The Fight in Greece To Vote ‘No’ to the Empire Is On

In the face of a concerted mobilization by the European oligarchy to overthrow Greece’s government, Athens is mobilizing for the “No” votes. Minister for Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy Panagiotis Lafazanis, said that the July 5 referendum is an “experiment” to put pressure on Greece’s creditors. “It’s the best we can do…. We found ourselves in a cruel dilemma, to either sign what our creditors tell us or stage a referendum,” Lafazanis said in a radio interview July 2. “We are conducting an experiment to apply pressure through the referendum.

“We could do something else, co-sign a deal that would be a death sentence for Greece. What use would it be? We are at this point because all the recipes applied were wrong. If we applied a deal like the one the creditors proposed, things would be even worse. We would have fewer expenditures and bigger taxes,” Lafazanis said.

Responding to an MP with the government’s minority partner, the Independent Greeks, who declared that he would vote “Yes,” the party’s leader, Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, announced the member’s expulsion, saying, “We are at war and we do not do discounts. Whoever cannot endure, leaves.”

The famous film director Costas Gavras, in an interview with the ANA-MPA, came out in full, unqualified support for Prime Minister Tsipras: “Alexis Tsipras is right to hold a referendum, it is necessary. I think, in any case, that the work that Tsipras has done up to today is absolutely necessary, and I hope that things go in accordance with his hopes.”

According to Gavras, the main problem that Tsipras will face, will be to make Greece a proper state.