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Sunday, July 5, 2015

Greece Votes NO! Some quotes and video from the historic day.

VICTORY!

The Greek people have sent a message of resistance that Europe cannot ignore.

Cheers to the heroic Greek people standing up against the European and German banks and their inhuman austerity agenda!

This is wonderful, wonderful news in the fight to put people over markets and the fight to change course after three decades of neo-liberalism!

“The Greek people made a historic and brave choice,” - Alexis Tsipras

From The Guardian...a young couple on the NO
side awaits the results. 
Some reactions:

“I applaud the people of Greece for saying ‘no’ to more austerity for the poor, the children, the sick and the elderly.

In a world of massive wealth and income inequality Europe must support Greece’s efforts to build an economy which creates more jobs and income, not more unemployment and suffering.”

- Bernie Sanders, US Senator & Democratic Presidential Candidate

"The Greek people have made a decision which must now be respected. This referendum has seen EU states do their very best to undermine the democratic will of the Greek people but it’s time to draw a line under the past and move onwards.

History shows us that countries can escape crippling debt in a just way. In 1953, at London Conference, Greece was among the European nations signing a deal which allowed for the cancellation of German debt, to enable the country to grow again after the destruction of the Second World War. Europe needs to come together to offer the Greeks a deal which allows their country to be rebuilt."

- Caroline Lucas UK MP

"Without a functioning banking system, and with no decent alternative coming from the Syriza government, we expect Greece to fall into a deep recession for many years."

- Kathleen Brooks, of Forex.com...apparently blissfully unaware of the extreme "recession" of the last several years

"Tsipras and Syriza have won big in the referendum, strengthening their hand for whatever comes next. But they’re not the only winners: I would argue that Europe, and the European idea, just won big — at least in the sense of dodging a bullet...

...we have just witnessed Greece stand up to a truly vile campaign of bullying and intimidation, an attempt to scare the Greek public, not just into accepting creditor demands, but into getting rid of their government. It was a shameful moment in modern European history, and would have set a truly ugly precedent if it had succeeded."

- Paul Krugman

"The referendum results have shaken the EU elite and hopefully stiffened the spines of the more cautious SYRIZA leaders. The size of the NO majority makes regime change impossible and the Euro-group who were hoping to split and crush SYRIZA will have to think again.

Strike while the iron is hot, Greek negotiators."

- Tariq Ali

Celebrations in the streets of Athens last night:






There are, without doubt, tough days ahead and a long way to go, but this is an historic and stunning victory for the global anti-austerity forces.

Solidarity with Greece!



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