RARELY, in recent times, has the voice of a people echoed so loudly around the world.

The decisive ‘No’ vote served up by the Greek electorate in their historic referendum was unexpected and has created perhaps the biggest crisis the European Union has ever faced.

The crisis has rekindled memories of the German reparation payments of the 1920s, and some have pointed out that Germany itself, which has taken the toughest line demanding full compliance from Greece on its debt service obligations, has been the beneficiary of historic write-downs of its own external debts, most recently in 1953.

The most dramatic invocation of history came from the French economy minister just before the voting began, saying “[i]f the ‘No’ wins, it will be our responsibility not to create the Treaty of Versailles of the eurozone”.

The crippling repayment terms spelled out in that treaty and the stubborn insistence of the creditors — particularly France — that they be met in full led to the collapse of the economy of Weimar Germany and paved the way for the rise of National Socialism.

The present crisis is already stirring atavistic passions across Europe, although the fact that 31pc of the Greek electorate still voted ‘Yes’ shows that many remain mindful of the immense risks they are being asked to take.

In the days to come, some may well ask whether or not Pakistan ought to also engage in similar brinksmanship. Of course, we are not at such a crisis point at the moment, but the underlying realities can change fast in this country, as the financial crisis of November 2008 made clear.

Before any wrong lessons are derived from the events in Greece, it is worth noting a few things about the drama there.

First, the world is growing weary of arranging repeated bailouts, as evidenced by the willingness of Greece’s creditors to walk up to this precipice, even if they are not willing to go over the edge at this point.

Second, the immense strength that it took for the Syriza party to face down its creditors came from its close connection with the electorate, something that nobody in our political arena enjoys.

When facing pressure in any form from the international community, Pakistan’s strength has almost always come from its geopolitical endowments rather than the credibility of its institutions.

These are weak foundations upon which to build our standing in the world community. They are likely to deplete faster than durable institutions. And finally, it is worth bearing in mind that the present mess in Greece is ultimately the result of profound mis-governance by the generation that came before the current youthful leadership of Syriza.

We should think harder about leaving our next generation with a mess of similar proportions in a world exhausted from bailing others out.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2015

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