SPAIN: The Next Syriza?

[Oscar]

WATCH: The Next Syriza? As Greece Rejects Austerity, Meet the Activist Who Could Become Spain’s New PM

[ http://www.democracynow.org/2015/2/17/t ... ce_rejects ]

February 17, 2015

Talks between Greece and eurozone finance ministers over Athens’ debt broke down Monday when the newly elected leftist Syriza government rejected a deal to extend the terms of the current bailout.

The Greek Syriza party was elected last month on a promise to roll back the crippling austerity measures in Greece’s international bailout.

While Syriza has taken power in Greece, the grassroots party Podemos is also quickly gaining popularity in Spain, Europe’s fifth largest economy. [ http://podemos.info/ ]

On January 31, as many as 150,000 people rallied in Madrid to show support for the Podemos party, which translates into "We can." Podemos only became an official party last March, but a recent poll by El País found 28 percent of the population supports the party, enough to possibly win Spain’s next general election.

Last May, Podemos surprised many when it received 1.2 million votes and five seats in the European Parliament elections. The party grew out of the "indignados" movement that began occupying squares in Spain four years ago. The indignados rallied against austerity cuts, rising unemployment and Spain’s political establishment.

We are joined by Podemos Secretary General Pablo Iglesias, a 36-year-old political science professor and longtime activist who was elected to the European Parliament last year.

If Podemos wins Spain’s national elections later this year, he could become Spain’s next prime minister.

[Oscar]

Europe´s Ideologues of Austerity Stand in Way of Reforms

[ http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/ ... ay-reforms ]

Published on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 by The Washington Post by Katrina vanden Heuvel

"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world"
- William Butler Yeats

Yeats´s poem "The Second Coming" captures reality in Europe these days, although surely not in the sense the poet intended. In Germany, the popular press is captivated by the face-off of the stern German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, clad in black suit and tie and white shirt, against the "charismatic," "heartthrob," new Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, bald head, dress shirt unbuttoned and untucked, scarf draped for effect. Only the appearances are deceiving. The buttoned-up Schäuble is the ideologue, with doctrine blinding him to reality. The rakish Varoufakis is the pragmatist, seeking a sensible way out of a catastrophe.

In Europe, it is the conviction of the "brightest and the best" that is loosing anarchy upon the world. In Europe, it is increasingly clear the center cannot hold. The austerity inflicted by the "Troika" - the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank - on the debtor nations of southern Europe - Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain (dubbed the PIIGS by pundits) - has failed disastrously. Citizens in Greece, Spain and elsewhere suffer unspeakable misery to repay debts that grow ever more impossible as their economies crater. The "responsible" center-right and center-left parties that dutifully sought to enforce the cruel dictates have been discredited. Parties that promise an end to the austerity are gaining momentum.

The Greek people elected Syriza last month – [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/2 ... 47798.html ] a party forged out of a "coalition of the Left" of fringe Marxist parties, greens, and various social movements. Syriza´s leaders call not for revolution, but for sensible reform. Greece would stay in Europe and would repay its debts. The new government pledged to run a primary surplus but not the crippling surplus of 4.5 percent GDP as required by the Troika. Syriza also promised to do what no center party dared to do: crack down on corruption and tax avoidance of the Greek oligarchs who have plundered the country. It urged that debt repayment be made affordable, linked to the rate of growth, so that if the economy falters, the debt payments will adjust. It took steps to end the fire sale of the nation´s assets and to supply electricity and food to all.

"We are a party of the left, but what we are putting on the table is essentially the agenda of a reformist bankruptcy lawyer from the City of London," Varoufakis says. "The bailout was not a bailout of Greece in 2010, it was a bailout of the German and French banks."

In Spain, Podemos ("We Can"), a new and youthful party formed by members of Spain´s Occupy and anti-globalization movements along with former communists and greens, is stunning Spain´s political establishment by surging to a large lead in the run-up to the next national election this fall. [ http://www.thenation.com/article/195129 ... -win-spain ] Podemos, too, seeks not to break Europe apart, but to make it work for working people.

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The debate in Europe poses a clear and present threat to Americans. If the ideologues of the center win, they could force Greece out of the eurozone, threatening financial markets. If they continue to drive Europe back toward recession or worse, the U.S. economy will feel the downdrafts.

In the United States, the debate about austerity also rages, with Republicans virtually united in calling for tighter fiscal and
monetary policies that would cripple an already halting recovery. President Obama has sided with Syriza rhetorically, as its case is
similar to the one he makes at home.

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[ http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/ ... ay-reforms ]