Committee for a Radical Left Rally

Committee for a Radical Left Rally Επιτροπή για μια Ριζοσπαστική Αριστερή Συσπείρωση
Leader	Collective leadership
Founded	October 2011
Headquarters	Nicosia, Cyprus
Ideology	Communism Eco-socialism Anti-capitalism Anti-fascism
Political position	Far-left
Website
http://erascy.blogspot.gr/
Politics of Cyprus Political parties Elections

ERAS, (Committee for a Radical Left Rally, Επιτροπή για μια Ριζοσπαστική Αριστερή Συσπείρωση) is a far-left organisation in the Republic of Cyprus. It was founded in 2011 by extreme-left communist activists in an attempt to organize the people of the radical left in Cyprus.

Political Views

ERAS is a communist political party ideologically. It claims to hold a strong position in favor of the welfare state and supports the permanent nationalization of the banking sector. It supports the reduction of Defense expenses and the duration of conscription in the National Guard. It holds a strong anti-austerity position concerning the austerity measures agreed upon between the Troika and the government of Cyprus. It chose not to support any candidate in the 2013 presidential elections, stating that "within the current conditions, we should have had our own candidate in order to strongly express the ideas and strength of the radical left" but that "since ERAS is a recently founded committee, we deemed that we do not have at the moment the organisational capacity or the resources to undergo an electoral campaign". The Committee also stated that the AKEL-backed candidate, Stavros Malas, does not "guarantee in any way the defense of the interests of the people and the working class and promotes the delusion that it is possible in the conditions of this crisis to retain the social interest without opposition to the central decisions of the bourgeoisie."

ERAS has also stated support for the abolition of benefits of high-ranking state officials, the right to abortion, the decriminalization of cannabis and the right of civil partnership recognition for gay couples.

Activities

Members of ERAS outside of the House of Representatives in Nicosia

On the 8th of November 2012, ERAS organised the first protest against austerity and the Troika negotiations that were still taking place. Protesters were gathered outside the House of Representatives holding banners and shouting slogans against austerity. Leaflets with alternative proposals for the economy were distributed in the protest, with proposals including the nationalization of banking, the reduction of the army and the freezing of the army budget, and the increase of the corporate tax. Members of the New Internationalist Left (NEDA) also participated in the protest. On the 11th of January, 2013, members of ERAS organised a protest outside the hotel that hosted the meeting of the European People's Party in Cyprus. The protesters shouted against neo-liberalism, capitalism and the memorandum, while some of them wore masks with the faces of various European leaders.