The leftist political party Syriza and their leader Alexis Tsipras are embarking on a re-invention of the Greek state. Their new platform calls for the nationalization “of several former public institutions, including telecommunications and energy companies, as well as airports and ports.” As the Chinese proverb / curse says, May you live in interesting times.
If this platform is for real, and it’s hard to know if it is, it looks like a very aggressive plan to remove the power structure currently running Greece. Shipping, banking, energy, telecom AND cracking down on tax fraud is, well, a lot. It’s not Communism, but it is something we haven’t seen much of except in Iceland. It is an attempt to actually have the state take power from private financial and corporate interests. While we often look at the financial system as a set of interlinked banking institutions and markets, the reality is that it’s just a place where a small group decides how our resources will be allocated. And the austerity debate is a technocratic argument dressing up what is really going on – a giant class war.
The Greek people are wresting their future from the European / German oligarchs and are starting to work for themselves again. They’re taking control of their state and their government.
The people of Wisconsin have the same opportunity on June 5th to wrench power from the corrupting influence of vampire capitalism and bring the Wisconsin Idea back to where it belongs: Front and Center.
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