User blog:4th of Augustball/The Political Parties of Greece

As promised this is my blog post about the different political parties of Greece. I will attempt to dissect the ideologies these parties stand for and my (hopefully) unbiased opinion of said parties and even some scenarios if these parties were elected.

SYRIZA: What better that to start with everyones FAAAVOURITE political party? The Coalition of the Radical Left (or SYRIZA) is a Democratic Socialist and Anti Globallisation political party based on the ideologies of Eco Socialism, Secularism and Left wing populism. Their policies are not far from leaning towards more traditional Socialist (and even Communist) roots as they pride themselves for being made upt of many different Left wing groups. This party (despite originally being characterised as an "anti establishment" party) is trying to maintain Greece's position in the EU, stating that they will not forward a Grexit from the EU and having soft to mild scepticism of the EU. They are also secular with many of them wanting to remove the "privlidges" the Orthodox Church of Greece possesses. Their foreign policy (from which I can tell) has been one of a mild appeasement strategy as they have caved in to their neighbours (mainly Macedonia/FYROM/Northern Macedonia and Turkey) while standing a firm ground to larger consentments.

In my eyes, SYRIZA doesn't give two shits about the National Identity or Religion of Greece and have seemed to dictate their action by one goal: Preserve the decaying carcass of Greece. It is a sound plan but it drains what Greece as a country stands for and thus results in the decline of Greece's national identity. Staying in the EU (in my opinion) is a horrible plan as this only further destroys Greece's economy. The offencive against the Orthodox Church is also a horrible plan as this makes SYRIZA unpopular to the people of Greece (who mainly identify as Greek Orthodox). To put it bluntly, SYRIZA may allow Greece to "live" longer but at the cost of Greece's national identity, economy, religion and (in worse case scenario) territory.

ND/ Νέα Δημοκρατία: Up next is Greece's second largest party (but nowadays becoming the favourable one) ND or New Democracy. ND is a Christian Democratic and Conservative political party based on the ideologies of Liberal Conservatism and Pro Europeanism. Their policies are mainly centrist to centre left as they can't make up their bloddy minds what this political party stands for. Historically, ND was the first political party to sprout from the decline of the Greek Junta in 1974. It slowly drifted from the ideologies of Radical Liberalism (defined as the prevailence of the free market and social justice) to Centrism to what it is today. In Modern times, ND has focused on maintaining Greece's seat in the EU and has been a ferocious fighter against Euro Scepticists in terms of whether Greece should Grexit or not. Unlike it's Socialist counter part, ND has begun a campaign of winning the hearts of the Greek people by appearing to act more conservative in issues like the Greek Orthodox Church, The Macedonian Name Dispute and the Imia/Kardak Crisis. However I believe this will be short lived as they are just doing this to criticize SYRIZA and secure the seat of power in the Greek Parliment.

In my eyes, ND is a bit of a drifter as they are only using ideologies to secure their position on top of SYRIZA. What I do know is that with them in power of Greece we will see little to no change (especially in the economy) due to their persistance to maintain Greece's position in the EU and to oppose the likes of Macedonia/FYROM and Turkey.

XA/ Χρυσή Αυγή: Next is by far the most scariest political party in Greece: Golden Dawn/XA. XA is a ultra nationalist, neo nazi party based on the ideologies/policies of Hard Euroscepticism, Far right politics, Islamaphobia, Anti Communism and (debatedly) Metaxism. I really don't think Metaxism should be added in their policies as the political party itself takes a more progressive stance than the traditionalist ideology of Metaxism (plus Metaxas was tolerant of religious minorities and fought against the Nazi's). XA has been criticized for it's violent means of "cleaning the filth" as they have begun a series of attacks against immigrants and non native people who live inside Greece. XA want to restore Greek pride and nationalism through the means of leaving the EU, maintaining Greek sovereignty over the name "Macedonia", maintaining sovereignty over Thrace and the Aegean Islands and claiming the territories of Smyrna and North Epirus. They also want to deport or persecute the illegal immigrants and "traitors" of Greece which include's Communists, Homosexuals, Anarchists and Immigrants that are not native to Greece. They are violent and cruel as you would expect from a Neo Nazi Party.

In my eyes, Golden Dawn will just further destroy Greece as it repeat the same mistakes Nazi Germany had long ago. Even if they were able to get into power it would only serve as a way to destroy Greece once and for all. In fact, Turkey and Albania could use the excuse of "liberating" the Greek people from a tyrannical dictatorship with at best taking the lands of Greece they want and leaving Greece more shitter than it already is and at worse turning Greece into an Ottoman vassal. Even if that was not to occur, Greece under XA would still recieve condemnation and sanctions from the international community for existing.

Movement for Change/ KINAL: Next is a fairly recent political party called KINAL. KINAL was made from the former party's of PASOK, TO PATOMI, DIMAR and other centre left/ left wing parties. From becoming the largest party in Greece to one of the smallest, PASOK needed a solution to become as great as it was once before under Andreas Papandreou. To become great again they teamed up with the leader of TO PATOMI to become merged into the now populus left wing party of KINAL. The general ideologies of this party include: Social democracy, Democratic Socialism, Pro Europeanism and Social Liberalism.

Due to the party being a recent one, I have no idea how they will fair in terms of being elected into the Hellenic Parliament. I personally wouldn't want them in power as I am a conservative and their pro EU stance is definately not going to improve the well being of Greece. However I can only make a fair judgement once they get into power and have a go at fixing Greece's problems

The Communist Party of Greece/ KKE: Up next is every angsty teen's favourite political party and the one I wish went to hell (I hate this party more than Golden Dawn): The K̶K̶K̶ KKE. The KKE is (wouldn't you know) a Communist party that follows the teachings of traditional Marxist- Leninist Communist beliefs. Believe it or not, this political party is the oldest in Greece and has survived everything that happened in Greece since 1918 ( including during Nazi Occupation and during the Greek Civil War bizarely). The KKE became popular after WW2 as they had been funding the Greek resistance against Nazi Occupation which made them Greek war heroes. With this new found popularity the KKE attempted to overthrow the King with the support of the then neighbouring Communist nations of Greece and the USSR. The Greek Civil War ended with the King being victorious and the KKE being outlawed. This was further manifested during the US led military junta which saw many prominant KKE members escape Greece from persecution. They later returned when the ban was lifted which leads us to the political party we have today.

The KKE has shown pro stances in the abolishement of the privlages the Greek Orthodox Church possesses and in the upgrading of LGBT rights in Greece. They are anti NATO and anti EU because of couse they are.

In conclusion I find the KKE to be obsolete and literal scum of the Earth. Sure my statement is entirely biased but I don't see how they can help Greece if our economy is already as shit as it is. Once more if they leave NATO, Turkey and Albania (being NATO members) will look at this as an advantage to "liberate" Greece from an oppressive Communist government. And of course the USA wouldn't mind because everyone fucking hates commies.

Independent Greeks/ ANEL: Up next is the party that I support with all my heart (not really, I wish Metaxas's Free Thinkers Party still existed) and with an acronym that sounds a lot like anal: ANEL. ANEL is a national conservative and right wing populist party with such thrilling ideologies such as: Greek Nationalism, Euro scepticism, Social Conservatism and Conservatism (yeh sorry for the last party). ANEL branched off from ND in 2012 and has been recently engaged in a coalition government with SYRIZA (which I thought was a big mistake but to each their own). ANEL wants to repeal the first and second memorandum that fucked over Greece many years ago and wishes to prosecute the ministers who were responsible for destroying Greece's economy. They have also called for Germany to pay Greece the reparations they still owe due to the damages caused in WW2 during Nazi Occupation. They have also called for a reduce in immigration and for the development of Greek Orthodox based learning in the education system.

In conclusion I find ANEL to be very beneficial to Greece as it might hold the key to fixing Greece's problems. Sure I am biased when it comes to this but if you think of the effects this would have on Greece it would pull the country out of economic turmoil. Hands down I praise this political party ( if only they were Metaxist). God speed Panos Kammenos you magnificent bastard.

Union of Centrists/ EK: Next is what I would say has the best sounding acronym (honestly I say this acronym like JonTron does). EK is a centrist (you don't say) based political party with ideologies such as: Liberalism, Pro Europeanism, Social Conservatism and Economic Liberalism. The leader of this political party, Vassilis Levetis claims that the party is a continuation of Venezelos's work but that might just be for audience appeal. This party was a continuation of the Centre Union party created by George Papandreou and was created in 1992. Not much has changed around this party apart from two MP's ditching it in favour for SYRIZA.

Overall I believe this party is alright but I am confused about this party myself. I generally don't favour it as I am not a Pro Euro guy but it's not as bad as some other parties.

Popular Unity/ LAE: Finally we end on the last political party on this list: LAE. LAE is a Socialist party with the following ideologies being: Euro Scepticism, Left Wing populism and Alter Globillisation. This party was split from SYRIZA as unlike their predecessor they would prefer Greece to exit the EU and NATO and to reinstate the Drachma. LAE supports socialist internationalism and certain Marxist teachings in order to make Greece great again. LAE supports Pacificm and would like to see certain military deals made with Israel withdrawn.

In conclusion I see Popular Unity as a beta version of the KKE. I honestly wouldn't support them as like the KKE this would cause massive destruction to the Hellenic State. Now more than ever we need NATO's support if Erdogan's Turkey does decide to invade us and Israel has already proven to be a good ally of Greece.

I hope you guys liked the blog post and I would first like to state that this is not meant to be taken as God's Commandments as this is simply facts that I have researched combined with my opinions. You may choose to vote for whoever you want but please research what these parties stand for before you make your decision.

Next time I will delve into Greece's foreign relations with fellow Balkan states and why we either like or dislike certain states (and maybe my opinion as well).