Alexis Tsipras of Syrzia on the cover of Greece’s’ Ta Nea newspaper (above) this morning and Syrzia supporters (top) in Athens in the early hours.
The headline reads: ‘Greece starts new chapter’
In a functional market economy, the classic couple in a posh restaurant are young and close in age. In my travels through the eurocrisis – from Dublin to Athens – I have noticed that the classic couple in a dysfunctional economy is a grey-haired man with a twentysomething woman. It becomes a story of old men with oligarchic power flaunting their wealth and influence without opprobrium.
The youth are usurped when oligarchy, corruption and elite politics stifle meritocracy. The sudden emergence of small centrist parties led by charismatic young professionals in Greece is testimony that this generation has had enough. But by the time they got their act together, Tsipras was already there.
From outside, Greece looks like a giant negative: but what lies beneath the rise of the radical left is the emergence of positive new values – among a layer of young people much wider than Syriza’s natural support base. These are the classic values of the networked generation: self-reliance, creativity, the willingness to treat life as a social experiment, a global outlook.
Greece shows what can happen when the young revolt against corrupt elites (Paul Mason, Guardian)
Greece Chooses Anti-Austerity Party in Major Shift (New York Times)
Great news!
Do you really think so ? Why?
Because the German State has been crucifying the country for the last six years. The Euro is a bankrupt concept that doesn’t allow for the interests of Southern Europe (or Ireland). It’s time to dismantle it.
How simplistic you are, showing absolutely no awareness of geo-politics or economics. Sticking to the simple mantra…Blame the Germans which has become the cause motif of the Irish Left and Sinn Fein in particular (Blame the Brits up North and Blame the Germans down south)
Greece has a long history of hard left parties, after all the communists tried to take over the place in 1946.
Perhaps you should ask a question, who is funding Syriza? Interestingly, they have just announced they are going into coalition with Right-Wing independents (how bizarre?) To be honest, I’m surprised they haven’t gone into coalition with Golden Dawn (after all, they are both being funded from Russia)
http://www.enetenglish.gr/?i=news.en.article&id=1920
http://www.theweek.co.uk/europe/61498/russia-funds-french-national-front-is-moscow-sowing-european-unrest
Right so, Mr. Illuminati boy.
Jesus.
Reading a LaFondant post is like ironing a work shirt
angels we have heard on high
sweetly singing o’er the plain
French guy with his nose aloft
Posts show he is just insane.
Where stands Kenny and Burton now, on the side of Germany
or Greece, if they back Angela and Greece decides to pull the
plug, what will the value of the Euro end up at, Greece have the Nuclear
option now…..we had it 7 years ago and failed to use it , instead we
got Irish Taxpayer being staddled with the bill to prop up the Euro.
A price is going to be paid for the European Union power grab and
guess who is going to pay for it….those who cooked it up initially
What could not be done with a Jackboot in 1940’s cannot be
achieved with a Checkbook post 2000 either….history repeats itself.
Ok ok, calm down.
Crikey! Its cheque book – by the way.
amazing thanks
On broadsheet Yakov Smirnoff comment posts you!
I read this first as a Leaving Cert poem.
Greece is doomed.
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard” – H. L. Mencken.
All Greece needs to do now is get people to actually pay some tax, and they’ll be grand…. but that won’t happen, so they’ll be fupped.
Agree wholeheartedly. You can’t float social programmes on unicorn farts. The new Greek PM can expect ‘The Call’ from Berlin presently.
So how much tax did average Greek Joe Greenson pay out of his earnings?
But to gather tax, don’t you need actual, er, jobs, Clampers, and haven’t the jobs in Greece gone down the tubes as a result of ‘austerity’?
I wonder was there the same level of rage across Europe in 1953 when Germany’s debts were forgiven (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/21/greece-profit-german-history-1953-debt-relief), leading to the revival of German industry and the powerhouse that now rules Europe.
Oooh, nice link, I’ll have a read o’ that later.
True-ish on your first point. They’ll still have to start paying tax.
Good news indeed – A democratic revolution. Hang on where have I heard that before?
In you pants, 2 minutes before your nuts jumped back up and you insisted that I call you Mandy? Which I did, best days of our young lives.
‘Sh1t sick of reading n hearing about every other place in the sh1t
Let’s get our own house in order ffs
We need a General Election ourselves
Worry less about Greece lads
And turn your guns on our own shambles
Here here! (sic). This country is a shambles with a growing economy and falling unemployment.
An SIC huh Jock?
What?
Away wi’yer what Jockie
What?
And it’s getting ballsier and boomier, that 8BN yearly interest payment is mere small change to us now
So the smart, ballsy guys say.
LOL
renting is dead money
Renting to the dead is money! Says Brendan O Connor in the SINDO’s latest attempt to show the current zombie crisis can have an upside!
‘Me just want flat where me and zombie wife can eat brains in area where zombie children feel safe’ said one undead denizen. Never has the phrase ‘renting is dead money’ seemed so apt said Eddie Hobbs before he was torn limb from limb by the zombie horde.
Our government have clearly ruled out fighting our corner in Europe – they think we’re alright and should just let the shameful way we were sold down the river go unchallenged.
The depressing reality is the Greek government are fighting our battle for us, if they win they’ll have done more for Ireland than our own government who may as well be on the CDU payroll.
The really sad thing is that the prospect of Tsipras succeeding in ameliorating the way Europe treats it’s peripheral nations would be AGAINST the interests of our government, who’ve argued that a whipped-dog brand of subservience will win the day.
From day one Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy should have banded together in common cause – The Germans, Finns and Dutch did. I still can’t understand why we didn’t and why the pretty similar situation those countries are in is presented as being on the other side of the world.
Good point.
The only thing I’m sure of is when you see ordinary people get that excited by an election result, they usually get let down.
This isn’t a great day for democracy, its just a day for democracy.
It’s not a democratic revolution, its just a different result to the last one.
This isn’t the death knell for the euro, its just a change in political direction in one of the member states.
Greece probably isn’t doomed, at worst they will have a crappy economy for a long time.
And it doesn’t matter a damn what our government think of this.
Settle the hell down.
You’re great craic