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Course of Freedom
Political party in Greece From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Course of Freedom (Greek: Πλεύση Ελευθερίας, romanized: Plefsi Eleftherias) is a Greek anti-establishment[7][37][38][8] political party founded in 2016 by the former President of the Hellenic Parliament, Zoe Konstantopoulou.[39]
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History
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On 19 April 2016, Zoe Konstantopoulou 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.[40]
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.[41][42][8][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.[43][44]
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.[45]
The party condemned attacks on health facilities during the Gaza war after party president Konstantopoulou met with the Palestinian envoy,[46] expressing her support for the Palestinian people; she vowed that Course of Freedom will "be the voice" of Palestine in Greece[47]
In the 2024 European election the party was able to elect one MEP, Maria Zacharia, who is a trade unionist and labourist.[48]
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Ideology
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Course of Freedom was established on an anti-memoranda ideology,[39] based on its founder's Zoe Konstantopoulou's hardliner[49] opposition to austerity, neoliberalism, "tax inequality", Greece's creditors, and the Troika,[10][50][51][52][53] and has been seen as "left-wing populist".[8][12] Mattia Zulianello, the professor of political science at the University of Trieste, also classified the party as left-wing populist.[13] The party has been described by political commentators as left-wing,[21][22][23][24][25] "nominally left",[54][55][56] or far-left,[57][58][59][60][61] although Konstantopoulou describes it as anti-establishment and "neither left nor right" instead.[38] The party's political position has also been considered to be "catch-all",[56] accruing support from both left-wing and right-wing voters, including a component from the far-right,[8][62] owing to its generalized anti-establishment positions.[8][62] Course of Freedom is considered to be a sovereignist party[8] and appeals to nationalist sentiments,[54][10][7] and has been labelled as "nationalist left"[4][3][63][64] or left-wing nationalist.[2][65][66]
Course of Freedom's political position has also been evaluated as solely anti-establishment[37][7][67][68][63][69][70][30] or simply populist "anti-systemic",[71][10][48] considered difficult to be firmly placed on the political spectrum[7] or transcending it due to its anti-corruption message.[72] It is considered to be a radical formation,[73][74] espousing a virulent rejection of all politicians while still embracing legalism and institutionalism.[8]
Konstantopoulou has criticized privatizations, taxation increases, "media oligarchs", and auctioning off and bank seizures of homes of overindebted families and electronic auctions.[15] 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.[8][7]
Course of Freedom is a hard Eurosceptic party, with Konstantopoulou calling the European Union a "monstrous creation" lacking in democracy that is "not a union to belong to";[18][19] the party's founding declaration denounces "Eurobureaucracy" as totalitarianism.[75] The party also believes the Euro is "against the people", with Konstantopoulou calling it a "tool of enslavement and oppression".[76][77][78]
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.[79]
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",[80] "unsustainable"[81] and "unconstitutional"[82] based on the report of the Hellenic Parliament's Greek Debt Truth Commission[83]), opposition to the Prespa naming agreement on North Macedonia's name and calling for a referendum on it,[84] claiming German war reparations and loans of up to €350 billion,[18] additional compensation for Nazi atrocities,[38] expanding Greece's territorial waters to 10 km, and opposition to mandatory vaccination.[85]
The party's program includes confiscation of property of bankers and politicians who will be deemed responsible for the country's inclusion in the Memoranda, and also shutting down all media accused of "propaganda and entanglement" and doing away with the riot control known as MAT, replacing the last two with citizen collaboration/participation alternatives.[86][87]
Course of Freedom openly impugnes the Euro and the Eurozone, and is in favour of monetary sovereignty, with Konstantopoulou stating a clear "no" to the Euro; Course of Freedom wants currency to function as a "tool of freedom" irrespective of whether its form will be electronic, digital or drachma. It is also in favour of alternative currencies and alternative means of payment and transactions. [76][77][78]
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.[75]
Course of Freedom has supported and voted in favour of legalising same-sex marriage.[88] It has also supported criminalizing femicide as a separate crime with special characteristics, and has proposed the creation of an official body to record femicides.[89][90][7]
The party is pro-Palestinian[7] and supports Palestinian statehood, wanting the Greek government to start internationally recognizing Palestine.[91]
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Composition
Participating partners
Τhe following members are nationally affiliated by running in elections using Course of Freedom's ballot:[43][44]
Election results
Hellenic Parliament
European Parliament
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References
External links
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