Alexis Tsipras: "Austerity is a Dead End" Interview conducted by Kostas Arvanitis (STO kokkino), published in French in L’Humanité, 31 July 2015
On July 29, Sto Kokkino, the radio station politically close to SYRIZA, broadcast a long interview with Greece’s Prime Minister. With permission, substantial excerpts follow, which offer unique insights into the fierce negotiations between Athens and its creditors and on the financial coup d’état directed against Greece’s left-wing government. full: http://www.transform-network.net/en/blog/blog-2015/news/detail/Blog/alexis-tsipras-austerity-is-a-dead-end.html [...] Q: The referendum’s ’no’ was a ‘no’ to austerity … Alexis Tsipras: The referendum question had two parts. There was part A, which involved the measures previously required, and part B, which involved the financing timetable. To be completely honest, without embellishing anything, the agreement that followed the referendum is, in terms of part A, similar to the one that the Greek people rejected. On the other hand, in terms of part B, we also have to be honest, and in this respect there is a day-and-night difference. Before, we had five months, 10.6 billion, five months [in which our public expenditures were particularly closely] scrutinised. Now, we have 83 billion – which means a total coverage for medium-term (2015 – 2018) financial needs, of which 47 billion are for foreign payments, 4.5 billion for public sector arrears, and 20 billion for the recapitalisation of the banks, and, finally, there is the crucial commitment on the question of debt. Thus, in terms of part A there’s a retreat on the part of the Greek government, but for part B there’s an improvement: the referendum performed a function. On the Wednesday evening before the vote, certain milieus were laying the basis for a coup d’état in the country, proclaiming the need to storm the Prime Minister’s headquarters, that the government was leading the country toward a terrible economic catastrophe, pointing to the queues at banks. I have to say that the Greek people were able to keep their cool to such an extent that television news channels had a hard time finding people to complain about the situation – the population’s sang froid was really incredible. That evening, I addressed the Greek population and I told the truth. I didn’t say: ‘I’m holding a referendum to exit the euro.’ I said: ‘I’m holding a referendum to give us a negotiating dynamic.’ The ‘no’ to the bad agreement was not a ‘no’ to the euro, a ‘yes’ to the drachma. People can accuse me of poor calculations, of having had illusions, but at every moment I said things clearly; I informed Parliament twice; I told the Greek people the truth. [...] Q.: Did you expect this result? Alexis Tsipras: I confess that up to Wednesday [Editor’s note: the Wednesday before the referendum] I had the impression that the results would be indecisive. By Thursday I began to realise that the ‘no’ would win, and by Friday I was convinced of it. In this victory, the promise I made to the Greek people to not gamble with a humanitarian catastrophe was brought to bear. I didn’t gamble with the survival of the country and its popular strata. After this, in Brussels several terrifying scenarios were put on the table. I knew that during the seventeen hours in which I had to wage this struggle, alone, under difficult conditions, if I did what my heart wanted to do – to get up, bang my fist on the table, and leave – the foreign branches of Greek banks would collapse on that very day. In 48 hours the liquidity that allowed € 60 daily withdrawals would dry up and, worse, the ECB would decide on a reduction of the Greek banks’ collateral and would even demand repayments that would have led to the collapse of the whole banking system. In that case, a collapse would have meant not a reduction of savings but their disappearance. Despite all, I waged this struggle trying to reconcile logic and passion. I knew that if I got up and left I would probably have to return under still more disadvantageous conditions. I was facing a dilemma. World public opinion was proclaiming ‘#This Is a Coup’, to the point that it became the leading hashtag on Twitter worldwide that night. On the one hand, there was logic; on the other hand, political sensibility. On reflection, I remain convinced that the right decision was to opt for the protection of the popular classes. Otherwise, harsh reprisals could have destroyed the country. I made a responsible choice. Q.: You don’t believe in this agreement and yet you asked the deputies to vote for it. What do you have in mind? Alexis Tsipras: I think, and I told Parliament this, that what our European partners and creditors wrested is a Pyrrhic victory, but that at the same time it represents a great moral victory for Greece and its left government. It’s a painful compromise, both on the economic and the political level. You know, compromise is an element of political reality and an element of revolutionary tactics. Lenin is the first to speak of compromise in his book Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder, where he devotes several pages to explaining that compromise is part of revolutionary tactics. In one passage, he gives the example of a bandit pointing a pistol at you and saying ‘your money or your life’. What is a revolutionary supposed to do? Give his life? No, he has to give the money in order to claim his right to live and continue the struggle. We’ve been facing a coercive dilemma. Today, the opposition parties and the establishment media are making a tremendous noise, to the point even of demanding criminal proceedings against Yanis Varoufakis. We are completely aware that we are risking our heads in waging a struggle at the political level. But we are waging it with the overwhelming majority of the Greek people at our side. This is what gives us strength. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
