What Happens in Greece can transform Europe

[polly7]

By Jérôme Roos
Source: Syriza.net
January 21, 2015

.....The Greek elections, 25.1.2015
The forthcoming Greek elections may bring the Left to power. What’s their significance and meaning for Greece and Europe?

As a general matter, I do not ascribe very great significance to elections in the broader social struggle, but it’s obvious that these elections are different. Greece finds itself in a permanent state of emergency, and there is no doubt that this will be the most monumental vote since the fall of the junta. Obviously the prospect of the radical left taking power for the first time in EU history is significant in and of itself, and given Syriza’s stated intentions to renegotiate the debt and take on the oligarchs, there is a genuine prospect of an improvement in overall conditions – if only to provide much-needed breathing space to working people, the unemployed and the movements. And needless to say, the possible demise of the two-party political aristocracy that has ruled the country since the fall of the junta would be a historical development per se.

For the European bankocracy, a Syriza victory would probably be a big shock initially – but I think they will quickly adjust. In the end, I believe a left government in Greece could provide the European project with a rejuvenating impulse from below. Many influential economists and commentators now stress that, if Germany lets it, Syriza could strengthen rather than undermine the single currency. As Wolfgang Münchau of the Financial Times has repeatedly argued, the radical left is the only force capable of nudging the European project into a sensible direction – even if he believes, like I do, that Greece’s interests are ultimately not served by continued euro membership.

Of course we build on a long-standing tradition of workers’ struggle and radical thought, and there is no point in reinventing the wheel. Many have gone before us, and we have many lessons to learn from past experience. But we also have to recognize that our tradition is full of failures and tragedies, many of which could have been prevented with a more imaginative approach to doing politics. We cannot simply repeat the mistakes of the socialist and communist movements of the past. We need to invent something radically new. As Cornelius Castoriadis would have put it, without the creative impulse of the radical imagination, it is impossible to build a truly self-governing society.

As for ROAR, we aim to insert ourselves in important international debates by stressing the need for autonomous movements in the process of social transformation, by highlighting the creative and imaginative solutions ordinary people are coming up with all around the globe, and by trying to indirectly connect these struggles by developing a common discourse about them. This is where the transnational nature of our editorial collective and our network of contributors plays a crucial role. It allows us to look beyond borders, to highlight the common elements in national struggles, and to recognize that what happens in a place like Greece will not stay in Greece. With the right combination of determination, strategy and imagination, it can transform Europe and the world.

Full article: https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/what-happens-in-greece-can-transform-europe/