Political regroupment in Greece

There has been a bitter battle in Europe since January 25 this year between, on the one side, the second most powerful political and financial elite in the world and, on the other, the Greek people and their allies and leaders. It was nothing less than the choice of the direction of the future economic policy of Europe. This battle, which continues, has already produced several convulsions, including the U turn on the need for Greek debt relief by the Washington based International Monetary Fund, the opening of wide divisions between the French and German political class and the current necessity for the German political establishment to take up the cause of the current wave of refugees as a result of the negative international impact of the tarnished and authoritarian reputation that the German leaders have attracted as a result of their treatment of the Greeks.

On the other side, the battle has confronted and shaken Europe's anti-austerity movements. This is most obvious in Greece itself with the split in Syriza after Tsipras's agreement to a new Troika package of deeper austerity and deflation, tied to a permanent debt economy. On August 21, 23 Syriza MPs voted against the new proposals and Tsipras resigned as Prime Minister provoking a September General Election. On August 27, 53 members of Syriza's Central Committee announced their support for a new Popular Unity Party (Laiki Enotita), based on opposition to the new EU agreement and exit from the Euro, if that is required to sustain Greek opposition to the EU's previous and to their current austerity and debt repayment programmes.

But there are further shifts. Pablo Iglesias, leader of Spanish Podemos, may be giving his support to Jeremy Corbyn,
'In Podemos we share Jeremy Corbyn’s view that another Europe is not just possible but necessary. Against the irresponsibility of the troika and the Eurogroup, against the Europe of financial lobbies and puppet representatives, a new democratic and social Europe is emerging, and Jeremy Corbyn’s victory would be great step in that direction.'
But his reaction to Tsipras and the Greek crisis was more worrying; calling Tsipras a 'lion', Iglesias said he was confident Greek citizens would again show their support for him.
'He (Tsipras) recognised that he wouldn’t be able to complete some of the elements of his program, so Tsipras did what any democrat would do – he asked the citizens of his country if they want him to remain prime minister, if they want him to continue negotiating, if they in some way support the manner in which he is negotiating,' Iglasias has not yet seen fit to mention 'what any democrat would do' about the July Greek referendum, which gave the Greek citizen's emphatic negative opinion on the Troika's proposals - now adopted by Tsipras.

And now the new context in Europe will create a new and more deadly battlefield for its contending forces. The largest wave of refugees since WW2 is gathering its personal, social and collective calamities in a movement away from western originated poverty and wars towards life, for safety and for humanity, all of which it demands from the west, from Europe. The social and political institutions of Europe and its major countries were not built to favour such a gigantic and insistent cause. They are built to preserve and increase the wealth and power of Europes' corporations, banks and rulers. This utter failure of Europe's institutions and its current political classes will magnify despair and fear among its populations. Golden Dawn will reemerge with new force in Greece's next election. And the economic and its associated social crisis are equally unrestrained indeed fomented by those same European institutions - as the thunder and dust of debt collapse begins to shake the planet from the East.

A renovation of Europe's current direction in its politics and economics is certainly needed. How absurd it would be not to include a thorough going inspection of the movements, policies and proposals presented by the 'alternative' Europe? Surely, as the evolution of the Greek battle against austerity demonstrates, the counter to Europe's current direction requires the utmost critical examination and debate. Such argument and discussion is best achieved in the actual struggle for humanity, another lesson for those who stood aside from Syriza's contest with the Troika between January and July this year. As the various crises of Europe come to their peak, so will the ferocity of the contest between the future and the past and so must the intensity of the debate and discussion. It is one of our movement's greatest strengths.