By Nikos Nikolaou

The chief of the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), Alekos Alavanos, has been a guest on one TV station after another since Monday night, when he left the protest rally he himself had organized. On Wednesday evening he was on Mega, ranting nonsensically about young people being angry at banks for lending money at interest rates double the legal limits. Does this mean that he excuses the fact that many youths torched banks across the country? This is not something we want to believe, but we can also not ignore the fact that for the past two months Alavanos has been feeding the public and hotheaded youths false information and phony arguments against banks, accusing the government of giving them 28 billion euros that will come from taxpayers’ pockets.

The country’s youth have a right to be angry with banks, which in many cases do little to help them start a business or set up home, rarely help students acquire a low-interest loan to complete their studies and so on. However, are such injustices – and others that are compounded first by the government and then by other parties that instead of working together to come up with solutions limit themselves to hurling accusations – enough to justify torching banks? What about tomorrow? Are we going to start looting supermarkets, which are also responsible for rising prices?

Some hooded youths have already done so.

In short, are looting and arson the way to right existing or perceived injustices practiced by businesses? And will this be achieved by spoiled kids, while the country’s workers follow the only path that is guaranteed to bring about social change, the path of unionism and progressive politics?

Inebriated by the high popularity it enjoyed in summer polls, SYRIZA has sidelined worthy members and embarked on a path of attacking the big parties, slandering the Communist Party and not taking issues seriously, only to find itself stuck in an impasse, where it is seen to be embracing anti-social elements.