Antonis Saoulidis, a member before the recent congress of the party’s Central Committee and Political Council, announced his resignation as a member of PASOK this morning.

In his letter he notes that his resignation comes “not out of weakness but out of consistency”, leaving clear criticism of the PASOK leadership under Nikos Androulakis. As he writes “the current leadership has chosen a path that does not allow me to remain silent without undoing what I have served” while in another part of his letter he says “unfortunately, our Movement has been trapped in a mode that does not tolerate a clear opinion, the proposal of a different strategy and clear words” denouncing “practices that limit and ultimately cancel the inner-party wealth and pluralism”.

Specifically, on the leadership, he stresses that it “treats the new with fear and dissent as a threat” and therefore “cannot inspire change or lead to political upheaval.”

To the members, friends and leadership of PASOK,

There are decisions that are dictated not only by logic, but by the course of a whole life. For me, PASOK has never been just a political institution; it has been a place of reference, participation and the formation of my political identity. From my first steps, on the streets and in the organisations, I have walked with the values of a party that taught that you first listen to society and then address it.

Today, with deep emotion and full awareness of my responsibility, I tender my resignation as a member of PASOK. I do not apologise. My journey has been public and my contribution has been judged in practice – in the popular neighbourhoods, where politics meets everyday life and survival.

I grew up with a PASC that was big, open and majoritarian. From my student years to my professional career, from my first steps to the moment I became a father, I was there. I remained in its ranks when leaving was the easy option.

Today, however, I am retiring. Not out of weakness, but out of consistency. The current leadership has chosen a path that does not allow me to remain silent without undoing what I have served. Those who know me can understand the weight of this decision on my conscience, but above all on my heart. It is perhaps easy to leave a job or a social circle. It is certainly much harder to leave your home.

Unfortunately, our Movement has become locked into a mode that does not tolerate clear opinion, proposing a different strategy and clear words. Instead of an arrangement of forces that would utilize all the strengths to make PASOK a party of hope and perspective for Greek society again, practices prevail that limit and ultimately nullify intra-party wealth and pluralism.

A leadership that treats the new with fear and dissent as a threat cannot inspire change or lead to political subversion.

My concern has been and remains the Party – and for me, Party means its people. Those whom our founder, Andreas Papandreou, called “the underprivileged.”

* This is the world of Western Thessaloniki – where I grew up, live and raise my own family.

* It is the middle classes that are being squeezed daily by the policies of the New Democracy that widen inequalities; the neighborhoods of Thessaloniki that are being left behind, trapped in a perpetual lag.

* It is the people who are not “comfortable” and cannot afford to wait; who cannot wait for when and if conditions will mature over the course of four years.

* They are all those who demand another Greece: a country that does not leave them on the sidelines, but includes them equally.

These people measure survival day by day, week by week. That is why we cannot afford to be idle in the face of historical and political time. Society is being tested today, and a PAP without forward momentum, without a bold power project, is reduced to the role of an extra.

I will not abandon our ideas and values. I am leaving a mechanism that has ceased to serve them.

So to all of you who have marched together for decades, to my friends and colleagues, I want to make a promise: We will meet again. It is certain, because we belong to the same faction of people who, in every generation, are on the same bank of history. We are not divided. We serve the same destiny. I choose to continue the journey without the constraints of a place that today cannot bear the truth.

I remain politically active with my soul anchored in our neighborhoods and my commitment to a just society stronger than ever.

With honor and race greetings,

Antonis Saoulidis