(The Cartoon belongs to Ilias Makris from Kathimerini newspaper)
Τhe podium that boosted Alexis Tsipras‘ rise to power in two consecutive elections proved to be his Waterloo in 2016. Tsipras’ speeches at the Thessaloniki International Fair in 2014 and 2015 were victorious affairs with his party leading in the polls and his popularity at its zenith.
Yet, the defiant, smiling, triumphant Tsipras of 2014 was not present in 2016. In his place was a weathered, unsmiling, nervous man who repeated vague promises ad nauseum. He talked about a “road map” for economic recovery several times, he spoke about his pledges, he praised his administrations’ achievements, yet his words sounded hollow and devoid of meaning, his gestures awkward, his expressions worrisome.
In Thessaloniki Tsipras appeared like a man who stopped believing in his own lies. In the past, his enthusiasm and political obsessions made him believe his lies. After all he “admitted” in parliament that he never told lies to the Greek people, he just had illusions. Now his illusions are gone and his only aim seems to be his thirst to cling to power by all means necessary.
Tsipras’ apparent compulsive lying is documented. While in opposition he had said in interviews that he refuses to pay the single property tax (ENFIA) for his home and that he would give that money to a charity. A few months later he said in another interview that he doesn’t have to pay ENFIA because he lives in a rented apartment.
While in power, during a television interview the host said that there should be a break for advertisements. Tsipras said that he needed a break too because he wanted someone to refill his glass with water. Yet, his glass was sitting full in front of him. The devil hides in the details, after all.
Back to Thessaloniki now and his famous “road map.” Contrary to all gloomy statistics, to a society that is suffocating under the harshest measures since the beginning of recession, to the general feeling of dissatisfaction and outrage, to his waning popularity, contrary to all that, the prime minister said Greece is on the way out of the crisis and towards prosperity. He said that the SYRIZA government now has the road map to resolve all problems. After 19 months in government, Tsipras and crew never got on that road to use the map.
Tsipras’ hour-long speech was a repetition of his tired clichés about “fair growth,” “relief for the underprivileged,” “more democracy,” “end to corruption” and so on. If one took his slogans one by one, they could easily reverse them against him: the new tax laws are against growth, the number of the underprivileged is rising, there is less democracy after his blatant attempt to control the media and the justice system, and that several of his ministers are steeped in corruption.
However, these were not his most blatant lies. His statements that his government fulfilled all its election pledges and that there were no pension cuts, were the highlights.
Then came the moment when the prime minister had to answer the press. A female reporter from ALPHA television, one of the stations that didn’t get a license in the recent auction and therefore it will shut down, told Tsipras that, essentially, he was the one who was putting her out of a job. The prime minister lost his temper and started repeating his clichés about “putting en end to the media pimps” or “putting order in the corrupt television licensing landscape of the past 27 years”. Then he came to the cynical conclusion that the auction brought 246 million euros to the state coffers and that is more important than some “corrupt” television stations closing down.
Before the Thessaloniki fair, Tsipras was keeping the television licensing auction as an ace in his sleeve. He tried to present it as his victory against corruption and lawlessness in mass media. As a victory of the “people” against the rich oligarchs who ruled information. He even promised to give the 246 million euros from the auction to the needy. Yet, giving one of the precious four licenses to one of his cronies who gets almost all public construction projects and another to shipowner and Olympiacos chief who faces charges of game fixing does not exactly look like “fighting corruption.” At the same time, the majority of people who can’t afford the new exorbitant taxes and contributions care who owns the station they watch series and movies on.
Another mistake that Tsipras continues to make is that he has separated Greeks to the “lower classes” and the rest. His declarations aim at the lower classes, the needy, the poor. He keeps repeating that the SYRIZA policies and programs aim at the relief of “the people.” As if there are no other Greeks. He talks about distributing the funds from the television licensing auction to the poor, as if he is some banana republic dictator who promises food to the starving natives. Then he turns around and talks about investments, start ups, research, growth, as if these are things that magically grow on trees.
The end of his speech found Tsipras as a cynical man who has no scruples to do anything it takes to keep himself in power. He trudges along with his slim majority, voting unpopular bills left and right, disregarding public outrage and discontent. He and his cabinet continue with their Orwellian “doublespeak” to dupe the Greek people in order to complete the four-year term.
The latest example of Tsipras’ shamelessness came during the devastating fires on Thasos. On Sunday, SYRIZA lawmaker Dimitris Emmanouilidis was on Thasos and in front of the camera of a local TV station was calling on the telephone Citizen Protection Minister Nikos Toskas to ask him to send firefighting planes to help put out the fire. The minister’s secretary answered the phone and said Toskas was not in his office. To the lawmaker’s desperate pleas to locate the minister, the secretary told him to call after three o’clock. An exasperated Emmanouilidis said “the island is burning, it cannot wait until three.”
The video of the conversation circulated in social media and the minister’s irresponsibility and absence from his office at a moment of crisis was criticized severely. When Tsipras went to Thasos on Monday, reporters asked him to comment about the failure of the lawmaker to communicate with the citizen protection minister.
Tsipras, laughingly, told reporters that the citizen protection minister was at his office at the time, and that the lawmaker had called another ministry by mistake, so it was all a misunderstanding. This barefaced, intelligence-insulting lie was another proof of Tsipras’ total disrespect for the people he pretends he cares about.
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