Elections in Greece: the vision of a young Greek

Antonios, asking a question to the Danish Prime Minister

Antonios Alexandridis, student of Ph.D of Anthropology in the University of Copenhagen, gives us his opinion on next Sunday's elections in Greece. The European Union, Syriza, Golden Dawn, and the anarchist movement are the hot topics of the interview. He also speaks about the "Icelandic Revolution" and the Spanish Indignados movement.

QUESTION: There will be new elections in Greece on June 17. Some polls say that Syriza will win. Do you think that Greek politics will radically change if Tsipras is the new Prime Minister? Do you trust in his promises of not accepting the troika bailout and not paying the debt in case that troika doesn’t accept a new agreement with Greece?

ANSWER: Yes, indeed there is a possibility for Syriza to be the first party in the upcoming election but even if it is, it is unlikely that it will get the necessary limit of 36% to get the majority. This means that Syriza will need to make a coalition, probably with DIMAR (Democratic Left), since the CPG (Communist Party of Greece) seems unwilling to form any coalition with the other left parties. But to make a coalition with DIMAR will have as a result a more right turn. This will decrease the tension between government of the left and the Europeans and as result a better agreement with the troika.

Q: Greek party system seems to have collapsed after May elections. Both majoritarian parties have spectacularly decreased their votes, especially PASOK. Do you think that these parties will come back to the government after the crisis, or there future in Greek politics is finished?

A: I am not a prophet, but I imagine two possible scenarios. One is a government PASOK-ND-DIMAR which will bring more anger since there would be further dissapointment, especially for the voters of DIMAR that are mainly old voters of PASOK and hoped for a "real european democratic socialist party". I believe that such a government will not last long because of the internal antitheses (among the parties and within them) and also because they have to bring new measurements soon after since the troika's receipe has not brought any fruits. This could bring the end of parties like PASOK and DIMAR but not for ND since it seems to be a strong right-wing pole that gathers all different types of ideologists (from popular right to neoliberals to neofascist elements). Either with Samaras of Mpakogianni ND will continue to be the meeting point for the Greek rightists. On the other hand, if Syriza manages to make a government I am afraid that it will be blamed for all the bads that will come in the country. Even for thosethat it is not at all responsible. This will give space to the political forces that brought us in this situation to reorganize and counter-attack, with the help of course of the media.

Q: The perception from the outside is that things are getting worse and worse in Greece. International media present the country as chaotic. As you have family and friends living there, is the situation as bad as media show?

A: The situation in Greece is very difficult. People are unemployed, see their salaries and pensions decreased but the prices in the shelves of the supermarkets not. The price of gasoline has been increasing. There is a general anger and depression and suicide rates are sharply increasing. Something has to change now otherwise I am afraid that those feelings of depression will become feelings of submission. The Greek people have been fighting for years against this situation that brings us closer and closer to a dead-end and have seen no result. In this we need the European Left movements in solidarity with us. We cannot change Europe alone and therefore we cannot redically change even our country without the support of strong labour movements in other EU countries, you in Spain have to resist also to this neoliberal wave that after it will calm down it will have made our societies poorer, less democratic and with worse working conditions.

Q: A recent poll showed that 49% of Germans want Greece to leave the Eurozone. Do you think that the European Union is still viable, attending to the huge North-South division, in terms of economy, politics, society and culture?

A: Yes, indeed they want Greece out of the Eurozone but if they believe they are doing us a favor for keeping as inside it they are fooling themselves. The money they are giving to "save" us are directly transferred to the banks in order to pay a debt that was not created by the every-day people, in many case for the employment of German companies (see weapon spendings, Siemens scandals, high-way constructions). The mythology reproduced by the media in order to legitimize the privatization of the Greek state (lazy Greek, tax evading Greek etc.) are collapsing in the light of statistics that show the Greeks among the ones working most hours per week (remember in Denmark until 2 years ago the working day was 7 hours per day) and that Greeks are indeed tax-evading but not sufficiently in order to explain such a huge debt. The 49% that want Greece out of the Eurozone must convince their government to stop giving money to Greece to pay the banks and push for a study of how the debt was after all created and deletion of the debt that was not used for the benefit of the Greeks. This for me is solidarity, paying the banks on our behalf while pushing us to our fall is not!

Q: If finally Greece abandons the European Union, what could happen? Do you think that a military coup d’état to restore order and neutralize the radical left is possible?

A: Greece will not abandon the EU or be kicked out of it. This is not predicted by any chapter of the European constitution. If things go out of hand for the dominant actors, it is always a choice to create "uncontrolable violance" and have UN intervene for the benefit of the "people". We've seen that innumerable times and since Greece is now officialy in the periphery of EU it could become the battleground in order to decompress the economical and political situation as well as to give an example.

Q: After the 2008 riots in Greece, it was clear that the Anarchist movement is really strong in cities like Athens or Thessaloniki.  What role can the anarchists play in this crisis situation? Will they trust in Syriza and vote for that party to kick to pro-austerity parties out of the government?

A: The anarchists are divided, they are those with more orthodox line, saying no to voting and doing it. But there are also those that say no to election but they understand the urgency of the situation. For that many of them will vote for Syriza, without being optimistic about it. After all, in the streets it is often that Syriza provides legal aid for anarchists (under the table of course).

Q: What do you think about the great improve of Golden Dawn in the last elections? Why this new nazi party achieve those results? Do you think that they could continuing improving their votes and be a major party in the next years?

A: The Greek leftists unfortunately seem to speak more about the rise of Golden Dawn than the rise of the left in the last elections. As I mentioned earlier ND is an umbrella for neofascists. Indeed the voters of Golden Dawn are comprised basically be the old LAOS voters (separated from ND) and dissapointed ND voters. Since now there is a polarization, many of the voters of Golden Dawn will return to ND (to stop communists from taking the power) so I expect their numbers to drop, even though they try to be always in the spotlight usually through violent actions (attack to migrants or fighting even in the television). I believe that there is a radical right-wing element in the Greek society, that is expressed by Golden Dawn but it has not the dynamic to become a major player in Greek politics since when ND needs them they will run back.

Q: You have also lived in Iceland. There was a “revolution” there. Icelanders went to protest in the streets and managed to kick out the President, judge him and the bankers, not to pay the debt, and rewrite the constitution. Can you tell me your view from inside of that process? Do you think it is possible doing the same in Greece or Spain?

A: It certainly it was not a revolution but it was indeed a big step for Icelanders. Every Saturday for a whole winter they demonstrated and managed to take the ex-prime minister to court, even though he was found non-guilty. The positive thing about Iceland is that it is such a small country that the government's ministers might be living a few streets away from you. In that sense I believe that the Icelanders have a more direct control over their politicians and that politicians are aware that they will be confronted face-to-face with their decisions. This is not possible in countries like Greece and Spain were the decision-makers live mentally and spatially in a different social world, isolated from the vast majorities of the people. This is also why the continuous demonstrations and riots in Greece and Spain are not labelled as "revolution". What is small for us, is big for them.

Q: Finally, let’s talk about Spain. How do you see Indginados movement in Spain? Do you think that their tactics (asamblearism, direct non violence action) are useful to achieve real results? Is Spain the next Greece?

A: I hope so! I would be very pleased to see Spaniards resisting against austerity and work with the Greeks towards a European Union of the peoples. But this will not happen with movements as the indignados. Yes, indignados did a big step by bringing every-day people in the streets pariticipating in decision-making with direct democracy and creating a collective spirit as well as giving the opportunity to people to witness with their own eyes police brutality and how the system works when it is challenged. But the indignados did not have a political agenda of how they should take the power and what they would do about the economy. It was as if they were afraid to answer those questions and that is why they have dissapeared now in Greece that the discussion is only about politics. However I am glad for the appearance of this movement, the rise of the anti-austerity voters is partly because of them but one and a half year later I feel that we are already talking about history.