Early elections in Greece
Destabilized by the mass movement, particularly the wave of
University occupations by students and professors fighting against the
privatization of high education that had shaken Greece in 2006-2007,
discredited by a storm of financial scandals and facing a rapidly
deteriorating economic situation, the right wing "New Democracy"
government of Kostas Karamanlis dissolved the parliament and called for
early elections on September the 16th.
Already last May-June, every political force in the country knew
that the government could not wait until the expiration of its mandate
in March 2008 and it had to call elections during the coming fall 2007.
But it was nevertheless a bit surprising that the government had to
precipitate so early the elections. Greece is still in the middle of the
summer holidays season, the majority of the people is still in vacations
and practically the election campaign will be contracted in a two weeks
period in September. Of course, until then the big bourgeois parties the
"center right" New Democracy and the "center left" PASOK will monopolize
the mass media and will spend millions of euros to win parliamentary
seats and the power. The main reason to go to elections in such short
notice is obviously the fear of the impact that the current world debt
crisis that exploded in August the 9th will have on Europe and in
Greece. Following the example of Sarkozy, the Greek Right knows that it
has no time but to win quickly its re-election in power and rush to
introduce savage anti-popular "reforms", first of all against the
pension rights, to privatize high education, health and the big State
companies. Greece has an enormous public and private debt and solely its
participation in the Euro-zone prevented so far to have the fate of
Argentina in 2001.
The most powerful sectors of the bourgeoisie and its mass media
call for a "consensus" between the main parties New Democracy and PASOK,
and if it is possible with the support of the Left, to face the
tremendous challenges in front. The Stalinist KKE campaigns on a program
that does not challenge capitalism at all; its goal is to increase its
parliamentary power to have a power of bargaining with the future
bourgeois government. In any case it is well known that the previous 3
years and half its role was very supportive for the right wing
government, for ex. when the Stalinists opposed the mass wave of student
occupations in May- June 2006 or when they opposed the heroic teachers
strike in autumn 2006. Synaspismos ( Coalition of the Left), a former
Euro-Stalinist Party in alliance with some "radical" left organizations,
Maoist and "Trotskyist"(a group close to the American 'state
capitalist' ISO and a group of sympathizers of the USFI), movimentistas,
supporters of the Social Forum etc has the ambition to repeat in Greece
the disastrous example of the Italian Rifondazione Comunista of
Bertinotti.
In the far left two main groupings have been formed. The one
electoral bloc unites the Cliffite SEK (the Greek clone of the British
SWP) with two Mao-Althuserian organizations, the Greek Section of the
USFI and some independents. They campaign on a very minimum program that
it does not really challenge the capitalist system or imperialism. The
goal of SEK is to advance also in Greece the disastrous example of the
class collaborationist British party 'Respect'. In the specific Greek
conditions, they are much discredited because of their ties with the
PASOK party and trade union bureaucracy. In the coming elections the
main raison d' etre of this bloc is to undermine the campaign of the
other far left bloc, MERA( the Front of the Radical Left) mainly
composed by EEK and NAR plus some small other left organizations and
independents.
During June and July, they were intense debates and controversies
in common meetings between these two main blocs of the Greek far left.
MERA started its campaign now fighting with candidates all over the
country on an advanced program for the overthrow of all capitalist
governments, workers power and a socialist workers' solution to the
crisis.
Sep 03, 2007 |
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Savas Michael-Matsas
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