Regardless of the outcome of the newly-elected Greek government’s debt negotiations with representatives of Europe’s big finance, the mere fact of the left-leaning Syriza Party’s ride to power on a groundswell of the Greek people’s anger over the neoliberal austerity measures deserves to be celebrated by austerity victims everywhere. More than anything else, Syriza’s electoral victory represents a clear indication that, when mobilized, people can bring about change.
Celebrations of Syriza’s electoral victory, however, need to be tempered by two concerns or dangers. The first worry is that if anti-austerity movements in other countries fail to bring their representatives to power, and coordinate their protest actions with their counterparts in Greece, Syriza’s campaigning promises to the Greek people are bound to be thwarted by the power of big finance. And the second concern is that the Syriza leaders at the helm of the new government do not seem to be firmly committed to the changes they promised their supporters during their election campaign.
Indeed, there is evidence that the government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is already reassuring its creditors of major compromises his administration is willing to make. These include (a) a commitment to stay in the Eurozone, which is tantamount to giving up a major bargaining leverage; and (b) a commitment to pay the debt in full, that is, no debt write-down.
In return for these important compromises, the relief the Tsipras administration is asking is quite modest: far from invoking the streetpressure that brought it to power and asking for a “debt haircut,” the administration is essentially asking for some political space to maneuver; to be granted short-term, unconditional “bridging loans” in the hope that such loans would provide a breathing space or opportunities for long-term arrangements with its creditors.