Irish revolt against EU-IMF impositions

While it seems that the Korean border clashes and the general disinterest from the corporate media about reporting on class war in Europe have eclipsed somewhat this important news item, I think that the Irish revolt against EU-IMF imposed budget cuts and eternal loans (including destruction of national sovereignty) merits more attention. 

In practical terms incumbent Taoiseach (PM) Brian Cowen is finished: his coalition is broken and the people and the opposition demand elections before the 2011 budget is even discussed. The ruling party is resisting but I understand they are effectively doomed to call for elections and fight their surrender to Brussels and the IMF at the polls, where they will be unavoidably defeated.

Sinn Feinn protesters even stormed the courtyard of the Parliament, briefly today clashing with police. In a separate incident, offices of the ruling party Fianna Fail were attacked and the word "TRAITORS" painted on the facade (source: Euronews, includes video).

I understand that Ireland is right now at a critical crossroads, maybe between a rock and a hard place. The EU-imposed bailout is simply not acceptable: we have already seen how such poisoned "gifts" work in Lithuania, Hungary or Greece, destroying all the productive economy and kidnapping public accounts to serve the interests of predatory banks from other countries.

An alternative path was set by Iceland, which decided against renouncing to its self-rule in the benefit of multinational corporate vampires. Of course it's a path that may involve bankruptcy and even moving out from the Eurozone, it's not an easy path indeed, but the medicine of Brussels has ill intent and may rather kill the patient in the cannibal orgy that is ongoing in this sad version of the European dream, turned nightmare. 

The real Europe - click to expand

The real problem of the Eurozone

There is a very nice article at VOX today by Stanley M. Black which explains what went wrong with the Eurozone: it has benefited the central and more developed economies and it has severely hurt the peripheral less solid ones, even if for some time it helped feed speculative bubbles which hid the ugly reality to some extent.

The article really merits some mention because it goes well beyond of the usual "Germany cool, Greece sucks" kind of imperialist junk we get to read most of the time. It is clear that Germany would not be that cool if Greece would not suck: it is the first law of thermodynamics: energy (or wealth) is not created nor destroyed, only transformed (or moved from one place to another).

 

You can see in the above graphic how the euro damaged the competitivity of the peripheral countries by causing inflation that drove prices near (or even higher in the Greek case) to those of Germany and other core European states. In a very much related effect, the costs (prices) of the central states tended to fall. 

You can also see in the above graph how the Irish competitiveness index is not that bad, specially when you compare with Greece, Spain or the worst case of all: Italy. Italy is being held in cottons but it is bound to explode and it is a major European country, a G7 member... and a country with a strong class war tradition in spite of the dominance of the Papacy and the highly competitive (tax-free, relgulations-exempt) mafias.


See also (at Counter Punch):

• M. Whithney: Ireland's Suicide Pact with the EU
• D. Baker: Sinking Ireland