Former Greek PM Alexis Tsipras and Senator Bernie Sanders discussed the rise of the far right and the power of oligarchs in the US and Europe during their meeting in Washington DC on Wednesday.
Tsipras announced the meeting with “the leading figure of the Left in the US,” in a Facebook post.
“I had the great opportunity to exchange thoughts with a deeply philosophical person and politician, on global developments, and in particular on the implications of Trump’s policy in the United States,” Tsipras said, and added that the two politicians talked about democracy and justice, in a period when they are “being brutally undermined by the rise of the far right and the strengthening of the role of the oligarchs in politics.”
According to Tsipras, Sanders told him that the oligarchs have always wanted to control governments, but today, they don’t even want governments to exist. They want to enrich themselves uncontrollably at the expense of society, and this makes things even more dangerous for the future of the planet.
“I found this approach very interesting and very worrying in relation to what is happening in the US, but also in Europe,” Tsipras said.
He added that during the discussion he stressed the need to stand up to nationalist and neocolonial forces, supporting peace in Ukraine and ending the humanitarian catastrophe, with tens of thousands of dead civilians, in Palestine.
“In particular, we spoke about the need for cooperation between progressive forces on both sides of the Atlantic, if we want the above to become a reality.”
Tsipras has been appointed as a short-term, resident Policy Fellow of Harvard University’s Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES) and The Center for Hellenic Studies (CHS) during the spring 2025 academic term.
Tsipras—a civil engineer and proponent of anti-austerity measures—will spend the spring semester in Cambridge and at Harvard’s CHS campus in Washington D.C. According to the CES website, fellows use their public service experience to support academic research, deliver lectures and work with students and faculty throughout the semester.
Last week, Tsipras outlined his vision for Europe at a Harvard lecture by discussing Europe’s evolving geopolitical landscape, the challenges of transatlantic relations, and the need for a stronger, more independent EU.
Tsipras resigned from the SYRIZA leadership in June 2023 after the crushing defeat his party suffered in the Greek elections. The once-powerful SYRIZA won just 17.84 percent of the vote. “It is necessary to invent a new SYRIZA that will read the new challenges of the time and meet the expectations”, he noted at the time.
