the Eurozone from which it benefits greatly, but at the lowest cost to itself. Hence the idea, in the case of bank restructuring to contribute not only to the shareholders (which would be normal) but also all or part of the depositors. That is the reason why Germany is proving so inflexible in negotiations. It has only given a large contribution to the necessary sum (5.8 billion of the 17.5 billion that comes from the depositors “haircut”. It can therefore continue its policy by which the crisis at all costs has to be paid by the country that suffers it. One could say that this policy is very similar in principle to the United-Kingdom policy adopted towards Ireland during the Famine of 1845-52. Here again, it was argued that the relief should be paid for mainly by the Irish. We know what happened after that...”, remarks Jacques Sapir in his blog.
| ...Looking on with deadly fear... Piraeus, March 24 |
So, everything is possible in such a social “haircut” situation. We can observe with such a deadly fear on our doorstep our citizens (or immigrants) foraging in the bins, on an afternoon in Piraeus or in Athens knowing that our turn will come. My friend G., whose apartment in the city center has been broken into for the third time in six months, observed in shock the most recent changes in his area: “People are living, either on organized or spontaneous soup kitchens or on robbery, this is the new society of survival and cannibalism which is coming...” The allegations of this poor (?) Samaras about the future growth for... the future, are not funny anymore. Time for laughing is over and what is sad about that is we are in danger of losing our last weapon (before the others), to know, our own derision!
Happily, German Propaganda still makes us laugh these days. At that paroxysmal moment of the crazy Cypriot week, the... visionaries in the Chancellery, had the... brilliant idea of rushing “as a special emissary of Angela Merkel” the unfortunate (perhaps naïve) Otto Rehhagel off to the colony, the well-known coach and trainer of the Greek team from 2001 to 2010. The national Greek team had won Euro 2004, beating Portugal in the final (1-0). Along the path marked out for (and by) the mainstream television cameras, Rehhagel asserts everywhere in between the government departments and the seats of members of the “interior” Troika party, that Madam Merkel is lovely and is kind and Germans are our friends. Except, that the President of the Republic, Karolos Papoulias, has refused to greet the obviously fallen “King Otto”, (Real FM, le 27 mars). This is sad for Rehhagel himself, but in the awkwardness of the current propaganda campaign, it become almost hilarious, even for the greatest football fanatics among us who haven’t fallen into this obvious trap, which is what I have been able to ascertain these days.
| Traitors must pay - National currency - Common struggle Cyprus and Greece, Athens, March 25 |
The ex-Cypriot banks on the Greek mainland, still closed yesterday, finally open as some people are saying with a certain amount of relief. This will not bring back the hundreds of thousands Euros of the millions of Euros in cash, stolen by companies (medium sized) and by Greeks individuals (especially Cypriots), who have nothing to do with oligarchs. Cyprus, after the stab in the back is still alive. Some political leaders like Lilikas (Akel, Left) are demanding a referendum on the plan imposed on March 25. At the beginning of April the Troika representatives are expected in Athens: “their time will come, like that of politicians we look forward to that hour, that great hour. I’m a small trader, my costs are going up a 1000 Euros per month, since 2012 I earn half as much, it’s madness...”, was heard from a caller on the radio, during anonymous listener participation.
The Eurowar, at first both anonymous and confused, which will not last very much longer, but will end up soon by joining the best historical eponym of the continent, namely: hate. Survivors of future generations will thank with no doubt, first, the elite of German oligarchy, then our own...
| Street... battle, Athens March 26 |
1Métanthropes:
Man is in a process of metamorphosis. He is just a tadpole of the new Man. A philosopher in the last century announced the birth of a metamorphosed man whom he calls Métanthrope. The Métanthrope represents a new kind of Homo Sapiens-Sapiens, who will be distinguished by his superior attributes of intelligence and awareness.
I think that this Métanthrope was born in the 21st century.
He is a transgender man who is going to be the last in line of Homo Sapiens-Sapiens.
* Cover photo: Demonstrators in Nicosia, March 2013
