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Lefteris Kretsos: Radical Left Coalition in Greece

934 views · Published 1 April 2013 · 58:04 · Indexed 12 October 2026

Channel: Joe Friendly · 2013 · News & Politics

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Professor Lefteris Kretsos describes the aims and progress of the popular new politiical party, SYRIZA, the Greek Coalition of the Radical Left that got 30% of the vote in the recent election. He is from the University of Greenwich in London and talked at NYU as guest of Campaign For Peace and Democracy,

Dr Kretsos argues that before 2009 Greece was not more heavily regulated than many other European Union member states and therefore labor laws cannot in any sense be said to have caused the sovereign debt crisis. Nevertheless, austerity policies are still being imposed, but perhaps not for long. The popularity of Syriza among working people and the gradual decline of social democratic unionism at the expense of a stronger grassroots trade union movement with high mobilization and organization capacities indicate the definite collapse of the old political order in the country. SYRIZA proposes the fundamental, innovative, deep reaching changes and reconstruction that Greece needs.

Important questions that are addressed: Was Greece more heavily regulated than many other European Union member states before the crisis? Has labor law caused the Greek sovereign debt crisis? Why have deregulation and welfare state decline turned unions and voters more radical? Are austerity policies still winning? Can the meteoric rise of SYRIZA result in radical political and institutional changes in Greece and Europe?
Camera, edit: Joe Friendly

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