Kasselakis’ rise and SYRIZA’s dissolution, live
SYRIZA’s spectacular rise in the 2012 and 2015 elections was the result of anger over the country’s economic demise and its consequences, as a large section of society driven by the notorious shirker’s mentality became enthralled by the vulgar populism that prevailed at that time. It took a term in government by the ill-suited duo – leftist SYRIZA and right-wing Independent Greeks – for people to realize that it was all a lie and that the only thing the alliance was after was power at all cost. In order to consolidate their position – that’s how ruthless they were – they attempted to control the levers of power, primarily using unscrupulous means. The poison they poured into society and the vulgarity they injected into public life have left that period etched in the citizens’ memory as a miserable era no one wants to experience again.
The party was given an opportunity to change after its defeat in 2019, but it neither wanted to nor had the ability. And this inevitably resulted in the thrashing it got in both elections a few months ago, which led to the resignation of party leader Alexis Tsipras.
SYRIZA’s worst habits survived this course and the tactics it knows so well are now being employed in the civil war that has broken out in the party ranks with the race for a new leader. Where were all those who are now raging against the “fascist” methods seen in this war when the exact same methods were being employed against party rivals? They obviously enjoyed the vulgarity and the attempts to humiliate political opponents, occasionally even covering for or even supporting the snakes they are now denouncing. And now they blame the “anti-SYRIZA front,” the skeptics who feel vindicated by all the comical and tragic events taking place in the main opposition party as it eats itself up, live on our TV screens and social media feeds.
It is obviously not happenstance that SYRIZA is being plucked from the party’s hands by some guy who showed up out of nowhere. Nor that instead of demanding a program and his position on the key issues, certain party officials think he should be signing autographs, as one former MP said. Stefanos Kasselakis obviously has no party program or any plan for the country, yet he proved able to catch SYRIZA off guard nevertheless. Regardless of whether Tsipras put him in the race, approves of him, has ulterior motives of his own or simply tolerates the new candidate, the party’s image is dismal.
The most likely outcome is that all these disparate trends will find it impossible to coexist the day after the election. Whether they will call it quits before or after the European elections cannot be predicted, but the fact that they cannot get along is more than obvious. At the end of the day, though, perhaps this was the inevitable end of a party that rode in on public anger, seized power and wielded it with arrogance, sometimes even hubris.
