PRIME MINISTER TSIPRAS OR PROF. IGLESIAS ?
QUESTIONS FOR THE PODEMOS LEADER
Professor Pablo Iglesias of the Complutense University likes to present himself as the Spanish version of Alexis Tsipras, the widely admired anti-austerity leader of the Syriza Party of Greece. The Syriza government in Athens obviously needs allies in the ministerial councils of the European Union, so a Podemos government in Madrid would be a great advantage. But do Prof. Iglesias and his advisor Prof. Monedero really agree with Syriza on what is to be done? We invite Prof. Iglesias to go on the record in answering the following basic questions.
Syriza is demanding a new edition of the 1953 London Debt Conference, this time with goal of writing down Greece’s € 330 billion debt by at least 50%. (This can be compared with the 70% debt writedown granted to save GM and Chrysler in 2009.) Will you support that demand? And what will you demand for Spain at that conference? What else will you do to support Syriza?
You now say you are, like Syriza, against austerity, but what does that really mean? French President Hollande claimed he too was against austerity, and the disastrous results are plain to see. Will you commit here and now to the immediate restoration of all cuts to pensions, pay scales, unemployment benefits, social welfare, health care, and children’s benefits? Will you pledge to re-hire the public sector workers fired under orders from the IMF-ECB-EU Troika? Will you roll back anti-worker and anti-union measures? Syriza is doing all these things.
Syriza has demanded that the European Central Bank be tasked not just with serving bankers, but with financing on favorable terms the public investments needed by national governments, especially in modern infrastructure. Changing the ECB will require the efforts of a number of nations. Will you pledge to make the ECB serve the people? What is your job creation and infrastructure program for Spain?
How do you explain the overwhelming support provided for you personally by the Soros-inspired Huffington Post, Mediaset (Berlusconi), and La Sexta TV, all controlled by predatory financier oligarchs? By contrast, Tsipras and Syriza were largely demonized by the mainstream media.
You talk about politicians as “la casta,”but you have little to say about the real powers looting the Spanish economy, such as the derivatives monsters Banco Santander and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria. Why is this? Will you join Syriza in backing a serious European Tobin tax on stocks and derivatives trading? And finally, should Spain exit NATO? Do you oppose sanctions vs. Russia?
Your recent speech at the Puerta del Sol in Madrid contained very little specific programmatic content. You said that it was time to dream like Don Quixote, but also to take these dreams seriously. Will this nebulous rhetoric be the theme of your “Yes we can” election campaign? This contrasts once again with Syriza, which advanced a coherent package of 40 mass traction economic demands in 2012, as it was fighting to emerge as the anti-austerity position. Are you the best leader for Podemos and for Spain?
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