There has been a sober sense of determination on the streets of Athens this week, culminating on Friday at the Syntagma rally. Four years after the “indignants” occupied the square, an estimated one hundred thousand gathered again to reaffirm their opposition to austerity and authoritarianism. Crowds poured in from the metro shouting “no,” cheering on the government, and frightening a Yes bloc already on edge.

The class spread of the vote has become increasingly stark. Elites fear unstable conditions and the sort of confrontation with popular forces they thought could be avoided in the early days of the Syriza administration. The poor feel they have little left to lose, or at least that too much has been lost. And what remains of a firmly professional middle class is recycling an assortment of myths about Russians building bases on Greek isles and assertions that life is better with the Europeans than our Eastern neighbors, even if that life means an extension of policies they know do not work.

While reporters are being sent to bombard pensioners in ATM lines, militants are leafletting their neighborhoods, schools, and outside workplaces. Some have gone as early as 5 AM to meet workers as they head into the docks and factories, seeking to fill an urgent void created by political decisions like the Communist Party’s abstention from the vote. Meanwhile, rallies and concerts and television appearances are filling the gap of a more central platform, whose absence remained noticeable amid the Syriza leadership’s various wavering moves earlier last week.