Debtocracy
Encyclopedia
Debtocracy is a 2011 documentary film by Katerina Kitidi and Aris Hatzistefanou. The documentary mainly focuses on two points: the causes of the Greek debt crisis in 2010 and possible future solutions that could be given to the problem that are not currently being considered by the government of the country.

The documentary has been distributed online under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license
Creative Commons licenses
Creative Commons licenses are several copyright licenses that allow the distribution of copyrighted works. The licenses differ by several combinations that condition the terms of distribution. They were initially released on December 16, 2002 by Creative Commons, a U.S...

 since 6 April 2011, and the production said that it has no interest in any kind of commercial exploitation of the project. The documentary is available in Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 and will be subtitled in at least 2 other languages. The production claims that half a million people saw the documentary in just the first 5 days of its release.

Name

The production team defines "debtocracy" as the condition by which Greece found itself trapped in its debt. The Greek term for debtocracy, Χρεοκρατία, has the same roots as the word for democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

. The term is coined from the Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 words "χρέος" (debt) and "κράτος" (power) in a similar manner that the word democracy is formed of the Greek words "δήμος" (people) and "κράτος" (power).

Synopsis

The documentary opens with the statements of Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 Prime Ministers, starting with the dictator Georgios Papadopoulos and Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Dominique Gaston André Strauss-Kahn , often referred to in the media, and by himself, as DSK, is a French economist, lawyer, politician, and member of the French Socialist Party...

, managing director of the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...

, and ending with some of the most prominent figures in Greek politics
Politics of Greece
The Politics of Greece takes place in a large parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Greece is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Hellenic Parliament...

 since the metapolitefsi
Metapolitefsi
The Metapolitefsi was a period in Greek history after the fall of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 that includes the transitional period from the fall of the dictatorship to the Greek legislative elections of 1974 and the democratic period immediately after these elections.The long...

: Andreas Papandreou
Andreas Papandreou
Andreas G. Papandreou ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, a socialist politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics. The son of Georgios Papandreou, Andreas was a Harvard-trained academic...

, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, Kostas Simitis, Kostas Karamanlis and current Prime Minister George Papandreou
George Papandreou
Georgios A. Papandreou , commonly anglicised to George and shortened to Γιώργος in Greek, is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece following his party's victory in the 2009 legislative election...

. The focus then shifts to the prelude to the recent global economic crisis
Late-2000s financial crisis
The late-2000s financial crisis is considered by many economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s...

 and its origins in the 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...

. Interviews with prominent figures of the global philosophical and economic scene also point out to the non-viability of the euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

 and its contribution to the worsening of the finances of Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 due to a systematic loss of competitiveness in the markets by the PIGS
PIGS (economics)
PIGS is an acronym used to refer to the economies of Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. Originally, the term was used to group these economies as being similar economic environments. Since the European sovereign debt crisis, with the addition of Ireland, the term is used to group European...

.

The Greek debt

The documentary traces the roots of the Greek debt back to the revolution of 1821 and the British loans that were issued. The documentary also points out to the fact that Greece, in its 190 years of existence, has only lent money once, during the German occupation of Greece, and has always been the recipient of loans in all other instances. The documentary asserts that the current debt of Greece is due to the nationalisation of failing private companies, the systematic failure of the state to tax fairly, the restrictions of the Maastricht treaty
Maastricht Treaty
The Maastricht Treaty was signed on 7 February 1992 by the members of the European Community in Maastricht, Netherlands. On 9–10 December 1991, the same city hosted the European Council which drafted the treaty...

, the new loans that were issued to pay older debts and the current economic policies of Greece, the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...

 and the European Central Bank
European Central Bank
The European Central Bank is the institution of the European Union that administers the monetary policy of the 17 EU Eurozone member states. It is thus one of the world's most important central banks. The bank was established by the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1998, and is headquartered in Frankfurt,...

, which will result in an even higher debt, equal to 167% of the country's GDP in 2013.

The case of Argentina

Debtocracy draws parallels between the Argentine economic crisis of 1999-2002 and the current economic crisis in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. Argentina is dubbed the "mirror image of Greece at the opposite end of the world" in terms of its economic collapse, and an example of what might happen to Greece if it continues to follow the same neoliberal policies that the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...

 had implemented in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 and are currently being implemented in Greece.

The case of Ecuador

The documentary suggests the case of Ecuador as an alternative government reaction to the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...

 and the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

, sensitive to social justice, that saves the people from having to pay for a loan that didn't benefit them.

In 2006, the Prime Minister of Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

, Rafael Correa
Rafael Correa
Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado born is the President of the Republic of Ecuador and was the president pro tempore of the Union of South American Nations. An economist educated in Ecuador, Belgium and the United States, he was elected President in late 2006 and took office in January 2007...

 reacted to the huge public debt that the country had, with a series of actions that aimed in the protection of the rights of the people of Ecuador. First, Correa decided that the funds from the natural resources of the country (exploitation of oil) would be used for public policy
Public policy
Public policy as government action is generally the principled guide to action taken by the administrative or executive branches of the state with regard to a class of issues in a manner consistent with law and institutional customs. In general, the foundation is the pertinent national and...

, and not for the payment of the debt. Second, Correa decided that only 20% of the annual budget
Government budget
A government budget is a legal document that is often passed by the legislature, and approved by the chief executive-or president. For example, only certain types of revenue may be imposed and collected...

 should be used for the debt, instead of 50%. Third, he organized a committee to analyze the public debt. Despite the obstacles and the reactions to this, the committee was able to complete the analysis of the debt, and to find that it was illegal on the basis that the loans taken were used for projects that benefited only a "few", the governments signed the contracts without informing the people, and the bankers were aware of this. In the end, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

 was able to save about $7 billion.

Solutions to the Greek crisis

The solution suggested for the Greek crisis is the formation of a committee for the analysis of the debt in a similar way that Ecuador did. If the analysis proves all or part of the debt to be odious
Odious debt
In international law, odious debt is a legal theory that holds that the national debt incurred by a regime for purposes that do not serve the best interests of the nation, should not be enforceable. Such debts are, thus, considered by this doctrine to be personal debts of the regime that incurred...

 the people should not have to pay for it and therefore it should be erased.

Production and participation

The production team of Debtocracy have said that the producers are all those individuals that donated money in order to finance the project. Many important people in the socioeconomic scene participated in the documentary via interviews, including:
  • David Harvey
    David Harvey (geographer)
    David Harvey is the Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York . A leading social theorist of international standing, he received his PhD in Geography from University of Cambridge in 1961. Widely influential, he is among the top 20 most cited...

    , geographer and social theorist
  • Hugo Arias, president of the debt analysis committee of Ecuador
    Ecuador
    Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

  • Samir Amin
    Samir Amin
    Samir Amin is an Egyptian economist. He currently lives in Dakar, Senegal.- Biography :Samir Amin was born in Cairo, the son of an Egyptian father and a French mother . He spent his childhood and youth in Port Said; there he attended a French High School, leaving in 1947 with a Baccalauréat...

    , economist
  • Gerard Dumenil
  • Costas Lapavitsas, economist
  • Alain Badiou
    Alain Badiou
    Alain Badiou is a French philosopher, professor at European Graduate School, formerly chair of Philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure . Along with Giorgio Agamben and Slavoj Žižek, Badiou is a prominent figure in an anti-postmodern strand of continental philosophy...

    , philosopher
  • Manolis Glezos
    Manolis Glezos
    Manolis Glezos is a Greek left wing politician and writer, worldwide known especially for his participation in the World War II resistance.- 1939 - 1945 :...

    , member of the Greek Resistance
    Greek Resistance
    The Greek Resistance is the blanket term for a number of armed and unarmed groups from across the political spectrum that resisted the Axis Occupation of Greece in the period 1941–1944, during World War II.-Origins:...

     and left-wing politician
  • Avi Lewis
    Avi Lewis
    Avram David "Avi" Lewis is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, host of the Al Jazeera English show , and former host of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation current-affairs program On the Map.-Family:...

    , journalist and film director

Critical response

Debtocracy has attracted considerable attention in the Ιntenet. The documentary has received mixed reviews, both for its use of economics and its political intention as a film, both by Greek and international media.

Major Greek newspapers such as To Vima
To Vima
To Vima is a Greek daily newspaper first published in 1922 by Dimitris Lambrakis, the father of Christos Lambrakis. It is owned by Lambrakis Press Group, a group which also publishes the newspaper Ta Nea, amongst others in its fold of publications...

 and Kathimerini
Kathimerini
I Kathimerini is a daily morning newspaper published in Athens. It is published in the Greek language, as well as in an abridged English-language edition. The English edition is sold separately in the United States and as a supplement to the International Herald Tribune in Greece and Cyprus. On 2...

 have criticized the documentary as a work of political propaganda. To Vima argues that Greece's and Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

's economies have little in common, as Ecuador is a major oil producer for its size and population, contrary to Greece. Professor of Economics at at the University of Athens wrote a letter to Debtocracy explaining the reasons for which he refused to be included in the documentary production team, and said among other things that he does not believe that Greece and Argentina have anything in common and that a default would be an easy solution. Former Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki is the largest Greek university, and the largest university in the Balkans. It was named after the philosopher Aristotle, who was born in Stageira, Chalcidice, about 55 km east of Thessaloniki, in Central Macedonia...

 professor, and London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

 Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...

, Eleftheria Karnavou wrote a letter to the newspaper Agelioforos arguing that being completely against the documentary is unjustified, even though it is politically and scientifically unfounded, as it provides food for thought.

A similar critical review was published by Kathimerini
Kathimerini
I Kathimerini is a daily morning newspaper published in Athens. It is published in the Greek language, as well as in an abridged English-language edition. The English edition is sold separately in the United States and as a supplement to the International Herald Tribune in Greece and Cyprus. On 2...

, stating that Debtocracy is aimed at promoting political propaganda rather than objectively presenting a proposed solution to the Greek crisis. Kathimerini's review also fell in line with that of To Vima, saying that both the examples of Ecuador and Argentina are unfortunate as they bear no resemblance to Greece and come in full contrast with the documentary's line of argument.

Other Greek media that have criticized the film include Skai TV
Skai TV
Skai TV is a Greek TV station, based in Pireus, Athens. It is part of the Skai Group one of the largest media groups in Greece. It was relaunched in its present form on April 1, 2006 in Athens and gradually managed to spread its coverage nationwide. Besides analog over-the-air transmission, it is...

. When asked about the one-sidedness of the film by the Greek newspaper Eleftherotypia
Eleftherotypia
Eleftherotypia is a daily newspaper published in Athens . It is one of the most widely circulated newspapers in the country. Eleftherotypia also publishes a Sunday edition Kyriakatiki Eleftherotypia . It was first published in 1975. Breaking the trend of Greek press, it was originally owned by its...

, the producers replied that they had made it clear from the start who was funding the project, that they used abstracts from documentaries produced by reporters of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

, and that those people that speak out against Debtocracy are the same people that find the television news broadcasts to be objective and credible.

Various greek sites and blogs also criticized the film, stating that it can't be called 'documentary' because it presents only one side of the Greek financial problems, it fails to describe the nature of the Greek economy and wrongfully compares Greece's possible bankruptcy with Argentina's economic collapse.

British newspaper The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

praised the movie as "compelling" and "the best film of Marxian economic analysis yet produced".
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