Vox pop: ‘Greece has to change course’

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/18/vox-pop-five-greeks-give-views

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Arasali Lemou, 30, Film director

“I am going to vote for Syriza for the first time. I like the way it proposes solutions on a pan-European level. It is seeking co-operation with the rest of Europe, not confronting it.

“Its goal of dealing with the humanitarian crisis and other problems of inequality speak to me – even if, practicably, no one knows where it is going to get the money to do this.

“Ours is a conservative society and Syriza’s views on issues of refugees and gay rights are cool. It offers something new. We can think about the money and other issues later. Right now Greece has to change course.”

Lenio Myrivili, 48, Social anthropologist

“I’m very worried about Syriza winning these elections. They might have good intentions, but I believe, deeply, that they really don’t know what they are doing and are going to experiment on our backs. Their policies could endanger Greece’s relationship with Europe – which at all costs has to be preserved, because it is Greece’s only future.

“I also fundamentally disagree with Syriza’s approach to the public sector, which needs to be reformed from the bottom up. It may be falling apart, and the source of so many of our problems, but Syriza wants to preserve it as it is.”

Yiannis Metalinos, 50, Musician

“Ordinary Greeks have borne the brunt of this crisis. They have made enormous sacrifices, and now they are being asked to give a vote of confidence to the government when they face the prospect of having to make even more. We are in a very difficult situation, not just because of our huge debt but because we haven’t followed through on our commitments to Europe. I believe Greeks are prepared to accept austerity as the price of bad choices in the past, but it is galling that so many of the people responsible for this situation have got off scot-free. They are going to end up voting ‘no’ to austerity, not ‘yes’ to a better government.”

Spyros Kavoulides, 70, Civil engineer

“We are faced with a choice between bad and worse. Bad being the situation with the government as it was, worse being the jump into the unknown and the possibly disastrous consequences if Syriza wins. I worry that many of Syriza’s principles are simply inapplicable in the framework of the eurozone, and that Greece may be forced to leave the euro if it doesn’t accept the [bloc’s] rules. The extreme left in Syriza has been very consistent and it poses a danger even if [Alexis] Tsipras is more mainstream. He will have to make many U-turns, but can he make them quickly enough? And can he make enough of them to ensure that Greece does not go under?”

Markos Douridas, 31, Structural engineer

“I am going to vote for To Potami [The River] because I believe it represents the voice of common sense and may well be the best of all choices in a coalition government that will very likely have to be formed with Syriza.

“I believe Syriza’s rise is a case of timing and not political thought or real appeal. Greece’s fiscal problems are the result of a lack of common sense on the part of our politicians.

“To Potami is a new party and its candidates aren’t from parties in the classical sense; many of them are ordinary citizens who simply speak the language of reason.”