Political party in Greece
Course of Freedom (Greek: Πλεύση Ελευθερίας, romanized: Plefsi Eleftherias) is a Greek anti-establishment[13][18][6] political party founded on 19 April 2016, by former President of the Hellenic Parliament, Zoe Konstantopoulou.[19]
History
After the agreement for the Third Economic Adjustment Programme for Greece by the first government of SYRIZA-ANEL, Zoe Konstantopoulou dissociated herself from the views of the party and participated in the following legislative elections as the leader of Popular Unity in Athens A'.[20] However, the party did not manage to achieve the electoral threshold for representation in the legislature.
On 19 April 2016, she announced the founding of Course of Freedom. According to its founding declaration, the party's purpose of action consists of democracy, justice, transparency, rights, debt cancellation and claim for World War II reparations.[21]
Konstantopoulou, along with the party, had attended and called for support of the "Macedonia name" anti-Prespa Agreement mass protests of 2018 and 2019, with the slogan "I'm not ceding my homeland", having been the only political figure of the Greek left to openly do so.[22][23][6][5]
The party cooperates electorally with the I Don't Pay Movement, whose leaders were included in Course of Freedom's ballot to run in the European and Greek national elections of 2019.[24] [25]
Course of Freedom was able to enter the Hellenic Parliament at the June 2023 legislative election, scoring 3,17% and electing 8 members of Parliament.[26]
The party condemned the attacks on health facilities during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war after party president Konstantopoulou met with the Palestinian envoy, [27] expressing her support for the Palestinian people; she vowed that Course of Freedom will "be the voice" of Palestine in Greece[28]
Ideology
Course of Freedom was established on an anti-memoranda ideology,[19] based on its founder's Zoe Konstantopoulou's hardliner[29] opposition to austerity, neoliberalism, "tax inequality", Greece's creditors, and the Troika,[8][30][31][32][33] and has been seen as "left-wing populist".[6][10] It has been described by some commentators as "nominally left",[34][35][36] or far-left,[37][38][9][39] although Konstantopoulou describes it as anti-establishment and "neither left nor right" instead.[18] The party's political position has also been considered to be "catch-all",[36] accruing support from both left-wing and right-wing voters for generalized anti-establishment positions.[6][40] The party appeals to nationalist sentiments,[34] and has been labelled as "nationalist left"[4][3][41] or left-wing nationalist.[2][42][43]
Course of Freedom's political position has also been evaluated as solely anti-establishment[13][44][45][46] or simply populist "anti-systemic".[47][8] It is considered to be a sovereignist formation[6] and radical,[16][15] espousing a virulent rejection of all politicians while still embracing legalism and institutionalism.[6]
Konstantopoulou has criticized privatizations, taxation increases, "media oligarchs", and auctioning off and bank seizures of homes of overindebted families and electronic auctions.[11] The party has also come in support of refugees, the LGBT community, opponents to COVID-19 vaccination, and of victims of sexism and sexual violence.[6]
Course of Freedom is an Hard Eurosceptic party, with Konstantopoulou calling it a "monstrous creation" lacking in democracy that is "not a union to belong to";[14][48] the party's founding declaration denounces "Eurobureaucracy" as totalitarianism.[49]
Konstantopoulou and the party have also launched a "Don't Pay" movement and a campaign of "general disobedience" towards debts, taxes and insurance contributions since 2017.[50]
Positions
The party's positions include the cancellation of the country's national debt (that Zoe Konstantopoulou has previously during her time in government affirmed as "illegal, illegitimate, odious and unsustainable" and "unconstitutionally accumulated"[51] based on the report of the Hellenic Parliament's Greek Debt Truth Commission[52]), opposition to the Prespa naming agreement on North Macedonia's name and calling for a referendum on it,[53] claiming German war reparations and loans of up to €350 billion,[14] additional compensation for Nazi atrocities,[18] and opposition to mandatory vaccination.[54]
Its founding declaration supports positions of popular democracy and participatory democracy, and includes proposals like the institutionalization of mandatory referendums, citizen participation in the justice system, renationalization of all public enterprises and public assets, the dissolution of the HRADF S.A, and an accountancy audit of Greek debt, insurance funds and state-owned institutions.[49]
Composition
Participating partners
Τhe following members are nationally affiliated by running in elections using Course of Freedom's ballot:
