This week marks a year since Syriza, the radical left coalition led by the charismatic Alexis Tsipras, took power in Greece after elections on Jan. 25, 2015. They took office heralded as saviors, and then were branded amateurs, radicals, revisionists, traitors and finally just more of the same. The Greek electorate pinned on Syriza its hope that the vicious circle of austerity and depression could break, setting a new paradigm for a Europe that is stagnating in a climate of suspicion and animosity. To say that Syriza has simply failed to deliver would be an injustice both to their initial efforts and to the plight of those suffering under renewed austerity. Syriza, for all intents and purposes, has killed off the idea of mass movement parliamentary politics for at least a generation. In the process, under pressure from European institutions, they’re also criminalizing the kind of solidarity they promised to protect.

The end of party politics

After the bitter experience of the past year, voters are abandoning parties in droves. A recent poll found that support for all major political parties is plummeting. But a year ago, I was part of a crowd of thousands that stood outside the gates of the old University of Athens, as Tsipras took the stage to announce that his party had emerged victorious and that they would be forming a coalition government with the populist right Independent Greeks. These crowds would turn up again and again in support of the government during the negotiations, lighting candles and singing left-wing anthems in front of the Parliament in Syntagma Square. But after a massive display on the night of July 6, when Greek voters resoundingly voted “no” in a referendum to a deal that would bring more austerity and misery, these crowds dissipated, never to be seen again. Syriza, under pressure from European creditors, was forced to ignore the result of the referendum. Activists and leftists not only in Greece, but the world over, cried “betrayal” and expressed their anger online with the hashtag #ThisIsACoup. After signing up for more austerity in a marginally improved deal, Syriza won another round of elections in September. A sense of powerlessness drove many Greeks away from politics all together. But this withdrawal from party politics hasn’t meant resignation. In the streets, Greek civil society is more active than ever. Antifascist networks, anarchists and others have worked to fill in the gaps left behind by a broke and demoralized state, and they have built something that looks significantly more sturdy.

Promises forgotten

Solidarity networks have been set up to deal with poverty in creative ways. These aren’t just soup kitchens; they’re addressing problems such as lack of access to education and healthcare. They’ve also taken up causes like gay marriage, bringing transparency to the often nefarious workings of the state, and citizenship for second-generation migrants.

A year after Greece was promised radical politics, they have materialized in spite of Syriza, not because of it.