1. Three major rifts have divided Greek society in recent years
The first, and most obvious rift, came as a result of the railway disaster in Tembi, which left 57 people dead, and the political responsibilities and subsequent cover-up that followed. Society witnessed the deadly consequences of memoranda and privatizations. It realized, after other major tragedies as well, that it is unprotected by state institutions. Society also came to understand that there is a profound moral divide between politicians and the justice system. Millions of people took to the streets, and continue to do so, in marches, rallies, and other actions, demanding justice and oxygen.
The second, more subtle rift is the revelation that the ruling regime is based on mafia-like networks. Dozens of scandals involving financial corruption and espionage (wiretapping, etc.) reveal the rottenness of a political system built on dependency and oligarchic power. It is not only the bourgeoisie and the bourgeois parties, but also a broader network of collusion linked to businesses in the black economy, real estate, and tourism, that seeks to control the country while doing business with imperialist powers. It is no coincidence that Crete, which lies at the center of the latest major scandal, is also home to the American base at Souda.
The third rift concerns the risk of war and the growing sense that our country is moving ever closer to its epicenter. Greece is becoming a NATO zone and a hub for American interests. At the same time, beyond Western dependence and presence, there is intense involvement in our country from regional powers Israel and Turkey. Israel is buying up property and businesses, along with political and economic influence. Turkey is seeking to control critical sectors, such as real estate, and strategic regions, including the Eastern Aegean and Thrace, while openly threatening the country’s sovereignty. The risk of opportunistic involvement in war fronts resulting from the elites’ submission to the US and NATO threatens the very sustainability of the country.
2. The elites treat the country as a plot of land for sale
In Greece, the regime of memoranda, austerity, and EU surveillance continues. The debt crisis, the political crisis, privatizations, and the dismantling of the social welfare state have become the new norm. At the same time, there has been no reversal of the mass migration of young people, rising prices persist, and anti-democratic institutions of European surveillance and emergency governance remain firmly in place.
The Greek elites describe an economy based on tourism and European funds as “development,” while the country’s productive base continues to shrink, undermining its resilience to future crises. The economic and political elites are interested only in their own businesses and treat the country as a piece of land for sale, with disastrous consequences for the environment, economic sustainability, and social cohesion.
In previous years, they promoted Greece as a center of “green development,” destroying forests and mountains to construct renewable energy projects. Now they claim to want Greece to become a technology hub, without any real productive investment, solely to enable American multinationals to build cheap data centers. At the same time, they seek, under US direction, to turn Greece into a hub for importing expensive American LNG into Europe.
3. What about society?
Society is exhausted after years of austerity and the defeats of previous decades. Yet it continues to take to the streets and protest. A clear majority—around 70 percent—opposes the political system and rejects current government policies.
There is no genuine political opposition in the country’s parliament. The parties and the center-right/center-left debate are unable to express the will of society. What exists instead is social resistance. A form of social opposition persists, which at times places obstacles in the path of the government. However, under the current circumstances, it remains difficult to articulate this resistance politically or to propose a coherent political alternative.
4. Anti-imperialism today and the struggle for a free homeland
As in many parts of the world, Greece has witnessed significant demonstrations against the genocide in Gaza and the US–Zionist war. Young people, in particular, have taken to the streets and continue to do so, expressing their solidarity with the Palestinian people. These actions range from dockworkers refusing to handle Zionist-linked ships to youth mobilizations protesting the arrival of IDF tourists in the country.
Alongside this, a smaller but persistent anti-imperialist movement exists. Many people increasingly recognize that the presence of US military bases, the training of Zionist forces, and NATO’s overall role in the country threaten popular security and undermine peace in the region.
The political system attempts to convince society that the alliance with the United States and Israel protects Greece from the threat posed by Turkey. The Turkish threat is real; however, it intensifies as the country’s dependence deepens and its subordination to NATO grows.
For small and intermediate countries such as Greece, the first and most important anti-imperialist task is the struggle to liberate the country from imperialist domination. NATO, along with the twin aggressive states of Turkey and Israel, poses a common threat to the peoples and countries of the region.
5. Our own effort
We aim to be an active part of the Greek people’s resistance. We seek to strengthen initiatives that exist outside and in opposition to the political system and the traps it sets. We insist that social and national issues can only be resolved in their unity. We also insist that programmatic alternative responses can emerge from social experience and collective knowledge itself, from the existing social readiness that is present but not yet able to articulate a political alternative.
Over the past two years, we have worked to build a large-scale initiative to coordinate activists, scientists, and movements under the general title “The existential problem of the country in the 21st century” (the second conference of which concluded successfully just a few days ago). The aim is to create a broad unity capable of contributing to the organization and political preparation of social opposition as an independent force, separate from the country’s ruling system.
Through this effort, we seek to define our own path toward an emancipatory politics for today—based on experience, both our own and international, and on the specific conditions, needs, and aspirations of our country and our people.
International relations department of KOE
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