Alexis Tsipras presents “Ithaca” and looks to the future

How the lessons of “yesterday” can create the path to a better tomorrow, with “the citizens themselves” as the key. This is the question that Alexis Tsipras is expected to answer today at the official presentation of Ithaca (7:00 pm, Pallas Theatre, 5 Voukourestiou Street), a book that has so far reached tens of thousands of people and continues to do so…

The event, which will conclude with Alexis Tsipras’ speech, is undoubtedly a highly anticipated political occasion. It has already moved beyond its “publishing” dimension since November 24, when Ithaca became available on bookstore shelves.

According to information, the former prime minister’s speech will also be strongly political. He will combine elements from the critical periods covered in the book, with an emphasis on the events of the summer of 2015, in order to connect them with today’s reality.

For the citizens to return

Alexis Tsipras is expected to focus on the need for “citizens to return to politics” as an urgent condition for the country to move forward. He will stress the need for “collective resistance” to the phenomena that plague Greece’s political life today, framed by the triad “authoritarianism–oligarchy–kleptocracy.” For this to happen, he will underline that a radical reshuffling of the political landscape is required.

As is evident, Tsipras’ speech will be dominated by a broad attack on the Mitsotakis government. He will describe the current state of the economy with the phrase “provocative wealth in few hands,” emphasizing that today New Democracy follows the same policies that “yesterday” drove the country onto the rocks. In other words, he will highlight the “continuity” of the “invisible line” linking the policies that led Greece into the memoranda with the doctrines that are being implemented today.

 

Those who bankrupted the country

In this context, Alexis Tsipras will speak about “those who bankrupted the country and delivered it to the mercy of the lenders, who drove unemployment up to 27%, destroyed a quarter of the economy, abolished the thirteenth and fourteenth salaries in the public sector, abolished the thirteenth and fourteenth pensions, sank into the shame of ‘Yeroúm gerá’ and ‘Vásta Schäuble’ while society was bleeding—and now dare to demand answers from us.”

In the same vein, he will defend the record of his own administration. Although he himself engages in strong self-criticism in the book, he is expected to declare that he feels “proud” of what he tried to achieve—and, more specifically, “proud that we finally reached Ithaca,” reminding the audience that “we succeeded where they failed twice.”

Moreover, Alexis Tsipras is expected to tie this assessment directly to today’s reality, stating that in 2019, despite the sacrifices, “there were no direct contract awards, no deposits in tax havens, and no millions parked in murky offshore companies.” The former prime minister will also not fail—as expected—to speak about the strong public response to Ithaca, stressing that through writing the book he defended not only himself but above all the truth.