Paul Mason: New enemy not neoliberalism but far right nationalism

The new 'enemy' in Greece and Europe is no longer economic neoliberalism but the far more dangerous forces of far-right nationalism, journalist and author Paul Mason told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) while he was in Athens. Only an alliance of progressive and liberal forces going across party lines could mount an adequate response and contain "the worst that such forces can do," he added, while urging Greek voters currently disillusioned with SYRIZA to take this into account.
While many people that followed SYRIZA in 2015 were disappointed, he added, "the enemy has since changed" and classic neoliberalism has given way to nationalist forces. According to Mason, in Greece this has led to an "identity crisis" deep within the right-wing main opposition party New Democracy. 
"[ND leader] Kyriakos Mitsotakis wants to be neoliberal but then the issue of 'North Macedonia' arises and his neoliberalism melts away. Behind Mitsotakis are those deeply right-wing voices that may not belong to fascists but are radically right-wing politicians...people who did nothing and applauded when Golden Dawn attacked theatres," he said.
Even if someone might be disappointed in Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Mason advised, he or she "should not allow the country to slide toward authoritarianism with their vote".
He also urged the Left to transcend party boundaries since Greece's struggle to return to prosperity, attract investments and participate in quantitative easing will require unity.
Even though the rise of Golden Dawn in Greece was cut short when musician Pavlos Fyssas was stabbed, he added, "the worst thing that can happen in Greece is that there is no such leftist cooperation." According to Mason, there are "truly progressive forces" in Greek society that could be mobilised under the banner of a liberal, progressive leftist movement for social justice and progress, once the pressure applied by Europe was lifted.
"The worst that such forces can do is to allow a repetition of what happened in Germany in the 1930s," he added, at another point in the interview, noting that "we are approaching a repetition of the economic events in the '30s that gave birth to such phenomena."
"We must learn from these that the enemy is not another leftist party, the enemy is rising fascism," he said, while noting that the important thing at this time was to succeed in "moving the needle of society's [political] compass toward the left."
The way forward for Mason lay in quantitative easing, noting that the European Central Bank should buy up the debt of countries such as Greece, and finance growth. "This is the only way to reduce the debt, to make GDP increase," he said.
One of the achievements of Tsipras' government that had been largely overlooked, according to Mason, was to recognise that Greece suffered from a lack of growth that had to be recovered through rapid investment in infrastructure.
"Greece could have continuous successful growth of 3.0 or 4.0 pct if it was not strangled by the ECB," he added.
Mason was in Athens last Monday, where he was guest speaker at an event at the Athens Concert Hall.

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