For the past couple of days I have been trying to understand what is happening in Greece.
I shared the celebratory atmosphere after January’s elections [of the SYRIZA government] and the sense of hope and dignity that seemed to be restored following the destruction that led to one-third of the population living in poverty.
The SYRIZA government inherited a country with a population devastated by austerity but, most importantly, with a sense of power for having chosen its future.
SYRIZA promised to negotiate with the Troika creditors to restructure the unsustainable debt. Despite the last five months of hard negotiations, no common ground could be found with the creditors. Meanwhile, the SYRIZA government reopened the public broadcaster and introduced laws to fight the humanitarian crisis.
On June 7, SYRIZA submitted a 47-page Third Memorandum proposal, which included some austerity but also incorporating social justice measures. SYRIZA MPs said they would only approve it if there would be a debt relief.
It was rejected by the creditors on June 25.
On July 5, the Greek people voted overwhelmingly against accepting the Troika’s austerity package. People might have voted to support “Yes” out of fear, or “No” out of pride. In my opinion, the “No” vote was simply the only rational option.
Many of the 61% of “No” voters were hoping for a better outcome from the Eurozone negotiations, which the SYRIZA government had suggested would be the case before the referendum.
Others, less attached to the Eurozone — mostly those who didn’t have much money to lose — were hoping for a national currency that would allow the government to implement its own policy.
It was clear that a “No” vote rejected the Troika’s package, but not so clear what people wanted to see happen instead. We don’t know how the majority would have voted had there had been an explicit “Memorandum versus Grexit” referendum question.
Given that the mainstream media campaigned against the Grexit, terrifying people with a catastrophic scenario, it is fair to assume that many of the 61% of Greeks who voted “No” were not prepared to take the risk.
Another important aspect is the way the referendum’s results were perceived by the Greek people, as well as those around the world. The Greeks celebrated, yet this did not last long.
On July 9, the Greek government submitted a Third Memorandum which, to a large extent, was similar to the previous memoranda. It also requested a debt restructure.
The creditors, however, refused to talk about debt restructuring before October, instead demanding an agreement on the austerity package. Moreover, they demanded the transfer of €50 billion (one third of the country’s assets) to a bank in Luxemburg, whose president is the German Finance Minister — Wolfgang Schäuble.
After a 17-hour meeting, described by the Guardian as “mental waterboarding”, the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipris signed the Third Memorandum without a written commitment by the creditors for a debt restructure. The government was not ready for a disorderly bankruptcy.
Now “No” voters, who were hoping for liberation from the Eurozone, feel betrayed as they see their vote being squashed by their own prime minister who gave them the power to say “No” in the first place.
Feelings of disappointment have turned into hatred in just a couple of days. Misery and defeatism prevail once again. I don’t share the feeling of hatred and do not see the prime minister as a traitor. However, I think that under an incredible amount of pressure, he was forced to make the wrong choice in not exiting the Eurozone and not issuing liquidity with IOUs.
The social and political cost of what has now been called the “Headstone of the Left” is going to be much worse than the cost of a bankruptcy.
As a citizen of Greece who now lives abroad, I feel obliged to be here today and put pressure on SYRIZA MPs who will have the power to say “No”.
No to a third bail-out for a debt that can’t be paid off. No to selling the family’s silver.
No to a Eurozone that, as an informal institution with no legal status, nevertheless has more power than elected governments in the European Union.
No to a Europe where the German Finance Minister approves all ministers’ decisions and punishes those who dare to disobey.
No to injustice. No to the end of hope. And when I say “No”, I mean “No”.
[Maria Mouratidou is a Greek activist living in Sydney. This is an abridged version of her speech to a solidarity protest against austerity in Greece on July 15.]
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