Speaking at a gathering of members and supporters of the Greek Left Alliance (ELAS) in Ilioupoli, Alexis Tsipras declared that his party would serve as a bulwark against fascism. “ELAS will be the barrier against fascism, against injustice, against the cost-of-living crisis and against corruption. Against the policies that generate the inequalities of Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s right-wing government,” he emphasized, among other remarks.
Tsipras: “Greece needs an alternative of progressive governance”
As Alexis Tsipras stated: “The Greek Left Alliance, ELAS, will be the barrier against fascism and against injustice, against the cost-of-living crisis and against corruption. Against the policies that generate the inequalities of Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s right-wing government, and also against those who threaten to recreate conditions of hatred and division among the Greek people.
And I want to tell you that this is a heavy historical responsibility we are taking on. To be the answer and the alternative proposition, because Greece needs a strong progressive force that can look the right in the eye and defeat it in the next elections, whenever those polls may be held. Because Greece needs an alternative of progressive governance. Not a force of management, not yet another force of co-management, but the opposing pole to the right — not a complementary force to the right that props it up if needed after the next elections. All of us here, all those who make up the Greek Left Alliance.”
“We will not tolerate the government’s biased stance toward criminals”
Tsipras went on to address the rally organized by convicted neo-Nazi Ilias Kasidiaris, stating: “The most outrageous thing is the Mitsotakis government’s decision to allow this criminal, on the very day we say ‘No’ to fascism, to hold a rally — and then to deploy riot police outside the event in order to detain and assault the democratic citizens who were demonstrating against fascism.”
In greater detail, he said: “The second point I wanted to make in today’s brief address relates to what I mentioned at the outset — that our existence carries a historical necessity, beyond the necessity for a strong progressive force in this country: the necessity to build a barrier against fascism, against the neo-Nazism that is, unfortunately, crawling back out of its shell in this land.
The day before yesterday was a historic day for our country — a day of remembrance, a day of the people’s resounding ‘No’ against fascism, against Italian fascism. A day on which we honor the struggles and the bloodshed of the Greek people in the mountains of Pindus against fascism, and later of the National Resistance against the German occupation, the Nazi occupation. And on this very day, the convicted leader of a criminal organization — not someone imprisoned for his beliefs, but a criminal who went to prison because he participated in a criminal organization that murdered Pavlos Fyssas and Shahzad Luqman, that attacked and injured dozens of citizens because of the color of their skin or their political views — chose to hold a rally.
This criminal put on a suit and a tie and became a thuggish criminal in disguise — a neo-Nazi, because Nazism knows how to camouflage itself. And he went to hold a rally in Thessaloniki on the very day we celebrate the ‘No’ to fascism. But the most outrageous thing is not his own decision. The most outrageous thing is the Mitsotakis government’s decision to allow this criminal, on the day of the ‘No’ to fascism, to hold a rally — and to send riot police outside the event in order to detain and beat the democratic citizens who were demonstrating against fascism.
So today, from our gathering here in Ilioupoli, I want to issue a warning about his responsibilities to the Prime Minister himself. We will not tolerate the government’s biased stance toward criminals, neo-Nazis and fascists. We will not tolerate — and he bears a grave responsibility — using the Greek Police to beat democratic citizens in order to protect fascists and neo-Nazis.
This appeal I also want to direct at the media and at polling companies, who also bear a share of responsibility, because they normalize far-right violence through excessive coverage and by granting these neo-Nazi criminals a platform in the public sphere.
But above all, I want to address ordinary citizens, teachers and educators in our schools, and say: do not allow the serpent’s egg to hatch in our classrooms. Fight it with the weapons we have and know how to use. With knowledge of history, with critical thinking, with dignity — and with the effort to instill democratic ideals in the younger generation.
But most of all, addressing each and every one of you, I want to say that the responsibility is ours. It is our responsibility — and to recall the verse of Fontas Ladis: ‘Understand fascism deeply, it will not die on its own — crush it.’ We must become the barrier against the serpent’s egg, against fascism and neo-Nazism, and we must make a promise — a promise to our children, a promise to the future — that we will not again leave the neighborhoods of Athens or any other city at the mercy of criminal groups, of the storm-trooper squads, as happened fifteen years ago. We owe it to Pavlos Fyssas, to Luqman, to the new generation, to the future.”
“Fighting Greece won a victory today”
Alexis Tsipras also referred to the withdrawal of Article 23 from the private debt bill. “I want to share this with you, because it is news that broke just a few hours ago — that the Greece of struggle and solidarity won a victory today,” he said.
“Mr. Mitsotakis, through Mr. Pierrakakis, attempted to sneak an amendment into a Finance Ministry bill that would have allowed servicers and funds to proceed with auctions and evictions without a court ruling, solely on the basis of the private agreement — the contract — signed between borrowers and creditors. And he tried to slip it through in the dead of night, with an amendment, hoping no one would notice.
But as luck would have it, today a massive wave of solidarity arose around a case that came to light by chance — a case similar to what we saw in Spain with Mari Carmen, the late elderly woman in Spain who was evicted, who suffered. A great wave and movement of solidarity supported that elderly woman’s right to live and die in her own home, with dignity.
Something similar happened today involving an elderly woman in Thessaloniki — one with a disability — whose home was put up for auction. A great wave of solidarity unfolded, and it frightened those who govern us, and just a short while ago they hastily withdrew Article 23, which had granted servicers the ability to proceed with auctions without a court ruling.
This is a message about the power that citizens’ movements and solidarity movements can have. But at the same time, it is also a warning for all of us. The pre-election period is approaching, and they are afraid of the political cost.
Just imagine: this government, with everything that has happened in this country over these seven years, could in a few months’ time be handed a third consecutive term. Imagine what awaits the great social majority. That is why I want you to keep in mind that the struggle we are waging is not one driven by self-interest — it is a struggle of social contribution.
It is a struggle to support society and the great social majority. That is why we must conduct this struggle within society, at society’s side — and from society must emerge the momentum of victory in the next elections for the Greek Left Alliance,” he underlined.
