Syriza’s disgraceful tergiversation with regard to austerity and Greece’s bailout schemes may be interpreted by some as a matter of political expediency stemming from the alleged fact that there were no other options available.
However, Tsipras and his inner circle of political opportunists should have had the decency to be truthful to the Greek people prior to promising them a way out of the crisis with polices that they knew they could not implement while keeping Greece inside the Eurozone. This is what real leaders do in cases of national emergency. They speak the truth. And act boldly and with a vision for the future.
When Winston Churchill met his cabinet on May 13, 1940, three days after he became Prime Minister, he told them that “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” He repeated that phrase later in the day when he asked the House of Commons for a vote of confidence in his new all-party government.
Ok, Churchill was an aristocrat, a brilliant man and leader of an empire, but also brutally honest, so no comparison with a provincially minded leader like Alexis Tsipras who had devoted his entire political life prior to becoming prime minister in organizing small-scale student protests whose only purpose was to cause havoc for the academic community and who has a knack for using people and betraying comrades.
Still, Tsipras’ disgraceful tergiversation with regard to the EU/IMF-prescribed austerity pales and his vile, opportunistic demagoguery pale in comparison to the hypocrisy displayed by his Syriza party, obviously guided by the Prime Minister’s political strategy and with his own personal encouragement, to the protests against its own government.
In connection with yesterday’s 24-hour national strike over pensions and reforms, Syriza’s labor policy division extended “welcome greetings” to protesters, while noting at the same time that the Syriza party is against all those forces that seek to promote neoliberalism in Greece!
Wow! This announcement opens up a new chapter in the surrealistic play underway in Greece with protagonists Alexis Tsipras and his Syriza group. Anyone unfamiliar with current political developments in Greece would conclude, upon reading the above announcement by Syriza’s labor policy division, that the so-called Radical Coalition of the Left is in opposition and that the country is run by a pro-neoliberal regime.
But this is not the first time that the Syriza party, with Alexis Tsipras as its leader, is supporting mass protests against its own government, with Alexis Tsipras as prime minister.
This bizarre twist, the Syriza party actually making public announcements in support of protests against its own government, was also on display during the November 2015 demonstrations outside the Greek parliament in Athens when more than 30,000 people were protesting against austerity measures.
But there is an explanation for this apparently schizophrenic situation. By welcoming strikes and protests against neoliberal reforms being implemented by their own government, Tsipras and his Syriza party hope to kill two birds with one stone. That is, get the job done according to the diktats of Greece’s official creditors, while continuing to project the image of a party bent on challenging austerity and neoliberalism.
This is a strategy for Tsipras and his gang to stay in power for as long as they can – i.e., by duping progressive and radical voters while generating emotional support for the government’s task amongst mainstream and nationalist elements in the country.
There is only one phrase to capture the Syriza party’s support of protests against its own government: Political Opportunism Unlimited.
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