Political Ramble 2 - Alliances
Feb. 12th, 2004 12:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katsarisSecond political ramble ready:
--
I already mentioned in my last ramble how it was announced that Papathemelis will be cooperating with ND -- and my feelings about that. The next day, as Greek folk ofcourse already know, the circle completed itself with the announcement of Manos' and Andrianopoulos' cooperation with PASOK.
What a bittersweet joke! ND choosing to cooperate with the worst that PASOK ever had.... and on the other hand PASOK choosing to cooperate with the *best* that ND ever had to offer -- the same best of course, which Karamanlis decided to reject and drive away a long time ago.
I doubt it'll come as a surprise to any of my friends following this journal that these moves of the last few days have finally pushed me away from the "undecided" stance I previously held and firmly to Papandreou's side.
More on the subject of political alliances: One of the reasons that I've always had something of a *contempt* for Konstantopoulos' Synaspismos (Coalition of the Left), is that whenever he used the phrase (and urged for) "the union of progressive forces" the forces he meant were his own party, DIKKI and KKE -- and ofcourse those bits of PASOK that were to Konstantopoulos' fancy. But a person that thinks that the fascist-lovers of the Communist Party are a "progressive force" is not a person I can politically respect.
By their alliances, thou shalt know them -- by the place where they draw the dividing line between *us* and *them*. Konstantopoulos had chosen to draw the line in the place where Left and Right are traditionally divided -- and that means to me that he clearly valued left-wing dictator-lovers more than he valued right-wing democrats. And I have absolutely no use for that.
Simitis on the other hand also used the phrase "the union of progressive forces" -- but he only included PASOK and Synaspismos in that union. Which means that yeah, these were leftist parties only, but they were also parties that by Simitis' time were consistent supporters of human and civil rights, european integration, liberal democracy, etc, etc. Simitis NEVER included the socialist-chauvinists of DIKKI or the communists-fascists of KKE, in that desired alliance of his.
And though this alliance was still limited to only "leftist" forces, this was a decision that seemed pretty much forced on Simitis -- he was already being doubted inside his party as not being leftish/socialist enough, so he couldn't ally himself with economic liberals without losing control of his own party. Regrettable but understandable.
But now... now for the first time in a very long while we have a candidate Prime Minister who now uses a different phrase -- "Dimokratiki Parataksi" -- the Democratic Front, and for the first time he seems to be using the dividing lines that *I* have been using my entire life.
From both right and left of the economical spectrum -- but never a fascist. Never a chauvinist. The dividing lines aren't between socialists and economic liberals. They seem to be placed between chauvinists and internationalists, between democrats and fascists.
In the news, commentators from PASOK (Pagkalos and some other people whose names I don't remember) made some of the very comments I would have liked to make. When asked about these moves, like Papathemelis going to ND, I heard a member of PASOK reply very much like I would have. That this isn't a "ideogical confusion" of party lines --- the very opposite: that there's a VAST gulf between Papathemelis and modern-day PASOK because of Papathemelis' chauvinist attitudes, who wanted war with Skopje, who was against any kind of progress in our relations with Turkey... And that his alliance with ND, indicates that Karamanlis was insincere when he claimed that his party supported the growth of peaceful relation with Turkey. And Pagkalos said that he was pleased that Papathemelis finally went to the party he ideologically belonged to from the start.
(Pagkalos is, of course, something of a minor chauvinist himself but he never even approached the rabid absurdity of Papathemelis)
Indeed, if Karamanlis wanted to make the point to me that he remains a friend of fascists and chauvinists and a foe of democrats, he couldn't do much better than make an alliance with Papathemelis and end up sabotaging the alliances with Manos and Andrianopoulos.
You could btw see the sorrow in the faces of both Mitsotakis and Bakoyanni, that Manos and Andrianopoulos ended up cooperating with PASOK rather than ND -- it seems quite obvious to me that the whole thing could have gone the other way with a bit more effort on Karamanlis' part. Which would have been truly sweet -- with the presence of Bakoyanni, Manos, Andrianopoulos, Souflias in ND, New Democracy would have truly been a progressive party once again, despite the presence of the amoral crook Karamanlis as its leader... But now it as always stands divided against itself, fascists and democrats, progress and reaction in the same party, no clean victor between the two.
Not that I'm not pessimistic about what this alliance will mean for PASOK, alas: We are living in a country where for decades political forces have seen fit to use the Right-Left dividing lines, destructive though they are, and where few people have seen fit to vocally mention that left-wing and right-wing fascists are equally bad, or even better that left-wing and right-wing liberals are equally *good*.
I hoped that the alliance with Papathemelis would cost Karamanlis -- but I'm afraid that the alliance with Manos and Andrianopoulos will also cost Papandreou.
But (unless even more drastic events come along, which I couldn't foresee) it certainly got him *my* vote. There's a tingle that comes when you finally hear a political attitude that represents you after long years of silence -- even if you think it likely for the party that expresses it to *fail* in the elections.
More rambles to follow.
--
I already mentioned in my last ramble how it was announced that Papathemelis will be cooperating with ND -- and my feelings about that. The next day, as Greek folk ofcourse already know, the circle completed itself with the announcement of Manos' and Andrianopoulos' cooperation with PASOK.
What a bittersweet joke! ND choosing to cooperate with the worst that PASOK ever had.... and on the other hand PASOK choosing to cooperate with the *best* that ND ever had to offer -- the same best of course, which Karamanlis decided to reject and drive away a long time ago.
I doubt it'll come as a surprise to any of my friends following this journal that these moves of the last few days have finally pushed me away from the "undecided" stance I previously held and firmly to Papandreou's side.
More on the subject of political alliances: One of the reasons that I've always had something of a *contempt* for Konstantopoulos' Synaspismos (Coalition of the Left), is that whenever he used the phrase (and urged for) "the union of progressive forces" the forces he meant were his own party, DIKKI and KKE -- and ofcourse those bits of PASOK that were to Konstantopoulos' fancy. But a person that thinks that the fascist-lovers of the Communist Party are a "progressive force" is not a person I can politically respect.
By their alliances, thou shalt know them -- by the place where they draw the dividing line between *us* and *them*. Konstantopoulos had chosen to draw the line in the place where Left and Right are traditionally divided -- and that means to me that he clearly valued left-wing dictator-lovers more than he valued right-wing democrats. And I have absolutely no use for that.
Simitis on the other hand also used the phrase "the union of progressive forces" -- but he only included PASOK and Synaspismos in that union. Which means that yeah, these were leftist parties only, but they were also parties that by Simitis' time were consistent supporters of human and civil rights, european integration, liberal democracy, etc, etc. Simitis NEVER included the socialist-chauvinists of DIKKI or the communists-fascists of KKE, in that desired alliance of his.
And though this alliance was still limited to only "leftist" forces, this was a decision that seemed pretty much forced on Simitis -- he was already being doubted inside his party as not being leftish/socialist enough, so he couldn't ally himself with economic liberals without losing control of his own party. Regrettable but understandable.
But now... now for the first time in a very long while we have a candidate Prime Minister who now uses a different phrase -- "Dimokratiki Parataksi" -- the Democratic Front, and for the first time he seems to be using the dividing lines that *I* have been using my entire life.
From both right and left of the economical spectrum -- but never a fascist. Never a chauvinist. The dividing lines aren't between socialists and economic liberals. They seem to be placed between chauvinists and internationalists, between democrats and fascists.
In the news, commentators from PASOK (Pagkalos and some other people whose names I don't remember) made some of the very comments I would have liked to make. When asked about these moves, like Papathemelis going to ND, I heard a member of PASOK reply very much like I would have. That this isn't a "ideogical confusion" of party lines --- the very opposite: that there's a VAST gulf between Papathemelis and modern-day PASOK because of Papathemelis' chauvinist attitudes, who wanted war with Skopje, who was against any kind of progress in our relations with Turkey... And that his alliance with ND, indicates that Karamanlis was insincere when he claimed that his party supported the growth of peaceful relation with Turkey. And Pagkalos said that he was pleased that Papathemelis finally went to the party he ideologically belonged to from the start.
(Pagkalos is, of course, something of a minor chauvinist himself but he never even approached the rabid absurdity of Papathemelis)
Indeed, if Karamanlis wanted to make the point to me that he remains a friend of fascists and chauvinists and a foe of democrats, he couldn't do much better than make an alliance with Papathemelis and end up sabotaging the alliances with Manos and Andrianopoulos.
You could btw see the sorrow in the faces of both Mitsotakis and Bakoyanni, that Manos and Andrianopoulos ended up cooperating with PASOK rather than ND -- it seems quite obvious to me that the whole thing could have gone the other way with a bit more effort on Karamanlis' part. Which would have been truly sweet -- with the presence of Bakoyanni, Manos, Andrianopoulos, Souflias in ND, New Democracy would have truly been a progressive party once again, despite the presence of the amoral crook Karamanlis as its leader... But now it as always stands divided against itself, fascists and democrats, progress and reaction in the same party, no clean victor between the two.
Not that I'm not pessimistic about what this alliance will mean for PASOK, alas: We are living in a country where for decades political forces have seen fit to use the Right-Left dividing lines, destructive though they are, and where few people have seen fit to vocally mention that left-wing and right-wing fascists are equally bad, or even better that left-wing and right-wing liberals are equally *good*.
I hoped that the alliance with Papathemelis would cost Karamanlis -- but I'm afraid that the alliance with Manos and Andrianopoulos will also cost Papandreou.
But (unless even more drastic events come along, which I couldn't foresee) it certainly got him *my* vote. There's a tingle that comes when you finally hear a political attitude that represents you after long years of silence -- even if you think it likely for the party that expresses it to *fail* in the elections.
More rambles to follow.