Who says Britain doesn’t have political prisoners?
British prisoner Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, is standing trial at the Old Bailey this week. He faces deportation to the US and a 175-year sentence, much of it in solitary confinement.
If he is deported, he will be tried before a secretly prepared court in eastern Virginia. This US court is close to the Pentagon and CIA headquarters, which means the jury will be drawn overwhelmingly from members of the American military and espionage community.
Currently in Belmarsh maximum-security prison without trial, Assange has already been deprived of his liberty for over nine years
The US has charged Julian Assange with unspecified offences — but this charge only came to light because of an inadvertent “copy and paste error” by the American justice department. The case was supposed to have been kept secret, because the US feared the “sophistication of the defendant”.
His ‘crime’, in the eyes of the US, is exposing war crimes, such as the cold-blooded killing of Iraqi civilians by helicopter gunship, captured on film.
152 lawyers and 15 legal associations have signed an open letter demanding Assange’s “right to a fair trial before the UK courts”. The signatories include the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and the Association of American Lawyers. The lawyers say: “Mr. Assange has been denied time and facilities to prepare his defence in violation of the principle of equality of arms which is inherent to the presumption of innocence and the rule of law.”
The ex-National President of the Australian Lawyers Alliance said: “One of the most dangerous features of the Assange case is the idea that the US can seek to extradite any person, anywhere in the world, if they upset US interests. This extraterritorial reach is contrary to the rule of law and a dangerous attempt to undermine freedom of speech, a right all of us should cherish.”
The NUJ, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Frontiers, PEN and many other NGOs have called for the extradition proceedings to be halted immediately and for Assange to be released.
Presiding British judge Vanessa Baraitser’s record of extradition in deportation cases is 96%. She has consistently refused to address Assange’s mistreatment in Belmarsh — where he has been handcuffed multiple times, moved cells, and frequently strip-searched. She refused Assange’s request for emergency bail during the lockdown, and isolated him from his lawyers in court.
At the Old Bailey this week, NGOs have been denied access to the court, as has the executive director of WikiLeaks, Kristinn Hraffsson
Vanessa Baraitser is overseen by the Chief Magistrate and Senior District Judge for England and Wales, Lady Emma Arbuthnot, who previously presided over the case herself. During that period, Lady Arbuthnot rejected the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention’s condemnation of Assange’s virtual imprisonment in the Ecuadorian embassy, where he took refuge.
Arbuthnot also dismissed Assange’s request to have his charges for skipping bail dropped – charges based on an allegation of rape, which Sweden dropped for lack of evidence.
This rape allegation, designed to damage Assange’s reputation, was never actually lodged by the Swedish woman in question. She did not accuse Assange of rape, but her testimony was later doctored by the Swedish police without her involvement. According to UN Special Rapporteur, Nils Melzer, the Swedish police constructed the rape story.
Arbuthnot’s husband is Lord James Arbuthnot, an ex-Tory defence minister. He sat on the political council of the hard right Henry Jackson Society, and currently hosts and chairs events for the Society at the House of Lords. This summer the Society invited Mike Pompeo — who deems WikiLeaks a “hostile intelligence service” — to speak at its meeting in London. It also boasts Priti Patel, who will sign Assange’s extradition if the court rules against him, as one of its former political council members.
The Henry Jackson Society has issued several strongly anti-Assange statements. In 2016, it claimed he had “a long track record of stealing and distributing information, peddling conspiracy theories, and casting aspersions on the moral standing of western democratic governments.”
Former associate director, Douglas Murray, said WikiLeaks “illegally obtained, or stole as we used to call it, a whole set of government documents and published them with consequences which are still not fully understood… I think Mr Assange has been bonkers and paranoid for years, it’s part of his alleged political makeup, and indeed I would allege that of many of his supporters.”
Without mentioning her husband’s connection with the Henry Jackson Society, Lady Arbuthnot stepped aside from hearing Assange’s case herself because of a “perception of bias”, though she didn’t declare a conflict of interest in the case and hasn’t formally recused herself.
Not content with its own kangaroo court, the British establishment is now blocking critical reporting of its record of corruption and lies.
Declassified UK, a news website which has actively exposed the mistreatment of Assange, has been blacklisted by the Ministry of Defence and refused access to information for holding the government to account.
“All journalists and media organisations should be concerned about the MoD’s boycott of Declassified,” said its editor, Mark Curtis. “The MoD is sending a message — if you criticise us, we might blacklist you. If a public body demands that independent journalists be compliant to its wishes, it doesn’t believe in a free media at all. That is an exceedingly worrying sign and a major blow to journalism in the public interest.”
The blacklisting of Declassified UK has been criticised by the International Press Institute and the Council of Europe. Declassified UK is supported by the National Union of Journalists and Index on Censorship.
The Assange case and the Declassified blacklisting are part of the same clampdown on media reporting. First they came for WikiLeaks, Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, then they came for Declassified UK. If Assange is deported, who will be next for ‘legal’ rendition to the US?
Simon Korner is a professor and writer for the Socialist Correspondent.
Check out the Socialist Correspondent Facebook page.
Read more about Julian Assange as ‘public enemy number one’.
Hunger strikes in Turkey as lawyers are prosecuted under anti-terrorism laws
Ms Ebru Timtik, who died after hunger strike on 28 August, and Mr Aytaç Ünsal, are both members of the People’s Law Association who acted in many community cases.
This included that of the Soma mining disaster — an industrial accident in which 301 miners died — and that of Berkin Elvan, a 14-year-old Kurdish boy who lost his life after being shot on his head with a tear gas canister fired by police during the 2013 Gezi Park protests in Istanbul.
Timtik and Ünsal were accused of being part of a terrorist organisation along with other lawyers, under Turkey’s sweeping anti-terrorism laws which are increasingly used on public prosecutors.
The judiciary accused them of being engaged in defense of leftist activists and supporting the Marxist-Leninist organisation Dhkp-c, classified as “terrorist”.
Timtik was sentenced to 13-and-a-half years in prison and fellow hunger striker Ünsal was jailed for 10 years following a deeply flawed and highly politicised trial in March 2019. They demanded a fair trial, maintaining that their convictions were based on evidence supplied by anonymous witnesses and an unreliable state informant. The defense lawyers stated that they are on the side of the oppressed class, which is subjected to injustice. They claimed that the convictions were a farce of justice under political pressure.
In July, Ünsal and Timtik had been forcibly transferred to several hospitals, whilst remaining in detention conditions.
Aytaç Ünsal was asked to be released with a letter sent from the 16th Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals to the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. On 3 September, The 16th Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals decided to stop the execution until their recovery in accordance with Article 16/2 of the Law no.5275. It was understood that 32-year-old Ünsal’s stay in prison conditions would be life-threatening, and that if he was not convicted or detained for other crimes, he should write a letter to ensure his immediate release.
The lawyer Aytaç Ünsal, who was released under strict law conditions said, “It was done by all of you, with your love and ownership. I love you all. We will win.”
After Timtik’s death, now the judges ruled that Ünsal should be “released immediately” in light of the “danger that being in prison poses to his life”.
Ebru Timtik
This rule regrettably was not effective for Timtik. Noticeable is that the decision of the Supreme Court came in conjunction with the President of the European Court of Human Rights Robert Spano’s visit to Turkey. He was also criticised for being insensitive to human rights violations in Turkey.
Details of the Proceedings.
The impartiality and independence of the proceedings has been rigorously questioned by lawyers and the public throughout these months. The judges who primarily ordered the release of the Timtik and Ünsal from pre- trial detention were removed from the case, and the released lawyers were re-arrested. Witness identities were kept anonymous and they testified remotely by video, their identity is unknown; so that this also prevented the defense from being able to effectively examine the witnesses. After challenging the Chief Justice on the grounds of lack of impartiality, the lawyers’ requests for recusal of the bench were repeatedly rejected by the court, and their unjust treatment continued.
International Opinion.
After the death of Ebru Timtik, many mobilised in solidarity for her cause. The death of Ebru Timtik has aroused strong indignation and emotion in Turkey and abroad, with accusations against the ruling power of having ignored to the extreme the demands of the peaceful protest of the lawyers, who denounced political convictions and demanded a review of their cases.
DiEM25 Turkey members also participated in these protests with online announcements.
However, the political conditions in Turkey prevented people from taking more effective actions. Unfortunately, even the opposition parties could not make the necessary interventions. The political agenda and the repressive regime prevent a positive resolution of such injustice.
Declarations to denounce the injustice from international institutions.
The Dutch League for Human Rights, Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe European Bars Federation, European Bars Federation Human Rights Commission, Avocat.e.s Européennes Démocrates / European Democratic Lawyers,The Defence of the Defence Commission of the Barcelona Bar Association International Association of Democratic Lawyers, Lyon Bar Association Asociación Americana de Juristas, Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada, The International Legal Intervention Group, Confederation of Lawyers of Asia and the Pacific Nepal Lawyers Association, European Criminal Bar Association, Norwegian Bar Association, European Association of Lawyers, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, The Hellenic Union of Progressive Lawyers, European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights, Rotterdam Bar Association ,Arab Lawyers Association, Defense Sans Frontiere-Avocats Solidaires (DSF-AS) Osservatorio UCPI Avvocati Minacciati
In memoriam:
In April 2020 three members of Group Yorum, the famous activist music group, Helin Bölek, Mustafa Koçak and İbrahim Gökçek died after hunger strikes.
Beral Madra is a member of DiEM25’s Coordinating Collective.
Photo Sources: Ahval and ANFNEWS.
Everything Must Change! The World After COVID-19
DiEM25 TV : a radically hopeful and constructive Television programme — has brought you fascinating talks during the coronavirus crisis. Now you can read Everything Must Change!
Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, we’ve featured greats such as Noam Chomsky, Saskia Sassen, Slavoj Žižek, Astra Taylor, Brian Eno, Stefania Maurizi and Gael García Bernal live on our Youtube channel. And you’ve been able to discuss issues like corona-neo-fascism, love, hope and humour in times of coronavirus, as well as the EU’s abject failure to deal with this crisis.
Everything Must Change! brings together these prominent commentators from around the world to present a rich and nuanced weighing of progressive possibilities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In these pages you’ll encounter influential voices across the left, ranging from Roger Waters to Noam Chomsky, Slavoj Žižek to Saskia Sassen. Gael García Bernal, Brian Eno, and Larry Charles examine the pandemic’s more cultural and artistic consequences, touching on topics of love, play, comedy, dreaming, and time. Their words sit alongside analyses of the paradoxes and possibilities of debt, internationalism, and solidarity by Astra Taylor, David Graeber, Vijay Prashad, and Stephanie Kelton.
Burgeoning surveillance and control measures in the name of public health are a concern for many of the contributors here, including Shoshana Zuboff and Evgeny Morozov, as are the opportunities presented by the crisis for exploitation by financiers, technocrats, and the far right.
Against a return to the normal and, indeed, the notion that there ever was such a thing, these conversations insist that urgent, systemic change is needed to tackle not only the pandemics arising from the human destruction of nature, but also the ceaseless debilitations of contemporary global capitalism.
Read an excerpt and purchase the book here!
You can discover and/or revisit our DiEMTV videos on Youtube. They include:
Interviews and talks with prominent thinkers of our time
‘Another Now’ Series hosted by Yanis Varoufakis
‘The Virus Mythologies’ Series hosted by Srećko Horvat
Last Month in DiEM25: August 2020
External Actions
This month:
Several DiEM25 National Collectives, including in France, Belgium, Germany, and Luxembourg, have worked towards a European Rent Action, preparing a set of EU-wide demands ‘Free low-income Europeans from rent burden’ during COVID-19. Coordinated demonstrations on the rent issue and its relevance during the COVID-19 crisis will take place in September.
DiEM25 Belgium sent a petition to ‘Bailout the Tenants!’ to La chambre des représentants (the chambre of representatives), which you can find and sign here.
Held the opening of the “We Are Millions” exhibition in multiple cities such as Leipzig and Frankfurt, which sheds light on the Julian Assange Case.
DiEM25’s newly formed Turkish PNC launched the second issue of their monthly review on Turkey’s social, economic, and cultural state of affairs.
In Greece, the political forces (Nea Dimokratia, KINAL, SYRIZA) that have bent a knee to the EU’s policies of debt-colonialism are investing in re-writing the past, to expunge themselves of any blame for the disastrous state of the country: the so-called Pissaridis Essay. MeRA25 meticulously analysed and deconstructed the latest report by the government, showing that the analysis is seriously flawed and is driven by propaganda rather than academic rigorousness. The summary of MeRA25’s conclusion can be found here, and the full critique of the report here (in Greek).
Bulgarians have been on the streets for more that a month, demanding their government to resign. Members of DiEM25’s Sofia1 DSC sat down with Nikolay Hadjigenov and Arman Babikyan from the “Poisoning Trio”, widely considered the initiators and coordinators of the anti-totalitarian and pro-democratic protests of 2020 in Bulgaria, for an exclusive interview on the Bulgarian protests.
Internal Actions
This month we:
The DiEM25 membership elected six new members of the Coordinating Collective! Welcome Fotini Bakadima, Jordi Ayala Roqueta, Julijana Zita, Patrizia Pozzo, Rosemary Bechler, and Beral Madra to the CC.
Built on our citizen engagement campaign that sets out to build national programmes in collaboration with Europeans for DiEM25! We have received the input from close to 600 DiEMers from across Europe which will be the foundation for the questionnaire we will use to inspire citizens to start building a new world with us. We are aiming to be ready to start organising meetings as of October!
Next Month in DiEM25: September!
The Progressive International (PI) announced its inaugural summit taking place 18-20 September! Since May, the PI’s coalition has grown to include unions, parties, and movements that represent millions of people around the world such as the National Alliance of People’s Movements in India, and the Congreso de los Pueblos in Colombia. This emergency summit will include a panel discussion between Yanis Varoufakis, Vijay Prashad, Ece Temelkuran, Nick Estes, and Lyn Ossome, and host speakers Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, amongst others. We hope you will join us! As you wait for the summit, you can also become a member and donate to support the PI’s efforts. Follow them on Twitter here!
We will continue developing our citizen engagement campaign in line with our working plan. If you have already registered to be a volunteer for the project to develop national programmes for DiEM25, get ready — we will contact you soon!
Join our Rent-volution campaign’s first wave of demonstrations!
- 13 September in Belgium, as part of the Housing Bloc of the demonstration led by La santé en lutte
- 17 September in France led by CGT
- 26 September in Luxemburg led by DiEM25 Luxemburg in coalition with its allies
Stay tuned and keep an eye on the announcements of the new series of Movement Coordination Calls! If you have joined DiEM25 in the last three months you can expect an invitation for the teleconference where we will get to know each other and the way DiEM25 operates.
If you wish to send a point to be included in the next newsletter, or want to help to draft it, please contact us at [email protected].
Yanis Varoufakis on COVID-19, Brexit, and Austerity
The Oxford Political Review interviews Yanis Varoufakis.
The Oxford Political Review (OPR) Editor-in-Chief Brian Wong and Managing Editor Nicholas Leah interviews Professor Yanis Varoufakis. They discuss COVID-19, Brexit, the Eurozone, Austerity, Greek/European politics and Professor Varoufakis’s new book.
Highlights
US and China: Is there a new cold war or is this an overblown hysteria about a natural decoupling between the two largest economies of the world? How will November change things up should Biden be elected?
“The expectation that a Biden victory is going to change things significantly is over-exaggerated. Trump has changed international politics, especially the relations between US and the rest of the world in ways that are in many senses irreversible. From my perspective, what’s happening in the US and China, is a culmination of a class war within China and (…) the US.”
“We’ve reached a situation where the level of public investment in China which has been responsible for floating capitalism globally. (…) working class incomes shrunk as a percentage of national income in China. So you have gigantic growth, an increase in the wealth of the very very few, speculation giving rise to very large rents for the very few in China, therefore an economic model which is based on a relationship with the US where so that China can sustain global capitalism (…) China must be the one that effectively buys into the increasing the public debt of America and at the same time that it is the workshop of companies like Apple so that this thing holds together. At the same time (…) following the implosion of wall street, you had a kind of socialism for the finances.”
Brexit: The UK is now beyond the point where it can extend the transition period, so where does the UK go from here?
“I opposed Brexit, I campaigned against Brexit (…) My remain position was weird in the sense that I was never a cheerleader for Brussels in the EU. My argument was a pragmatic one given that you spent 45 years in the EU, you might as well stay and clash with the Brussels establishment.”
“There’s been developments that have made me rethink my position (…) even after Brexit I was arguing in favor of a Norway plus solution, because of companies like Nissan — my belief was, the moment you have interruptions in the supply chains with checks in Dover, companies like Nissan would immediately divest (…) I was proven wrong. Nissan made the opposite decision. It divested from Romania and Barcelona and from France and has announced massive investment in Newcastle.”
“Even though I was one of those people that predicted that the disruption in trade would be significant and unnecessary from a No Deal agreement, well now that we have COVID-19 two things have happened. Firstly, we’ve already had a huge hit so whatever Brexit does to make things worse is going to be a tiny speck of insignificance compared to what COVID-19 has done to trade and production and to output and to income and to wage and to profits, and so on.”
“I think there is only one thing at issue here in the negotiations between London and Brussels — competition policy; the right of the UK government to sustain and to support local industries. (…) The real issue is the capacity of the government to design an effective industrial policy to support the technologies of the future within Britain and to negotiation with the EU a deal regarding those and not dumping when it comes to labor standards, environmental standards, you know, just straightforward state aid.”
Eurozone: Was the Eurozone ever a sustainable construct? Your forecast for the break up the eurozone?
“It could have been made sustainable, from the beginning, it could have been made sustainable at any point if it added that which has been missing. I’m not against the idea of a common currency — I’m against the idea of a common currency that does not have the inbuilt shock absorbers and institutions which are necessary in order to make it a realm of shared prosperity. The main thing that’s missing in the Eurozone is what I call a Surplus Recycling Mechanism.”
“COVID-19 has the effect of putting all of these discussions on hold — for a very simple reason, the German economy collapsed as well (…) The problem is that the European authorities are not using this time in order to build a system that can be politically resilient. In the end, this is a political decision. (…) The question is political: when will the german political class pull the plug from the European Central Bank (ECB)?”
“The feeling that I get when I’m in Germany these days and I talk to bankers, financiers, industrialists, trade unionists, people on the street, it reminds me distinctly of Britain in 1992; because 1992 was the moment when euroscepticism set in. The roots of Brexit are then, 1991, 1992, with the collapse of the european exchange rate mechanism and thatcher’s opposition to the ECB. The same kind of mumblings that I started hearing in 1992 in Britain I started to hear in Germany.”
Austerity: Why do you think that austerity was or indeed is seen as so appealing by the national governments of Europe? Are you worried that with mounting debt, national governments will turn to the methods of austerity?
“The European governments are doing that because it’s something they have done so often before, it’s the path of least resistance (…) I’m a leftist so normally, under normal circumstances I would very much like to see corporate tax go up, I would very much like to see corporations paying it, not just in theory having a high corporate tax. But I’m not in favor of an increase in any kind of tax now in the UK. Why? It’s the wrong signal in this kind of depression.”
“Capitalism is no longer what it used to be (…) What is fascinating at the moment is that you have the highest level of share prices and lowest level of dividends. Have you noticed that? So profitability is negative, profits are on the floor and share prices are on the ceiling. That’s why I’m saying this is a very weird moment. Taxation is a taxation of dividends. From a left wing point of view what you want to do during the good times is tax profits, but there are no profits in most areas of the economy except Google and Amazon (…) We have the greatest amount of liquidity in the history of capitalism which is being wasted, it’s not going into investment. So before you support any kind of policy whether it is taxation or whatever, ask yourself a basic question: is it going to increase investment in good stuff, good quality jobs (…) I don’t think that reducing taxes or announcing that you are going to an austerity mode is going to do anything to turn this liquidity bubble into an investment drive.”
Julian Assange Exhibition #WeAreMillions
On September 5th we will hold a vigil in Bornheim Mitte during the day and a panel discussion with supporters in the evening at KVFM – Kunstverein Familie Montez e.V.
From September 1st to 14th, another photo exhibition on Julian Assange and freedom of the press will take place together with the Courage Foundation at KVFM – Kunstverein Familie Montez e.V., Honsellbrücke am Hafenpark, Honsellstraße 7, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, to draw attention to the possible extradition of Julian Assange to the USA.
Assange is currently suffering psychological torture contrary to human rights and the entire charge against this journalist is a danger and a restriction of press freedom.
Famous representatives from politics and the arts (Ai Weiwei, Srećko Horvat, Yanis Varoufakis, Pamela Anderson, Vivienne Westwood, M.I.A. etc.) repeatedly stand up behind the founder of Wikileaks, who is currently being held in London’s high security prison Belmarsh. After the first hearings in February and most recently events in London, Bergen, Copenhagen, Geneva, Berlin and Leipzig, we will now also publicly draw attention in Frankfurt am Main to the human rights-violating situation of the journalist, activist and founder of WikiLeaks.
The exhibition will show supporters* holding signs to express simply and clearly why they stand up for Julian Assange, whom the USA wants to punish for publishing hundreds of thousands of diplomatic and military documents in 2010.
The next hearing in the process of extraditing Julian Assange to the USA will take place in London on September 7th. His revelations have uncovered war crimes against countless civilian victims, rampant corruption and abuse.
The Trump administration has brought 17 charges of espionage against Assange, the first charge against a journalist facing life imprisonment. The entire charge against this journalist is a threat and restriction of press freedom.
Program:
11 am – 14 pm: Vigil with performance, Bornheim Mitte
7 pm – 8 pm: Opening and photo portrait shootings, Kunstverein Montez
8 pm – 9 pm: Performance, panel discussion, video installation, Q&A
With: Andrej Hunko, member of parliament for Die Linke and many more
Moderation: Claudia Trapp, Press DiEM25
Check our events calendar to RSVP!
News from Turkey: Disputes over oil and gas, unemployment, and a bleaker economy
The Provisional National Collective in Turkey is pleased to inform DiEM25 members with the second issue of a monthly review on Turkey’s social, economic, and cultural state of affairs.
The economy in Turkey is not only under the strain of the COVID-19 pandemic but also under the pressure of foreign policy and lasting structural problems.
Political tensions are prevalent with Moscow over Syria & Libya and irritable relations with Washington related to the purchase of Russian S-400 missile systems. Also, strains with Europe over migration and ongoing refugee flow is still ongoing.
Disputes over the oil and gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean waters have developed into a stubborn conflict among Greece, Egypt, and Turkey. Most recently, a Turkish drilling ship has discovered a new natural gas resource in the Black Sea. This might lead to new political agreements or disagreements among Turkey, Russia, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, and Ukraine.
The economy looks bleaker.
Turkey’s Lira, after a few months of relative stability, has reached 7.4 per US Dollar and 8.8 per Euro as historical record lows. Central Banks’s Monetary Policy Committee responded by keeping the policy rate (a.k.a. the one-week repo rate) constant at 8.25%, holding it unchanged for the third straight month. In a sense, Turkey seems to settle for a controlled devaluation of Lira, as implied by Finance Minister Berat Albayrak — who is also President Erdoğan’s son-in-law. So far, following Erdoğan’s direct and indirect interferences, the Central Bank has always been reluctant to increase the policy rate in order to favor the partisan construction capitalists’ investment projects to spur economic growth.
The more pressing issue is the foreign currency reserves of Turkey’s Central Bank, which has been going downhill since 2014. Recently, IMF Global Financial Stability Update showed that Turkey’s Central Bank’s reserves are below the critical limit to cover its short-term liabilities. This could, eventually, lead to insolvencies for some banks in the financial sector. The government has been trying to overcome the tightness by signing swap agreements, maybe saving the day but making the future more bleak. As a matter of fact, Fitch revised outlook on Turkey to negative, at BB-.
The official unemployment rate masks the actual one.
Unemployment rate in April is declared to be just below 13%, surprisingly, lower than it was in April last year. This is due to a government-introduced program called the “short-term employment allowance,” which lets companies temporarily lay off their workers, who are partially compensated by the program.
These workers are not officially counted as unemployed. Hence, the official unemployment rate masks the actual one. According to DISK (Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey), the broad unemployment rate is almost 30%, or 10 million people.
As of July, 2020; hunger limit of a family of four is around 290 Euro, poverty limit 940; kitchen inflation decreased 1% monthly, but increased 16% annually; minimum wage is around 280 Euro, whereas monthly living cost of an employee is 350 Euro. These figures show that the overall living standard in Turkey is not satisfactory at all. As Lira continues to lose value, the purchasing power decreases.
The government either employs palliative measures or ignores the economic problems.
The rich, especially the ones closer to Erdoğan’s circle, are getting richer by winning all the public construction tenders. These projects are financed by cheap credit from state banks and backed by high traffic and revenue guarantees end up operating under the presumed capacity and the gap is paid by the government.
This, basically, is a redistribution from the people to the few at the top. In other words, socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor…
Anıl Aba on behalf of DiEM25 PNC in Turkey
September 2020
Read Issue I of the monthly review here!
Image Source: Daily Sabah
The results are in: here’s who was elected to lead our movement
DiEM25 members from across Europe and beyond have voted, and our renewed Coordinating Collective (CC) has emerged!
Six posts in DiEM25’s Coordinating Collective were up for elections in August 2020. You can see the full results in the member’s area here. Meet the women (5) and men (1) that have been chosen by DiEM25 members to guide our movement in the months ahead!
These successful candidates all articulate the importance of our movement in today’s pressing context — in which we can not only observe climate disasters but also man-made ones issued of corruption and greed, as well as a creeping rise of fascism in Europe and across the globe.
Fotini Bakadima – 1557 (52%)
“I see DiEM25 as the only alternative for Europe and the only political movement that offers real answers and solutions to the real problems that oppress our lives. As the EU continues to disintegrate and Europe is in front of a decisive crossroad we have a huge fight in front of us and if we wish to succeed a lot of time and effort will be needed.”
“As member of the movement since its launch I have been an ex-officio member of the CC, dealing with logistical and administrative issues, an elected member of it recently, part of the PNC and then NC of Greece, member of the Political Secretariat and now elected Member of Parliament of MeRA25. I had the chance to organise various events all over Greece and dealt with all the administrative and logistical issues of DiEM Greece and help with our Greek EW’s campaigns for both elections, the EU and the national ones, being responsible for the formation of the candidates’ lists and helping with the organisation of all the events prior to elections and since July 2019, I am one of the nine MPs our Greek party has in Parliament.”
Jordi Ayala Roqueta – 1196 (39%)
“Europe is in a crossroads. The alternative cannot be the old neoliberal prescription that has brought our continent to increasing inequality, social rights cuts, and environmental crisis.”
“I have been around DiEM25 since the very beginning when I was invited to the talk about DiEM’s economic analysis and policy framework in the launching of the movement in 2016 in Berlin. It was extraordinary to gather together with so many activists and so much energy.
A year ago, I was elected as member of the Coordinating Collective during this difficult year. However, we succeeded to design a new road map for our movement. One of the important pieces I am proud to be helping to implement are the task forces on feminism, diversity and disability together with Simona Ferlini and Johannes Fehr and the different volunteers of our reach movement through an open debate.
Since 2015, after Ada Colau victory in the municipal elections, I have also been focused in Barcelona as the economic CEO of the City Council where we have been able to put into practice some of the policies DiEM25 defends in Europe like a progressive fiscal policy with strict fiscal fraud control and rising taxes to the wealthiest; the issue of the first local green and social bond in Spain and a new budget and financial policy based on complete transparency. We have also promoted the small and medium size enterprises especially including self-employment and the cooperative and social economy, opening the traditionally opaque public procurement. All these policies need to be applied in Europe and DiEM25 can be the tool.”
Julijana Zita – 1092 (36%)
“DSCs must become the democratic loudspeakers in their communities and introduce people to our vision: it is possible to speak locally, be heard and have an impact at a pan-European level! It is possible to be part of a programme that does not put the economy or imaginary borders first, but the true owners of democracy, the people!”
“I became an active member in May 2018 as part of the DSC Frankfurt, at a time when we were working on the founding assembly of DiEM25’s Electoral Wing in Germany. All tough I decided to join Diem25, because it was a movement and not a party, I figured that a party, with the spirit of Diem25 felt not at all, like joining a usual party and in June 2018 I spontaneously, also became a founding member of “Demokratie in Europa“ in Frankfurt and have been in the party’s board ever since.
Over the past two years, besides doing mandatory tasks, like administrative work or regular meetings, I have represented the movement’s German Electoral Wing in Warsaw, during the European Spring meeting, organised and coordinated two European Spring events, two member assemblies in Germany, and I also produced European Spring t-shirts, banners, flyers and stickers.
Apart from my work in the Electoral Wing, I am also helping out with many different tasks in the DiEM25 universe, like writing articles, researching, transcribing and translating, planning campaigns, and lending a helping hand whenever needed. At the moment I am also founding a new DSC, which I am very excited about.”
Patrizia Pozzo – 1022 (34%)
“We are living a historical turn, the world is in flames, and the European Union risks to be dissolved in its contradictions. Our mission to democratise Europe is needed more than ever, and I feel the need to help as much as I can to strengthen our movement, the first transnational political force, struggling against the return of nationalism and fascism.”
“I’ve been part of DiEM25 since 2016 and was involved with different tasks helping the growth of the movement. I built up Palermo 1 DSC, and I was then elected in the Italian PNC and NC where I have been working as press and media coordinator .
I devised and prepared a number of national level campaigns in Italy, bringing together political and cultural work and engaging our local DSCs and activists in co-creating and co-managing the campaigns.
I was also one of the coordinators of the GND Pillar 5.
This long standing work for DiEM25, together with my passion and proven enthusiasm for our movement, helps me to better understand our points of strength and the points where we still have to improve more.”
Rosemary Bechler – 1009 (33%)
“Building a pan-European democratising movement is a huge challenge, not least in Brexit Britain. But we have the interest of a lot of serious European democrats and if we continue to think for ourselves and learn from each other, I think there is a historic opening for DiEM25 even in the COVID era which is our new normal.”
“In my first term as a member of the DiEM25 CC, I gave my support to the formation of a electoral wing and began exploring the challenges of a party-movement. My own priority remains building the movement, which is why I became a ground organiser for DiEM25UK NC, building up groups, and holding online fora for new members.
When I left the CC a year ago, apart from NC obligations and co-editing with David Adler Our Vision for Europe, I focused on two components of deliberative democracy: promoting thematic DSC’s and raising the profile of citizens assemblies in the UK and more broadly in a successful motion to our Prague Assembly. Building a pan-European democratising movement is a huge challenge, not least in Brexit Britain. But we have the interest of a lot of serious European democrats and if we continue to think for ourselves and learn from each other, I think there is a historic opening for DiEM25 even in the COVID era which is our new normal.”
Beral Madra – 1009 (33%)
“I will use my experience and network in Turkey’s contemporary art scene to make DiEM25 a sustainable movement towards a real democracy and social capitalism.”
“I joined DiEM25 Istanbul in November 2019. Worked for the presentation of DiEM25 to various groups of people. Organised an online poster project for social media. Organised the presentation of DiEM25 Turkey in Tüyap Book and Art Fair. Worked for the Istanbul visit and conferences of Yanis Varoufakis and DiEM25 members. Applied for PNC membership and since than working with 12 members for a solid establishment.”
These newly elected members will be joining Yanis Varoufakis, Renata Ávila, Srećko Horvat, Erik Edman, Ivana Nenadovic, and Simona Ferlini on our 12-person CC.
Runner-up candidates
While the following candidates did not win election to the CC this time around, we thank them all for participating and hope they’ll continue working with us. DiEM25 needs you and your commitment to make our movement better!
Jochen (Joachim Hermann Leopold) Schult (32%), Manuel Leitlauf (32%), Julia May Moore (31%), Andrea Serra (29%), Angela Lacerda-Nobre (28%), Veralisa Massari (25%), Dolores Bajo Alonso (24%), Stefania Romano (21%), Arturo Desimone (18%), and Silvia Terribili (16%).
The power of grassroots
By making their voices heard in this pivotal internal democratic process, our members have sent a loud message to the status quo: at DiEM25 we really mean it when we say that we believe in grassroots power!
The DiEMers that ran for a seat in the CC represent the pan-European, grassroots essence of our movement: they are people from very different backgrounds and countries, and from across the political spectrum. These results showcase the movement’s continued commitment to feminism and its strong representation of women in leading roles.
All candidates stand together ready to fight for the movement we all believe in. No other political organisation can pride itself on this level of openness and inclusivity, at such an international scale.
Background to the vote
Following DiEM25’s Organising Principles (OPs), six of the twelve seats in the movement’s CC were up for renewal this summer. Candidates could send their submissions from July 7 until August 6, and the voting period was between August 13 and 28.
Candidacies to the CC were open to all DiEMers who adhered to basic criteria like how long they have been a member of the movement, and how much time they could give to working on the CC, among others.
To ensure transparency and a genuine democratic process, voting was open to members that joined the movement before the elections were announced. Additionally, members’ accounts needed to be verified and active, for them to be able to vote.
As with all DiEM25’s internal democratic procedures, all transnational votes had equal value and were anonymised upon being cast. Furthermore, the results of the vote are in line with our OP’s gender-balance principles.
Authoritarianism in Australia: right-wing politics in the antipodes
The anti-democratic incursions of right-wing politics gain traction under the cover of COVID-19
Australia is widely perceived as a liberal democratic and also egalitarian country. Yet erosions of democracy in the antipodes are occurring in an incremental yet rapid manner. As Elisabeth Åsbrink notes in Made in Sweden, a reputation for social democracy can obscure the undermining of democratic norms.
Australia has a federal and parliamentary system of government, and the two major political parties are ‘Liberal’ and ‘Labor’ respectively. In the Australian context, the Liberal Party is broadly regarded as conservative and centre-right and the Labor Party as progressive and centre-left. With its coalition partner the National Party — which represents a largely rural constituency — the Liberal Party was returned to federal office in 2019 on a slim policy platform which openly appealed to fears of what a ‘radical’ Labor government might entail.
A clear move to the political right now challenges the conventional reading of the Australian Liberal Party as centrist. Critics observe that ‘the Coalition hand victories directly to the far right whenever it is expedient to do so’. In a stark assessment, Jason Wilson says “the fact that, unlike Trump’s administration, the Coalition is generally regarded as a normal, mainstream conservative government, should be no comfort [and] should be a reminder of how far things can go under the guise of normalcy.”
In response to the coronavirus, the Federal Coalition has implemented a massive stimulus package to now unemployed workers, which is supported across party and ideological lines. As recently as a few months ago, such a measure would have been unthinkable by any government claiming conservative credentials. The advent of COVID-19 has signalled a degree of bipartisanship on the management of public health in Australia.
But the emergence of COVID-19 also deflects attention from rising authoritarianism across a number of areas. The pandemic has also increased the anti-democratic incursions of right-wing politics which were already visible.
The following authoritarian measures, policies, and events constitute only some of those which could be cited. Their cumulative impact — ‘under cover of coronavirus’ — risks receiving insufficient attention in terms of the challenges posed to the health of Australian democracy:
Prosecution of whistleblowers
Prominent cases include those of ‘Witness K’ (a former intelligence officer who disclosed the bugging by the Australian government of the government of Timor-Leste for the purpose of trade treaty advantage), Richard Boyle (a former debt collection officer who exposed recovery tactics by the Australian Taxation Office), and David McBride (a lawyer whose provision to the national broadcaster of documents regarding the conduct of Australian special forces in Afghanistan led to raids on the ABC by the Australian Federal Police).
In an extraordinary and unprecedented step, the lawyer of ‘Witness K’, former ACT Attorney General Bernard Collaery is also being prosecuted: “In all three cases, the whistleblowers went through the appropriate steps to raise their concerns internally within government, before frustration at inaction led them into going public.”
Closed trials of whistleblowers
The Commonwealth has intervened to require closed trials in key whistleblower cases. ‘National security’, as Chomsky has long argued, is often invoked to conceal abuses of government power. This costly exercise of government intrusion, through which members of the legal profession including a former judge have spoken out, has ‘caused controversy in a string of cases in recent years’.
Proposal of a new security bill which vastly increases the coercive questioning powers of Australia’s major security agency
Described by the President of the Law Council of Australia as ‘a highly extraordinary and unusual measure’, the proposed bill is likely to take effect on or before 7 September 2020. This is a timeframe which impedes parliamentary scrutiny of measures wide-ranging in their impact.
Media raids by the Australian Federal Police
Recent media raids by the Australian Federal Police (one of which was subsequently ruled to be unlawful) has led to concern that investigative journalism is being ‘put in [the] same category as criminality’. In combination with stringent budget cuts to the ABC which have occurred consistently under Liberal Federal Governments, these raids further erode the capacity of the public broadcaster to report on topics and events of national significance as a robust democracy requires.
Lack of advocacy in the case of Julian Assange
Despite the high stakes in so many regards, the silence of the Australian government in relation to the untenable situation of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange continues. Increasing intolerance of whistleblowers and longstanding bipartisan belief that the ‘security’ alliance with the United States is sacrosanct explains but does not excuse this shameful response regarding the literally tortuous treatment of Assange who is an Australian citizen. For the federal government Coalition of the ‘land down under’ — and notwithstanding the chilling implications for press freedom worldwide — there is literally ‘nothing to see’.
Ongoing coercive measures towards asylum-seekers already indefinitely detained in the name of national security in contravention of human rights treaties and active exposure of them to further risk in the age of COVID-19
The (mis)treatment of asylum-seekers, already draconian in the pre-COVID period, has reached calamitous proportions during the pandemic. Concerns over national security are used to deny humane policy to asylum seekers. This is even at a time of pandemic in which public health issues challenge conventional notions of what ‘security’ entails.
Non-compliance of the Minister of Home Affairs with a federal court ruling which places him at risk of contempt
The Minister for Home Affairs, Peter Dutton (a minister that heads a vastly expanded portfolio intersecting the Australian Security and Intelligence) may be guilty of contempt of court due to failure to administer the Migration Act “in accordance with law [and to] have deliberately decided to administer that legislation in a manner contrary to law”. The presiding judge in this case has said that “the stance of ‘the Minister’… makes a mockery of any concept of the Minister acting as a model litigant.”
Encroaching restrictions on personal freedoms which have differential impacts on groups within the community
Federal government encouragement of Australians to download a surveillance app for the purpose of reducing transmission of COVID-19 is one of many instances of such encroachment. The rationale for this particular measure is obvious. But as Australian Human Rights Commissioner Edward Santow notes in the context of policing, ‘such technologies… can unfairly disadvantage people based on attributes like their race or gender’.
Unlawful targeting of financially vulnerable citizens in the Robodebt scheme
Both targeting of vulnerable groups and misapplication of technology are apparent in the `Robodebt’ debacle. `Robodebt’ — an automated debt repayment system which generated debt notifications to vast numbers of Australians dependent on welfare support — damaged and destroyed many lives. Not only has it been found to be unlawful, but the Federal government was apparently aware of its illegality well in advance of this court determination. So egregious is the catalogue of concerns regarding the Robodebt fiasco that there are calls for a Royal Commission to address them.
Delay in establishing a federal integrity commission with powers sufficient to investigate corruption
The need for a national integrity commission with sufficient `teeth’ to investigate ministerial and politician misconduct has been called for by many over a long period. An independent Tasmanian senator has accused both major political parties of attempting a ‘snow job’ which would result in limited inquiry into key potential areas of corruption.
Introduction of a government bill which reimposes weaker federal laws on political donations
Currently disclosure of financial contributions to political parties at the federal level does not occur until months after the elections they influence (and in the case of the 2019 Federal election significantly sway). Government attempts to retain weak federal laws on political donations are opposed by many, including the Australian Greens and independent crossbench politicians.
Refusal of the Federal government to publicly release conflict-of-interest disclosures of members of the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission and lack of transparency in relation to government decisions
Federal government refusal to release conflict-of-interest statements of the COVID-19 Coordination Commission is especially concerning in that this body is headed by the former chief of Fortescue Metals. Gas development is also being promoted by the Commission as a means of increasing economic growth into the future. The continuing absence of a Federal government policy on climate change, and the disproportionate influence of a subgroup within the Coalition which continues to support the coal industry and opposes reduced dependence on fossil fuels, is a source of ongoing dismay to many.
Lack of openness by the ruling Federal Coalition is also apparent in many other regards, often and again on the ground of ‘national security’.
Contrasting responses to freedom of expression and selective criticism of protests on ideological grounds
Intensification of movement towards right-wing authoritarianism under the current Federal Liberal-National Coalition is also apparent in contrasting government responses to freedom of expression. Articulation of right-wing views is regarded as unproblematic while left-wing perspectives are decidedly unwelcome.
The religious discrimination bill proposed by the Federal government is another instance in which ostensibly neutral upholding of the right to freedom of expression can enable active discrimination — in this case ‘in the name of faith’ — against those whose beliefs, behaviours and life-styles may not accord with what is considered acceptable by dominant groups.
The several points above describe authoritarian incursions into contemporary Australian life. These profoundly anti-democratic incursions advance the goals of the political right.
In the current period of COVID-19, escalating global tension, collapsing economies and increased surveillance, they are also particularly insidious. This is because under cover of both public health and national security, such incursions can rapidly proliferate.
Similarly to European and other countries, Australia faces the undermining of democratic processes and institutions. Hence, the Democracy in Europe Movement (DIEM25) and its recently founded Progressive International with the Sanders Institute — in its emphasis on genuine egalitarianism and internationalist solidarity — is a forum by which the rise of neoliberal authoritarianism can be contested in Europe and the world.
Pictured: Bernard Collaery, barrister who defended the whistleblower (`Witness K’) and has also been prosecuted. Photo Source: MEFAFN.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect DiEM25’s official policies or positions.