January 27, 2015

'centrist and right-wing parties...have called Syriza “dangerous.” Maybe it’s time to get dangerous'

With Syriza’s Victory, the Anti-Austerity Movement is Going Mainstream
Big business and centrist and right-wing parties throughout the world have called Syriza “dangerous.” Well, maybe it’s time to get dangerous.

BY KATE ARONOFF


This post first appeared at Waging Nonviolence.


Yesterday, Syriza—a previously marginal, left-leaning coalition party in Greece—made history by winning the country’s general election. Winning 149 of 300 parliamentary seats, the party fell just two votes shy of an outright majority. Syriza’s leader, 40-year-old Alexis Tsipras, will become prime minister at the head of a coalition anti-austerity government, beating out the conservative New Democracy party and its now former prime minister, Antonis Samaras.

Many have attributed the party’s meteoric rise to power as a product of the brutal austerity conditions imposed on Greece by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union in their 2010 bailout of the country. Such measures have destroyed a quarter of the country’s GDP, and driven youth unemployment to an astounding 50 percent. At this point, the country’s non-working population outnumbers the employed as national debt continues to skyrocket.

Syriza has offered Greece a hopeful alternative, focused on getting people back to work, “transforming the political system,” and meeting basic needs. The party plans to immediately implement programs to guarantee housing and electricity as well as provide free medical and pharmaceutical care for the unemployed, among other measures aimed at reconstituting the country’s social safety net—left to crumble under austerity. In Brussels, they also plan to push for a renegotiation of the country’s debt, an infusion of capital for a “European New Deal,” and quantitative easing. In confronting the Eurozone and the IMF, the party has grown into rather than shrunk from its radical-left, anti-capitalist roots. Speaking with the Guardian, Tsipras noted, “This crisis is not coincidental. It’s a structural crisis of capitalism and of its neoliberal model.”

Syriza’s success, however, is about more than just material conditions. Emerging from various splits in Greece’s communist left, as well as the alter-globalization and anti-racist movements, the party jolted from relative obscurity by mobilizing a younger, more populist base alongside trade unionists and older middle-class Greeks shaken by the country’s financial crisis. The party has made a public alliance with the Spanish populist party Podemos, or “We Can,” a largely decentralized formation out of that country’s Indignados movement that, of late, has surged in popular opinion polls and predicts a strong turnout in the Spanish general election later this year. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.com/article/17577/syriza_austerity

January 27, 2015

A 21st Century Left Rises: Syriza’s Victory and Its Relevance for the U.S. and the World

from truthdig:


A 21st Century Left Rises: Syriza’s Victory and Its Relevance for the U.S. and the World
Posted on Jan 27, 2015

By Alan Minsky


The Greek election Sunday night produced a historic moment, one that millions of people have long awaited: Syriza’s triumph was the first time that a radical-left party has won an election in Europe since the Cold War began (and arguably, ever). The euphoric celebrations in Athens came as no surprise—very little lifts people’s hearts like the dream of a truly egalitarian society.

Of course, after five years of economic austerity, life in Greece these days is more nightmare than dream.

Now that the Greek people have defied the global ruling class by electing Syriza, the question shifts to whether the coordinated forces of global neoliberal capitalism will allow an alternative economic model to take root, one that prioritizes the welfare of the common people over that of the 1 percent. What happens next in the country where democracy was born is of the utmost importance to people around the world, including in the oligarchic United States.

Before addressing the extremely difficult circumstances facing the next Greek government, let’s stay focused on why this moment is so huge—and not just because it will roil international markets and destabilize the euro. Those things are very important, but let’s think even bigger. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_21st_century_left_rises_syrizas_victory_and_its_relevance_for_the_us_an

January 27, 2015

Professor Richard Wolff: How the Business Community Screwed the Working Class

January 27, 2015

Robert Reich: Wall Street’s Threat to the American Middle Class

Wall Street’s Threat to the American Middle Class
MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015


Presidential aspirants in both parties are talking about saving the middle class. But the middle class can’t be saved unless Wall Street is tamed.

The Street’s excesses pose a continuing danger to average Americans. And its ongoing use of confidential corporate information is defrauding millions of middle-class investors.

Yet most presidential aspirants don’t want to talk about taming the Street because Wall Street is one of their largest sources of campaign money.

Do we really need reminding about what happened six years ago? The financial collapse crippled the middle class and poor — consuming the savings of millions of average Americans, and causing 23 million to lose their jobs, 9.3 million to lose their health insurance, and some 1 million to lose their homes.

A repeat performance is not unlikely. Wall Street’s biggest banks are much larger now than they were then. Five of them hold about 45 percent of America’s banking assets. In 2000, they held 25 percent. .............(more)

http://robertreich.org/post/109234867870

January 27, 2015

A 21st Century Left Rises: Syriza’s Victory and Its Relevance for the U.S. and the World

from truthdig:


A 21st Century Left Rises: Syriza’s Victory and Its Relevance for the U.S. and the World
Posted on Jan 27, 2015

By Alan Minsky


The Greek election Sunday night produced a historic moment, one that millions of people have long awaited: Syriza’s triumph was the first time that a radical-left party has won an election in Europe since the Cold War began (and arguably, ever). The euphoric celebrations in Athens came as no surprise—very little lifts people’s hearts like the dream of a truly egalitarian society.

Of course, after five years of economic austerity, life in Greece these days is more nightmare than dream.

Now that the Greek people have defied the global ruling class by electing Syriza, the question shifts to whether the coordinated forces of global neoliberal capitalism will allow an alternative economic model to take root, one that prioritizes the welfare of the common people over that of the 1 percent. What happens next in the country where democracy was born is of the utmost importance to people around the world, including in the oligarchic United States.

Before addressing the extremely difficult circumstances facing the next Greek government, let’s stay focused on why this moment is so huge—and not just because it will roil international markets and destabilize the euro. Those things are very important, but let’s think even bigger. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_21st_century_left_rises_syrizas_victory_and_its_relevance_for_the_us_an

January 27, 2015

Australian Open (spoiler)

Tomas Berdych put a beatdown on Rafa.

January 27, 2015

CIA Whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling Convicted

Published on Jan 26, 2015

Investigative journalist Marcy Wheeler says Sterling faces decades in
prison for leaking details of a botched CIA operation against Iran's
nuclear program

January 27, 2015

In Victory for Gov't Whistleblowers, Supreme Court Sides with Fired TSA Air Marshal Who Spoke Out

Published on Jan 23, 2015

http://democracynow.org - A major U.S. Supreme Court decision has upheld the right of federal employees to become whistleblowers. The case centers on former Transportation Security Administration Federal Air Marshal Robert MacLean. In July 2003, MacLean revealed to an MSNBC reporter that the Department of Homeland Security had decided to stop assigning air marshals to certain long-distance flights in order to save money, despite warnings of a potential plot to hijack U.S. airplanes. MSNBC's report on the story sparked outcry, and the policy was quickly reversed. MacLean was fired three years later after admitting to being the story's source. He filed a lawsuit over his dismissal, sparking a multi-year legal battle that ended earlier this week when the Supreme Court ruled on his behalf in a 7-to-2 decision. At issue was whether MacLean's actions could be protected by the U.S. Whistleblower Protection Act, a law that protects employees if a disclosure exposes unlawful conduct, gross mismanagement or threats to public safety. We speak to Robert MacLean and attorney Neal Katyal, who argued MacLean's case before the Supreme Court. Katyal is the former acting solicitor general of the United States.

January 27, 2015

Professor Richard Wolff: How the Business Community Screwed the Working Class

January 27, 2015

Australian Open: The Scream Queen

The WTA really needs to do something about Maria Sharapova's screaming. Her screams get longer and louder as the match goes on, and they persist even as the ball gets to her opponent's side of the court. I would find that incredibly grating if I were playing her.