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Will Syriza take power in Greece?

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Mon, 2014-12-22 17:30

#1

Tom Vouloumanos

Will Syriza take power in Greece?

Here's an interesting interview on TeleSUR English with Costa Isychos, head of SYRIZA's Foreign Policy and Defense Department on the likelihood of elections in January 2015. Syriza is likely to take power in Greece and represents a new type of multi-tendency party bringing different traditions of the the Left together and growing through the social movements. Syriza has strong ties to left-wing governments in Latin America. Its victory may be the first step to a post-austerity and post-neo-liberal Europe.

TeleSUR Interview with Costa Isychos

Issues Pages:

Mon, 2014-12-22 17:36

#2

Tom Vouloumanos

http://multimedia.telesurtv.net/web/telesur/#!en/video/imaginary-lines-3...

Mon, 2014-12-22 17:49

#3

Ken Burch

Better question: if SYRIZA DOES take power, will it be allowed to carry out the program it is elected on, or forced to surrender to Western finance, as Felipe Gonzalez and Francois Mitterrand were in the Eighties and Bob Rae was in the Nineties?

And if it does try to carry out its program, will the U.S. do unto it as it did unto an earlier Greek government in 1967?

I wish SYRIZA all the best, but it has a lot of obstacles to overcome.

Mon, 2014-12-22 18:52

#4

Tom Vouloumanos

Good questions.

I think a 1967 stunt today would be highly unlikely but yes, Syriza is facing many obstacles and it knows it, it is making it clear that the days ahead will be difficult.

Nevertheless, a Syriza government would not have the same starting point as the current Greek government which is made up of a coalition of neoliberals with conservative and social democratic tags: ND and Pasok. Former EU commissioner Barosso, has stated that the Greek leaders did not relaly negotiate with Merkel, they were all of one neo-liberal mind. Moroever, there was no incentive to go after the wealthy ship owners who pay litereally 0 taxes. These are billionaire families that control 16-18% of the worlds' fleet and 47% of the EU fleet!! So there were no tough negotiations with give and take. Baosso said that the Greek negotiators were on board with the bailout memoerandum that has caused a humanitarina catastrophe in Greece: 25% unemployement, 60% youth unemploment, a real brain drain of 140,000 young educated people having emmigated in the last 5 years, 300,000 households without electricity. Wages of 500 euros a month, 2 suicides a day (in a country that had one of Europe's lowert suicide rates) etc. etc. etc. Greeks have lost control over their electricity, communications, airports, banks, land morthages, islands are up for sale...and the list goes on.

Syriza has no room to maneouvre on the humanitarian issues. It will bring up the 1953 European agreement that wrote off over half of Germany's debt after WWII , it will also bring up the Gold that was stolen by Germany in WWII. Its position will be more firm, and it has no friends in the shipping sector or any other sector that bankrolled it for years. So its politicians are not afraid of any money scandals etc. Moroever, Syriza will refuse to negotiate with EU bureacrats and wants to negotiate directly with EU heads of state. Its position is that this crisis is a European crisis in Greece and not a Greek crisis in Europe. It will seek allies in the european periphery: Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland. As well as in the social movements accross Europe that are fighting this austerity madness. The rise of parties like Podemos (first place in Spain) and Sinn Fein (leading in some polls as well) as well Die Linke which is growings and forcing the SPD to reconsider its position regarding future coalition governments, is changing the game on the ground. The solution ultimately needs to be European, hopefully Syriza's election will give hope to other Europeans that the only two options are not neoliberalism or ethnic nationalism.

Mon, 2014-12-22 20:29

#5

epaulo13

SYRIZA Rising: What’s Next For The Movements In Greece?

October 4, 2014

quote:

Left-Wing Bureaucracy and the State

In theory, the communist left relates with the state in instrumental terms. The conquest of the bourgeois state is presented as a necessary evil on the road to workers’ power. This approach, however, is immersed — even on a purely theoretical level — in a series of contradictions. Even in its most sophisticated versions it fails to address the issue of the dialectic relation between the vanguard party bureaucracy and the autonomy of the world of labor, or the possibility of achieving a transition towards an egalitarian society, when there is such disparity between the means employed and the goals proposed.

But in social praxis, the historical experience of the relationship between left-wing parties and the state is even more complex and contradictory. In the 20th century, nearly half of the planet was governed by left-wing bureaucracies that exercised power separated from the social classes they were supposed to represent. In most victories of the left — electoral or otherwise — popular forms of organization, be they soviets, workers’ councils or assemblies, were summarily superseded by the centralized power of the new managerial class. But even where they did not capture state power, left-wing bureaucracies operated merely as agents of mediation and delegation of political power, rather than as a genuine expression of the collective subject of the labor movement. In an attempt to defeat the bourgeois state with its own weapons, they modelled their organizational structures on the most reactionary and hierarchical elements of the bourgeois state, thus stifling any attempt of the workers at autonomous self-expression.

Nevertheless, today much has changed since the heyday of the workers’ movements. In the European context, a possible conquest of state power by a left-wing party is no longer seen as a necessary evil, but as a strategic objective for mitigating the impact of the neoliberal onslaught on the social fabric. In modern left-wing mythology, the state is implicitly seen as the last frontier of “real” politics in opposition to the burgeoning social power of capital; hence the criticism of the essentially bourgeois nature of state power can easily be overlooked. This conception of the state, held by a majority of contemporary left-wing parties, is lagging even behind earlier approaches of the social democratic left, which at least retained a minimal connection with the strategic goal of social transformation....

https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/syriza-rising-whats-next-for-the-movements...

eta:

quote:

Autonomous movements are inclined not to capture power, but to disperse it: imagining new decentralized institutions for the governance of social and economic life to replace bourgeois democracy, which is immersed in a deep structural crisis of social reproduction, political representation and ecological sustainability. That does not entail laying out a well-defined program of exercise of power, but forging bonds and institutions that will allow the synthesis of the specific and local with the general and universal. The struggles for the commons, for knowledge, land, water and health, leave behind a legacy of accessible and participatory institutions, which can form the backbone of a new kind of power: a power of the people, not of the representatives.

..

..spain has taken what i think is a different path. gain power yes but with a different structure. and i believe the creation of a new way of organizing the party. participatory in nature.

Podemos: the political upstart taking Spain by force

http://roarmag.org/2014/12/podemos-the-political-upstart-taking-spain-by...

Mon, 2014-12-22 22:25

#6

Michael Moriarity

Thanks, Tom, for this thread. The E.U. does not seem to be the same boring political monoculture that we see in North America. If Syriza can get the oligarchs to back down it will be an inspiration for many anti-capitalists around the world.

Mon, 2014-12-22 22:29

#7

Aristotleded24

Tom Vouloumanos wrote:
Syriza has strong ties to left-wing governments in Latin America.

That's interesting. I know that Maduro's party is a member of the Socialist International, as is the recently-humiliated PASOK in Greece.

Tue, 2014-12-23 11:47

#8

josh

The EU, ECB and the international corporate/financial media will do everything in their power to prevent Syriza from winning an election. It would be easy.

And the election might be sooner than expected.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/24/world/europe/greece-elections-president.html

Mon, 2014-12-29 09:53

#9

josh

Elections scheduled for January 25. As stated in this typical biased article.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/greek-impasse-forces-early-el...

Mon, 2014-12-29 13:32

NDPP

CP of Greece, On the 'Distorting Lens' in the Analysis of Contemporary Interstate Relations

http://www.solidnet.org/greece-communist-party-of-greece/cp-of-greece-on...

"...In our country there is similar talk about regaining sovereignty, that emanates from SYRIZA and the Indpendent Greeks as well as from the ruling parties, ND and PASOK. Of course they do not call into question participation in the EU, NATO or even more so the capitalist path of the country.

Thus it is obvious that in the name of sovereignty (ie in the name of its preservation or its recovery) the bourgeois politicians use misleading arguments in order to trap the working people in a struggle 'under a false flag'.

The positions concerning the EU fostered by the European Left Party and SYRIZA are equally dangerous.

The solution for the Greek people and the other peoples does not lie in the misleading efforts to beautify the EU or in aligning with bourgeois political forces which in the name of 'sovereignty' are seeking to trap the popular strata into serving the interests of the strong few, the capitalists..."

[scroll up for english]

Mon, 2014-12-29 18:44

Tom Vouloumanos

For the CP of Greece (or KKE, its Greek acronym), nothing short of proletarian revolution and the immediate replacement of capitalism with socialism is good enough. This is a dangerous and easy position. People right now need shelter, heating, electricity, medicine, transport, jobs, food, personal debot relief, and living wages. These are the immediate demands of people, 40% of the country is at or beneath the poverty line. Yes, the long term goal should be to replace the system with a new one. One can do it with vanguard party that takes over the state apparatus and rules in the name of the working class, or one can follow the path of venezuela and bolovia and equador, where first the neoliberal policies were stopped and reversed, social democratic reforrms were made to ameliorate living conditions and then a slow road to socialism is sought with elections and debates every step of the way. Syriza is closer to the Latin American approach. More importantly, it wants to make things better now within the confines of the current system, as people have immediate concerns and serious leftists whether socialists, communists, social democrats, anarchists, ecologists, progressives etc. must attend to now within the cage of capitalism and imperialism. This is the issue I have with the KKE, it has turned its back on its long tradition of being socially relevant and has become sectarian and static. Its best cadres of the early 90's were purged by the hardline leadership of Aleka Papariga and formed the core of the Synaspimos (coalition) party that dissolved itself into SYRIZA (which began as a coalition of various leftists parties from various tendencies and traditions.) Syriza is officiall a multutendency party where social democrats, trotskysits, eurocommunits, eco-socialists and left libertarians debate in open forums and are even grouped in officially recognized tenedencies. Syriza's immediate goal is to respond to the human catastrophe of the last year and work with other like minded european forces to build another Europe. The KKE says that is impossible. This is probably why the oligarchy and the until yesterday ruling parties never attack the KKE or its positions or its strikes. It serves as a cult to tell people they are doomed unitl the proleterian messiah comes while Syriza wants to change things tomorrow. The KKE acts very much like a sect and has refused any cooperation with Syriza after being asked time and time again to come to some sort of minimum agreement for a governing program to deal with the humanitarian crisis and give people a space to organize. People need to eat before they can discuss how the means of production can be socialized.

Tue, 2014-12-30 16:36

iyraste1313

Syriza...a new type of multi tendency party....growing through the social movements...

of course this was tried in Canada, from the days of the CCF, from the late 80's flourishing of the Greens, before both succombed to the temptations of corruption, the need to sacrifice truth to political expediency in the short term...

But conditions are different now. Greece is facing the collapse of its economic system, just as Canada in 2015 will begin to feel it, with the collaspe first of its energy and commodities industries, followed by its financial institutions...

So the evolution of Syriza will be very instructive for us, as we too must develop some new form of political institution built on the social movements and based on the need for people to eat!

Fri, 2015-01-02 13:02

NDPP

The Collapse of the Greek Government

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/12/31/pers-d31.html

"...SYRIZA and Tsipras have been carefully groomed to take a leading role in defending capitalism in Greece, ensuring that the dictates of international capital are carried through and countering the wave of popular opposition that threatens to spread throughout Greece."

Greece's Syriza No Longer Terrifies Some Investors

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2da5e654-9012-11e4-8f09-00144feabdc0.html...

"Alexis Tspiras, Syriza leader, has abandoned his pledge to 'tear up' the bailout agreement with international creditors and is instead emphasizing more moderate steps to address the debt load as well as his deep commitment to the euro..."

Wed, 2015-01-07 08:59

josh

PASOK splinters with Papandreou founding a new party.

Former Prime Minister George Papandreou launched his new party on Saturday, as current Deputy Prime Minister and PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos insisted that his party would play a pivotal role in political developments after the January 25 elections.

Papandreou said the his party would be called the Movement of Democratic Socialists. If the former PASOK leader’s new grouping is able to gain more than 3 percent in the polls in three weeks’ time, he might gain enough seats in Parliament to have a say in the formation of the next government. Crucially, the new party could also have an impact on how PASOK performs.

http://ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_03/01/2015_545924

Wed, 2015-01-07 09:29

KenS

Are Papandreou and company nuts? or insamely desperate? or _____ ?

I need a scorecard.

Is it Papanreou's new outfit, or is it the offical PASOK, that wants to stick with playing footsy with New Democracy [or whatever else can be cobbled together as everyone-but-Syriza]?

Or essentially the same question phrased different: is one of them staking [at least mostly] on working out something with Syriza after the election? Or is it neither [both just looking for the best wreackage to cling to for being able to go either way after the election] ?

Or are those the wrong questions?

Wed, 2015-01-07 09:35

josh

Some questions and answers, but I'm not sure they make things any clearer.

http://www.dw.de/greece-analysts-predict-problems-for-papandreou/a-18170403

Seems to me that he's trying to pour old wine into a new bottle. And to try to deprive Syriza of a first place finish.

Wed, 2015-01-07 14:51

Tom Vouloumanos

Some journalists joked that the new Papandreou outfit KODISO (Mouvement of Democrat Socialists) should have been called "Second Chance".

There are 3 reasons for G. Papandreou's new political venture:

1) Legacy: He doesnt want to go down as a failed PM, the man who ended the Papandreou legacy, the man who destroyed Pasok, so for personal reasons he wants to unite the so called centre of social democrats and social liberals and be known for that.

2) Petty politics: Pasok leader Venizelos and G. Papandreou were enemies (think Chretien Martin), so if G cant run Pasok, no one can.

3) Pasok is now associated with ND, they are seen as one, so there is a need by the establishment to have a party that can be kingmaker and hold back a Syriza majority.

This was tried with Pasok which reinvented itself as The Olive or now Democratic Faction to get that centre vote, it did not work. It is also being tried by a new party lead by a well known media personality close to Pasok of old and called To Potami or The River (like a river of people coming together and changing everyting blah blah blah). It had immediate media attention was in third place in many polls. Its was going to be a party of no politicians (but now includes former mps), a party of citizens (which is run like a dicatorship by its leader) and it was not left nor right but in the centre of practical ideas (but by every account it supports the memoranda and bailout agreements). The River is said to be the mindchild of former Pasok PM Costas Simitis. So the old establishment around Pasok has three parties: Pasok, The River and the Papandreou outfit, as there is no agreement on whether to continue with ND, forge an alliance to coopt Syriza or back some sort of grand coalition.

What is most threatening to the establishment, is not a Grexit or the policies of Syriza its the danger of Syriza bringing to light the 40 years of corruption, clientelism, cronyism and nepotism. The fact that even for the slightest government documents one would have to slip someone else an envellope. This system made many people very rich, in Greece and in Europe and this is the system that fears Syriza.

Syriza has pledged to open up the books of the state and have them examined...this is what is terrifying to all. G. Papandreou wants to be seen as the good guy in a bad system. The River is masquarding as a citizen's movement. Pasok is disapearing. All know that, what Syriza calls the "Trinagle of Sin", namely the nexus between the Political system (ND-Pasok-Oligarchy-State), the Banks, and the Private Media is unravelling and are trying to salvage what they can.

Wed, 2015-01-07 17:45

NDPP

Greece Takes On the Vampire Squid - by Ellen Brown

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/01/07/greece-takes-on-the-vampire-squid/

"Greece and the troika (the IMF, the EU and the ECB) are in a dangerous game of chicken. The Greeks have been threatened with a 'Cyprus-style prolonged bank holiday' if they 'vote wrong'.

The veiled threat to the Greek Parliament was in a December memo from investment bank Goldman Sachs - the same bank that was earlier blamed for inducing the Greek crisis."

Wed, 2015-01-07 18:43

Tom Vouloumanos

SYRIZA Campaign Video (w/english subs): HOPE IS ON THE WAY!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDrgWH8_ZY4

Wed, 2015-01-14 16:05

Tom Vouloumanos

Here's a really good presentation (if you have 18 min.) on the Greek crisis and the history and rise of the Greek Radical Left (SYRIZA)

https://zcomm.org/zvideo/weak-spots-of-neoliberalism-part-3-the-rise-of-...

Wed, 2015-01-14 16:58

NorthReport

Nice to see you posting Tom, and thank you.

Tue, 2015-01-20 12:04

josh

Syriza continues to maintain, on average, a 4-5% lead over ND ahead of Sunday's election.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_Greek_legislative_election,_2015

Fri, 2015-01-23 17:58

josh

If you believe the polls, Syriza is expanding its lead going into Sunday's vote. On the cusp of a majority.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_Greek_legislative...

Fri, 2015-01-23 22:42

NDPP

RT: CrossTalk - Electoral Farce? (and vid)

http://rt.com/shows/crosstalk/225495-greece-electoral-farce-euro/

"Crunch time again for Greece. Greece goes to the polls this weekend and the stakes are high. At the top of the agenda is debt relief after years of crippling austerity.

There are those who say staying with the euro is a death sentence for generations to come. Others claim maybe Athens should be allowed a new deal.

CrossTalking with Nick Skrekas, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Theofanis Exadaktylos

Syriza's Moment

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/01/23/syrizas-moment/

"An interview with Syriza's Efklidis Tsakalotos

Fri, 2015-01-23 22:59

Ken Burch

I wish the KKE would at least consider offering SYRIZA the equivalent of a "confidence and supply" agreement after the election.

If they're assuming that it's in their interests for SYRIZA to either be forced to work with a party far to its right (like Te Potami)and thus be forced to fail, I think the KKE is tragically mistaken.

The only people who would benefit from the sabotage or failure of a SYRIZA government would be the fascists of Golden Dawn.

Fri, 2015-01-23 23:28

montrealer58 montrealer58's picture

montrealer58's picture

If Syrizia is elected, they are going to have to fight to hold on to power. The danger of a putsch of some kind is high.

Sat, 2015-01-24 00:15

Left Turn

Left Turn's picture

[url=https://ricochet.media/en/305/the-greek-canary-in-the-european-coal-mine... Greek canary in the European coal mine: An interview with Yanis Varoufakis[/url]

Quote:
Greeks are going to the polls on Jan. 25, and if opinion polls are correct, leftist party Syriza, or the Coalition of the Radical Left, is on track to secure the most votes. Michal Rozworski spoke with Yanis Varoufakis, a candidate for Syriza and economics professor at the University of Athens.

Sat, 2015-01-24 03:37

Ken Burch

montrealer58 wrote:

If Syrizia is elected, they are going to have to fight to hold on to power. The danger of a putsch of some kind is high.

Indeed. I just hope THIS song by Peggy Seeger doesn't become current again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATWvl9ElafY

Sun, 2015-01-25 12:33

KenS

Looks pretty certain that as expected Syriza will win.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30975437

A majority looks iffy. I dont know much about the details. But enough to say that would be a problem.

? Pull in enough individual MPs from the PASOK and/or Papandreou rump ?

Sun, 2015-01-25 12:41

NorthReport

Syriza will get a majority - the Greek people have had enough of the big city bankers.

Too bad most of the rest of society are cowards.

Sun, 2015-01-25 13:22

KenS

The exit polls are in the range of 36-39%. That is a commanding lead. But in most cases, makes the likelihood of a majority touch and go.

Syriza will be governing. It amounts to a question of whether they will have to cobble together a majority or de facto majority.... and how much said cobbling would add to their already steep difficulties in charting a particular anti-austerity course.

Sun, 2015-01-25 14:10

josh

Right now it looks 50-50 as to whether they will get to 151.

Sun, 2015-01-25 15:13

Pondering

Even if they get a majority they have a tough road ahead. Germany will want to make an example of them to scare any other countries considering revolt into submission. There are fortunes that will be lost. There could be an assasination.

The biggest danger the oligarchs face is if Greece leaves the Euro and becomes successful on it's own terms. On the other hand if they let the Greeks get away with rejecting austerity all the other countries are going to rebel too.

I think Greece might be able to survive on its own. The people of Greece are battle hardened from the ravages of austerity. There are countries that will still trade with them.

Sun, 2015-01-25 15:49

KenS

The media narrative here is as if Syriza is about taking Greece out of the Eurozone, as if that is a necessary part of rejecting austerity.

Syriza is about rejecting austerity, and they say they are willing to lose the Euro rather than be bullied by the consequences of daring to be without it. But it is the intention to stay in the Euro.

And a big part of the leverage they have is that Greece exiting the Euro in itself is very risky for the health of the Eurozone... exit is not only risky for Greece.

Sun, 2015-01-25 15:51

Aristotleded24

KenS wrote:
And a big part of the leverage they have is that Greece exiting the Euro in itself is very risky for the health of the Eurozone... exit is not only risky for Greece.

With so much at stake, there will certainly be compromise from both Greece and the rest of Europe.

Sun, 2015-01-25 15:53

KenS

It is a classic game of chicken.

The risks for both sides are serious.

Of course Greece has more to lose. But they also have more to gain from steadfastness.

And refusing to budge poses pretty serious risks for Germany too.

Sun, 2015-01-25 15:59

alan smithee alan smithee's picture

alan smithee's picture

I'm not familiar with Greek politics but the National Post has described the new government as 'radical' and 'far left'.

Apparently,they promised to end austerity.

If that is the case,will any future government in Canada be described the same way if it took steps to end austerity?

And if so,how in the hell could they be elected in a right wing country like Canada?

Sun, 2015-01-25 16:04

Mr. Magoo

I'm pretty sure that the parties comprising Syrizia all had histories of their own, and political leanings of their own, predating any call to reject austerity. So I suppose that if an already "far left" Canadian party proposed to end austerity in Canada, they might continue to be called "far left".

Quote:
And if so,how in the hell could they be elected in a right wing country like Canada?

Presumably the same way Syrizia got elected: when the austerity becomes unbearable to the electorate.

Sun, 2015-01-25 16:13

alan smithee alan smithee's picture

alan smithee's picture

Mr. Magoo wrote:

Presumably the same way Syrizia got elected: when the austerity becomes unbearable to the electorate.

Yes. But I don't believe Canadians have the courage to actually vote in favour of their own interests.If they (we) did,the Harpercons would never get elected.

It will be interesting to see how austerity is received in Québec in the next 4 years considering that the 3 main parties are different shades of right wing,practically identical.

It's not going to be a pretty 4 years,that's for sure.

Sun, 2015-01-25 16:21

Mr. Magoo

Quote:
Yes. But I don't believe Canadians have the courage to actually vote in favour of their own interests.

Then discussion of austerity, or "far left" parties is pretty much moot. If what you say is true then the very WORST thing any political party could do in Canada would be to advance policies that are in Canadian interests.

Sun, 2015-01-25 16:26

alan smithee alan smithee's picture

alan smithee's picture

Mr. Magoo wrote:

Quote:
Yes. But I don't believe Canadians have the courage to actually vote in favour of their own interests.

Then discussion of austerity, or "far left" parties is pretty much moot. If what you say is true then the very WORST thing any political party could do in Canada would be to advance policies that are in Canadian interests.

If a Canadian party came out and campaigned to strengthen the welfare state (something that was done to the delight of the populous in the 70's) they would be tarred and feathered by the MSM and wouldn't stand a chance of being elected.

Seems the winning formula these days is the 'economy' and fellating the corporate class.

As George Carlin once said,'There's a lot of dumb motherfuckers out there'

Sun, 2015-01-25 17:04

Mr. Magoo

It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out. Cutting taxes doesn't seem to be a classic strategy for a government in sore need of revenues, nor does increasing spending. It seems a bit like saying "well, I'm totally broke and I have tons of debt, so if I can just get FEWER hours at work, and spend MORE money then I won't be broke anymore".

Sun, 2015-01-25 17:19

Pondering

alan smithee wrote:

I'm not familiar with Greek politics but the National Post has described the new government as 'radical' and 'far left'.

Apparently,they promised to end austerity.

If that is the case,will any future government in Canada be described the same way if it took steps to end austerity?

And if so,how in the hell could they be elected in a right wing country like Canada?

By revealing truths in an easily digestable format that will communicate to people that they have been had and they are being cheated out of what is rightfully theirs.

Sun, 2015-01-25 17:38

montrealer58 montrealer58's picture

montrealer58's picture

In a situation like Greece you want to get money moving around as soon as possible. One problem with austerity is that makes financial black holes. Money is released into the economy via whatever means and it winds up into the accounts of the few, using less and less labour each year. Because the Greek government is not getting the money back, it has to borrow more. The economy can function quite well without the participation of 30% of the people, who still need to be taken care of.

Part of this problem is technological. We don't need to do as many hours of work. We should have a reduced working week with no cut in pay. We also need the Paul Martins (and Greek billionaire shipping magnates) of this world to start paying taxes.

Sun, 2015-01-25 17:49

lagatta

I think Québec solidaire is about the only elected party within the Canadian state with a similar outlook. In Germany, the Left Party is on Syriza's side, but that party is unfortunately still identified by some with the repressive regime in the DDR, though nowadays many of its exponents have other political origins.

And none of these parties are advocating expropriating the ruling class, or violent revolution, The measures they advocate are pretty much old-fashioned social democracy, before the "Third Way".

Sun, 2015-01-25 18:54

josh

Spain is next

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/podemos-rise-in-spain-mirror...

Sun, 2015-01-25 19:03

NS

NS's picture

Thanks for the thread Tom!

Sun, 2015-01-25 19:07

NS

NS's picture

Greece shows what can happen when the young revolt against corrupt elites

The rise of Syriza can’t just be explained by the crisis in the eurozone: a youthful generation of professionals has had enough of tax-evading oligarcs

Sun, 2015-01-25 21:11

Ken Burch

It's a beaitiful night. Let's enjoy it as least for the moment:

As Pablo Neruda once said:

"they can cut all the flowers, but they cannot stop the coming of spring".

Sun, 2015-01-25 21:13

Mr. Magoo

Quote:
The rise of Syriza can’t just be explained by the crisis in the eurozone: a youthful generation of professionals has had enough of tax-evading oligarcs

I wonder what their take is on tax-evading non-oligarchs?

Sun, 2015-01-25 21:22

Pondering

It is done. Syriza is taking power.

Hair’s breadth

With more than 70 per cent of the vote counted, Syriza was on 36 per cent of the vote, which may see it within a hair’s breadth of an overall majority in the incoming parliament. Earlier, official projections estimated it would take 150 of the assembly’s 300 seats, meaning Syriza would now have to begin the search for a coalition partner.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/syriza-leader-says-greek-peo...

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