Neue Debatte - Special Edition - Long Essay on Left Strategy #002 - 04/2017 | Page 36

6 On the Greek experiences
6 On the Greek experiences
6.1 On Syriza politics and the OXI-referendum
Recently on the anniversary of the Greeks’ OXI-referendum 12 you
have written melodramatically:
“A year ago, the OXI vote in Greece was a thumping NO to an
authoritarian, austerian, troika-controlled EU and a majestic
YES to a democratic Europe. This message is more relevant to-
day than ever.”
Elsewhere you have linked DIEM to this thumping process and ex-
plained “the idea behind DIEM” the following way:
”The aim is to use the Athens Spring as a springboard for a new
coalition of democrats demanding that the demos, the people,
are put back to democracy.” 13
I have dealt with the “put back”-part of your explanations above. I
am now interested the “springboard”-part.
Let’s recapitulate what went on in Greece a year ago. You have made
clear in many interviews and speeches that Greece has had no
chance neither leaving nor staying in the EU. The enemy sat in Brus-
sels, Frankfurt and Berlin and mercilessly demanded of Greece to pay
back debts with additional debts the Greek people even less were
able to pay back. The troika intervened and overruled Greek sover-
eign politics and compelled measures which could not but bring the
country deeper down into crisis. On coolly purpose they inhibited all
chances for Greece to recover from the economic crisis and ever to
be able to pay back the debts.
The Greek people had their backs to the wall and stood trustingly be-
hind the left Tsipras / Varoufakis government, at least a considerable
majority of them. You Yanis, Alexis Tsipras and Syriza (Coalition of the
Radical Left) finally initiated a national referendum to make the elec-
12
Yanis Varoufakis and Lorenzo Marsili, On the anniversary of the Greeks’ OXI, we say NO to a retreat to leftist national-
ism, in: DIEM25 articles, Jul 11, 2016.
13
I copied your statement from somewhere, I forgot to note from where. But I confirm the correctness and I hope your-
self will remember where the text is from. Sorry. But your public omnipresence in endless interviews and talks makes it
more and more difficult to keep abreast.
30