There is no sign of the chain reaction to the launch event for Alexis Tsipras’s new book, “Ithaca”. As the days pass, the gap between the former prime minister and his former party comrades becomes more and more apparent.

The culmination of the mental and political distance was the… balcony of the Pallas Theatre, where the presentation of “Ithaca” took place, with the political staff, especially of SYRIZA PS and New Left, placed in the theatres and away from the square, i.e., society.

Except that Alexis Tsipras reportedly had no other way to codify what he has emphatically stated since the very declaration of his resignation from the parliamentary office and in every public intervention since then, namely that he renounced the parliamentary seat and any of its privileges to meet with society and not with…the theatres.

This is why, from the day of his resignation to “Ithaca”, Tsipras has been advocating organizing from below, kinetically and lonely. Except that until the overwhelming image of the… outpost, few had grasped his real plans (and certainly not everyone in SYRIZA), plans that do not necessarily include the entire Koumoundourou cadre. And those, however, who of his old companions will accompany the former prime minister in his next political phase, it seems that they will be chosen on a case-by-case basis, but certainly without any of the trappings they carry from the past, such as the title of Sectoral Minister, etc.

This was the meaning of all the latest interventions by Mr Tsipras and his staff was quick to re-emphasize yesterday, sending messages in all directions, while announcing a new cycle of tours of the former prime minister for “Ithaca” and “not only”, since it is not excluded that he will intensify his interventions by talking to social institutions and issues beyond his writing.

The first leak from the Tsipras side after the Pallas

However, in Galileo’s famous phrase, “and yet he turns!”, when the priesthood threatened to throw him into the fire for saying the right thing, they commented in Amalias on the reactions and the mobility that Ithaca and Tsipras’ intervention at Pallas caused and continues to cause.

Not because they believe that they can change the worn-out and unreliable political system overnight. But because, at last, as they say, the “stone” thrown by Tsipras put an end to the stagnation of the political swamp, opening the discussion for a new post-apolitical change, a key element of which is the re-foundation, the reconstitution, the return, of the great progressive party, not in terms of transactions and adhesions, but “from below”.

Besides, Alexis Tsipras’ proposal is addressed to society, to the citizens who bear the burdens of today’s politics and not to the party leaders, as they point out from Amalias. A profound and essentially unifying proposal, outside conventional calculations of peaks, that can give hope and perspective to the flagging progressive majority. And whose positioning against it will decide a lot for many.

Behind the contradictory propaganda that on one hand spoke of a “reunion of the old SYRIZA”, and on the other of “banishing the old SYRIZA to the exile”, lies the embarrassment of those who insist and invest in a system of corruption and a politics of decay and social paralysis, as described by the same sources.

Disappointing picture

The propaganda construction, which ignores the tens of thousands of citizens who participated in the Pallas event, live or via the media and the internet, and insists on focusing on personal strategies and self-interest, is nothing more than another agonizing attempt to “throw the ball in the court”. To trivialize the debate into gossip and miserable assertion of positions – the very things that, for Tsipras, produce and reproduce the current disappointing image of the democratic opposition. And they drive citizens away from politics, Amalia’s sources continue.

But what is more important, according to Amalias, is not the predictable, emphatic, and down-to-earth slanderous reaction of Maximos and the maintenance circles. It is the reactions in the left and progressive space, which, in the contradictions, the reading of the situation with outdated criteria, and even empathy in some cases, willingly or unwillingly set aside appearances and reveal the intentions of everyone of them, guided by the country’s perspective. And this debate, however difficult it may be, must be conducted, not in terms of denunciation, but in terms of politics, situational awareness, and empathy. And it will be done anyway in the events throughout Greece for the presentation of Ithaca and beyond, with Alexis Tsipras as speaker.

Actively present at the… base

In any case, Amalias insist that they will not under any circumstances “imprison” the debate that opened in skirmishes, or summit debates. The issue for Tsipras is not any party leadership. Nor does he have the intention or inclination to discredit, admonish, much less impose his views on them. He has been conspicuously absent from summit processes and actively present in the difficult effort to mobilise left-wing and progressive people, whether they belong to specific party formations or have turned their backs on them. In the effort to awaken, in the end, the great social majority that bears the burdens of today’s politics and is looking for a way out of the swamp, the prospect of the re-foundation of the progressive party and the vision of a new post-apolition that will restore the lost credibility of citizens in the political system and in democracy will be decided.

The headline and the resignation

In any case, Alexis Tsipras’ new strategy is not affected by… unexpected events, which is why yesterday’s Avgi headline did not deter his staff, even if it caused the resignation of the newspaper’s director, Spyros Sourmelidis.

SYRIZA PS sources were quick to explain that “the front page of Sunday Dawn does not reflect the views and positions of SYRIZA PS as expressed by the President, Socrates Famellos”, as the main headline was “SYRIZA-Tsipras lives parallel”, referring at the same time to “reconstitution of the progressive space by Famellos-Charitsis” and “Moves of cooperation by PASOK”.

As an accompanying comment, it was said that “the political landscape is changing and no one can pretend not to see or avoid the changing times. Alexis Tsipras has made the clear choice to take his own course exclusively, without co-deciding with others”, with “Ithaca” presented as a “precursor of a party”.

For Koumoundourou, the resignation of the director of the historic newspaper was a one-way street, since SYRIZA PS insists on the cooperation of all progressive forces, including Alexis Tsipras, while the latter was kept out of the relevant discussion on the front page of “Avgi”.

However, even the president of SYRIZA PS, Socrates Famellos, speaking to the OPEN TV station over the weekend, explained that despite the different perspective that exists between SYRIZA PS and Tsipras at this time, the former prime minister should be part of the effort and dialogue for a common progressive program, according to Famellos.

However, the resignation of Sourmelidis did not go hand in hand with the relevant editorial, which appeared late yesterday on the Avgi.gr website, describing how “the lives of SYRIZA and Alexis Tsipras from now on will be parallel. In the hope that the marches will not go wrong to become confrontational”. “Joining forces and coalescence are always positive options. They are not the only ones, and more importantly, it takes more than one to make them a reality,” the article concluded, not meaning the former prime minister will look down the road behind him, currently…vigorously seeking his maximum grounding in society.