In a flurry of questions on a range of topics of concern to young people, such as marriage for same-sex couples, issues of gender-based violence, the fight against soaring rents in urban centers, his hobbies in his spare time, but also the importance of youth participation in the May 21 elections, the President SYRIZA Alexis Tsipras, in an interview on YouTuber Zoe Pree’s channel.

Alexis Tsipras looked back on his political path from his student years to today. He first mentioned the difficulty of being in the public sphere and recalled the first time he saw himself on a poster as a candidate for the mayor of Athens. “One day I went to a supermarket in Exarchia, where I lived at the time, and suddenly I saw my face, said “Oh” and turned around. You must have very strong character traits to be able to take on the job. Because there is a risk of taking off, and then falling and the impact is very steep and heavy,” he said.

Mr. Tsipras recalled summers at his mother’s in Kavala, where he went on vacation, the endless hours he spent playing ball with friends on the alan behind the Panathinaikos Stadium, and meetings at rush hour in Lycabettus when he watched that today the way of communication and socialization, flirting of young people has changed, and how difficult it is to understand the current young generation, especially during a pandemic. “A lot of things have become very simple and some things have become very complex,” he noted of the introduction of technology into young people’s relationships, stating that “it’s important to be able to have meaningful communication with another person, and not just messages.”

Relations between Alexis Tsipras and communicators, as he himself said, are not going well. “I can’t step into the rules of communication and communication experts,” he noted, while not failing to leave outbursts due to Mr. Mitsotakis’s unwillingness to discuss these two issues, stating that “I did not my communications expert to avoid a televised match like Mitsotakis and do it.”

He mentioned his relationship with his children, saying that “it’s harder to be a good father or a good mother than it is to be a good prime minister. If you are a public figure, you need to find some communication codes to demystify this for a child. Don’t let your child be “so-and-so’s son,” but let him be himself. You have to work on this together with the child and the people around him.”

He also responded how he opposes “the fake news that is circulated against him from time to time.” “You get used to blows below the belt,” he said and added: “Why didn’t they just talk about me … That I didn’t study at the university, that I studied in Bulgaria, that I am the son of Zionists and a black conspiracy, that my father collaborated with the junta . This last one probably bothered me the most, because then my father died, and he also could not defend himself.

Mr. Tsipras referred to his experience as prime minister, recalling his first day at Megaros Maximos. “Samaras, like Trump and Bolsonaro, didn’t greet me. Samaras will say: I do not accept this leftist, communist, I am a nationalist,” Al said. Tsipras.

To the question of whether SYRIZA-P.S. the party is only for the workers, not for the business world, Al. Tsipras said that SYRIZA-P.S. it is a people’s party, not hostile to the cause, but hostile to injustice. “We have a problem with speculation, with tax evasion, with tax evasion. When someone wins illegally, others lose unfairly. And it’s usually the few who win unfairly and the many who lose unfairly,” he said, and of the criticism he receives of the middle class, he stressed that “they forget we were in the memos and we had to bring the country out of the crisis. Obviously, there were injustices that we feel the need to redress, so we attach great importance to how not only the weak, but also the middle class will join our program.”

Mr. Tsipras also mentioned the need to address the housing crisis and high rents by rolling out the SYRIZA-PS plan. control airbnb, create a “rooftop bank” of underused public and private property, with incentives for owners such as energy upgrades and renovations to their home, provided they are offered at low rent, and double the rent.

On how he sees the security issue, Al. Tsipras said that security is about work, about pensions, about care, about transportation, about gender-based violence, about police dealing with crime, and not about crime, as it is done with the Greek mafia, with the state nearby. citizen for his needs and not undemocratic and Russfetological. “If you have a disability, to be able to safely walk on the sidewalk or have someone next to you who will take care of you, regardless of whether you have the financial means,” said Mr. Tsipras and emphasized that “the question will we no longer remain in Europe, but will we become Europe in these simple everyday things.

The discussion on gender-based violence was extensive. Mr. Tsipras noted the need to create conditions in which victims feel safe to report abuse. “We started it as a government and then created services in police stations so that women could report gender-based violence,” she recalls. The President of SYRIZA placed special emphasis on the need to introduce a different culture into society, on the importance of raising children, especially boys, on the values ​​of respect for human dignity. “You need to work hard in everyday life, in schools, in the media, on YouTube channels.”

The question of the separation of the state from the church was also discussed. Al. Tsipras stressed the need for mutual concessions and consents and referred to steps taken under his own administration for an agreement that failed because, in his words, “it was at the wrong time, in the pre-election period, and the ‘Right of the Lord’ did not give us let’s do it”, but noted that this could be a legacy for the future.

Alexis Tsipras then referred to SYRIZA’s policies and commitments regarding the rights of the LGBTI+ community. “What we did was a lot and a little,” he said of the SYRIZA period. “We made a cohabitation agreement, defined our gender identity, and then we really ate a lot of firewood. It was then that Mitsotakis told Imittos about the alien,” he said characteristically and emphasized that “the time has come for this to happen, and we have committed ourselves to bring marriage and childbearing to same-sex couples.” Currently in Al. Tsipras was asked about D. Kutsumba’s position on this particular issue, who, when asked about the KKE’s negative position on the cohabitation agreement, replied that “we are also against marriage”. Mr Tsipras replied that “it has nothing to do with your personal choice, it has to do with the possibility given by the state to someone to choose not to marry, like me, who decided to enter into a cohabitation agreement, but I had the opportunity the opportunity to get married with a priest and best man in a church or town hall. The question is that the state should allow same-sex couples to have the same rights as other couples. It means equal rights, it means justice. That was the wrong answer from Mr. Koutsoubas,” Mr. Tsipras said, and finished with humor: “But it’s you…”.

Regarding pluralism in the news, Alexis Tsipras said that “The media has been used to this smearing of governments for 30 years and we have stopped it. We said, “We don’t like it.” As a result, they have a very negative attitude towards issues that should not be in relation to SYRIZA. It’s normal for the government to be unkind, but it’s normal for the media to be tough on all governments, not just us. Many people tell me: “They are aggressive towards you when you give an interview.” But that’s the way it should be. The problem is different. He should go and say how good he is and if he eats dolmades.”

Regarding the confrontation between the private and the public and the hitherto prevailing notion that the private is better, Mr Tsipras observed that “this situation has slowly begun to change. The pandemic period played its part. The poor and the rich flocked to public hospitals. , if there were no states supporting the economy, it would collapse”, and added that “there is a shift away from the ideological hegemony of neoliberalism. Water cannot be exploited commercially. On the railway, it is impossible that services related to safety are not under state control.

Asked if nepotism exists in Greece, Mr Tsipras mockingly remarked that “Greece is not concerned. This applies to countries with a monarchy. We have princes here.

Mr. Tsipras then invited the young people to come and vote for what they want. “If a young person goes to the polls, the result will be different. If he stays at home, he will confirm what the media wants to convey to their target audience. If this audience leaves, the result will be different. If the public, informed through the Internet, goes, the result will be different. Let’s show by our voting that the power does not belong to those who have money to have powerful means, but the power belongs to the citizens,” he said characteristically and emphasized that “What will harm the establishment is the defeat of this government. This government will only be defeated if SYRIZA wins the elections.”

“The government cannot prove that this is good, and says: “OK, we are not good, we are not honest, but everyone is dishonest.” And nothing changes with politics.” Hey, we’re not all the same!” and emphasized: “We feel the problems of people and do our best to improve their lives,” he added.

Alexis Tsipras was asked about the music he listens to, and he stated that he prefers artistic Greek music, jazz and ethnic music. “I like Thanasis Papakonstantinou and Sokratis Malamas. When I was a teenager, I was crazy about Dire Straits. Then came the time when I listened to U2. My only son puts his ID on my phone and puts on different rappers that I don’t know.”

At the same time, he mentioned his love for cinema, for watching films on the Cinobo and Netflix platforms, while recalling that in the past there was a period when he visited the Thessaloniki Film Festival every October. About his activities in his spare time, Mr. Tsipras said that he usually plays basketball with children, goes to the theater and cinema, sometimes to the stadium, in the company of friends, goes winter swimming.

Finally, the leader of the official opposition urged citizens on their way to the May 21 elections “not to believe anything they see because someone will decide the outcome and go to provocations. This is a crucial election contest and the vote will not be weakened as they decide who will rule the next day.” At the same time, he urged citizens to “let our lives take a different turn, because we have lived these 4 years very hard, mainly because there were elections that greatly expanded inequality and injustice.”