One of the myths spread by the Greek government and its supporters abroad is that, unlike its predecessors, it does not resort to repression in the face of opposition and resistance to its policies. It is true that the Syriza government has never had to deal with mass mobilizations comparable in scale and duration to those that marked the country from 2010 to 2012.

Yet though social resistance to bailout policies has been considerably weakened by the loss of morale after Alexis Tsipras’s capitulation to the troika of European institutions in the summer of 2015, it certainly has not disappeared. Particularly important has been the resistance against the auction sales of foreclosed homes. These auctions are a very sensitive issue for Greek society, but also a crucial demand by the banks that have imposed their priorities on successive governments.

Resistance against the auctions policy has faced increasing repression from the Greek state and public authorities. At present dozens of people across the country are facing prosecution for actions they have taken against auction sales. Their numbers have increased significantly since December 2017, when the government passed a law specifically targeting these actions.

The escalation of repression became blatant in September 2018, when five well-known activists in the anti-auction movement were summoned by a special section of the security services, the so-called Department for the Protection of the State and Democratic Polity. The activists summoned included Panagiotis Lafazanis, the secretary of the left-wing Popular Unity party and former minister of energy in the first Syriza government, as well as Leonidas and Elias Papadopoulos, spokespersons of the I Won’t Pay network.

Despite hypocritical statements issued by government and Syriza officials expressing concern over the persecution of Lafazanis, this was an obvious display of authoritarianism. Moreover, it was far from an isolated event. Only a few days ago, in early December, three more members of the anti-auction movement, including the well-known activists Thanasis Gounaris, and Avgi Voutsina, received summons to appear in front of the same department of the security services.

This repressive spiral must necessarily raise concerns about the fate of democratic rights and civil liberties in Greece — concerns today spreading among wide circles of the European and international left as well as in social movements and among left-wing intellectuals. This concern is reflected in the following open letter, which has been published in international media. The signatories include Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the entire parliamentary group of La France Insoumise: MPs and MEPs from Spain’s Podemos; Germany’s Left Party and Portugal’s Left Bloc. Signatories also include emblematic personalities of the international left, such as Noam Chomsky, Tariq Ali, Alain Badiou, and Frédéric Lordon.

Their protest is important in helping the European and international left come to terms with the real character of Alexis Tsipras’s government.