Greece will hold elections on January 25, which polls indicate are likely to be won by the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), which campaigns against the brutal austerity that has caused widespread misery across Greece.
It is not hard to see why. The brutal austerity measures enforced on Greece's people -- who did not cause the global financial crisis they are being made to pay for -- led to 20% of Greek people with jobs living below the poverty line by March last year, on top of an unemployment rate trade unions put at 31%.
The social consequences include the fact that there were about two suicides a day in Greece in 2010, with research suggesting half the deaths were due to austerity.
Green Left is sending a team of two journalists to Greece to cove the lead-up to, and aftermath of, the elections. You can find out how to donate to help us cover the costs here.
Below is an international statement of support for SYRIZA initiated by left-wing parliamentarians in Spain, France and Germany. You can add your name here.
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Manifesto: All our support for SYRIZA!
Greece is the most striking example of what happens when political matters are being dealt with by economic powers. The fact that non democratic entities such as the European Central Bank or the IMF sort out problems which were created by those same economic powers in the first place, is a serious step back regarding the concept of democracy as a whole, which used to guarantee that the citizens’ decision was the most sacred contract within European societies.
On the contrary this country, which suffered the worst financial scam, is being punished a second time instead of the actual culprits being punished: those politicians who hope to give back what they lost in speculations by directly dispossessing their citizens.
Greece today is crumbling as a result: it has become a place where misery, hunger, necessity, unemployment and social, work and environmental need and insecurity are added to the total inability to supremely decide on economic or social policies. The elections of 2015 represent a historic opportunity to start giving the economy back to the Greek people, which should always have been the case.
Unfortunately, we are worried to see that conditions are being put on the free decision of the Greek citizens to give a unique chance of victory to parties that are questioning the antidemocratic tendency imposed by international economic institutions and by the European Commission.
We, the signatories, civil servants from different backgrounds, demand for the Greek people to be free to choose. We cannot accept the intimidation campaigns which are currently conditioning the votes through the media or international institutions.
We urge the European institutions to make sure these elections remain trouble-free, and to prevent any attempt to limit and/or condition the decision made by the Greek people. We think that SYRIZA’s victory can be the starting point of what will stop the trend which, in the name of financial speculation, is destroying economies, the environment and the well-being of the people. They will ensure that, beyond the 25 January, the sovereign decisions of the Greek people will be respected.
Initiated:
Alberto Garzón – Deputy of Izquierda Unida at the Congress of Deputies (Spain)
Gabriele Zimmer - Deputy of Die Linke at the European Parliament and President of the GUE/NGL (Germany)
Sergio Coronado - Deputy of Europe Écologie Les Verts at National Assembly (Francia)
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Maria Dolors Camat – Deputy of ICV-EUiA at the Catalonian Parliament and president of ICV (Catalonia, Spain)