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| (Photo credit: Erick-Pardus) |
By Marina Spanos
In today's lengthy report I decided to comment on the SYRIZA party and how they have convinced me that they are hiding their true agenda on matters that I believe are of a national importance.
I think sometimes as voters we only tend to focus on issues that deal with the economy because we live in a very commercialized society, but while doing so we generally lose sight of our national issues. For Greece, the main issues center around matters of state security such as domestic terrorism, the issue of illegal immigration, the surge in crime and drug use, Greek-Turkish relations, the risk of a hot episode in the Aegean, expansionist designs by Albania and FYROM against Greece, the area of Thrace, Cyprus and the EEZ. All these issues are presently on the table and being discussed as we speak, yet we have noticed that specific parties refuse to participate in these discussions and from a personal standpoint it makes me believe that they have a different agenda.
One example of this is the recent statements from Stratis Bournazos a columnist for the "Avgi" newspaper, which politically supports SYRIZA. Following the fiasco with another SYRIZA member who openly rallied for Turkey by calling the islet of Imia Kardak, and noting that Greece should just go ahead and divide the Aegean in half, Bournazos couldn't follow the same line and in his recent article he clearly stated that he has doubts on whether or not Imia should be called Kodiak.
Reference - http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2013/02/provocation-syriza-mp-says-imia-should.html
On the other, he is totally convinced that FYROM should be "bluntly" and "plainly" called Macedonia "
Read what he wrote in one of his latest columns.
"In 1992, many (of our SYRIZA) comrades were convinced that the neighboring country is called, and deserves to be called, bluntly and plainly, 'Macedonia'. At the same time, we thought it was completely futile, if not foolish, to call it so, especially when we spoke publicly - not only in a cafe, but even with our colleagues in Philosophy because it cut every bridge of conversation with the 90% who believe (wrongly, but firmly) that our neighbors should be called "Skopjans" - or gypsy-Skopjans. Of course it is impossible (for us to call this country) 'Skopje'. Seeking a position that would not result to a nationalist frenzy and that would not also arrogantly cut off any possibility of conversation, we thus began talking about FYROM."Do not be shocked. This is exactly what I am referring to when noting that something isn't exactly right here. Is this the true nature of SYRIZA's agenda and Bournazos just basically expressed what most SYRIZAnians believe and support? I am starting to believe that it is.
Reference - http://www.rednotebook.gr/details.php?id=8724
To support this argument I will also note another event which took place in 2008.
On March 17, 2008, 15 days before the NATO Summit in Bucharest, where leaders of the alliance were going to vote on whether or not to allow FYROM accession, (without a mutually acceptable solution on the issue of the name with Greece), prominent members of SYRIZA, signed and distributed a text in the framework of sabotaging Greece's stance at the Summit, and/or the veto issued by the then government of Costas Karamanlis. Ahead of the Summit, the youths of SYRIZA joined other Skopjan youths and marched against Greece on the streets of FYROM carrying a banner that wrote "Veto, the veto of Greece".
Thankfully the NATO alliance came to its senses, (something that we all know George Bush did not like at all) and they voted against the motion from FYROM (which had 100 percent US backing). NATO members noted that FYROM must first resolve the issue of the name with Greece before it began procedures to join the alliance. (And of course we have Karamanlis' diplomacy to thank for that.)
Reference - http://taxalia.blogspot.com/2013/02/fyrom_13.html
At a recent conference titled "The Church and the Left", SYRIZA MP Tasos Kourakis suggested that believers who openly want to declare themselves as Orthodox Christians, and wish to practice their faith, should be taxed separately from the rest of the public in order to maintain their churches. (Note he only said Orthodox Christians, not all the faithful).
Reference - http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2013/01/syriza-mp-proposes-to-tax-faithful-who.html
To some, especially to non-Orthodox Christians, this news might be irrelevant, but this is not the first time that Kourakis has been in the news. He apparently also is friendly with members of the notorious November 17 organization. When the convicted member of Nov. 17 Savvas Xiros was recently transferred to the AHEPA hospital in Thessaloniki for a general check up, this SYRIZA MP, namely Mr. Kourakis, apparently paid him a visit. When he realized that his actions would place him in a difficult position nationally (in other words the press found out), and since SYRIZA has already been accused of being more sympathetic to extreme-left terrorist organizations, Kourakis more or less left it to be understood that he was doing this out of good will, and for humanitarian reasons and even sarcastically noted that he would of done the same even if Golden Dawn MP Kasidiaris was in the hospital. (Yeah right).
Reference - http://syrizasos.blogspot.gr/2012/07/blog-post_8902.html
Then we have the statements from Mr. Panagoulis who recently called the Greek Minister of Public Order Nikos Dendias and the Greek police "nazis". Check out what he stated in defense of the bank robbers/suspected terrorists who were arrested about two weeks ago while holding a hostage at gunpoint (with Kalishnakov rifles) after committing two bank heists in Kozani:
"During the Papadopoulos junta, 1967-74 period, those who inflicted torture took care that there no more pain was inflicted, once they had finished interrogating resistance fighters at the hellholes of Bouboulina and EAT-ESA." Today, he adds, the Troika government of Mr Samaras cannot, in his opinion, even pretend to be politically correct. "Instead, it publishes the photos of those arrested with visible signs of torture! Let's award Minister of Public Order Niko Dendias, with the prize of the modern neo-Nazi."He was referring to the photos which were released by the police department right after the arrest. In my humble opinion he wanted to convince public opinion that these young men were tortured during interrogation, even though photos, videos, witnesses and reports (which were released later on) proved that their bruises were a result of resisting arrest.
Since when did upholding the law become a "bad thing"? Why so much hate against the Greek police? I cannot imagine a society without law and some sort of order. Anarchy has no place in a civil society, doesn;t he understand that? And finally I didn't really see Mr. Panagoulis displaying the same sympathy for the hostage, who is -according to some reports- still suffering from shock with everything that happened!
Reference - http://paspartoy.blogspot.gr/2013/02/blog-post_1979.html
Then we have the case of SYRIZA's Rodopi MP Ayhan Karagiousouf (phonetic spelling) who actually had the audacity to propose that a consortium be established between Greece and Turkey in the framework of exploring and exploiting possible hydrocarbon reserves in the Aegean. This man actually argues that this would be an act of "resistance" to Europe and the US and could benefit both countries.
Reference - http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2012/12/provocation-syriza-mp-wants-to-share.html
Although we are not fans, we agree with a statement made by conservative MP Adonis Giorgiadis who told Proto Thema in April of 2012 that "we live in a country where we have been caressing the Left for well over 40 years. Terrorists vote SYRIZA. Terrorism in Greece has a color, it is the extreme Left. Hooded anarchists have a political identity and it is the extreme left. "
Reference - http://www.protothema.gr/politics/article/?aid=217700
Indeed, the subject of the economy is very important, but so are Greece's national issues and SYRIZA needs to come clean if it wants to proceed in gaining the trust of voters. In our opinion, SYRIZA's refusal to follow a national line on issues that deal with foreign policy only makes us suspicious of them and difficult to trust.
I am all for free speech, but one thing is certain, that if a supporter of the Right proposed or even dared to state such opinions then they would be immediately stigmatized and charged as being a nationalist, or even a Nazi. Isn't that contrary to what the Left stands for which is free speech?
And I am seriously wondering where do we as people actually draw the line? Are we supposed to take all this crap which has obviously poisoned our society and has led Greece to the position where it is today because we fear of being labelled a conservative? So what if someone calls me a conservative.
Does this mean that by being a conservative I also have to agree with the Troika?
Bloody hell no. It simply means that I like balance.
Far left progressive ideas do not have a space in Greek society, as do far right conservative ideas.
Progressive ideas and patriotism can go hand in hand with each other and I will not allow some groups to dupe me into believing that this cannot happen.
If Mr. Tsipras wants to rule this country, then I really want to know what his views are on Greece's foreign policy. If he does not do this then there is a secret agenda in the works which can have grave repercussions on our country. I also want to know what his stance is on illegal immigration, and if he is planning to legalize all the people that illegally entered this country over the past few years. I also want to know what he plans to do about the issue of national security, and why he does not align himself with the government on matters that deal with terrorism. Also I want to know what he plans to do about one of his deputies in the area of Thrace who surprisingly aligns himself with the Turkish Consulate in Komotini against the Greek state! I also want to know why he spoke at the controversial Brookings Institute, because from what I know this think-tank organization was first funded (and maybe still is) by people such as George Soros.
I can go on for hours and hours...
There are too many questions unanswered and every time someone tries to address a question to anyone who supports SYRIZA they get off the bandwagon and make you feel like an idiot for not addressing the real problems as they claim which are only about the economy. Yes I agree, the economy is important, but I can slap a banker around, I sure as hell can't slap a rich brat who says he is an anarchist and who is waving a Kalishnakov gun in my face now can I?
If voters actually put their faith in this party without knowing what their agenda is on all fronts, then this country, the wider region and Europe will be at danger.
We are a new generation of Greeks who are not ashamed of saying that they are patriots, and at the same time citizens of the world. Being a patriot means that you only want the best for your country, and does not imply that you hail Hitler. On the other, being a citizen of the world is not something that should be considered an advantage of the so-called progressive Left. Anyone with half a brain who lives in today's globalised world is a citizen of the world. But this does not mean that we have to accept millions of illegal immigrants into our country, or condemn the word "national" from state institutions, or condemn our military and security forces. Being a citizen of the world is respecting the culture and history of other nations, but in order to do that you have to sure as hell respect your own country's!
Friends, indeed the economy is an important subject since it directly affects our day to day lives, but keep in mind that recessions come and go. Compromising our national dignity or closing our eyes to other matters of utter -if not greater- importance that deal with the future of this country do not. The decisions we make today will allow our children to come to know the Greece we became familiar with yesterday. It took one voice in the US by the name of Ron Paul to wake people up about issues that deal with foreign policy and national security. If we allow this to continue then we are only digging our own graves as a society. I agree that Greece's forefathers and political leaders were not saints, some betrayed this country while others totally looted it, and maybe some others never even worked hard towards building honesty into our system of government by infusing it with a sort of healthy cynicism, but this does not in any way mean that we can't.
We can, and we must. We need SYRIΖΑ το come clean, if they don't then they deserve no place in our government.
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