Hope Wins in Greece

There is a new kid on the block in Greece, and while the established elite are panicking about what this could mean for the Euro, others are celebrating this as a victory for hope; Syriza, Greece’s leftist party, won the election Sunday, Jan. 25. 
Alexis Tsipras, Greece’s new Prime Minister, ran on a fairly straightforward platform: get Greece out from under austerity programs. These programs provided funding from the European Union to deal with Greece’s debt in exchange for stringent fiscal policies, like cutting back on social programs. These measures actually worsened the recession in Greece, and increased unemployment. Tipras favored discarding the austerity measures and drafting a new economic recovery plan, increasing the minimum wage and bringing back some of the social safety nets for the impoverished, such as vouchers for electricity and food.

Tsipras seemed to have the radical notion that the human cost of these measures actually matters, every bit as much as the market does, and many of the Greek people not only agreed with this, but had enough hope to believe another way of doing things is possible, is necessary.
“Syriza are presented as ‘far left,’ while those they replace are presumably ‘moderates.’ It is a fascinating insight into what the western media regard as moderation: plunging over half of young people into unemployment, almost doubling child poverty, stripping away basic social protections,” Owen Jones beautifully summarized in his piece for The Guardian. “The politics of despair peddled by elites mean you are supposed to regard such injustices as inevitable, irresistible, impossible to overcome. But the re-emergence of the left as a political force – at least offering the possibility of a different sort of society – represents a substantial punch in the face to an economic order that has prevailed for a generation.”
Critics warn the sea change in Greece could spell disaster economically, politically and in nearly every other way conceivable.
“New Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, 40, has no prior administrative experience. He is a charismatic leader who knows almost no English and usually goes without a necktie and socks in summer,” critiques Arye Mekel in Haaretz. “He turned up at the swearing-in ceremony on Monday without a tie.”
Perhaps more to the point are concerns that Greece not adhering to economic reforms imposed by banks and wealthier members of the European Union who have loaned Greece money will lead to Greece defaulting on its loans and either being forced or electing to exit the European Monetary Union, or Eurozone. This would be unprecedented, as membership in the European Monetary Union was originally intended to be permanent. The fear essentially is this will eventually lead to economic panic and a tailspin of the Euro and Greek Drachma, if Greece does leave the Eurozone.
For less affluent members of the EU, the established order is less a success to be protected and more a mediocrity begrudgingly accepted. But the victory of an anti-capitalist party in Greece inspires others to consider boldness.

In Spain, the Podemos party, essentially Spain’s answer to the Greek Syriza party, is gaining popularity in recent polls. Like Syriza, it is anti-austerity, proposes a higher minimum wage and an audit of Spain’s debt. Podemos, which translates to “we can,” was created only last year, but is already expected to be a serious contender in elections this fall.
Ireland, Italy and Portugal each have parties looking to re-examine their countries’ debt as well.
If Germany, the largest fiscal contributor to the EU, is unhappy with these developments, perhaps it would be prudent to look to its own past.
“In 1953, the London agreement granted generous debt relief to (West) Germany, which had previously buckled under a credit mountain in the Weimar Republic-era. Half of what it owed to the rest of the world was written off. West Germany, freed from the shackles, boomed during the subsequent wirtschaftswunder (‘economic miracle’),” cites Bryan MacDonald for RT. “Nevertheless, when the so-called PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) began to creak under a pile of loans, Germany decided not to do unto others as had been done unto it. (Chancellor) Merkel spearheaded a counter-productive austerity drive and the arrogant Berlin media blamed the PIIGS for their own misfortune. How they laughed at stories of homeless, abandoned horses in Dublin and ‘lazy’ siesta-loving Andalusians. They aren’t as smug now.”

Sources:
http://rt.com/op-edge/226139-greece-elections-syriza-eu-merkel/
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/26/syriza-victory-lifted-greek-politics-cynicism-hope
http://www.wsj.com/articles/syriza-victory-in-greek-election-roils-european-debate-over-austerity-1422236014
http://www.haaretz.com/news/world/.premium-1.639180