#rbnews weekly bulletin 01-07 June 2013

Prepared by the #rbnews international team, translated by @IrateGreek 

The text companion to this week's #rbnews international show is now online. You can read it after the jump.

The Crisis turns a "blind eye" to military spending

By @csyllas, translated by @EliVou

Click to enlarge

High levels of military spending have played a significant role in the current European debt crisis and continue to diminish any chance of straightening things out.

This precise relationship between excessive militarization and the debt crisis, is being examined in a new report called "Weapons, Debt and Corruption: Military Expenditure and the Crisis of the EU" put together by think tank Transnational Institute.

During the past five years, there is an un-talked about "elephant" in Brussels. It involves expenses incurred for weapons whilst society is being reduced to shambles with wages and pensions continuously being slashed.

The arms industry continues to show profits from order placements when the total amount spent corresponds to 194 billion in 2010 - an amount equal to the deficits of Greece, Italy and Spain. 

In the case of Greece, the country has analogically spent the highest amounts in Europe over the past four decades on such costs – at the same time the country has spent about twice its GDP compared to the EU average. 

And whilst countries like Germany insist that harsher cuts must be made to social spending in order for states to repay their debts, they are not so emphatic when it comes to defense spending cuts. France and Germany have put pressure on the Greek government not to reduce such expenditure whilst at the same time France is closing a leasing deal with Greece for two of the most expensive European frigates.

According to reports, this move is more "a result of political will, than the initiative of the armed forces." As an adviser to former Prime Minister George Papandreou once said: "Nobody says' buy our vessels otherwise you will not be financially supported." It is obvious, however, that if we do, will seem more supportive. "

Guest post: Exit from the Eurozone: the elephant in the room or why we cannot have socialism based upon EFSF recapitalisation

By Panagiotis Sotiris [1]

The report by Costas Lapavitsas and Heiner Flassbeck on the crisis of the Eurozone has been an important step in re-opening the euro debate within the European Left. The political significance of the report was made even more evident by the fact that it was published by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, and was endorsed by the leadership of Die Linke, especially after Oskar Lafontaine had also recently insisted on the need to consider the exit from the Eurozone as a potential solution for countries of the European South such as Greece. It follows the decision by AKEL the Cypriote left-wing party to propose Cyprus’ exit from the Eurozone, a proposition based upon scientific advice offered by amongst others Lapavitsas and Flassbeck.

The report itself is not a radical or Marxist manifesto. Although Lapavitsas has a strong Marxist background, the report is marked by Flassbeck’s much more Keynesian approach. Moreover, it is not a report with an a priori hostility towards monetary union or currency coordination for Europe, nor is it filled with anticapitalist references. On the contrary it seems to take the internationalization of trade and capital flows as granted. However, it is exactly this kind of critique from within aspects of the dominant economic paradigm that makes it even more interesting.

Alex the lazy Greek

By @galaxyarchis, translated by @IrateGreek

The Omikron Project team, who seek to break, through video spots and ads, the various European stereotypes about Greeks and Greece in the context of the financial crisis, completed their second cartoon. The video's protagonist is Alex, a Greek worker whom many international media describe as lazy, and who therefore is perceived as deserving the punishment of austerity imposed upon him by the European Union.

You can activate subtitles in multiple languages in the video above. 

Greece: a new, tougher law against racism?

By @IrateGreek

Greek media hailed on 07 May 2013 a proposed new bill against racism that was reportedly prepared by the Ministry of Justice and will be submitted to parliament after the Easter holiday. According to news reports (see e.g. here, here, here and here), the new bill proposes much harsher penalties for all forms of hate speech, with prison sentences ranging from 3 to 6 years and fines up to €20,000, while deprivation of political rights would be considered in certain cases. Discussion of this bill began in the public debate as it was announced that parliament would discuss lifting the immunity of Golden Dawn MP Germenis following his assault on Mayor of Athens Kaminis last week during a food distribution "for Greeks only" organized by Golden Dawn.

Freedom of the press in Greece: an interview with Leon Willems

The following post is a transcript of this interview with Leon Willems, the director of Free Press Unlimited. It was translated by @iptamenos33. 


- Mister Willems, good morning!
- Good morning?
- In which European holiday-countries are journalists facing difficulties?
- Ah, well, it's very interesting to see that in a couple of Southern European countries, things are getting worse constantly, for instance in Greece.

#rbnews international show 23 March 2013: Greece and Cyprus, a tale of two crises

On 23 March 2013 on #rbnews international, we discussed how Greeks and Cypriot perceive each other and their countries in the context of the sudden, acute financial crisis that engulfed Cyprus since last week. Our guests (via Skype) were George Markides (@georgiemark) and George Iordanou (@iordanou) from Cyprus, Nick Malkoutzis (@NickMalkoutzis) from Greece, and Yiannis Mouzakis (@YiannisMouzakis), who is a little bit from both.

Special thanks to @pitsirikos, @CorinaVasilopoulou, @adiasistos, @madamitsa, @giwrgoslouvaris, @MariaCuchicheo, @ZenonZindilis, @Kartesios, @atreyiou and @SovJohn whose tweets gave us food for thought for this show.

You can listen to the podcast, as usual, after the jump.

#19fgr by #rbnews community

Today's antifascist demonstrations in Athens and other European cities as recorded by the community of #rbnews

#rbnews international show - 20 October 2012

On the #rbnews international weekly show on 20 October 2012, @IrateGreek and @tsimitakis discussed the news of the week with SYRIZA's chief economist Yiannis Milios. Topics include the Israeli boarding of the Estelle, which was sailing to Gaza, the 18 October general strike and EU summit, and the links between Golden Dawn and the police,which were exposed in international media. You can listen to the podcast after the jump.

Was the bailout of Greece legal?

Edited by Keith Ewing, Professor of Public Law at King’s College London, for USI

As the European political crisis becomes ever more intense and the economic crisis ever more acute, there is a third crisis yet to unfold.  This is the crisis of legality now engulfing the EU, an entity that seems to be free to do what it likes and to ignore the legal foundations on which it is supposed to be built.

The EU, its institutions and its representatives are required to act with legal authority and within the scope of legal powers.   To this end, the post–Lisbon treaty is full of clearly expressed principles and obligations, the EU apparently founded on the values of ‘human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights’.

David Graeber on radiobubblenews

On Saturday 9 June 2012, we hosted American anthropologist David Graeber on the @radiobubblenews show. The American author, researcher, and one of the pioneers of the Occupy Wall Street movement, shared his thoughts on global capitalism as well as on the potential of citizen movements to radically change the current status quo.

What follows is a “listener’s guide”, which will enable you to listen to whatever specific part of the interview you would like to hear. We thank all members and non-members of radiobubble’s community for their participation – the interview/discussion was a collective endeavour.

In the booth, together with David Graeber, were @risinggalaxy @IrateGreek @csyllas. Enjoy the broadcast, which is in both Greek and English. The translation of the listener's guide was provided by @iptamenos33. 

Τsipras gets the international treatment: non-Greek media coverage of the leader of SYRIZA focuses on the man, not the message

By @zoemavroudi

It has been only two weeks since Alexis Tsipras was thrust into the international political limelight after leading the Coalition of the Radical Left-SYRIZA party to a surprising second place in Greece’s May 6 election and major media outlets in Europe and the United States have been hosting a slew of articles about him, in an attempt to piece together a coherent narrative.

This post is also available in French on Okeanews. 

Greece: the assault on labour

Edited by Andrew Brady for USi

The labour movement in Europe faces its most important battle arguably since its creation.  It’s not sensationalist to make such a statement. There is a global assault on organised labour. The epicentre of an economic agenda that is getting rolled-out on the  continent of Europe is Greece.

For some this agenda is abundantly clear but for the vast majority, its underlying ideology remains obscured. The reason being is that there has been a deliberate and orchestrated ‘fog of war’ perpetuated by politicians, multi-national firms and media outlets.

#rbnews Weekly round-up December 03-10, 2011

By @IrateGreek 

The item that topped the news agenda over this past week was doubtless the Brussels summit where the exceedingly strict Franco-German austerity plan for all euro zone countries was adopted. However, another page in the history of the zero-tolerance approach of the Greek authorities was written during the protests marking the third anniversary of the murder to Alexandros Grigoropoulos on December 6, confirming a trend in State policy towards demonstrators.

Mr. Loucas Papademos is the new Greek Prime Minister

Par @Krotkie

Further to long negotiations among the Greek political leaders with the President of the Republic, Mr. Loucas Papademos has been appointed as the new Prime Minister of Greece, around 15:00 today. After his appointment, he made the following statement (podcast in Greek here).

I have accepted the proposal to form a government of national salvation. I am grateful for the confidence. It is a great honour, but the responsibility is even greater. I am not a political person. Greece is on a critical crossroad. The way will not be easy, but the problems will be resolved, provided that we are united and wise. The new government will be a transitional one. Its main task will be implementing the 26 October agreements and the financial policies related to these agreements. We all need to be optimist about the success of our goals. I would like to clarify that no conditions have been set for any political leader.

Mr. Papademos also mentioned that the participation of Greece to the Eurozone is facilitating the adaptation and growth of the economy.

Further to a question by a journalist, related to the timetable for elections, Mr. Papadimos' reply was as follows:

"A precise timetable has not yet been concluded, but our point of reference is the framework, as it was settled on the previous meeting of the political leaders".

The new Government is supported by  PaSoK (Socialist Party), Nea Demokratia (Conservative party) and LaOS (extreme right party). Representatives of the three parties will meet later today, in order to decide about the members of the new Government, which will be appointed on Friday afternoon. 

Referendum conduct & what applies to the electorate

By @doleross, translated from Greek by @inflammatory_

Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou, announced that his country will hold a referendum on the new EU aid package, sparking fierce debate on both its aims and constitutional context. Some facts about the referendum are following below.