In many ways, this weekend's Greek general election transcends Greece and concerns Europe as a whole.
Over the last five years the working people of Greece - including the vast army of unemployed - were the target of a premeditated impoverishing assault under the label of 'austerity', planned by the so-called 'Troika' of the European commission, ECB and IMF.
The troika programme has been implemented by a Greek government comprised of the same political forces - Pasok and New Democracy - that have been in power since 1974 and which have led the country to over-indebtedness and the loss of its creditworthiness in 2010.
This programme is a huge social and political experiment, where Greece's over-indebtedness is really only the means through which the impoverishment of the great majority of the population and the further enrichment of the few are presented and dominated by Tina (There Is No Alternative) ideology.
Characteristically, the richest one-tenth of the population increased its share of the total national wealth from 48 per cent in 2007 to 57 per cent in 2013, while the richest one fifth of the population had 5.8 times more income than the poorest fifth in the pre-troika era, and 6.6 times more in 2013.
"The reality is that austerity is not an adequate method in fighting against excessive public debt"
All this can be attributed to the slashing of social spending (state expenditure on health and education went down by 44 per cent and 39 per cent respectively), together with legislative measures which were adopted after the troika's demands that saw Greece dump the minimum wage below subsistence levels.
The reality is that austerity is not an adequate method in fighting against excessive public debt.
On the contrary, austerity measures have contributed to a rise of public debt in Greece (from 126.8 per cent of GDP towards the end of 2009 to 174.9 per cent at the end of 2014) as well as overall in the Eurozone, where it was implemented in a milder fashion - from 83 per cent of EU member states in 2010 to almost 95 per cent in 2014.
Austerity is rather a means of reverse social redistribution or negative action from the 'have-nots' to the 'haves', so that Europe can become 'competitive' in the long term against China and other social dumping actors on a global scale.
If Europe's elites seriously want to fight excessive public debt, they could choose from among many methods of debt restructuring, open in principle to all member states, which have already been proposed by numerous economists.
"Austerity is rather a means of reverse social redistribution or negative action from the 'have-nots' to the 'haves'".
Reducing public debt through monetary means is also the only way to save the Eurozone because endless austerity will at some point become politically impossible - at least if we take it for granted that Pinochet-like methods are to be excluded.
Even Germany, with a public debt/GDP ratio of 77 per cent in 2013, from 64 per cent of 2008 - considerably higher than the supposed Maastricht limit of 60 per cent - would quickly become insolvent if it were subjected to an austerity programme 'à la Grecque'.
Therefore, a Syriza victory in the Greek elections would be a strong signal that a change is coming in European politics.