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Is Syriza the New Hero of Socialism?

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Before answering the question in the title, I will briefly mention about how the economic crisis emerge in the first place and what kind of effects it had for Syriza coming to power.

In 2009, Greeκ economic crisis started with the then Prime Minister Papandreou who realized that the government was not in a good shape in terms of economic activities and that it was experiencing a debt crisis. During the same time, the public debt was stated to be over 12% of 329,8$ billion GDP (2009), not 6% as it was announced before.  After several unsuccessful attempts to contain the crisis, the Greek government had no other option but to request assistance from IMF and European Union. IMF and European Union accepted to help and European Troika (decision making trinity) announced that they would help in exchange of an austerity policy. Research conducted at University of Thessaly (Larissa, Greece), shows that the economic crisis affected the society directly and led to increase in public depression and anomic suicides. After gathering some information, Assistant Professor George Rachiotis and his colleagues stated; “After 2010, the year austerity precautions enforced, we have observed an increase in suicide rates during the years 2011 and 2012, comparing the period between 2003-2010.” Another finding of the research was that the unemployment rate which was almost doubled since 2009 had shown correspondence with the suicide rates.

With the problems experienced, the structure of the society has started to crackle, protests against the regime have started increasing and people have started to lose hope with the rising unemployment. This chaos state has led people to a new pursuit in terms of politics. We can actually see many examples of this situation if we take a look at past. For example, after the economic crisis which happened in Turkey, 2001, AKP won the elections. In Greece, Syriza was the one to win after the crisis.

Well, who is Syriza? Syriza stands for Synaspismós Rhizospastikís Aristerás, in other words: Radical Left-wing Coalition. Syriza, created by many left-wing parties, won 2015 elections and claimed that “You are the witnesses of the change in history. Your decision cancels the package which causes austerity and destruction.” After these words many promises came.

To tell the truth, the fact that Syriza was elected was exciting for not only the Greek people whose hopes were refreshed but also left-wing groups all around the world. With Syrizia, the public has shown that their response to the austerity policy of Neo-Liberal movement was “No!”. However, it seems that Syriza has been defeated against the war which it put up with the neo-liberal system and had to sit down at the table with the central countries of European Union and bow to Troika.

Why all the promises have been forgotten so far, the Thessaloniki program has not been put into practice yet and the hopes of the Greek people seem that have not gone beyond the election?

Even worse, the damages caused by the crisis have gotten worse. The only good things were the election promises. The worst is that a left-wing coalition ignored the people’s will. Actually, the answer to the question in the title is obvious and noticeable. Syriza, made us all excited at first, but it seems that became a party that surprised us with how it stands and makes decisions. Maybe Syriza becomes a party that will destroy people’s belief towards socialism and the left-wing. At this point, how Syriza emerged, has been formed and became a power, should be analyzed and a lesson should be learned. Otherwise, Syriza will never be the hero of the left-wing ideology and new “heroes” will not be able to go beyond a show-off. “Our best days have yet to be lived.”

ÇAĞDAŞ TORBACIOĞLU

Erasmus Intern at “Dione” Local Development Centre, Ancient Olympia

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