Former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras revealed his cards on Monday regarding when he will announce his new party at the packed Rematias Theater in Chalandri, indicating that June is the timeframe when he will reintroduce himself politically to voters, aiming to directly confront Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Read: Tsipras pre-announced his new party for June – Who attended his speech in Chalandri (Images & Video)
Alexis Tsipras: The first clear signal for the new party and political comeback
The former prime minister, speaking before dozens of citizens and SYRIZA officials and members, said amid applause: “March was too early, September would be too late! Now is the time. The seeds we planted have sprouted, the fruits are growing, and the month of harvest is coming. Very soon we will be in a position to be optimistic. Not just that Mr. Mitsotakis will no longer be alone without opposition, but that there will be a coalition that can defeat him with the vote of the Greek people in the upcoming elections”.
Who attended the event in Chalandri
The event organized by the North Athens Citizens’ Initiative, themed “The Governing Left of the New Era,” was attended by Olga Gerovasili, Giorgos Siakantaris, Zacharoula Tsirigoti, Athina Linou, Grigoris Theodorakis, Alexandros Meikopoulos, Giorgos Psychogios, Kostas Zachariades, Giorgos Vasileiades, Eleni Avlonitou, Efi Christofilopoulou, Kostas Barkas, Miltos Zabaras, Giorgos Karameros, Dionysis Temboneras, Andreas Panagiotopoulos, Giorgos Boulbasakos, Andreas Nefeloudis, Nikos Bistis, among others.
The new political narrative: From “Ithaca” to the great center-left restart
The former prime minister, in his intervention at the end of the event, referring to the new political formation, emphasized: “It’s like we planted a seed in November with ‘Ithaca’ and at ‘Pallas’ where we spoke about the need to create many self-organization nuclei” and noted that “indeed this seed sprouted and bore fruit. There are many such initiatives throughout the country”. The big difference compared to the beginning of this effort, he continued, “is that then we had in mind a great need, to have a strong progressive opposition,” while “today the need is to have a strong coalition that will defeat the Mitsotakis government”. “Our goal is not to oppose Mitsotakis, but to defeat him”.
He emphasized that “this goal requires not only will, but also knowledge” and at this point made special mention of the Institute’s work, as well as the Siakantaris group that created the manifesto for the need to converge the broader progressive space, the Left, social democracy and political ecology, “which compose the prospect of a very broad coalition, a governing Left of the New Era, aiming to change citizens’ lives for the better and not just protest”.
The society of “3/4” and the narrative about inflation and indignity
Alexis Tsipras, referring to the audience he addresses, pointed out that: “Here we are talking about something that goes beyond the framework of the coalition we aspire to build. Indeed, today we see that the overwhelming majority of citizens seek to change this government. In polls we see that over 70% of citizens have exceeded saying it’s time for this government to go”.
At the same time, he spoke of a society of 3/4, where there is 1/4 that gets by, perhaps even saves, but 3/4 don’t get by and a large part of this percentage cannot survive with dignity. “Our effort is not simply an attempt to organize the progressive space. It is the mature child of the need of a people who cannot live under these conditions of indignity and the destruction of democracy”.
Tsipras’s criticism regarding wiretapping and “toxicity”
Alexis Tsipras, referring to New Democracy’s accusations about toxicity, noted that “toxicity is what they did with the wiretapping, where they listened to half the political system, ministers, MPs, party leaders, journalists, businessmen and now they pretend they don’t know exactly what happened”.
The gathering’s panel included Konstantinos Alexakos, architect and political analyst, Spyros Dritsas, surgeon, Fotini Koumalatsou, special secretary of the ESDDA Alumni Association Board, Charis Mavroudis, actor and Municipal Councilor of Chalandri, Anna Papadopoulou, lawyer, and Themis Moumoulidis, director.
