In July 2015, after Greek voters overwhelmingly rejected austerity in an historic referendum, the ‘radically left’ Syriza party, led by Alexis Tsipras, agreed to impose upon the Greek people an austerity program that was even more severe than the program which voters had rejected in the referendum.
This capitulation to Greece’s creditors precipitated a revolt within Syriza. The revolt was led by Panagiotis Lafazanis, the leader of Syriza’s Left Platform and the Minister of Energy in the Tsipras cabinet. Mr. Lafazanis left Syriza with 25 other Syriza MPs to become leader of the new Popular Unity party.
During my trip to Greece last month, I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Lafazanis for The Real News. According to Mr. Lafazanis, Greece no longer has a democracy and has become a mere protectorate of the IMF, the ECB and the European Commission.
My interview of Mr. Lafazanis can be seen here:
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=20427#.WgzLP8B_oBs.twitter
