StopCartel TV broadcasts live from Athens, Greece weeknights @ 10pm Athens time. This is a loose transcript of the July 11, 2012 broadcast.
By greydogg and snake arbusto, 99GetSmart
- News from Spain: Around 80 people were injured on Wednesday morning in Madrid when rioting police clashed with supporters of the Spanish coal miners at the end of the “Marcha Negra” (Black March). Later in the day, demonstrators showed up in Sol Square in huge numbers to protest additional government cuts.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced his decision to cut an additional 65 billion euros from the budget in the next two and a half years. He plans to raise the VAT sales tax by 3% and declared a 3.5-billion-euro cut in local government spending.
Carlos Delcios, a sociologist at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, is strongly critical of Spain’s Prime Minister. In a video interview with RT, Delcios stated:
“If Mariano Rajoy had any sense of decency, or even a fragment of dignity that the miners and the protesters have, then he would resign, along with the rest of his government.”
“He’s broken every campaign promise that he’s made, some even at comical levels. His entire party was saying that raising sales tax was unthinkable and all that, and now we have a 21-per-cent sales tax.”
“What we are seeing is the impunity of a government that has a lot of people that pertain to groups that had affinity with the Franco government, the Fascist government, 40 years ago, and have never had to sit before trial since then…”
VIDEOS / PHOTOS:
- Marcha Negra, July 11 Marcha Negra @ http://www.rt.com/...
- Clashes between demonstrators and the Madrid police @ http://www.youtube.com/...
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- In Athens, the three leaders of the coalition government met on Wednesday in order to evaluate the results of the latest Eurogroup meeting, which took place in Brussels last week. According to the Troika, Greece is required to fulfill the terms of the Memorandum immediately. The Troika rejects even the thought of any talk of renegotiation. The Greek Finance Minister was informed that in addition to accelerating the sale of public assets and imposing all of the measures dictated in the Memorandum, Greece must pay an additional 3 billion euros, immediately.
There have been attacks against the Greek Finance Minister’s behavior at the Eurogroup meeting. Reports state that he made no attempt whatsoever to represent the needs of the Greek people or to honor the campaign promises made to them. Instead, he was given his marching orders, which he dutifully brought back to Greece.
The leader of Syriza, Alexis Tsipras, criticized the government-of-the-regime, noting that Greece lost a great opportunity to renegotiate the terms of the Memorandum during the European summit. When Italy and Spain were expressing their demands, Greece remained silent. Bailouts to Spanish and Italian banks will not be charged to the Spanish and Italian taxpayers. In contrast, Greek taxpayers will bear the burden of the bailouts of Greek banks.
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- Italy’s pharmacies are threatening repeated strikes over cuts contained in the government’s contested budget. Federfarma chief Annarosa Racca described the cuts as ”unbearable.” She also stated, “The cuts go beyond the ability of a pharmacy working with the national health service to stay open.” She warned of further protests by pharmacies and the cancellation of contracts with health authorities if the situation does not improve. Cuts in the region amount to 40,000 euros per pharmacy in 2013 and will lead to the loss of approximately 20,000 jobs.
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- Outside the European Parliament in Brussels, hundreds of dairy farmers from Italy, Germany, Ireland and France dumped hundreds of liters of milk onto the streets in a memorable demonstration. Parts of streets were blocked with tractors and statues of cows. Dairy farmers are concerned that mismanagement will drive milk prices dangerously low, forcing them out of business.
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StopCartel TV broadcasts live from Athens, Greece on weeknights at 10pm Athens time @ http://www.livestream.com/...