H. Smith: Angry Greeks foresee Grexit and drachma’s revival

– In his tiny shop in downtown Athens, Kostis Nakos sits behind a wooden counter hunched over his German calculator. The 71-year-old might have retired had he been able to make ends meets but that is now simply impossible. “All day I’ve been sitting here doing the maths,” he sighs,…

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HRW: Humanitarian Crisis at Athens Port

24 maart 2016 –  “Pregnant women, people with disabilities, and young children in particular are stuck in limbo without dignity or hope,” said Eva Cossé, Greece specialist at Human Rights Watch. “The suffering in Piraeus is a direct consequence of Europe’s failure to respond in a legal and compassionate way to…

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D. Marans: Greece’s economy is getting crushed between austerity and the refugee crisis.

3 februari 2016 – The most common arrival point for refugees entering Europe is a country in dire economic straits. “The refugee crisis is testing the limits of Greece’s flagging economy, jeopardizing its ability to handle a flow of refugees that shows no signs of slowing. Added to the existing…

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J. Ghosh: Heeft Europa een ‘vluchtelingencrisis’?

16 oktober 2015 – Asielzoekers hebben het nergens gemakkelijk, maar rijkere landen hebben hen altijd gemener, repressiever en restrictiever behandeld. Dat is de stelling van econome Jayati Ghosh, columniste bij Frontline.  Jayati Ghosh (1955) is professor economie aan de Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. Ze is gespecialiseerd in globalisering, internationale financiën,…

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A. Ciezadlo: Greeks bearing gifts

30 november 2015 – “How Europe’s poorest country is doing more than anyone else to help Syrian refugees”. Annia Ciezadlo is reporting in Politico Magazine from Lesvos/Mytilini: “Mytilini is where Europe’s twin crises of austerity and refugees converge. The Greek government is already paralyzed by years of economic collapse, EU-imposed austerity…

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T. Piketty, Y. Varoufakis, et al: Europe must support the UN proposals for debt restructuring

8 september 2015 – Negentien vooraanstaande economen, waaronder Thomas Piketty, James Galbraith, Yanis Varoufakis en Heiner Flassbeck, schrijven in een open brief dat Europa de voorstellen over nationale schuldherstructurering van de Verenigde Naties zal moeten steunen. De voorstellen worden op 10 september goedgekeurd of afgewezen.

Lees de open brief op de website Y. Varoufakis

Photo: Credit Mercopress.com

 

P. Mason: Greece wins euro debt deal – but democracy is the loser

13 juli 2015 – De bekende financieel commentator Paul Mason schrijft op zijn blog dat de Grieken dan wel de euro ‘debtdeal’ hebben gewonnen, maar dat de democratie verloren heeft: ‘Everybody on earth with a smartphone understands what happened to democracy last night’. Mason is auteur van verschillende boeken en ‘visiting professor’ aan de universiteit van Wolverhampton. In…

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N. Vrousalis: SYRIZA crash-lands against the euro

4 juli 2015 – Nicholas Vrousalis is assistant professor in Political Philosophy at Leiden University. He argues that ” The referendum announced by the Greek government on Sunday is its last-ditch attempt to get some leverage against the latest round of blackmail by the troika of the European Commission, the ECB and the IMF. Whatever…

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S. Sassen: Three rarely –IF EVER– mentioned facts in the Greek tragedy

3 juli 2015 – Saskia Sassen is a Dutch-American sociologist noted for her analyses of globalization and international human migration.  She is Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University, and Chairs The Committee on Global Thought. Sassen coined the term global city. In this article Sassen addresses the reader directly: “You, dear reader, decide if…

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J. Stiglitz: Europe’s Last Act?

5 juni 2015 – Joseph Stiglitz, Nobelprijswinnaar en professor economie aan de Columbia Universiteit van New York, bekritiseert de harde bezuinigingsmaatregelen die Griekenland van zijn crediteuren moest uitvoeren en daarmee de Griekse economie in een neerwaartse spiraal brachten. In dit artikel becommentarieert hij de laatste ontwikkelingen rond de onderhandelingen tussen de…

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C. Lapavitsas: Exiting the eurozone is its way out

25 juni 2015 – Costas Lapavitsas,  member of the Hellenic Parliament for Syriza, argues that instead of acceding to the troika’s devastating demands, Syriza should free the country from the trap of the common currency – if the Greek people agree. Greece and the government of Syriza have now come…

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J. Galbraith: What is reform? The strange case of Greece and Europe

12 juni 2015 – James Galbraith, professor in government-business relations at the University of Texas, illustrates in this article the reasons why creditors’ demands would only prolong Greece’s crisis. He makes clear that reform is the only thing missing from creditor’s demands as “‘Reform in any true sense is a process that requires time, patience, planning,…

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J. Habermas: Why Angela Merkel is wrong on Greece

25 juni 2015 – The German sociologist and philopher Jürgen Habermas criticizes “the constipated manner in which the German government perceives its leadership role in Europe.” According to Habermas “It’s the citizens, not the banks, which must retain the final say in existential questions for Europe.” First published in German in Süddeutsche…

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C. Lapavitsas: The Looming Austerity Package

12 juni 2015 – Costas Lapavitsas, professor in Economics of the University of London and member of the Hellenic Parliament for Syriza, presents the proposals of both negotiating parties and argues that the European “institutions” are seeking a public defeat of Syriza and the closing off of any alternative. Read the…

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A. Ioannidis: Stand in solidarity with the struggle of the Greek people

4 maart 2015 – The famous Greek-Cypriot singer songwriter Alkinoos Ioannidis, wrote an open letter (published in Open Democracy) to reach European citizens and make clear what the austerity measures imposed to Greece by trojka actually mean. “What does our salvation look like? Our people have been asked to go hungry in…

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J. Frederik: Wij lenen aan de Grieken om onszelf te betalen

3 juni 2015 – Jesse Frederik stelt een fundamentele vraag in zijn artikel, gepubliceerd in De Correspondent: Hoe komt Griekeland uit de spiraal van leningen en schulden? Het is namelijk een feit dat nieuwe leningen vooral worden gebruikt om eerdere schulden af te lossen. Griekenland heeft dus geld nodig van zijn geldschieters om…

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N. Devletoglou: Stop the victimization of Greek people

17 juni 2015 – Nikos Devletoglou, emeritus professor of Economics, University of Athens, is wondering: “Wouldn’t the extra ‘reforms’ of Greece’s creditors also create in the end masses of freshly victimized Greek citizens practically sharing today the fate of many thousands of undocumented immigrants critically encumbering the country today? Read the complete…

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M. Stevis: A Greek abroad during the crisis

16 juni 2015 – Matine Stevis, Wall Street Journal’s correspondent in Europe and Africa, expresses the feelings of Greeks living abroad during the crisis in her autobiographical report:  A Greek Abroad: Ambassador, Defender, Expert, Apologist.  “After five years of being told by non-Greeks that you’re lazy and don’t pay taxes (you’re not, and you…

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