If one studies the Greek Left, one will see that it now resembles an old, once historic, apartment building in the centre of Athens that has been completely surrendered to the logic of Airbnb.
The steady contracts of political commitment and ideological consistency have given way to short-term leases of impressions, where the “owners” of commodities struggle to keep the value of property up, while “renter” votersgo in frustrated, looking for a property that is in somewhat good condition and not cluttered from all sides.
On the ground floor of the larger Centro Left, the crowding is now stifling, while in the basement of the Left, where ideological visions were once forged, now only the bickering over the commons of a power that seems increasingly distant can be heard.
This picture of a proliferation of views, endless splits and the creation of parties and factions that spring up like mushrooms is nothing but certificate of the political bankruptcy of the space.
The Left in Greece has gone from being a force that promised to change the country to a fragmented landscape where personal strategy overrides collective need.
Each dissenting leader, instead of fighting within the walls, prefers to open his own “little shop”, hoping that his version of the truth will find customers in the free market of political survival of the space.
In this climate, the recent appearance of Alexis Tsipras at the Halandrii Rematia served as a powerful catalyst, but also as a painful reminder. The former prime minister, in his familiar style that balances between the absence of self-criticism and messianic expectation, spoke again about the need for a “governing Left”.
It was an attempt to send the message that he is still in the spotlight, ready to rally around himself an old solid group of “applauders” who supported him in his Syriza glory days. But the atmosphere under the trees of the Rematia did not exude the air of renewal that many had expected.
The tone of the event was clear and signalled a rally for the “faithful”.The faces surrounding the former president were familiar from the past, people who identified with the toughest and most controversial moments of his administration.
Despite expectations for an opening to the wider centre-left, for new faces from civil society or the academic community that could bring a different kind of prestige to the project, the result so far has been a disappointing repetition of the past.
The lack of new blood underlines the structural problem of the new, personal party that seems to be gestating, which is, for the most part, an attempt to pervert the field, not with new ideas, but with the old, tried and partly worn-out staff.
Alexis Tsipras’s strategy to re-establish himself as the sole guarantor of the unity of an area that he himself was mainly responsible for its fragmentation, seems to be an oxymoron.
The “governing left” he evangelises looks more like a personal bet for a new vindication than a new political proposal.
When the debate is limited to persons rather than policies, when the “I” is put above the “we”, the result is inevitably further division.
The Greek Left, instead of looking to the future and analysing new social needs, remains trapped in the nostalgia of – once upon a time – power, trying to resurrect models that life itself has surpassed.
This situation reinforces the sense that the space has become a political arena where “landlords” try to evict “tenants” who do not comply with the directives, and the “tenants” in turn look for the next offer, the next party that will promise them a temporary home.
It is a vicious circle that distances citizens from the essence of politics. Political bankruptcy is not only measured in terms of percentages, but more importantly in the inability to generate hope. And as long as the left is consumed by internal rearrangements and personal parties, the centre-left will remain an empty shell, an Airbnb that changes its label but retains the same structural problems.
Famellos in a difficult position
According to political observers, Socrates Famellos, who is being asked to balance on a rope that is stretching dangerously, seeing the natural leader of the space preparing his own “parallel” universe. Even the meeting of Syriza’s governing bodies is not being convened because the situation is completely confused.
At the same time, the PASOK is watching the developments with an awkward stagnation, unable to absorb the wear and tear of its neighbours and fearing that Tsipras’ impending move will act as a “broom” that will absorb even a small part of what is left of the dynamics of the broader party, leaving Charilaou Trikoupis in the role of a passive spectator.
