Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance Συνασπισμός Ριζοσπαστικής Αριστεράς – Προοδευτική Συμμαχία | |
|---|---|
| President | Stefanos Kasselakis |
| Founded | January 2004 |
| Political orientation | Neoliberalism Imperialism |
| Political position | Center to Right-wing |
The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance, abbreviated as SYRIZA, is a de jure social-democratic but de facto neoliberal party (since September 2023) in Greece. Despite being nominally left-wing, it provided military bases to NATO during its invasions of Iraq, Syria, and Libya.[1]
History
The party was originally named Coalition of the Left, Progress and Ecology and came from a coalition of different parties, including the Communist Party of Greece, named Coalition of the Left and Progress, also known as Synaspismos. in 1991, during the overthrow of the USSR, KKE left the coalition, but its reformist faction split from the party and chose to stay in Synaspismos.[2]
Syriza was formed as a coalition of Synaspismos and other parties in 2004 and took its final form in 2013. Alexis Tsipras got elected as President in 2009.
Syriza rose to prominence in 2012, during the height of the anti-austerity movement. It won the January 2015 elections, but many of its MPs resigned during the time a referendum was made about whether Greece should sign a third memorandum, which got rejected, but another memorandum was signed instead. Syriza won the September 2015 elections again, though, but got defeated in the 2019 ones.
Kasselakis and breakup of Syriza
In September 2023, the party elected Stefanos Kasselakis as the leader of the party, to replace Alexis Tsípras. Kasselakis is a former shipping executive and Goldman Sachs trader, has worked for the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, and volunteered for Joe Biden's 2008 presidential primary campaign.[3] He has openly stated he wants Syriza to emulate the neoliberal Democratic Party in the US.[4] Since September 2023, purges have taken place in the party, most of which are directed against the social-democratic faction of the party.
Since September 2023, purges have taken place in the party, most of which are directed against the social-democratic faction of the party. From 47 MPs in June, the party has fallen to 36 in November, as many members have left due to the purges.
37 out of 51 members of the Youth Wing's Central Committee left the party in November 2023. [5]
References
- ↑ Nikos Mottas (2017-06-22). "SYRIZA: The "left" servants of NATO" In Defense of Communism. Archived from the original on 2021-11-30. Retrieved 2023-04-30.
- ↑ Communist Party of Greece. "Parliamentary politics and the communist party: the electoral arena, experience and lessons from Greece and the KKE"
- ↑ Thomas Scripps (2023-09-27). "Syriza elects Goldman Sachs banker Stefanos Kasselakis as party leader" World Socialist Web Site. Archived from the original on 2023-09-28. Retrieved 2023-10-01.
- ↑ Helena Smith (2023-09-25). "Stefanos Kasselakis: ex-banker who lit up Greek politics to lead Syriza" The Guardian. Retrieved 2023-09-25.
- ↑ "ΣΥΡΙΖΑ: Συνεδριάζει η ομάδα των 11 - To νέο κόμμα και τα πρόσωπα «κλειδιά»". Newsbomb.