Published in El Punt Avui newspaper in November 29th, 2015
http://elpuntavui.cat/politica/article/17-politica/919026-tsipras-ha-trait-la-gent-que-confiava-en-ell.html
Full version (in English)
" Tsipras has betrayed a lot of people, a lot of things, a lot of ideas in many ways"
"When we talk about viable alternatives [to the debt crisis], we should underline that what is now being implemented is not viable"
"The memoranda regime is a death penalty not only for the Greek society but also for democracy and European societies"
"I would say there is a huge, an ample future for the left in Europe provided that the people from the left do not accept selling their souls and their common values and principles"
A.B. - Since the victory of Syriza last
January we've seen a lot of things happening in Greece. Ten months
later, we have a leader who took power promising to put an end to
austerity, currently implementing the measures he vowed to reject.
Z.K. - For a lot of us, the fact that the
Greek people gave us the mandate to do away with austerity and the
memoranda regime, is a binding contract with society. It is
inconceivable to do the opposite of what you promised the people and
it's unacceptable to undertake to implement the harshest, the most
anti-social, the most neoliberal programme ever introduced in the
European Union.
Unfortunately, Mr.Tsipras, who was
leading, and is leading the government, decided to do the
unacceptable. He decided to undertake what is inconceivable: to
implement the harsher measures, to bring more austerity upon a
destroyed society and to pretend that he has been forced to do what
he doesn't agree with.
There was, and there always is an
alternative for Europe. For the European people and for the Greek
people, to believe that there isn't one just because a leader proved
short of our expectations is not what we should do. We should still
fight to protect the Greek society and the European societies from
this extreme and so suicidal programme.
A.B. - Do you consider him a traitor?
Z.K. - It is sure that he betrayed the people
who trusted him. He betrayed his comrades, us, who trusted and
supported him and made extreme efforts in order to implement our
programme and proved, a lot of us proved, that there was, that there
absolutely is, a possibility to implement a programme which is
friendly to the society, a left-wing programme. And he betrayed also
the traditions and the legacy of the people who have fought to
protect rights and freedoms and to restore democracy in our country.
Oh yes, he has betrayed a lot of people, a lot of things, a lot of
ideas in many ways.
A.B. - Was there a viable alternative to
the bailout?
Z.K. - First of all, when we talk about viable
alternatives, we should underline that what is now being implemented
is not viable. It is not acceptable to have one out of two children
living below the poverty line, one out of two pensioners living below
the poverty line or having unemployment among the young which reaches
72% among young women and 60% among young men. This is not viable. It
is not viable to ask for the Greek society to pay with the blood of
the people and to give away whatever has been cherised
as public property just in order to repay a debt which has been
proven to be unsustainable and illegal.
A viable solution is a determined
solution about the debt and abolition of the debt which is already
proven to be unsustainable, illegal and odious. A viable solution
would be to let the society breathe through different economic
modalities. A viable solution would be and still is to reinforce
institutional democracy and the democratic procedures at all scales.
A viable solution is to demand that democracy is protected and
implemented within the European Union.
It is true that we have creditors who
are playing an extortionate role, they are blackmailing the society,
they are blackmailing the people. It is never a solution to condone
to blackmail, it is never a solution to subject your people to this
blackmail; it is a solution to demand a restoration of legality, it
is a solution also to demand that the principles of the UN voted just
last September at the General Assembly concerning debt undertaking
and debt restructuring, be implemented.
There is, I would say, a whole range of
alternatives, of solutions. What is sure is that the memoranda
solution, the memoranda regime is a death penalty not only for the
Greek society but also for democracy and European societies.
A.B. - After the approval of the first
batch of reforms and tax cuts stemming from its third EU bailout, the
current Greek government is facing pressure from the street. In the
12th of November, there was the first general strike against Syriza's
government. Given the difficulties, can you foresee a lasting
government?
Z.K. - I can't make a prediction. It has been
proven that governments who undertake to implement memoranda don't
last long. And it has also been proven that at the end they can not
even see themselves in the mirror. Talking about whether it would
last long, I would like to underline that unfortunately this
government instead of clashing with what is a real oligarchy in
Greece, instead of implementing a tax regime which would target those
who have been benefiting big time during the last 40 years from
corrupted relationships with governments, instead chooses to make
alliances with these kinds of interests which can never be the pillar
of a stable government. They can be the pillar of power for a short
time but they can't ever be the pillar of a stable government. Only
society and the people can be pillars for a stable government, and
this government is losing both society and the people because it
betrayed them and defrauded them.
A.B. - Over 744,000
refugees have arrived in Europe so far this year. Most of them (more
than 600,000, according to U.N. figures) through the Greek islands.
How is the flow of refugees entering Greece affecting your
country?
Z.K. - The flow of refugees and before that
the waves of migrants have been used and misused by political parties
in order to cultivate racism. Indeed there is a very dangerous
rhetoric during the last 25 years in Greece which is also the reason
for the rise of Golden Dawn, a party which is clearly fascist but
also nazi but also and most gravely extremely racist.
On the other hand this is one
repercussion- of political parties not realising and not facing up to
the seriousness of the phenomenon. On the other hand what is
extremely heartening, extremely optimistic is the fact that among
simple people, everyday people, there is a touching show of
solidarity towards refugees. There is a sense of the need to support
them and what is even more touching is the fact that this is
demonstrated by people in need, by people who are themselves
experiencing a humanitarian crisis and a humanitarian disaster and
yet they find within themselves the strength and the determination to
support other human beings who are fleeing to Greece and to Europe to
flee war and tyrannies.
A.B. - In parallel with Syriza's success in
Greece, we've seen Podemos rise in Spain and now the possibility of a
left-wing government in Portugal with socialists alongside marxists
and communists. Is the surge of the left in Southern Europe an
isolated reaction to the 2008 crisis or something deeper, more
settled?
Z.K. - First of all I think there are
differences between the three examples, Greece, Spain and Portugal
but there is also one acute common danger. And the common danger is
to confuse the left with the social democrats. The danger is also, in
a way, to launder the poltical responsibilities of the social
democrats for Europe, for the fact that they basically accepted this
transformation of Europe to this neoliberal cage. This was done with
the social democrats support, so there is a danger for the left which
is defending the society, the social state, democracy, social rights.
There is a danger for the left when it decides to ally with powers
basically responsible for a lot of the misery in Europe today. I
would say that societies are becoming more and more aware of the
reality surrounding them and the people are becoming more and more
decided to fight for their lives, for their rights and for their
dignity.
And it's through this awareness and
this decisiveness that they meet with the left but also with the
social movements and with those social powers which are ready to
fight the battle to restore democracy and to protect society.
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