I used to be passionate about the European Union and saw the single currency as a final push towards a Federal European Democracy.
Since the Global Banking Crisis and the application of Austerity my eyes have been opened as to what really the objectives were. An erosion rather than an extension of democracy.
When banks and technocrats are allowed preeminence and the rights to determine what a country can and cannot do, when a single currency is used as a whip rather than a balm then we all lose.
The Greek tragedy has shown us all just how damaging this whip can be and when the IMF exposes the absolute mockery of the bail out itself the whole system begins to reek.
If the European Union had in fact been worthy of the name the economies that were so savagely battered by the near global financial meltdown would have been buffered rather than exposed. A similar plan to President Obama's bailout could have been applied. Instead we had the holy dogma of Austerity designed to crush the weak, so as to protect the powerful.
We have seen the social planning that after the second world war made Europe what it was, a peaceful and prosperous region brutally assaulted. We have seen young people discarded en masse so as to protect the financial class. We saw after Europe had torn itself apart with sequential conflicts just what was possible. Imagine if Austerity had been applied after World War II, on either side of the pond. The concept of the European Union arose from the ashes of that brutal era. Unity and understanding rather than petty national desire were the key to preventing such bloodshed. Europe's history was one of continual conflict, perhaps now we could move on and that was the case until now.
What Greece is being subjected to now is like applying Austerity after a war by a conquering army, a war of money rather than one of bloody conflict, yet there have still been casualties. Every child that dies from lack of pre and post natal care, every suicide through despair, these are direct casualties of this oppressive subjugation.
The original idea of the European Union was to bare the brunt together and not to scapegoat and abandon. The idea was to bolster democracy and social justice, not to hand power to the technocrats and bankers.
The UK is going to hold a referendum on whether to stay in the Union or not, and who could blame them if the left after seeing this mess? There are other nastier reasons xenophobia and nationalism, but recent behavior by the technocrats have only served to fuel those tendencies. Look at the rise of the extreme right in Europe across the board.
If a referendum was held in Europe tomorrow the result might be shocking to those so desperately trying to cling on to a failing dream because they refused to have the courage [or any real interest] to finalize that dream.
If you cannot behave as a Union, if that very union lacks democratic authority and fails to protect the same, then the problems of unity become insurmountable. When fear of dissolution becomes less than the fear of remaining together then the dream is over.
You either act together for the interest of all, or you break up. A single currency on its own does not signify unity of purpose you have to have the democracy that goes along with it. A single currency also means a unified economy, you have to take the rough with the smooth, you bailout and invest where needed, not sacrifice.
Shrinking your way out of a recession, what a plan.
Crushing democracy in the name of the banks, worrying for the future.
Just a thought