Varoufakis and Schauble at renegotiations of Greek debt, Berlin 2015. Demotix/ Bjorn Kietzmann. All rights reserved.Roughly a month and a half has passed since Syriza's Alexis Tsipras was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Greece, but the vicious attacks from across the mainstream abated only after the last minute extension of the bailout programme on February 20. The agreement is a temporary measure however, staving off disaster by a mere four months. The scaremongerers' campaign to discredit, marginalize and isolate Syriza in advance of an inevitable new round of debt relief talks and upcoming elections in other European capitals is sure to resume.
The offensive trifecta
Three main lines of attack can be identified thus far. The first was to drill into our minds that Syriza is extremist, far left, and thus by definition dangerous, irresponsible, untrustworthy, naive, and downright childish in its utopian goals, doubtless marching towards the Stalinist horrors of the twentieth century.
The second focused on Syriza's coalition partner choice, the far right nationalist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, and Christian ultraorthodox Independent Greeks, which of course by association meant that Syriza subscribed to the same values, and thus belonged in the same category as the numerous far right parties of Europe. By contrast, when the previous pro-austerity government last year swore in Makis Voridis as the new Minister of Health, a man with a reputation for anti-Semitism who called France's Jean-Marie Le Pen a mentor and friend, this barely made the news in Europe.
