Will 2 seats determine human rights in Greece?

 

 

In the course of switching from a marginal (3-4%) party into a serious and eventually successful contender of government office, Syriza had to be more inclusive to the average voter, so as to attract the majority of votes. Hence its once crystal-clear favorable stances on human rights moved lower in its agenda and they were replaced by a long wish list of state-provided benefits to the austerity-hit population.

 

 

It is pretty much widely acknowledged that most of Syriza’s promises are infeasible, especially under the current circumstances. It will be tested in the months to come, but I believe that Tsipras is following the same pattern that his last two predecessors adopted: resort to populism until one comes to power and then gradually adapting to the reality. This was the case with the power switches of 2009 and 2012.

 

In any case, part of the Greek political culture is that being too liberal in immigration, LGBT+, religious and similar issues entails a certain political cost that can be fatal. Therefore, in order to attract the mass mainstream perceivably conservative vote, Tsipras lately visited churches, monasteries and religious leaders very often, hired experts who advocate a more hard-line policy vis-a-vis Greece’s neighbours and stated that same-gender marriage perhaps must be postponed until social peace and stability is restored, while child adoption by same-gender couples is not included in their commitments, because allegedly there are conflicting views among the scientists(!) Nevertheless, it remains one of the most LGBT-friendly Greek parties, mainly because of its tradition and it remains to be seen if it will pass the law on same-sex civic partnership and marriage.

 

Besides, the prospects of a better record in human rights seem even gloomier already a few hours after the results were announced: Syriza fell just 2 seats short of getting an absolute majority in the parliament; we had hoped that it will choose To Potami (The River) for a coalition partner, a liberal center-left party with clear pro-European stances and positive on the LGBT issues. Instead, it opted for the Independent Greeks (ANEL), a far-right, hostile to immigrants, homo- and trans-phobic, nationalist and prone to conspiracy theories party, on the ground that it denounces the bailout agreement with the EU, which they both blame for the harsh austerity policy.

 

 

In my view, coalition with ANEL will offer Syriza a perfect excuse for not implementing their old human rights agenda. Like "the government will fall apart, if we break up with ANEL”... For Syriza, it is apparently preferable to sacrifice progressive, left-liberal policies (cutting down on defense spending, recognizing LGBT rights, regularizing second-generation immigrants), in order to retain a united "national" front on debt negotiations.