Interview with the new General Secretary of the Central Committee of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou:

 

“We live and breathe in society, listen to the needs and aspirations of all those affected by the crisis and consequences of the pandemic”

August 2021 edition of “Neolea” – “Youth”, monthly newspaper of EDON Youth Organisation

1. The 23rd Congress elected the new leadership of AKEL. With you as the new General Secretary, what will be the first concern of the new leadership? What is the first priority at the moment?

SS: The first concern is to return AKEL to its rightful place in our country’s political life. This is not only about restoring AKEL’s position in terms of electoral percentages, but first and foremost about its qualitative characteristics. This means that we are seeking to strengthen AKEL so that it can intervene more effectively and quickly, in a timely and convincing manner in favour of workers, small and medium-sized businesses, young people and the popular strata. We are aiming to open up the road of progress for Cyprus and our people, with our positions and proposals.

2. Our Party has had a difficult year, with the results of the parliamentary elections ringing an alarm bell for its future course. How will AKEL manage to recover? What changes need to be made for it to be able to get back at the forefront of the people’s struggles?

SS: After the elections, we went to the party membership from which we heard opinions and proposals. We brought them before the party bodies to evaluate and assess them, to approve decisions and prioritise actions in order to address the weaknesses and meet the demands.

We know that as the new leadership we have no grace period. We will make every effort so that we can immediately make those changes that will give an impetus to the Party’s work and activity.

What is certain is that we do not intend to be consumed by introversion, but to give emphasis to AKEL’s presence where the majority of society lives, breathes, works, struggles, dreams and aspires to. This is precisely what made AKEL a great force, a bulwark providing support for the people, respected by friends and opponents alike.

We are seeking to be at the forefront again, everywhere, with the workers, with the social movements and with society. For the vast majority of society to feel and understand that we are the ones who can fight for its needs, for progressive change in the country, for the perspective of Cyprus.

3. The recent AKEL Congress, many party members had the opportunity to take the floor and express their views, as well as submit their proposals on the future of the party. How will what was said be used?

SS: We have already taken note and categorized the views heard and the proposals made. I am pleased because young people who are active in the Movement made many useful proposals. This is very promising. As you know, cadres have already been elected to key positions, such as the position of Organizational Secretary and elsewhere. We shall also proceed on various policy areas in order to restructure the Party’s Auxiliary Bureaus and renew their composition. This is how we want to hopefully begin the hard work that awaits us to implement our decisions.

Our aim therefore, without changing the character and identity of our Party, is to improve ourselves and at the same time improve our intervention in society. Many of the proposals heard are very useful in this direction.

4. The people need a strong AKEL that can assert its rights and interests, both inside and outside parliament. What goals have you and the Party’s Parliamentary Group set? What are the Party’s priorities inside Parliament?

SS: You are aware that during the election campaign AKEL presented before the people numerous specific proposals, inter alia, on social policy, labour issues and on the day after the pandemic.

We haven’t forgotten all these proposals after the election as we live and breathe in society, we listen to the needs and aspirations of all those affected by the crisis and the consequences of the pandemic. We see our young people who want to move forward in life and to create, but are held back by the imposition of anti-social austerity policies and by a government that, instead of investing in young people, in research, in innovation, looks only after the interests of a small privileged group and does not care about the many.

We have elaborated and put forth proposals on all these issues, many of which we have already submitted before Parliament, but we want them to become the property of society itself. We will table more proposals. So we have a lot of work to do, both inside and outside Parliament.

5. In the parliamentary elections, the far-right party ELAM has recorded a significant increase in its electoral percentages, which is an ominous sign for the future of our country’s political life. How will AKEL confront the far-right formation, both inside and outside parliament?

SS: It goes without saying that we have nothing in common with the “Golden Dawn” party version in Cyprus, called ELAM. They may now be wearing costumes and are smiling having gained support to enter Parliament, but there is no doubt whatsoever that underneath it all lies the wolf of neo-fascism and when the time comes it will show its teeth.

AKEL has and will continue to highlight and expose the true face of ELAM. They are the ones who stand for what is most rotten and backward that humanity has ever encountered and that has drowned it in blood and destruction. AKEL is at the forefront of the anti-fascist struggle alongside every patriot, every democratically-minded person, against nationalism, racism, intolerance and anti-communism that the extreme right expresses in a concise way.

6. Young people’s abstention from the political process as a whole is very noticeable. Consequently, this abstention is expressed in the electoral process as well. What action should be taken to mobilise that part of the population which is essentially the future of our country? What importance does AKEL attach to youth?

SS: We attach enormous importance to youth. For us it is a priority issue. We know that many young people hold the view that “they are all the same”. We will not change this view even if we engage in a monologue every day by declaring that we are not the same. We will change this perception if we prove in practice that we are not the same. That we are clean, honest, have political positions and proposals for the young generation and that we want them with us, allies in our fight to realise put them into practice.

We do not want to decide for the young people, without them. It is therefore a top priority for us to talk to young people both within the Movement, but also with all those young people who are not party affiliated, who are politically aware but who view AKEL with suspicion or do not trust it. We want to listen to them, to turn their concerns into demands for progress so we can achieve new gains and rights together.

Of course, EDON Youth has a leading role to play in this effort. For sure, the Organisation alone must not and cannot overturn the depreciation that prevails among young people with regards politics and political engagement. AKEL will try to win the hearts and minds of young people by putting forward policies for the young generation and by convincing them with our actions and deeds, not with slogans and empty talk.

7. The Cyprus problem is perhaps at its worst phase since 1974. Is there still hope for a solution? How will AKEL help to get the Cyprus problem out of the downward spiral that the manipulations of the government and Mr. Anastasiades have put it on?

SS: The Cyprus problem is not just at its worst phase, but is at its most critical and dangerous phase. Cyprus is threatened with permanent partition. The Exclusive Economic Zone of the Republic of Cyprus is increasingly under threat, Turkey is increasingly provocative and imposing dangerous fait accompli in Famagusta.  All of this is a consequence of the collapse of the Crans Montana conference on Cyprus, and of the fact that Turkey left there relieved of responsibilities and of the absence of any negotiating procedure over the last four years.

Mr. Anastasiades is being criticized for his handling of the Cyprus problem over the years and for the situation he has led us to. He is being criticized for his inconsistency and backtracking, for his inability to assess the situation in its proper perspective.

I shall just recall that AKEL was expressing concerns about what would happen in Famagusta and Mr. Anastasiades and the Foreign Minister were telling us that Turkey was engaging in “communication games” and that it was bluffing.

We eventually arrived at the announcements made by Tatar, with Turkey’s full support, which blatantly violate the relevant UN resolutions, while the government watched on helplessly and just confined itself to reacting to Turkey’s illegal actions. It is both necessary and imperative to react, but only reacting you are still behind developments while we need to be take steps forward to advance the goal of a solution.

You are aware that AKEL in December 2020 had submitted a specific proposal to Mr. Anastasiades on what steps should be taken to resume substantive talks. This proposal of ours was discredited and ignored. We certainly do not claim that it is a magic formula, but it does give substance to what the UN Secretary-General is calling for in order to turn hydrocarbons into a catalyst for a solution of the Cyprus problem. That is precisely why we insist on calling on Mr. Anastasiades to take initiatives to annul the Turkish machinations and to stop insisting on approaches that ultimately do not corner Turkey, which continues to play games by exploiting the deadlock and to consolidate the de facto partition.