Month: February 2015

“Syriza’s victory can mean a lot of things in Romania: from the modest gain which could consist in shifting the local public discourse even slightly to the left, to the more material gain, in which the local left (so far comprising only a small avant-garde of intellectuals and activists) could, by means of imitation and contagion, finally build around itself its necessary social and institutional basis.”

Alex Cistelecan is editor for CriticAtac.ro and lecturer at the ‘Petru Maior’ University, Tg.

“The Workers’ Front is the only party that challenges the capitalist system in Croatia, and our exposure to the wider public has risen since the elections in Greece. That gave us an opportunity to present our position to many people, and now it’s up to us to translate this publicity into a concrete and strong movement that can effectively challenge the status quo. We have a lot of work to do!”

Marko Milošević is a political activist from Zagreb and a founding member of the Workers’ Front

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“If Syriza succeeds with its program, at least to some extent, there will be a new living leftist model that can be used to oppose this weird association of Russia with “the left” or “communism” by default. This is really important not only for Bulgaria – which has usually been torn in two (between EU and Russia) but for the international perception of the left as well.”

Boryana Rossa, PhD, is an interdisciplinary artist and a curator.

“Like in most of Central and Eastern Europe, Polish left wing activism is quite marginal, though it’s been steadily growing. Over the last years, not in the least because of the influence of global movements like Occupy and Indignados, Polish activists have been thinking about a model of social change that would involve building a broader social movement that stands for participative democracy and social justice, and then creating a political party that would give electoral expression to such a movement.”

“It’s important to stress that Kremlin welcomed Syriza’s victory exactly in the moment when inside Russia it provides its own version of “austerity politics” in conditions of a deepening economic catastrophe. We in the left are trying to present support to Syriza as an impressive example of popular mobilisation against anti-social logic of elites, which for the moment Russia and EU have in common, despite geopolitical conflict.”

Ilya Budraitskis is a Moscow-based historian and political writer.

“Even the Prime Minister Vučić admitted that Tsipras is more popular in Serbia than him. The political climate is changing rapidly. This is a chance that we are not planning to waste.”

Matija Medenica is a sociologist from Belgrade and member of Marks21 and the Left Summit of Serbia.

 1. What would it take for you to consider Syriza a success?

The current situation where Syriza has inspired millions across Europe to rise against austerity — and in some countries even to start building similar political projects, from Spain to Croatia — can already be seen as a huge step forward, a success in its own right.