Has the Left forgotten Greece?

Not much seems to have been said by our politicians about Greece of late, despite the ongoing existential crisis it is suffering. Is this because we have no role to offer; no ideas; or just other pre-occupations? Could it be that we are so terrified of going the same way that it has become a taboo subject? Surely there is plenty to say about a fellow EU member and democracy, which sits in mortal danger of being bankrupted by the very international oligarchs who have the power to rescue it. Its people have been so deprived by the machismo of its creditors that almost half are unemployed and many go hungry. Whatever the causes for this - and of course some lie in their own behaviour over decades - surely this treatment of fellow Europeans is unacceptable; and all in the name of money?

Perhaps lack of focus from UK is occasioned by the "me, me, me" culture of the victorious Conservative Party here, infecting minds and media. We too are told it is good for us to go without for the sake of "the economy" [for which read "the Establishment"]. Surely as fellow austerity victims, the British people can have fellow-feeling for Greeks? We too surely must protest against the assumption that medicine to be effective has to be nasty for the patient. We should look with admiration and perhaps more than a tinge of envy at the leadership shown by Tsipras and Varoufakis. They are in a titanic struggle to deliver the will of the people of Greece, who are so fed up with austerity but still emotionally bonded to Europe. It is hard to imagine any leader in this country having such courage in the face of the big guns aimed at them.

In case we may fall back on the differences between our case and that of Greece, let us also be clear just what the real agenda of the IMF, EU Commission and banks is: to get rid of the elected government of Greece which stands up to them, no matter its democratic credentials. They aim to bring it down by enforcing bankruptcy if necessary, in order to restore their own placemen and make sure that money comes before people again, as it does to our Government. Of course Labour should be supporting Syriza and we should be hearing a lot more about what is happening in Greece than we do. We are all Greeks now and should use next Saturday's march to say so.