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| On the right side, the front page of SYRIZA's newspaper "Avgi". |
What happens when hypocrisy and opportunism meet anti-communism?
SYRIZA, Greece’s major social democratic party which governed the country between 2015 and 2019, provides us the best answer to the question.
SYRIZA, Greece’s major social democratic party which governed the country between 2015 and 2019, provides us the best answer to the question.
Last Saturday, 9th of May, the front page of SYRIZA’s party newspaper “Avgi” (Dawn) was dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Great Antifascist Victory, depicting the iconic photo of the Soviet soldier waving the red flag in Berlin.
At first blush, this is not particularly surprising, given the fact that “Avgi” is traditionally addressed to a relatively left-wing, progressive audience.
At first blush, this is not particularly surprising, given the fact that “Avgi” is traditionally addressed to a relatively left-wing, progressive audience.
However, the attempt of SYRIZA to “honor” the Antifascist victory through its newspaper hides a mounting hyporisy. In order to understand the magnitude of this hypocrisy, we must go back to May 2019, a year ago, when SYRIZA’s leader, then Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras was signing a despicable anti-communist declaration during an EU summit in Sibiu, Romania.
We quote from our article on May 10, 2019:
"A shameful declaration was signed yesterday, Thursday 9 May, by the EU leaders at Sibiu, Romania, during an unofficial summit. All together, liberals and social democrats, conservatives and progressives, confirmed the rotteness of the so-called “founding values” of the EU. The declaration of Sibiu signed on 9 May (on the anniversary of the Great Antifascist Victory) is another memorial of hideous anti-communism.
What is even more interesting is that this blatantly anti-communist document bears the signature of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the – supposedly “radical left” – SYRIZA party. More specifically, the Sibiu declaration writes among other things: “Thirty years ago millions of people fought for their freedom and for unity and brought down the Iron Curtain, which had divided Europe for decades. There is no place for divisions that work against our collective interest”.
Back then, speaking in the Greek Parliament, Communist Party (KKE) MP Giannis Giokas had blasted SYRIZA government’s stance by pointing out: “It turns out that each time you surpass yourselves. You prove that downhill has no end, the barrel has no bottom […] Shame, disgrace, this is what you are. You adopt the whole propaganda of imperialism after WW2, the propaganda of Churcill and Truman, the propaganda of McCarthyism against the people’s struggle and the socialist system"".
So, in 2019 Mr Tsipras was signing anti-communist declarations alongside his counterparts in the EU Council and a year later the newspaper of SYRIZA pretends to "honor" the Soviet triumph over the Nazis in WW2.