Angry at Tsipras

By Ioanna Panagiotopoulou

Meanwhile workers respond with strike actions and anti-austerity rallies. But will these escalate or not? Will Alexis Tsipras face the same public discontent as his predecessors?

The anti-austerity protest movements in Greece have had their ups and downs. Since 2012 most of the demonstrations have been drawing little or what can be called "satisfactory" support, but not enough considering the deep impact of the measures to a wide section of society. Things started to change slowly again when Syriza took over and the anti-austerity protests reached a climax in July 3, when NO supporters gathered in Syntagma square ahead of the referendum.

Although 61 percent of the voters said NO to a new round of austerity measures, they seem unprepared to defend it on the streets. The protesting crowds we have been witnessing lately since Tsipras' U-turn are not ordinary people but the class conscious, politicized, organized pro-grexit and always active part of the NO camp.

Fotis is one among them, without a job at the moment, in his early 30s. His views reflect the protesters' general spirit:

"Tsipras, whether he likes it or not, will not be remembered as anyone different from the likes of Papandreou and Samaras. What he did was a complete political nonsense. Not only he dared to accept the lenders' demands but prior to this he made the most abrupt move. He called a referendum; he asked for the people's opinion for all this and then used it as a negotiation tool without being prepared for the next day.

Having said that, I've never believed that a NO vote would be enough to abolish the neoliberal policies and the austerity. We would have to fight against the measures that Tsipras was planning to bring on table anyway. I was expecting him though to stick to the so-called Syriza's red lines. The creditors would definitely respond firmly –as they did apparently- but I was expecting and hoping for us to exit the euro zone simply because they wouldn't back off. Apparently Tsipras gave in to all their outrageous demands. I just didn't expect it, I thought he had some limits but it seems he didn't".

Fotis is expecting rapid developments, a split in Syriza followed by a national unity government and people remaining just awkward observers in all this. "I hope these protests escalate and something bigger comes out from all this although I doubt. Even the most radical circles have been strategically leaning on GSEE's call for a general strike (the country's biggest umbrella union).

However there are some efforts for coordination among anarchist and left-wing groups but I am not sure if these will accomplish anything. The social movements are fragmented, there has been no proper organizing across work places and we are bound to the bureaucratic unionists' response.

I don't know…I pick up in general that those who voted NO expected the negotiations to start from scratch and in case there was no viable solution for the working class, Greece would exit the euro zone. Now they are shocked. My family is very angry with Tsipras, they are watching him on TV and mock him all day".