Alexis Tsipras is the left-wing challenger to the dictatorship of global financiers. Here's why we should all be hoping for a Tsipras victory in the Greek elections:
Alexis Tsipras is a 37 year old family man and civil engineer who rides a motorbike to work. He is also the former Young Communist and rising Greek political leader who may hold the future of the world economy in his hands.
Greece will hold a second general election on 17th June in an attempt to produce a more decisive result than the first election managed last month. There is every chance that the left-wing Syriza coalition built by Tsipras will emerge as the largest party and form the next government. This would be an astonishing achievement for a party that was a miniscule fringe group until a few months ago and a triumph for the charismatic leadership of Tsipras.
The path to success for Tsipras was opened up by the corrupt governance of Greece by the established political parties and the catastrophe that has been inflicted upon its people by the strict austerity policies of the EU, IMF and major powers. This has left voters looking for an alternative that will do the job of a democratic political party by promoting their interests, rather than kow-towing to the dictatorship of global financiers. Of the two new options that emerged in the first election, Syriza (which came second with 16%) is clearly a more coherent choice than the ridiculous neo-Nazi “Golden Dawn” shower, which polled a scary 7% and seeks to rebuild the Greek economy by beating up Pakistani shopkeepers.
Greece is at the epicentre of the economic crisis and what happens in the election there this weekend matters out of all normal proportion.
The media and political puppets of global finance have portrayed Tsipras as a dangerous radical who will bring down the Euro, creating a domino effect that will plunge the world into economic chaos. In fact, despite his adherence to left-wing ideals, Tsipras’s proposals for dealing with the crisis place him in the mainstream of respected global figures advocating economic growth as the solution, as opposed to the destructive madness of austerity. Tsipras’s claim that the austerity medicine is killing the patient is echoed by political leaders such as French President Hollande and US President Obama and distinctly non-leftist, heavyweight economic commentators such as Paul Krugman, Nouriel Roubini and Niall Ferguson. Indeed, the split between believers in pro-growth policies and the pro-austerity faction is now the real political divide in a world grappling with the economic crisis, rather than the old categories of left and right.
Tsipras’s real crime in the eyes of bankers has been to re-direct blame for the crisis back onto them, where it belongs. Thus far, the financiers have been incredibly successful in diverting attention onto government debt and the Euro, as a way to avert crisis resolution measures that they would find unpalatable. The government policies that led to excessive sovereign debt and the shaky construction of the Euro may have been unwise and left many countries in a weak position to deal with the recession. But their ongoing struggles are merely effects of the crisis. The unequivocal cause of it was the greed-fuelled malpractice of banks and financiers. Hardly any of the so-called “Greek bailout” involves transferring European taxpayers’ money to the Greek government or people. It is, in fact, yet another bailout of international banks, rewarding them for their stupidity and avarice.
Tsipras is the leader of a small political party in a small country. But Greece is at the epicentre of the economic crisis and what happens in the election there this weekend matters out of all normal proportion. By standing up for the mass of ordinary people against the malign influence of international finance, his election could be the tipping point in reversing the Kamikaze policy of austerity that is turning the global economic crisis into a catastrophe. If Tsipras wins, he will still face a daunting array of problems in saving Greece, playing his part in salvaging the Euro and, by extension, the world economy. But he is undoubtedly on the right side and people everywhere should hope he succeeds on Sunday.
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