The decision by Alexis Tsipras to not participate in SKAI’s documentary “In the Millionth” also came as something of a surprise given that he has published a book in which he also refers to the dramatic first half of 2015.
A book that if anything brought back memories of a past many would like to forget, while the former prime minister himself appeared to blame executives of his -former- party whom he had placed in key positions during that period. A dramatic period that, in addition to the third memorandum, brought the closed banks -which he admitted he should have closed himself when he took over the country’s government-, capital controls, the queues at ATMs for the 60 euros and a number of other adverse effects on the country’s social cohesion. So the logical thing to do would be to seek to tell his own “truth”, as he often mentions when talking about his book, that is, to refute what was and will be said in the six episodes of the documentary, the first of which aired this past Monday.
What some people didn’t expect was not his denial – as he has every right to do – but the aggressive way in which he confronted the two journalist-authors of the book entitled “The Last Bluff”, on which the documentary was based. Perhaps he does not want to take a position on revelations such as that of the former German ambassador to Greece about the secret meeting before the 2015 elections and what – according to him – was discussed or to contradict former comrades – ministers in his government – who said many things about promises made and not kept.
The reality is that the documentary in question deconstructs the effort made in the past period to give a different picture of the period of governance of the country by Syriza and ANEL of Panos Kamenos. It contrasts the arguments depicted in a book that has been described as an attempt to rewrite history, i.e. to change the past. Except that the problem with the past is that it does not change and perhaps this is a good thing because it is essentially the basis on which one can step on to shape the present and point to the future.
On the other hand, the former SYRIZA president and former prime minister may have found that invoking the past is not helpful in his attempt to re-enter the political mainstream by creating a new party. When cases like the Thessaloniki programme and statements about tearing up the memoranda “with a law and an article” are recalled and treated with irony even by his former comrades, only problems are created in a new course. Especially when in public statements the rhetoric adopted is reminiscent of those periods of delusions and theories of markets that would dance because we would beat the drums. In any case, it will all be decided by the citizens who in the next elections will be called upon to decide the course of the country.
* This article was published in the print edition of “Manifesto”
