Within a year of its creation, Podemos became the main opposition party in Spain. Analyses of its rapid rise have centred on its unorthodox and ambitious political approach and the different forms of participatory democracy practised (however imperfectly). Less has been said about the relation between the Podemos phenomenon and the Spanish context of major […]
12 Mar
KEVIN OVENDEN returns to Athens for the first in a new series of posts at Left Flank. It is worth reading in full yesterday’s speech by Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras on the incendiary issue of German war reparations to Greece. The issue was not resolved upon the unification of the German state in 1990 […]
04 Mar
The intervention of SYRIZA MP and Speaker of the House Zoi Konstantopoulou during the first (and so far sole) session of the Greek Parliament sent a chill through the country’s anti-fascist movement. The Speaker proposed the postponement of the parliamentary sitting because the District Attorney had not given permission to the MPs of Golden Dawn […]
27 Feb
Some joined up thinking in Redcar Peter Pinkney, President of the RMT, Rail, Maritime and Transport, Trade Union, spoke to Kevin Ovenden about his decision to stand for the Green Party at the general election in May in the once Labour heartland seat of Redcar on Teesside. The electoral advances by Syriza in Greece and […]
26 Feb
In this special guest post for Left Flank, PANAGIOTIS SOTIRIS forensically dissects the SYRIZA government’s agreement with the Eurogroup — not to lead people to despair but to focus the question on the political and economic limits of the Eurozone that SYRIZA has accepted, and to argue the basis for a policy of rupture with […]
25 Feb
My postings here will resume but be episodic for a few weeks as I am commissioned to write a book in short order on the Greek crisis, Syriza and socialist strategy. The plan for that writing includes weekly gobbets on Greece and the politics of the austerity crisis in Europe. Here are what I hope […]
01 Feb
Assert, don’t defend. Fight, fight, fight. —Andrew Bolt, “[Abbott] Government behind 46 to 54. But here’s how it can recover”, 15 December 2014 [Campbell Newman] just seemed arrogant and beyond the control of voters — a fatal flaw in Australian politics. Abbott hasn’t had Newman’s freedom to smash through as he tackles another Labor debt, […]
27 Jan
This was written as part of Kevin’s live blogging of the post-election manoeuvres, in response to the shock many readers felt at Syriza’s coalition agreement with the right-wing ANEL (Independent Greeks). We thought it deserved a standalone post that people could come back to easily, before Kevin delivers his final dispatch — a full post-election […]
24 Jan
Comments Off
NOTE: Kevin’s liveblog of the election is already up & running HERE Let’s show some initiative on the Left It’s pouring down in Athens. It’s not put a dampener on people’s spirits, however. A quick visit to the local square for a coffee brought me into an animated discussion with a fluid group of people […]
23 Jan
Voices from Syriza’s Left “Communist”, “Eurocommunist”, “radical Left”, “anti-capitalist”, “plural”, “a coalition of the radical Left”, “a new Left”, “a recomposition of the old Left”, “Left-reformist”… There are many characterisations of Syriza. In part, that is a reflection of the heterogeneous make-up of the coalition, which was founded in 2004 and turned itself into a […]
12 Mar
0 Comments