A Syriza solidarity rally in Paris, France. Demotix/Samuel Boivin. All rights reserved.As Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is still trying to steer the almost universally disliked aGreekment through the parliament without destroying his own party, the increasingly misnamed Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza), disappointed (ex-)supporters of Syriza as well as relieved pro-EU elites have started to write the narrative of Syriza’s defeat. While the former continue to get stuck in externalizing guilt through toxic discourses of “blackmail” and “humiliation” or the broad variety of conspiracy theories surrounding #ThisIsACoup, the latter mainly argue that it was Syriza’s ‘radical left,’ ‘populist,’ or ‘ideological’ nature that led it to fail (implying that all similar ideological projects are destined to fail).
Obviously, there was no “coup” and, although many Greeks might feel genuinely “humiliated,” they are not the “victim” of “blackmail.” Blackmail means ‘an action, treated as a criminal offense, of demanding money from a person in return for not revealing compromising or injurious information about that person.’ Not only does Greece receive money from the alleged blackmailers, rather than being asked to pay them, but no ‘revealing compromising or injurious information’ about Greece or its leaders are being threatened to be revealed. What has happened in Brussels, as happens all over the world every day, is that a strong partner has proposed a rough deal to a weak partner and has been unwilling to seriously consider any of the weak partner’s arguments. The weak partner chose to accept that rough deal, however. There was an alternative, the Grexit, which the Greek government chose not to pursue. All of this was done openly, or at least as open as the opaque politics of the EU allow. One can hardly accuse German Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäuble of being shy of expressing his preferences.
On the other side of the argument, there was little ‘radical left’ about Syriza’s proposals regarding the softening of austerity – which find basic support among mainstream economists and other experts alike. Second, while its populism created a toxic political environment, in which Syriza opponents are attacked as “fifth column of Germany” or “terrorists,” most established politicians are professionals, who will overcome their personal dislikes if the rewards are high enough – as was made clear by the pro-Memorandum parties signing Tsipras’ “Joint Statement” and consistently voting in favor of the aGreekment in parliament. Third, the Blairist dogma that left-wing politics can only be achieved through “pragmatism” has little empirical basis. Most notably, Blairism itself realized few left-wing goals either.
