SYRIZA’s victory is a deafening rejection of austerity politics



SYRIZA’s victory in Greece is a deafening rejection by ordinary people of the morally bankrupt politics of austerity. I echo the words of Paul Murphy, a member of Ireland’s Parliament and member of the Irish sister party to Socialist Alternative, who said: “The ideological wall saying ‘There Is No Alternative’ to austerity has been decisively breached.”

This decisive shift should be a rallying cry for all working people, not only in Greece, but throughout Europe and the world. The only away out of the abyss of austerity is for mass movements of working people, and their representatives, to fight boldly against the billionaires and the big banks, and against the ruthless policies of the Troika and EU.

This fightback needs to be organized around concrete political demands. Xekinima, Socialist Alternative’s sister organization in Greece, has put forward specific calls for a clear socialist platform including debt repudiation, the introduction of a living wage and living pension, massive investment in welfare, health, and education, and taking the big corporations into public ownership.

The struggle of the Greek people should be a stirring reminder for working people globally – we only get what we organize and fight for.

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