Category Archives: Comment

A vivid warning to us all

By Jeremy Corbyn   The first thing I noticed coming out of Syntagma station next to the Greek parliament was a man trying to raise money for an operation. On the pavement around him were scattered political leaflets and other … Continue reading →

Tsipras sets out SYRIZA’s plan for rejecting memorandum

  SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras has promised to repudiate Greece’s loan agreement with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund if his party comes to power and to reverse or halt some of the measures that have already been … Continue reading →

Troubled Greece: fears of ‘first domino’ to fall as austerity is counted a failure

By Larry Elliott   Greek’s leftist party Syriza says recovery depends on a renegotiated bail-out and access to European structural funds The soup kitchen opens at noon but long before then the queues start to form in the hot Athens … Continue reading →

Greece: answering the critics of a united front

Greece stands on a precipice. There can be no return to the old politics there and a revolutionary situation is emerging amid the chaos of everyday life. The classic conditions for revolution are present: a working class no longer prepared … Continue reading →

Wartime Resistance Fighter Leads Greek Anti-Austerity Battle

On the night of May 30, 1941, Manolis Glezos and a friend secretly tore down the swastika flag from the Acropolis in Athens, an act that inspired the resistance movement across Europe. Now he is fighting for a place in … Continue reading →

In or out of the eurozone, we must ditch this failed model

By Seamus Milne   EU elites are trying to scare Greeks and Irish into swallowing austerity, but it’s they who brought the economy to its knees Democracy has never been the European Union’s strongest suit. It’s an institution where the unelected … Continue reading →

The Greeks gave us the Olympics. Let them have their marbles

By Henry Porter   Elgin’s behaviour would be absolutely unacceptable today Despite the disintegration of their politics and economy, the Greeks can still muster a crew of vestal virgins to light and nurture the Olympic flame. The ceremony had a … Continue reading →

Trying to understand SYRIZA

By Paul Mason   This is less of a blog more of a series of notes to try and enhance understanding of who SYRIZA and its leader Alexis Tsipras actually are, and how they might behave if, as polls suggest, … Continue reading →

Why Europe needs Greece – Costas Lapavitsas

By Costas Lapavitsas   Syriza’s electoral success marks the start of the first major battle against austerity. The whole continent should will them to win Syriza, led by Alexis Tsipras, centre, ‘stands every chance of … forming a coalition government … Continue reading →

Greece’s Painful Transition – by Nick Malkoutzi

For a useful summary of the Greek parliamentary parties standing in the election of 6 May and what they stand for, see the first half of Nick Malkoutzis’s pre-election article ‘Greece’s painful political transition’. His analysis may be middle of … Continue reading →