Post 2000: Ecosocialist candidate for Greek General Election

well for my 2,000 post on this blog....a message from friends in Greece.


GREEK GENERAL ELECTIONS on OCTOBER 4th .

TASOS PANTAZIDIS: THE FIRST (EVER) ECOSOCIALIST CANDIDATE.



For the first time in Greece,
an Ecosocialist candidate takes part in the general elections. Our party,
“Ecosocialists Greece”
is one of the eleven component member parties of SYRIZA coalition.

We proposed three candidates. Two of them (Tasos Pantazidis and
Konstantina Georga, both members of EIN and participants of the 2007 Paris meeting) were
selected. Konstantina resigned, so Tasos is our representative in SYRIZA lists.




Who is Tasos Pantazidis:


Tasos was
born in Athens
in 1970.
Member of
left and ecology parties since he was a student.
Former member
of Socialist Workers Party (SEK) – brother party of the British SWP.
Founding
member of DEA.
Founding member
and representative of “Ecological Interference”.
Former
secretary of “Ecologists Greece”.
Founder of
the “Association of Ecosocialists Greece”
(later named “Ecosocialists Greece”).
Member of the
Ecosocialist International Network.
He translated
the “Ecosocialist Manifesto” and the “Declaration of Belem” into Greek (http://ecosocialistsgreece.blogspot.com/2008/07/blog-post_30.html and
http://ecosocialistsgreece.blogspot.com/2009/01/blog-post_8121.html)
Participated
in the first International Ecosocialist Meeting in Paris (2007). Member of SYRIZA
secretariat.
Editor – in –
chief of “Ikososialistis” newspaper.
President of
the “Association of Solidarity of Greeks and Immigrants – Union”.
Civil clerk and
syndicalist.
Former Soccer
referee. Now a Rugby referee.
Married and
father of two children.




He is a candidate in the 2nd Electoral Region of Athens.



Comrades, we seek for your support.



“Ecosocialists Greece”





Some explanations about politics in Greece:

SYRIZA stands for: Coalition of the Radical Left (SYnaspismos
RIZospastikis Aristeras). And has 11 components:


AKOA ( Renovative Communist
and Ecological Left)
DEA (Internationalist
Workers’ Left)
Active Citizens
KEDA (Movement for the
Action Unity of the Left)
KOE (Communist
Organization of Greece)
Xekinima (Start)
Ecosocialists Greece
Kokkino (Red)
Socialist Left (former
DIKKI)
“Roza” Radical Left
Group
Synaspismos (Coalition
of Left, of Movements and Ecology)


(1,11:
Eurocommunists, 2,6,8: Trotskyists, 4: former Stalinist Communists ,5:
Communists - Maoists, 3: Direct Democracy, 7: Ecosocialists, 9:
Socialdemocrats, 10: Political Rights)

At
the 2007 elections the major Greek parties got:


New Democracy
(Neoliberals) 41.84% - 152 MPs
PASOK (Socialdemocrats)
38.1% - 102 MPs
KKE (Communist Party)
8.15% - 22 MPs
SYRIZA 5.04% - 14 MPs
LAOS (extreme right) 3.8% -
10 MPs
Ecologists Greens 1.05%
- Ø MPs (3% is needed in order to elect MPs)


A
note about the Greens: They declare that they are not Left nor Right party.
People do not consider them as “left” in general. In Greece, Ecology has no “colour”.
For example, “Ecologists Greece” (0.65% in the EU elections) in 2007 applied to
join SYRIZA (the application was rejected for political reasons) and now they
joined the extreme right party of LAOS, in order to “save the
country”.