Portside

Across Europe, people are fed up with a monetary union that is inefficient because it is so profoundly undemocratic. This is why the battle for rescuing Greece has now turned into a battle for Europe’s integrity, soul, rationality and democracy by setting up a Pan-European political movement, inspired by the Athens Spring, that will work toward Europe’s democratization.

The EU's belt-tightening measures are cutting holes in Europe's social-safety net. Austerity as an economic strategy is more than just throwing a scare into countries that, exhausted by years of cutbacks and high unemployment, are thinking of changing course. It's laying the groundwork for the triumph of multinational corporate capitalism - undermining the social contract between labor and capital that's characterized much of Europe for the past two generations.

The Euro Summit statement (or Terms of Greece's Surrender - as it will go down in history) follows, annotated by yours truly. The original text is untouched with my notes confined to square brackets (and in red). Read and weep.

Economic assistance under the Marshall plan was important to both countries, but it was the granting of debt relief that made a difference to the Germans. After World War II, Germany not only received direct transfers of money - aid through the Marshall plan. Far more important than the $1.4bn was the granting of debt relief at the London conference of 1953.

The future demands a proud Greece within the Eurozone and at the heart of Europe. This future demands that Greeks say a big NO on Sunday, that we stay in the Euro Area, and that, with the power vested upon us by that NO, we renegotiate Greece's public debt as well as the distribution of burdens between the haves and the have nots.

An austerity crisis continues to be imposed by European bankers on Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal, among others. A catastrophe on the scale of the Great Depression has been forced upon Greece for over five years under the deceptive description of a bailout. Now the banks are demanding even more, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel saying that Germany will not be blackmailed by Greece, demanding a deal before financial markets reopen next Monday.

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The Hellenic Parliament established the Truth Committee on Public Debt mandating the investigation into the creation and growth of public debt, and the impact the conditionalities attached to the loans have had on the economy and the population. All the evidence we present shows Greece not only does not have the ability to pay this debt, but also should not pay this debt because the debt is a direct infringement on the fundamental human rights of the residents of Greece

26 top world economists say austerity is not working, won't and can't. The future of the EU is at stake in the negotiations between Greece and its creditor institutions, now close to a climax. To avoid failure, concessions will be needed from both sides. From the EU, forbearance and finance to promote structural reform and economic recovery, and to preserve the integrity of the Eurozone.

Europe is at a crossroads..the decision is now not in the hands of the institutions...but rather in the hands of Europe's leaders. Which strategy will prevail? The one that calls for a Europe of solidarity, equality and democracy, or the one that calls for rupture and division? If some think or want to believe that this decision concerns only Greece, they are making a grave mistake. I would suggest that they re-read Hemingway's masterpiece, For Whom the Bell Tolls.