Articles with tag “SYRIZA”
Tsipras, go to Hell
Once the initial disappointment was over, I was able to step back and appreciate that this was a rather infantile post. While I stand by my comments that Tsipras was naive and feel that, if they weren’t going to use it to fight back against the EU, calling the referendum was ultimately harmful because of the ensuing economic turmoil, name calling such as this is not very helpful. On the other hand, I don’t wish to erase history, so I have decided to leave the post up, but with this disclaimer.
Greeks Bearing Debts
Just over five months ago, Greece elected a new government lead by left-wing party SYRIZA. SYRIZA comes out of a radical tradition rejecting both reformist social democracy and authoritarian communism and was swept to power on a wave of anti-austerity sentiment. Austerity refers to the massive cuts to public spending (tending to hurt particularly those on lower incomes) which Greece has endured over the past five years, along with the associated policies of deregulation, cuts to the minimum wage, an end to collective bargaining, and the privatization of anything which actually makes a profit for the government.
On Europe, the Left, and the Future
For those of you who weren’t aware, there are currently elections going on for the European Parliament. What is interesting about this election, in particular, is that the more radical parties are expected to do well. This includes the socialist parties to the left of social democracy. In this post, in addition to some general comments on the European Parliament, I discuss the policies of these parties and my thoughts on their future.
