Debt slavery of a nation disastrous for planet Earth

I preface this intro to a New Internationalist magazine online article by stating that I am in favour of the UK remaining in the European Union. The EU is not perfect in my view, and should be reformed from within. And as a member state of the EU as well as being one of the G8 economies of the world, the UK potentially can help transform the EU as an agent to reverse Climate Catastrophe tipping point.

I note though that the EU's European Central Bank — together with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank — has operated like an economic and environmental criminal regarding the formulation of land usage for former Soviet Bloc nations Poland and the Czech Republic, toward orienting those nations' economies toward fossil fuel extraction and large scale farming for export.

Naomi Klein has written of how the Troica [IMF, World Bank and European Central Bank] perverted the prospects for the Polish economy by way of "debt slavery" of a nation. The events also form the backdrop to Andrzej Stasiuk's novel 'Nine'. See The Portrayal of Despair in Poland after 1989: Stasiuk's 'Nine' and Melanie Klein's 'The Shock Doctrine'.

For more on the EU's Common Agricultural Policy's impact on Poland, for example, see Compassion In World Farming's review of Julian Day Rose's 2013 book In Defence of Life. More recently, the 'Conference of Parties' [to an international agreement aimed at limiting global emissions of greenhouse gases] COP24 was hosted in Poland. You can read up at New Internationalist website of how the purpose of those talks was perverted by commercial sponsorship.
https://newint.org/search?key=cop24+poland+fossil+fuels&sort_by=search_api_relevance

More recently the impact of the European Central Bank on the Greek economy has become infamous in terms of the hardships of the Greek people, yet the environmental impact of such debt slavery is only just emerging, as Zoe Holman outlines at New Internationalist:

Greece opens its arms — and seas — to hydrocarbon giants

The state hopes deep-sea mining will pay off its crippling debts – but the only outcome will be environmental devastation, argues Zoe Holman.

The Syriza Party leader was first elected on a promise to scrap the draconian terms for a bailout set by the European Union and the IMF. He later went back on his pledge, accepting the EU's mandated austerity measures.

One afternoon in early July, Jenny Pyliou looked out onto her land, part of a protected nature reserve in Thesprotia, northeastern Greece, to see a group of researchers for the Spanish energy company Repsol sticking rods with explosive devices into one of her fields. Her husband called the police,  who on arrival, instructed the workers to remove the instruments, noting that oil exploration activities had not be approved in the area.

The following day, the men returned to reinstall the devices, informing the Pylious that they were extremely costly and that the couple would be liable for any damage if they removed them. Such antics by the oil companies, who get up to them with relative impunity, are what Greeks can now expect more of following the government’s licensing in late June of major hydrocarbon exploration by oil giants ExxonMobil and Total.

‘Now that Pandora’s box has been opened, this issue is going to stay with us – one way or another, Greece will be labelled as an oil country,’ says Giorgos Velegrakis, a post-doctoral researcher on the history of oil in Greece at the University of Athens and a member of the nationwide Initiative Against Hydrocarbon Exploration. ‘This was out of the question a decade ago, but now you never know what will happen.’ ....

Former Finance Minister of Greece, Yanis Varoufakis, has written illuminatingly regarding the debt trap, and I commend:

• https://www.thenation.com/article/can-yanis-varoufakis-save-europe/
• https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/oct/26/talking-to-my-daughter-about-the-economy-by-yanis-varoufakis-review

Meanwhile, I believe that the current state of Greece surrendering its national sovereignty to major agents of Climate Catastrophe may give an indication of what might be included in Boris Johnson's ' 'bold new agenda' for the UK Parliament.

The HydroCarbon Industry is truly a nasty face of global industry despite all its greenwash

The purveyors of non-renewable energy from hydro-carbons seek to profit from the colder winters that global warming is bringing on: they have as much compassion for their customers as heroin and cocaine pushers have for theirs. There might not currently be laws against what they do, but ....

Much better for the UK and the globe are Fuel Poverty Action and its agenda.

I close with a youtube reference to an American tale of how mining destroyed a family home and its surrounds in western Kentucky. It's a Jean Ritchie song that I've treasured for over 40 years, and a much lighter song that she recorded with Oscar Brand, 'A Paper of Pins'.





Alan Wheatley