“They manipulated us in 2012 to increase their electoral power,” world-known composer Mikis Theodorakis wrote to a friend explaining the reasons he does not support leftist SYRIZA in the upcoming elections. Theodorakis had said before that he will support the leftist party under the condition that if they come to power, they will pass a law to eliminate the harsh measures of the memorandum Greece has signed with its international creditors. Now, he sees that this condition is unattainable because SYRIZA cannot pull Greece out of the memorandum. In a response letter to a friend called Dimiris A. that was published in the Greek press, the great composer and major political figure of the Greek Left explains in detail the background of the events that preceded the 2012 elections and stresses the fact that SYRIZA has exploited their political stature to gain votes for the party. In the letter, Theodorakis says that in 2012 he had created a movement called SPITHA (Spark) and he had proposed to SYRIZA to cooperate on establishing a political front called EL.LA.DA (Greek People’s Democratic Resistance) with the belief that only such a popular front can get Greece out of the crisis since the problems created by the memorandum cannot be solved through traditional processes (elections, parliament, government). A united people’s front from all political sides and the exploitation of Greece’s natural resources through cooperation with major foreign powers from the West and the East would be the two pillars that would bring Greece out of the economic crisis and lead to the country’s development. EL.LA.DA, Theodorakis continues, would participate in the 2012 elections with the aim to govern with a strong people’s mandate and a strong economic plan that would bring Greece to an advantageous position in the negotiations with the country’s creditors. On February 12, 2012, with ringleaders Theodorakis, Manolis Glezos and Giorgos Kasimatis, SPITHA and SYRIZA held a rally at Syntagma Square where half a million people had gathered. In the riot that ensued, Greek policemen hit all three of the ringleaders. However, Theodorakis claims, the SYRIZA leadership was dishonest and did not keep their part of the deal. Instead, they used SPITHA and the events of Syntagma Square for their own political gain, thus increasing their electoral strength and getting into Parliament. Then, when many people saw that the Front we proposed and the events at Syntagma Square were a trick to increase SYRIZA’s strength, they gave up the fight and resigned to political passivity. Later, when Glezos and SYRIZA chief Alexis Tsipras asked him to support the party, with the certainty that with his participation they can win absolute majority in Parliament, Theodorakis told them that he would do it under the condition he stated before; knowing, of course, that the party could not meet that condition. He says that the SYRIZA stance in 2012 was not only a moral abuse to his person, but also a big mistake for Greece because without a united people’s front, the country is not equipped to confront the harsh attacks of the international creditors and other foreign forces. SYRIZA broke down SPITHA through fractionalism, and now they also use some remnants of SPITHA in their ranks in order to exploit the Theodorakis name. My thoughts and my memory are still intact and they give me the strength to fight for the people and the ideals of the Left, the composer concludes.
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