“OK – ‘Nikos Androulakis is inadequate, Alexis Tsipras is outdated, Maria Karystianou is pro-Russian,’ and as for Sokratis Famellos and Gabriel Sakellaridis, there is nothing even worth discussing. What remains, then? Kyriakos Mitsotakis. “There is no alternative” (TINA), as Margaret Thatcher used to say.
The claim that these almost entrenched perceptions are solely the result of the government’s powerful spin machine does not tell the whole truth. Of course, it is far more advanced than SYRIZA’s was at its peak. But for those who have experienced both, there are two key differences.
SYRIZA’s communication apparatus was largely amateurish. It consisted of keyboard revolutionaries loosely connected to the party; in any case, SYRIZA has never been known for organizational efficiency. By contrast, New Democracy’s machine is essentially professional and – apparently – well-funded. The second difference is that SYRIZA’s mechanism flourished during its years in opposition. As a result, despite its aggressiveness, it operated defensively within the so-called systemic media: Even when these outlets were critical of SYRIZA, they often still amplified elements of its narrative. One only needs to recall how they referred to the “f***ing memorandum,” or what was said about privatizations – that the Troika of foreign lenders allegedly wanted to “sell even the ashtrays of the public sector,” and so on.
