Israeli barbarity and the stance of the “left”!

The capitalist crisis in Greece, the big strikes of the working people so as not to shoulder the burden of the crisis as well as the changes in the political correlation of forces attract the interest of working people of other countries. Unfortunately, the bourgeois media which have the overwhelming control over the international news flow often provide a distorted image concerning the developments in the one or the other country. Thus, for instance they translate the party SYRIZA as Party of the “Radical Left”, as its title is, or even as an “ultra-left” party without taking into account that this party is a fanatical supporter of the imperialist EU and is merely interested in the “humanization” of capitalism. Due to this misinformation we have to insist on revealing of truth. A very specific example that shows the essence of the events is the incidents that occurred at the big demonstration on the 17^th of November.

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in dozens of Greek cities on Saturday 17^th of November. It was the anniversary of the uprising of the Polytechnic students and workers of Athens against the fascist Junta of the Colonels in 1973. The demonstration which took place in the Greek capital was reddened by the banners of the KKE and KNE. As happens every year the demonstration began in the centre of Athens with as its destination the US Embassy, which was the basic “pillar” of the Junta. On this occasion, however, the march coincided with the barbaric Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip. An assault, as was assessed by the KKE, which is connected to the aggressive imperialist plans against Syria and Iran. The KKE announced that the contingents of the party and KNE after reaching the US Embassy would head for the Israeli Embassy so that they could demonstrate their opposition to the slaughter of the Palestinian people there.

The government deployed the police force in such a way, closing off the roads, so that the march would not reach the Israeli Embassy. The KKE persisted, demanding that the government open the roads and that the entire march reach the Israeli Embassy, something which was achieved in the end! Nevertheless, certain political forces which participated in the march until the US Embassy and then gathered up their very few banners and flags and disappeared. Of course this did not at all affect the size and the militancy of the anti-imperialist demonstration, but it was politically significant. Why? Because the political force, which refused to continue until the Israeli Embassy, is none other than the 2^nd political force in the country, based on the recent June elections. It was the party of the “renewed left”, Syriza, which seeks to form the next government to manage the capitalist crisis in Greece, which will have the label of a “left” government. Syriza’s choice was no accident. It is enough for someone to remember that Syriza even went as far as meeting Shimon Peres, when he visited Athens a few months ago, in an effort to convince that a possible Syriza government is not a danger to Israel’s interests in the region. Obviously, their decision not to demonstrate outside the Israeli Embassy was taken in order to confirm the good intentions of Syriza in relation to Israel.

It is not the first time that Syriza has provided evidence regarding what kind of foreign policy it is going to implement, if it becomes the government. Nevertheless the fact that social-democratization of Syriza is proceeding rapidly in the field of foreign policy as well is impressive. Of course, Syriza in any case did not pose the issue of the country withdrawing from the imperialist European Union.

This position has also been extended to everything related to the imperialist organization of NATO, while its stance against the slaughter of the Palestinian people by the state of Israel has also followed the same course. When the KKE was demanding the cancellation of the Greece-Israel military agreement, Syriza was asking for the “immediate suspension of the military and defence agreement of Greece-Israel, as a minimum symbolic act and as practical pressure to the Israeli government”, and not its cancellation. Even when it is well-known that this agreement is not at all symbolic in character and is anything but “defensive”, and contributes decisively to the strengthening of Israel in the region, for the success of their imperialist plans which also entangle the Greek people in them.

The “governmental left”, i.e. the “left” which seeks the “modernization” and “democratization” of the current system, through reforms, follows the path which was first trod in Greece and internationally by social-democracy. Or as our people say “the lamb will follow its mother”.