Campaign news

Solidarity with the Greek People

13th May 2015

Solidarity with the Greek People

PLEASE SEND THIS APPEAL TO THE GREEK PUBLIC DEBT TRUTH COMMISSION

To the people of Europe and the whole world!

To all the men and women who reject the politics of austerity and
are not willing to pay a public debt which is strangling us and which
was agreed to behind our backs and against our interests.

We signatories to this appeal stand by the Greek people who, through
their vote at the election of 25th January 2015, became the first
population in Europe and in the Northern hemisphere to have rejected
the politics of austerity imposed to pay an alleged public debt which
was negotiated by those on top without the people and against the
people. At the same time we consider that the setting up of the Greek
Public Debt Truth Commission at the initiative of the president of the
Greek Parliament constitutes a historic event, of crucial importance
not only for the Greek people but also for the people of Europe and
the whole world!

Indeed, the Truth Commission of the Greek Parliament, composed of
volunteer citizens from across the globe, is destined to be emulated
in other countries. First, because the debt problem is a scourge that
plagues most of Europe and the world, and secondly because there are
millions and millions of citizens who are rightly posing basic and
fundamental questions about this debt:

“What happened to the money that made up this loan? What were the
conditions attached to it? How much interest has been paid, at what
rate? How much capital has been repaid? How was the debt allowed to
accumulate without benefiting the people? Where did the capital go?
What was it used for? How much was diverted, by whom, and how was this
done?

“And also: Who took out this loan and in whose name? Who granted the
loan and what was their role? How did the state become involved? By
what decision, taken with what authorisation? How did private debts
become ‘public’? Who set up such inappropriate schemes, who pushed in
this direction, who profited from them? Were offences or crimes
committed with this money? Why has penal civil, criminal and
administrative responsibility not been established?”

All these questions will be subjected to rigorous analysis by the
commission, which has an official mandate to “gather all information
relevant to the emergence and disproportionate increase in public
debt, and to subject the data to scientific scrutiny in order to
determine what part of that debt can be identified as illegitimate and
illegal, odious or unsustainable, during the period of the Memoranda,
from May 2010 to January 2015 as well as in the preceding years. It
must also publish precise information – which must be accessible to
all citizens, provide the evidence to back up public declarations,
raise awareness among the Greek population, the international
community and international public opinion, and finally draw up
arguments and demands calling for cancellation of the debt.

We consider that it is the most basic democratic right of every
citizen to demand clear and precise answers to these questions. We
also consider that refusal to reply constitutes a denial of democracy
and transparency on the part of those at the top who invented and use
the “debt-system” to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. And
even worse: we consider that by jealously keeping for themselves the
monopoly right to decide the fate of society, those at the top deprive
the overwhelming majority of citizens not only of their right to make
decisions but above all of the right to take their destiny and the
fate of humanity into their hands!

This is why we are launching the following urgent appeal to all
citizens, social movements, ecological and feminist networks and
movements, trade unions and political organizations that reject this
ever less democratic and humane neo-liberal Europe: Show your
solidarity with the Greek resistance by supporting in action the Greek
Public Debt Truth Commission and its work in identifying that part of
the Greek public debt which is illegal, illegitimate, odious and/or
unsustainable.

Defend it against the outrageous attacks it has been subjected to from
all those forces in Greece and the rest of the world who have an
interest in keeping the truth about the “debt-system” hidden from view.

Actively take part in the citizen debt audits that are being developed
throughout Europe and elsewhere.

Share your support and solidarity on your social networks, since this
support and international solidarity is the only way to thwart the
ruling powers’ plan to suffocate Greece and the people who are
fighting against our common enemy: the politics of austerity and the
debt that is strangling us!

We are confronted by an experienced adversary, united,
well-coordinated, armed with extraordinary powers and absolutely
determined to pursue its offensive against every one of us to the
bitter end: we who constitute the overwhelming majority of our
societies. We cannot allow ourselves the luxury of resisting
separately, each in his own corner. So let us unite our forces in a
vast movement of solidarity with the Greek resistance and support for
the Truth Commission of the Greek Parliament, multiplying such debt
audit commissions everywhere where that is possible. Because the
struggle of the Greek people is our struggle and their victory will be
our victory. Our unity is our only strength

*United we stand; divided we fall!*

Click here to Sign this Appeal