Corruption associate wanted
As the most authentic political and ideological offspring of the late prime minister and PASOK founder Andreas Papandreou, Socialist party General-Secretary Costas Laliotis, a very talented demagogue, has, for years, excelled in causing a stir and creating an impression. An advocate of old party tactics, despite his modern-sounding rhetoric – which, according to a lavish compliment by state-controlled ERT network a few months ago, is a mixture of Marx, Freud, Gramsci and Guy Debord – Laliotis (who served as Environment, Town Planning and Public Works minister from 1993 until October’s government reshuffle) views politics through the lens of an advertising executive whose aim is to make obstructive noise rather than to convince through the strength of his arguments. From the position of socialist party spin-doctor in the electoral battles of the previous years, he has proved to have an excellent command of propaganda tactics. After his boisterous polarizing policies (which were tagged as a «hard rock» music campaign), now comes the thump of his proposal, in a newspaper interview on Sunday, for a joint center-left government. But how many times can one use a rundown patent? How many times can one employ a stratagem that has repeatedly proved to be nothing but a trick? What sort of left can be lured by the «vision» of its self-sacrifice (which is its own self-destruction) in favor of party groups that have always treated it in an arrogant fashion, that have slandered and drained it? What exactly would such a government have to oversee except for PASOK’s defeat – moreover, a deep ideological and social defeat and not merely a loss in the coming municipal elections? The ruling party only attempts overtures when it sees its horizons narrowing, when its chances of forming a government on its own are diminishing. This is a ruse aimed at shirking responsibility by making pleasant announcements. Does anyone – including Laliotis – truly believe that PASOK is willing to break up its marriage to power and share it with those whom it has until now treated as its subjugates?
