Many legislative debating chambers have been designed and built in the past 50 years. Living in the UK, I’ve been able to travel to and see a number of them. The National Assembly of Wales in Cardiff: The Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh: The European Parliament in Brussels (and similarly in
Continue readingTag: europe
Parchment in the Fire: The Trouble with Dijsselbloem | Jacobin
The Trouble with Dijsselbloem | Jacobin. by Pepijn Brandon Ever since his infamous half-handshake with Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister and temporary chair of the eurogroup, has been the target of justified scorn. But with the Greek government blackmailed into submission yesterday, he is
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: The Assassination of Greece
Photo by Guillaume Piolle Introduction The Greek government is currently locked in a life and death struggle with the elite which dominate the banks and political decision-making centres of the European Union. What are at stake are the livelihoods of 11 million Greek workers, employees and small business people and
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: How Radical is Syriza?
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=13088 Filed under: Europe, Eurozone crisis, Greece Tagged: Eurozone Crisis, Greece, Socialism, Syriza, the Left
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Germany’s New Far Right | Jacobin
Germany’s New Far Right | Jacobin. by Anthony Fano Fernandez The gap between ideology and reality could not be any more jarring: according to a European Center for Economic Research study made public in November, immigrants contribute a net plus to Germany’s welfare and social security systems. The report’s author,
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Is Syriza Retreating?
Image from Public Domain To use a worn-out cliché, “the times are critical.” In fact, they are more than just that: we are at the edge of a crucial temporal sequence. The whole endeavor of a Syriza government will be judged by its reaction to the unprecedented blackmail and ultimatums
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Syriza Holds Its Ground
Image from Public Domain As the media and the Athens stock market (down 4 percent yesterday) had widely expected, yesterday’s finance ministers’ meeting ended in failure, perhaps even a momentous one. The tone of the Greek government’s official communiqué, which the whole media were quick to pick up on, was
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Syriza Holds Its Ground | Jacobin
Syriza Holds Its Ground | Jacobin. As the media and the Athens stock market (down 4 percent yesterday) had widely expected, yesterday’s finance ministers’ meeting ended in failure, perhaps even a momentous one. The tone of the Greek government’s official communiqué, which the whole media were quick to pick up
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: ROCHON On Greece once More
LOUIS-PHILIPPE ROCHON Associate Professor, Laurentian University Co-editor, Review of Keynesian Economics Follow him on Twitter @Lprochon ________________________ As I have said before (see here) and will say again: any solution to Greek’s tragedy, which involves keeping the Euro as a currency is a second-best solution, unless the appropriate institutional changes
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Creditors forcing rapprochement within Syriza?
I’m starting to cautiously think that the Varoufakis and Lapavitsas “approaches” to the crisis might end up not too far away from each other even though the strategic direction they have advocated is very different. The situation, especially after today’s hardening of the creditors’ stance at the Eurogroup, may simply
Continue readingLeft Over: Idle Worship….
Stephen Harper and the Beautiful Flag He Hates So Much http://montrealsimon.blogspot.ca/2015/02/stephen-harper-and-beautiful-flag-he.html As an ex-Yank who always found it profoundly disturbing that rampant, ignorant, my way or the highway stupid patriotism started with ridiculous flag-worship in the States, have to say that spending any kind of big money on the
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Another Europe with Syriza
Photo by Diliff There is no doubt that the near majority obtained by Syriza in the elections last month represent a point-of-no-return for Europe. This is the result most feared by the rulers of several countries and, above all, by the financial powers that have undertaken an intense campaign of
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Los indignados to Podemos, The Making of a Party
Filed under: Austerity, Europe, Eurozone crisis Tagged: Austerity, Eurozone Crisis, Podemos, Spain
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: ROCHON: Greece, Syriza and the Euro
This is a guest blog post from Louis-Philippe Rochon. Follow him on Twitter @Lprochon. — What a tumultuous few weeks we witnessed in Greece. Though the victory of Syriza was ill-received in particular in Germany and the European Central Bank, it was nonetheless a resounding victory for democracy. This victory
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Media talks debt
How to characterize the mainstream media reaction to the unfolding debt negotiations between Greece and Europe (not the financial press mind you, which knows what it’s about though sides largely with the creditors)? For those looking for the simplest angle, it is merely a stand-off without context: a horse race or
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Seccareccia on Greece, Austerity and the Eurozone
Over at the blog of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, Ottawa U professor Mario Seccareccia has given an interview titled “Greece Shows the Limits of Austerity in the Eurozone. What Now?” The interview can be read here.
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Seizing the Opportunity to Fight Austerity
A map of Greater Greece after the Treaty of Sèvres • Image from Public Domain Haris Golemis (HG): Just three years ago, Syriza’s presence in Greece’s political landscape was quite small. Today, Syriza is predicted to be the frontrunner in the next elections – making you the next Prime Minister
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: A Strategy of Ruptures: Ten Theses on the Greek Future
Aleksandr Vesnin, Proposal for a Monument to the Third International, 1921 I January 25th marks a historic turning point in recent Greek history. After five years of devastating austerity, a social crisis without precedent in Europe, and a series of struggles that at some points, especially in 2010-2012, took an
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Syriza’s Victory
Photo by ΠΑΣΟΚ Syriza’s victory in the Greek general election is a hopeful moment for Europe. It shows how a radical left-wing political movement, brought together in a short time, can use the democratic system to attack three menaces: the rentier lords of jurisdiction-hopping private capital, the compromised political hacks
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: The Greek Election
As we enter the eighth year of the long-lingering global economic crisis, it is sobering indeed that it is only in Greece that a political party putting forward a clear, radical democratic alternative to the perverse policies of neoliberal austerity stands on the doorstep of entering the state. Emerging out
Continue reading