Greek election shakes Europe’s economies

Scan page 3

The results of the national election in Greece, which produced a government led by the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), hit European capitalism like a sledge hammer. With Western European nations facing the prospect of tumbling into recession, SYRIZA’s demand for a “significant moratorium” on debt payments was the last thing they wanted to hear. Sixty percent of Greece’s 323 billion euro debt is held by the European Union (EU).

The new SYRIZA prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, began discussions with EU officials, calling on them to draw back from their in­ sistence on austerity measures, which have drastically reduced jobs and living standards.

The Jan. 25 election victory seemed a plau­ sible scenario for at least a year, following SYRIZA’s first-place finish in the May 2014 Europarliament elections. But the scale of its current victory is quite impressive: SYRIZA received more than 2.2 million votes (36.3% of the total, up 9.4% from the June 2012 elec­ tions) and 149 of 300 seats in the Greek par­ liament; two short of a majority.

The former governing party and main rightwing party in Greece, New Democracy (ND), placed second, receiving 27.8% of the vote; a drop of 1.9% from the last elections. The neo-Nazi Golden Dawn (GD) party placed third with 6.3%, down 0.6%—still a disturb­ ing result, given that its leadership and half of its MPs were in prison during the campaign. The River (To Potami), a relatively new party which, similar to the Five Star Movement in It­ aly, has very vague and unclear liberal politics centered on a popular figure, placed fourth with 6.1%.

The Greek Communist Party (KKE), a long­ standing Stalinist party, placed fifth with 5.5% of the vote, up 1%. Independent Greeks (ANEL), a right-wing populist party, which split from New De­ mocracy over ND’s support for austerity programs, placed sixth with 4.8%, down 2.7%. The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), the old ruling social democratic party, dropped to 4.7%, a decline of 7.6%.

All other parties placed under the 3% threshold for entry into parliament. Of note in these parties, the Movement of Democratic Socialists (KIDISO), a split from PASOK led by its former leader, George Papan­ dreou, received 2.5%; Democratic Left (DIMAR), a rightward split from SYRIZA that had participated in the previous coalition government with ND and PASOK, declined to 0.5%, dropping 5.7%; and AN­ TARSYA, a coalition of far-left parties in which the Greek section of the Fourth International, OKDESpartakos, participates, received 0.64%, up 0.31%.

For ANTARSYA, the gain of nearly 19,000 votes from the June 2012 election (20,416) to 2015 (39,455) was significant, although it remains well below its May 2012 total of 75,416. Turnout was 63.9%, up 1.4% from the June 2012 elections (though still sig­ nificantly lower than the average in Greek elections since 1974, about 76.3%).

Since SYRIZA fell two seats short of a majority, it re­ quired support in order to form a government. The KKE, notorious for its sectarianism, had already ruled out a coalition with SYRIZA in advance of the election, stating that it would vote for bills “friendly to the people” but without backing a SYRIZA government. As such, SYRIZA turned to two other parties, Inde­ pendent Greeks (ANEL) and To Potami. To Potami initially supported forming a coalition with SYRIZA, but balked at the participation of ANEL, which they described as unacceptably “anti-Europe.”

SYRIZA thus turned to the right-wing ANEL alone. The two parties announced the formation of a coali­ tion less than a day after the elections. Alexis Tsip­ ras, the head of SYRIZA, was made prime minister while Panos Kammenos, the leader of the Indepen­ dent Greeks, became minister of defense. In a TV in­ terview on Jan. 26, Kammenos described “red lines” that ANEL would demand as part of a coalition, which SYRIZA is reported as having accepted—support for their Greek nationalist position on the Macedonia naming dispute, disputes with Turkey about Thrace and other issues, and support for Greek Cypriots.

The coalition with ANEL is certainly a very troubling development, given the history of the party. ANEL split with New Democracy in 2012 to oppose the austerity measures being imposed by the ND govern­ ment, and ANEL has taken a stance against the harsh conditions placed on Greece by the “Troika” of the European Commission, European Central Bank, and International Monetary Fund. The party, however, is strongly nationalist and anti-immigrant, demanding the deportation of undocumented immigrants and for a maximum cap of 2.5% of the country’s popula­ tion for immigrants. It has close ties with the Greek Orthodox Church, is pro-NATO, and homophobic; and its leader Kammenos has made anti-Semitic com­ ments—accusing Greek Jews of paying less in taxes than Orthodox Greeks.

It is yet to be seen how this coalition will resolve these contradictions—for example, whether the gov­ ernment will try to ignore or downplay them in favor of a focus on negotiations with Europe over auster­ ity—or how stable this coalition will prove. Some commentators have suggested that SYRIZA might seek a new coalition with To Potami after negotia­ tions with the European Union.

Socialist Action opposes all electoral and govern­ mental coalitions with bourgeois parties. Through­ out history, such blocs between workers parties and those of the capitalists have resulted in heavy conces­ sions being imposed upon the workers movement. But this coalition is particularly disturbing given the reactionary nature of the Independent Greeks.

How did SYRIZA manage to become the largest party in Greece from a coalition that had gained only 4.6% of the vote in 2009? The answer lies within two phenomena: the devastating impact of austerity on Greece, and the strength of a number of social move­ ments and fights against the austerity governments.

Since 2009, Greece has implemented seven major austerity packages, in addition to smaller cuts made as part of other bills. These packages have included pay freezes and severe pay cuts for public employees, hundreds of thousands of job cuts for public employ­ ees, a four-year raise to the minimum retirement age, very large pension cuts, a cut of 22 percent to the minimum wage, large tax increases—particularly on consumption taxes—mass privatization of publicly owned companies, and severe cuts to social services.

The impact of these programs on Greece has been devastating, with unemployment rising from less than 10 percent in 2009 to a high of 28 percent in late 2013, and it has remained over 25%. The youth un­ employment rate has consistently been about double the total rate, remaining above 50% today.

A Nov. 14, 2014, article by Matt O’Brien in the Wash­ ington Post, “Greece’s recession is over, but its de­ pression will be the worst in history,” noted that by European Commission predictions, the Greek econo­ my would not reach its 2007 level again until 2022.

This calamitous development has been met with significant and often fierce resistance from sections of the Greek working class. These struggles include protests against the mass firing of cleaning workers for government ministries (the new government has promised to rehire them), the fight against the clo­ sure of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), and a fight against the Canadian mining company Eldorado Gold’s establishment of the Skouries gold mine in northern Greece.

There have also been a number of general strikes in Greece during the last six years, including one on Nov. 27, 2014. These movements have energized Greek workers and radicals and have provided the Maximilien Nguyen basis for SYRIZA’s meteoric rise and the collapse of the discredited pro-austerity social democratic party, PASOK.

What are the likely outcomes of this election? If one listened to the fear-mongering predictions of Euro­ pean bankers, they might predict that Greece is on the verge of a default—its helm seized by wild, radi­ cal revolutionaries. In point of fact, SYRIZA’s leader­ ship is reformist; Tsipras has several times pledged to avoid a Greek exit from the Eurozone. Rather, SYRIZA is demanding changes to the terms of European fi­ nancial support for Greece.

While SYRIZA initially demanded a partial write­ down of Greece’s debt, the new finance minister has suggested as an alternative the swap of European Central Bank-held Greek bonds for new support. Dis­ turbingly, he also claimed that the new government would pursue a budgetary surplus, even if it required reversing some of SYRIZA’s campaign promises.

The current setup for European support expires at the end of February, at which point Greece will seek billions in additional euros, although this deadline could be pushed back by European Central Bank ac­ tion, such as the purchase of Greek bonds. So far, Eu­ ropean financial leaders have declared their unwill­ ingness to accept such a proposal, particularly as it could lead to similar demands by other EU members such as Ireland and Portugal.

On Feb. 4, the European Central Bank announced it would no longer allow Greek banks to use govern­ ment bonds as collateral for loans, in essence requir­ ing them to borrow from the more expensive Emer­ gency Liquidity Assistance program, which itself re­ quires the assistance that is due to expire. This move will accelerate the withdrawals from Greek banks that have been ongoing since December, and put the new government under even more pressure to reach a deal before the end of February.

One immediate step taken by the new government was to halt privatization plans that had been agreed to by the previous government, including the selling off of the port of Piraeus, the Public Power Corpora­ tion of Greece (the largest utility company in Greece), and Hellenic Petroleum, among other companies.

It is clear that these elections must not be seen as an end to the struggle. Hopefully, the election of SYRIZA will lead to a break from austerity and a step forward, but the danger is strong that the new government will give up significant concessions to EU and Greek capitalism. Moreover, SYRIZA has bound itself to the reactionary nationalist, anti-immigrant, and homo­ phobic policies of its coalition partner, ANEL.

Unless SYRIZA repudiates ANEL and carries out a clear, principled program in the interests of the Greek working class, demoralization and setbacks are a dis­ tinct possibility. Thus, there remains a great deal of work ahead for working-class activists. A sustained victory for Greek and European workers can only come on the basis of continued mobilizations in their workplaces and in the streets. n SOCIALIST ACTION FEBRUARY 2015 3

Scan page 4

Tony Savino / Socialist Action (Left) Protester in contingent of Indigenous people at New York climate march on Sept. 21, 2014. its current inadequacy) perpetuates the inequality of the global divide between rich and poor countries. The rulers of the rich countries refuse to fund the sus­ tainable development of the latter, even after robbing them for their own development for so long.

There are victims of climate injustice in North Amer­ ica too. Klein talks about the struggles indigenous peoples in Canada and the United States against re­ source extraction companies and the national govern­ ments that serve them. The destruction of their lands, such as by the infamous Alberta tar sands develop­ ment, underscores the continuity of centuries of white colonialist oppression of First Nations people.

Most importantly, Klein presents the compelling ar­ gument that the fight for climate justice will be won not by supporting “greener” industries or tougher legislation, but by social movements led by the disen­ franchised, including indigenous groups, poor and ra­ cialized communities, and especially the Global South.

Klein describes meeting activists who have taken di­ rect action against extraction companies in the “Block­ adia”, anti-fracking, and other social movements. She emphasizes the necessity of linking all these struggles together in a unified movement against neo-liberal­ ism and climate change.