Re: <nettime> âGreece Brought a Latte to a

[Norbert Bollow <nb@bollow.ch>]

On Mon, 13 Jul 2015 13:47:57 -0400
"t byfield" <tbyfield@panix.com> wrote:

> But: Greece has shown, conclusively and for all the world to say and 
> *say openly*, that the European project is directly opposed to 
> democracy; that it's dominated by Germany; that Germany's political 
> structure is dominated by its financial sector; and that its
> financial sector is dominated by a clique of sadistic fools.

Yes, this is extremely significant, perhaps comparable in importance
even to the Snowden revelations, which also did not result in much
immediate positive political change (rather the opposite) but which
have made it possible to speak quite openly, in mainstream venues of
political discourse, of certain important facts, without risk of being
regarded as a "conspiracy theorist" as a result. 

> That's hardly a positive political ideal or end in itself, obviously
> -- and it isn't even much of a silver lining.

But it makes it possible to start openly working on concepts such as the
"alternative economy" idea that I posted about without too much risk of
losing for that reason one's credibility with too many of the people
who have "mainstream" views. 

That's IMO a very big gain, even if the cost of this gain to Syriza and
the people of Greece in general continues to be exceedingly great.

> I suppose Tsipras and Varoufakis can be criticized for the divide 
> between their words and their actions -- in particular, for playing 
> chicken with a Grexit but without preparing. But how exactly could
> they have prepared? Should they have worked with currency
> manufacturers like Giesecke & Devrient (based in Munich) or De La Rue
> (based in England)? Any practical preparations would have been
> exploited as a step toward one of the same outcomes.

I'm pretty sure that for example Orell FÃssli in Switzerland (see
http://www.ofs.ch/en/products/banknotes/ ) would have been willing and
able to print a supply of Drachme banknotes and/or Euro-denominated
Greek government IOU banknotes, compatible with the existing ATMs that
are in use in Greece, and keep them ready for transport to Greece in
case they might be needed and --most importantly-- provide this service
with absolute secrecy.

Greetings,
Norbert


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