Category Archives: human rights

Greek debt crisis: Photograph of elderly man collapsed outside bank reveals pensioner’s despair – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Recounting how he had gone from bank to bank in a futile attempt to collect his wife’s pension, Mr Chatzifotiadis said when he was told at the fourth “that I could not get the money, I just collapsed”.

Both he and his wife, like many Greeks in the north of the country, had spent several years in Germany where he “worked very hard” in a coal mine and later a foundry.

And it is from Berlin, which has been blamed by many in Greece for its hardline stance in demanding the government impose more austerity measures for fresh international aid, that Mr Chatzifotiadis is receiving his wife’s pension.

“I see my fellow citizens begging for a few cents to buy bread,” he said.

“I see more and more suicides.

“I am a sensitive person. I cannot stand to see my country in this situation.

“Europe and Greece have made mistakes. We must find a solution.”

via Greek debt crisis: Photograph of elderly man collapsed outside bank reveals pensioner’s despair – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

The Real Lives at Risk in the Supreme Court’s Health Care Decision | National Women’s Law Center

To say that I’m ecstatic about the Supreme Court ruling is an understatement. Not only for myself—that I get to keep my health care and finish cancer treatment—but also for millions of others that get to keep their insurance. Who knows how many people, just today, will be diagnosed with a life threatening disease. Now that SCOTUS has once again ruled that the ACA is the law of the land, perhaps our legislators will work together to make health care better for everyone instead of waging a futile war against this law. This was not a victory for either political party, it is a victory for America. I am so happy and feel a huge weight has been lifted.

It’s because of the brave voices of people like LaDonna that we better understand the importance of this law – and why we’re so grateful we can keep it.

via The Real Lives at Risk in the Supreme Court’s Health Care Decision | National Women’s Law Center.

The EU bears some responsibility for Greece’s liquidity crisis

The EU bears some responsibility for Greece’s liquidity crisis.

Contrary to popular belief the Greeks were not living beyond their means. At the beginning of the crisis, household borrowing as a percentage of disposable income was among the lowest in Europe, as was corporate borrowing as a proportion of GDP. The banks got in trouble not for over-lending to the private sector as in Ireland and Spain but because of their holdings of Greek sovereign bonds which were dropping in value when the markets discovered that despite the single currency not all countries in the eurozone were equal risks.

Most of the funds provided under the two bailouts went to shore up the banking system and compensate private holders of Greek debt for the ‘haircut’ they had to endure. Very little, no more than 10 per cent of the second bailout, went directly to the Greek state for the benefit of businesses or individuals.

– See more at: http://www.chathamhouse.org/publication/lot-pain-so-little-gain#sthash.QuYy5vTS.dpuf

The moral crusade against Greece must be opposed | Zoe Williams | Comment is free | The Guardian

On Saturday the Eurogroup broke with its tradition of unanimity, issuing a petulant statement “supported by all members except the Greek member”. Yanis Varoufakis, the Greek finance minister, sought legal advice on whether the group was allowed to exclude him, and received the extraordinary reply: “The Eurogroup is an informal group. Thus it is not bound by treaties or written regulations. While unanimity is conventionally adhered to, the Eurogroup president is not bound to explicit rules.” Or, to put it another way: “We never had any accountability in the first place, sucker.”

More striking still is this line of the statement: “The Eurogroup has been open until the very last moment to further support the Greek people through a continued growth-oriented programme.” The measures enforced by the troika have created an economic contraction akin to that caused by war.

via The moral crusade against Greece must be opposed | Zoe Williams | Comment is free | The Guardian.