"Spreading a huge message across Europe"

Elias Panteleakos, secretary of Syriza youth, spoke to Micheal McEoin in Athens on 24 January 2015.

Could you tell us about what Syriza Youth does week to week?
The pre-election period is a new thing for us. It's about one month, it's shorter this time. We have very little time speak to people and do activities. The main three things we did were, firstly, a campaign through social media because the election is over winter. The second thing was lots of debates with young candidates to give expression to the youth people of Greece. Thirdly we have had big debates with Alexis in discussion circles. The first one was about youth unemployment, the second one was on the democratic transformation of the state, about social rights and social freedom, and the third circle was about young scientists – we have a brain drain and lots of people traveling so we want to stop this and build an environment in which young scientists can work here.

Does Syriza have a base in student movements and in schools or colleges?
Yes, of course. We have collectives at the universities but the thing is that universities in January are not so crowded. So we did a lot of trying to find young students in their neighbourhoods and schools.

What's your view of potential coalitions in the event that Syriza does not get a majority?
It'll be difficult but we are optimistic and hope for a majority. If we don't, we have our programme and anyone who wants to vote for it is welcome. Okay, ND and PASOK we won't co-operate with because they won't agree and, anyway, we don't want them because at the first difficulty they will throw us away. Our first call is for the left parties – for the KKE. It's a very historic situation. They have a big responsibility. Now they're saying we will not co-operate with Syriza but after the election a lot of things will change and their position will maybe change. We'll see. We really want to be the government but we want to be the government in order to carry out our programme. We don't want to be the government just to be the government.

Is there pressure on the KKE leadership because of the fact that Syriza is the only party that could realistically form a left government?
I think there is a lot of pressure from the members of the KKE. The members believe that Syriza is not the same as the others. The leadership say we are all the same, we are capitalists, we are for the EU etc. Their members do not believe that. There will be internal pressure.

Do you co-operate with the youth of other organisations?
We co-operate a lot with the youth of ANTARSYA. They are a small party but they do have youth organisations, and we co-operate a lot, mostly in the streets. I think a lot of them with vote for Syriza now because of the situation.

What do you expect from negotiations with the Troika and how can we build European solidarity?
It's very important for us that we have a big solidarity movement all over Europe. We see that over the last days in Greece. A lot of young people have come from all over Europe to show us their solidarity. I believe that we have very good chances with the negotiations because in 2015 we have elections in Spain, and maybe in Ireland. Podemos in Spain, and Sinn Féin in Ireland are against austerity. It's a huge risk for the EU to say to Greece “just go away from the Eurozone” because that could create a domino effect. I think we can have a new balance that will be good for Greece and good for Europe. We believe that austerity policies are the number one danger for Europe and for the Eurozone. If Syriza form a government in Greece with our programme we will spread a huge message across Europe and make things happen.

Are you worried about Troika pressuring the Syriza leadership to water-down its commitments?
There will be a lot of pressure but the people will be with us. This is our strength. We want to be a government in order to express the will of the people. If we go into negotiations our number one weapon will be people demonstrating in Greece, and showing that they stand with the government. In the last three years we had governments who did not negotiate at all, and people demonstrating in Greece against the government. We should rely on popular pressure because that's our strength.

What major struggles are going on?
There are small movements. The biggest movement in the last years was the square movement in 2011. This movement gave Syriza strength. It is a very difficult situation for movements it the last year because the state was so robust and the only answer the people got was police forces attacking them. It's a problem that we don't have a strong movement right now in Greece. People are just waiting for the elections to vote for Syriza. We as a radical left party have to tell people that they have to go to the streets to demonstrate and that it's a struggle that never ends.

What is your view on the threat from fascism?
The fascists in the streets are a very big problem. In the last months they haven't appeared very much but that doesn't mean that they have disappeared. One of the reasons for the fascist phenomenon in Greece is the humanitarian crisis. So if we can respond to this then people who vote for Golden Dawn will think about it. I don't believe that the voters are all neo-Nazis. I believe that the problem with the fascists, however, is not resolvable just with a government. We have to fight in the streets.