Let me try
to explain, very briefly, why taking a stand on the Greek referendum is so important for me. Clearly, my friends must have noted that I invested a lot
of time and effort in this. An explanation is due now,
before the referendum.
I watched the
livestream of the magnificent rally addressed by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
It was a short, simple, but thrilling speech. It was bereft of rancour and vitriolic.
He emphasized that rather than a protest, the event is a celebration – a celebration
of democracy! Perhaps, he expressed eloquently and wonderfully the sense and
sentiments of an unprecedentedly large gathering signifying a historic juncture.
Instead of war cries, there were songs, music, and peaceful speeches. Even as
Greece was heading to a historic referendum, there was very little spirit of divisiveness
in the rally. So, what? That, in a way, is central to my theme.
For long,
many of us have been looking at the political scenarios and alternatives. Even
in the non-mainstream left, we have seen terrible bankruptcy of both theory and
practice compounded by outright hypocrisy and dishonesty. We witnessed all
sorts of left and centrist experiments in many parts of the world in our own
lifetime: governments formed through democratic processes, insurrections, wars and
so on. Often, instead of deepening and strengthening democracy (of political
institutions and political parties), there has been weakening and outright strangulation
of grassroots democracy.
Syriza (in Greek – ΣΥΡΙΖΑ, ‘The Coalition of the Radical Left’ – initially a coalition of left parties, founded in 2004; a unified political party since the founding congress in July 2013) today holds out the
hope of a wide, popular platform. It serves as a new model – of a New Left, as it
were. Incidentally, there are among its supporters a large number of
believers, many at odds with the formal religious institutions. In a sense, Syriza
– more as a movement or platform than a party – has under its wings many shades
of left-oriented people, tendencies, and organizations. It is not a political-ideological
monolith. Instead, it accommodates a pluralism of progressive ideas.
It seems to
me that Syriza is free of virulent dogmatism. The extremely dubious notion
of a vanguard (class, party, or organization) is not one of its central operating
principles. The roots of totalitarian tendencies in different forms and the suppression
of internal democracy that plague the mainstream left are undoubtedly rooted in
the vanguard paradigm, one which is so easily usurped.
The
approach of Syriza – peaceful politics, persistent dialogue, and the pro-active
engagement with entire people – surely opens up a new path. It is an option that
many of us had failed to envisage. Using deepening of democracy (e.g., the
referendum!) as a substitute for insurrection is profound, unprecedented, and,
transformational. Hardly any anticipated that it would be such a powerful transformative
agent.
The
decisions Syriza government took, the approach it has adopted in the
negotiations with the ‘troika’ (EU,IMF,ECB), and, placing democratic processes at
the core of facing the very difficult political and economic situation opens a
whole new world of possibilities. Those within and outside Europe, including progressives
in the developing countries, have a lot to learn from the developments in Greece.
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