What next for the Gilets Jaunes?

Pubblicato Dicembre 6th, 2018 di DiEM25 France & inserito in Articles.

Many members of the movement in France and abroad have inquired about our position on the “Gilets Jaunes” (yellow vests) movement, especially after the scenes of violence on the Champs Elysees which have been seen all over the world.
We are not afraid to say it: we were divided about this many-faceted movement, which has evolved greatly in two weeks. What’s more, a large part of the French left shared our confusion.
The first call to demonstrate in yellow vests, on November 17, started as a challenge to the new tax imposed on diesel by the state, allegedly to “finance the ecological transition.” We are not fooled by the total deception of this tax, created by a government which has abolished the wealth tax and which also imposes multiple anti-ecological measures, such as the opening of a gold mine in French Guyana despite the opposition of the local population. Bear in mind that ecological taxation is paid mostly by households, not by large polluting companies.
However, at that time, most of us were not inclined to associate ourselves with an event strongly supported by the extreme right, sovereignist movements, and a good number of right-wing and liberal editorialists. While claiming to defend “La France du bas” (the downtrodden), the anti-tax slogan was not then accompanied by any demands on wages or on specific social measures. Moreover, favourable coverage by the media, while the movement was not mobilising more people – in fact rather less – than demonstrations against Macron’s labor law and ordinances, incited us to mistrust this phenomenon, with its slogans against taxation, and therefore against public spending and redistribution.
That said, the popular dimension of the movement, effectively carried by workers often strangled by the austerity policies, has challenged us. Going beyond the anti-tax revolt, the protests reveal a France that is struggling to make ends meet. And who has the right impression that the taxes it pays do not prevent public services from deteriorating at a high speed: the public hospital system is in crisis, job cuts in education are announced, and rural areas are losing their public services. Moreover, the movement from the beginning showed a very great diversity of actors in its different contexts: the extreme right was very present in the South and the Parisian demonstrations, but in Saint Nazaire, for example, it expressed trade union and progressive demands.
In recent weeks, you have all witnessed the extension of the movement and its insurrectional dimension, with violence answered by police violence (to which we are accustomed in demonstrations in France). Initially marked especially sociologically by the lower middle class, who works but has trouble paying their bills, the movement has expanded to uberised workers and high school students. The anti-tax revolt has turned into a much wider movement of people who can’t take any more, and the list of their demands is varied and growing. Many of them deal with justice and equality: tax justice, increase of the minimum wage, more progressive income tax, the end of austerity, maximum salary at 15,000 euros, an end to the closure of public services. Others are much more problematic for a progressive movement, such as the deportation of rejected asylum seekers and increase of the budgets of the police and the army, or completely random demands. It should be noted that since the movement is decentralised and its leaders are self-proclaimed and contested, these lists vary according to the sources. It is amusing to note, moreover, that since the movement has started to present social and political demands, and its violent elements are attacking luxury boutiques, the language of the right-wing editorialists who supported it has changed a lot.
What are the political opportunities? For the moment, a key direction and a key watchword unites this disparate movement: the rejection of the Macron government. The yellow vests call for his resignation as well as the dissolution of the National Assembly. Foremost is a rejection of his policies, and also of the personality of Macron himself, rightly perceived as emblematic of class contempt. It must be said that he and his government have used outrageously provocative language against “people who are nothing”, or the “unemployed who just have to cross the street” to find a job.
This hate is coupled with a massive rejection of political movements. The extreme right and the sovereignty movement “Debout la France” of Dupont Aignan are very anxious to co-opt the movement. Recent demonstrations appeared to mark a tipping point, with far-right figures thrown out of the demonstrations. But several of the self-proclaimed leaders come from the National Rally of Marine Le Pen, or advocate solutions related to fascism, like a provisional government by a general related to the far-right.
The movement today is national, and in part nationalistic. It would be very difficult to talk to them about the reform of Europe. Nevertheless, it is a challenge to our movement, not only on the demands for social justice and taxation that we share, but also on the issues of territorial inequality that should also be one of the pillars of our programme and concern all of Europe and beyond: it was an important issue concerning Brexit, opposing London and the de-industrialised North, and during the election of Trump. The issues take a different and unique aspect in each country, but we believe that DiEM25 must work on a European scale, and which mixes many of our founding pillars and axes of the European Spring: socially just public services, an ecological transition, and the reduction of educational and cultural inequalities. We must counter a reactionary discourse, often tinged with racism, which opposes “Peripheral France (supposedly white)” to “city-dwellers” and “suburbs”, multicultural “for whom we have done too much”. And reaffirm that our solidarity does not stop at borders.
This movement is also an opportunity to deepen our discourse on the ecological transition that must not be done at the expense of the popular classes. France is the European champion of urban sprawl and the establishment of shopping centres on its urban outskirts. For decades, politicians and advertisers have incited the French to own their own house, and now they are strangled by mortgages and dependent on the car for mobility. When talking about transition, we must not forget territorial planning and mobility.
On December 8, there will be in France, like everywhere else, a climate march with which DiEM25 is associated. There have been calls for the Yellow Vests to join. This may be an opportunity to start a discussion. Meanwhile, the movement has opened a wide debate in France. We do not endorse the excesses, we condemn the attempts at co-optation, but we cannot ignore it, nor especially ignore the social anger it reveals against Macron’s Thatcheresque regime of austerity.

Etichette: DiEM25 France Gilets jaunes Macron protests Yellow Vests

The calamity of austerity in Greece

Pubblicato Dicembre 5th, 2018 di Niki Best & inserito in Articles, Member-contributed (English).

While the troika celebrated the end of its Greek bailout programme, the Transnational Institute TNI was busy reporting on the devastating impact of its enforced austerity.
According to the European Central Bank [ECB], the European Commission [EC] and the International Monetary Fund [IMF], Greece has recuperated and its economy is now fit enough to grow and its public finances strong enough to bear the interest on public debt. TNI, however, points out that the troika’s criteria for success are very thin, overlooking huge human costs in the process.
For the EC, Greece’s-interest-obligations-criterion will remain the most important for the better part of this century, as Ewald Engelen points out in the Dutch weekly De Groene Amsterdammer. During the crisis twenty-five percent of the Greek economy vanished for good. Water, electricity and seaports have been sold for peanuts, the revenues flowing off to rich Americans, Chinese and North Europeans. The unemployment rate is almost one fifth: one million Greeks. House prices are still only half of what they used to be in 2009. Structural poverty is still massive and has sharply increased in rural areas. Per capita income decreased by one third. Meanwhile, food prices in Greece have risen more rapidly than inflation in the eurozone.
In its report, Democracy not for sale, TNI concludes that the troika has severely harmed the human rights of the Greeks. The right to adequate food and the state’s obligation to provide the means of existence, have been seriously disregarded. More than 40 per cent of Greek children in 2016 faced material and social deprivation. The winners seem to be foreign food producers and large foreign retailers, who during the crisis took over from the Greek small-scale petty producers. Former net food exporter, Greece now has become a net importer of food. Ewald Engelen reminds us of this finding of Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz: in its new market legislation for Greece the troika stretched the definition of fresh milk from 5 to 10 days, opening up the Greek market to cheap pasteurised milk from North European dairy producers.
According to Olivier de Schutter, former special rapporteur on the Right to Food (2008-2014) at the UN and a member of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the EU could be held liable for violating the Greeks’ right to food.
MeRA25 could play an important role to bring about such a charge. DiEM25 with its European New Deal strives to put an end to the disproportionate power of large companies and their lobbying in Brussels.
Image credit
Michael Kountouris, Greece, Cagle

Etichette: Greece

December 8: with DiEM25, against climate change

Pubblicato Dicembre 5th, 2018 di DiEM25 Italia & inserito in Articles.

Before the turn of the century, millions of people will be forced to evacuate their homes and migrate to new countries on account of rising water levels.
Meanwhile, reactionary forces around the world are in denial about this impending crisis.
DiEM25 is taking a stand against climate change — beginning with those living in the 10m a.s.l. risk area.
Our idea is to bring together as many people as possible to let them see for themselves the buildings, the homes, and the heritage that will be washed away.
This is our Thin Blue Line.

On December 8th, we will meet under the ramparts of Palazzo Butera, Palermo — the birthplace of the Thin Blue Line, at tremendous risk of rising water levels — where a 10-meter-high blue canvas will be lowered from the “Mura delle Cattive”, right in front of the Gulf of Palermo. But we will not stop in Palermo. DiEM25 invites all communities to take to the streets, spread the word, and promote our message: With DiEM25, against Climate Change.
Together, we can defend our Thin Blue Line.
by DiEM25 member, Gaetano La Rosa
Credits
Creative director/copywriter: Gaetano La Rosa.
Art director: Giuseppe Zummo

DiEM25 teams up with The Sanders Institute to launch the Progressive International

Pubblicato Novembre 30th, 2018 di DiEM25 Communications & inserito in Articles.

<span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span>DiEM25 is teaming up with The Sanders Institute to launch the Progressive International, a movement that will mobilise people around the world behind a shared vision of democracy, prosperity, sustainability, and solidarity.
The announcement will take place at The Sanders Institute Gathering in Burlington, Vermont (November 29 – December 1), which will bring together an array of activists, thinkers and politicians to discuss pressing issues like climate change, workers rights, and healthcare.
DiEM25’s Yanis Varoufakis will participate in an international roundtable with Bernie Sanders (Vermont Senator), Niki Ashton (Member of Canadian Parliament), and David McWilliams (Irish author and economist) that will discuss the need for international cooperation in an age of rising authoritarianism.
Following the roundtable discussion, Sanders Institute Founder and Fellow Jane Sanders will join Yanis Varoufakis in issuing an ‘Open Call’ to progressives around the world, inviting individuals and organisations to join as signatories.
It is time for progressives of the world to unite. Join us. Join Progressive International.
DiEM25’s Yanis Varoufakis will also take part in the following events:

Challenging The New Right Populism: Saturday, December 1, 2018 at 18:00 – 20:00
Let’s Shake Europe! A Fundraiser for DiEM25 with Yanis Varoufakis: Saturday, December 1, 2018 at 21:00 – 24:00
Roundtable at the People’s Forum, hosted by European Spring: Sunday, December 2, 13:00 – 15:00
Radical Progress NYC – Saving Cities Around the World: Sunday, December 2, 2018, 19:00 – 21:00

Etichette: democracy DiEM25 Europe New Deal politics Sanders USA Varoufakis World

Yanis Varoufakis and Srećko Horvat will stand in next year’s European elections — in Germany [UPDATED]

Pubblicato Novembre 25th, 2018 di DiEM25 Communications & inserito in Articles.

Today we gathered in Berlin for reasons that, if we may say so ourselves, were pretty momentous. The event at Colonia Nova was the venue for:

The inauguration of our German political party Demokratie In Europa, set up jointly with Demokratie In Bewegung, as part of the European Spring coalition
The decision on who will be the ten women and ten men to stand as candidates for that party in the European elections in May and,
The decision on whether our co-founders, Yanis Varoufakis and Srećko Horvat, will be heading this list of candidates (they were nominated to do so) in a historic all-member DiEM25 vote last week

The event kicked off at 10am with the Party’s Assembly voting on the candidates that were nominated to form the list that will stand in next year’s European Parliament elections [you can read Demokratie in Europa’s programme here]. Ten women and ten men will represent Demokratie in Europa as candidates in May 2019.

The nomination of the two DiEM25 co-founders is of great symbolic significance: Yanis Varoufakis, first place on the list, and Srećko Horvat, third place on the list. Their candidacy marks DiEM25’s ambition to democratise Europe by gathering progressive forces behind the “New Deal for Europe” a joint political programme by Europeans, for Europeans.
At the press conference, Yanis Varoufakis said “Germany is experiencing a paradoxical crisis. Germany is, on paper, flooded by… money. The federal government is in surplus. A tsunami of foreign money is flooding German banks. Families are saving. And even corporations hoard huge amounts of savings. So, why is the political centre not holding? Why are the major parties bleeding? Why is discontent, xenophobia and precariousness on a triumphant march?”.

Varoufakis continued, “Demokratie in Europa seeks, and deserves, the vote of the German people for two reasons: first, we are the only party that has put forward a solid, comprehensive proposal of how to address systematically Europe’s systemic crisis. We call it a Green New Deal for Europe: a realistic, credible, rational and immediately implementable policy agenda for the whole of Europe.”

Jasper Finkeldey said, “…I searched for a political home outside of local associations for a long time and never found one. As an activist for fairer trade and a more humane migration policy, I lacked a political base. That is why I became a founding member of Demokratie in Europa and as part of a major movement, help to forge alliances to make hopeful proposals for Europe.”

Daniela Platsch said, “…if our generation has a common task, then it is called democracy in Europe. It is called: One human. One vote. This requires strict rules for corporations, a strong EU Parliament and, above all, people who are prepared to exchange their old borders for a new, common Europe.”

Bianca Preatorius said, “…today I am part of the European Spring with the aim of revolutionising the European Union and thereby saving my homeland Europe, by making it fit for the future.”

Etichette: democracy eu Germany politics Yanis Varoufakis

Palermo shouts!/ Let’s help them return home

Pubblicato Novembre 22nd, 2018 di DiEM25 Italia & inserito in Articles.

On the night of 11 November on the eve of the International Conference on Libya, the group of artists known as Stalker / Noantri Planetary Citizens arrived in Palermo, Sicily, with ten maritime rescue ladders, originally made in 2004 with the Pakistani crew of a ship impounded in the port of Naples, and restored over three days in Riace with the help of the local population. The ladders symbolized the need to guarantee an escape route for the hundreds of thousands of migrants trapped in Libya and at risk of slavery, torture and extortion, a situation described in “Exodus: Escape from Libya”, a radio-documentary with the voices of migrants gathered following long and dangerous investigative work by the documentary-maker / activist Michelangelo Severgnini.
With Stalker, we wove a network of relationships with the city, from the autonomous social centers that protested in Piazza Rivoluzione to the city’s Councilor for Culture, Andrea Cusumano, and Mayor Leoluca Orlando, to complete together with Michelangelo Severgnini on 12 November the large install/action “Palermo shouts!” in the magnificent church of Santa Maria dello Spasimo.
Leoluca Orlando immediately responded to the desperate appeal of the migrant-slaves in Libya, who demand immediate evacuation from Libya, by participating actively in the inauguration of the artistic action and speaking by telephone with one of trapped migrants. He heard the voices of migrant-slaves in Libya, not only those locked up in prisons and subject to torture and extortion of ransom money from their families, but also those who represent the overwhelming majority of migrants who, although not imprisoned, live semi-clandestinely or in slavery, subjected to violent forced labor and unpaid labor. From the Spasimo of Palermo, the voice of the migrants in Libya burst onto the Italian political scene, making them finally a political subject and not just the object of policies to address the “immigration emergency”.
Policies on migration and migrants are today at the center of the political agenda in Italy and in Europe. The left, through former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and former minister Marco Minniti supported the approach of “Let’s help them at their home!” The ultra-right of Matteo Salvini seized on this opportunity, aiming at the same objective, but in its own way. Today we must accept the defeat of not having been able to forge a real European integration policy, and to have betrayed the dreams and hopes of 700,000 people trapped in Libya, of all ages and of all sexes, who no longer want to come to Europe and cannot wait to return home. The only chance we have to repair this dramatic situation is, therefore, to help them go back.
Could DiEM25 support the repatriation of migrants?
Repatriation achieves two results at the same time: defusing the fear of “invasion from Africa” in Europe; and ending any possibility of Libya being considered as a safe haven. It is the migrants themselves who tell us so, in their own words. This solution could be strategic in solving the various issues posed by the dramatic reality of migrants in Libya.
“Palermo shouts!” was realized thanks to the City of Palermo: Mayor Leoluca Orlando and the Councilor for Culture Andrea Cusumano, Macro Asylum, Fondazione Orestiadi of Gibellina and European Alternatives.
Stalker/Noantri Planetary Citizens: Lorenzo Romito (coordination), Lorenzo Bottiglieri, Valeria Cademartori, Paola Festari, Morteza Kaleghi and Mohammad Khavari, Filippo Tantillo, Graeme Thomas, Elisa Vaccaro.
Gaetano La Rosa and Flore Murard-Yovanovitch, coordination of Palermo.
Gaetano La Rosa
Sicily Regional Coordinator DiEM25
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Video_Palermo_Complesso monumentale di Santa Maria dello Spasimo
“Palermo shouts!” – Mayor Orlando speaks by phone with migrant-slaves in Libya
Video_Palermo_Noviziato dei Crociferi
Padre Alex Zanotelli, Mayor Leoluca Orlando and Michelangelo Severgnini speak directly with migrant-slaves trapped in Libya.
http://goo.gl/D4AQBg
The ladders used in the install/action “Palermo shouts!” were made as part of the Stalker/Osservatorio Nomade project “La nave va…” (https://youtu.be/XoBynG0sGU4)
EXODUS: Escape from Libya by Michelangelo Severgnini and Piero Messina
https://vimeo.com/291491176
Exodus: a migrant leaves Libya for his home country (video WhatsApp)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlMVQvZUC18&feature=youtu.be

Bobby Gillespie, Jane Sanders and George Bizos become advisers to DiEM25

Pubblicato Novembre 18th, 2018 di DiEM25 Communications & inserito in Articles.

We’re thrilled to announce the following additions to our Advisory Panel (AP), the team which advises DiEM25 and facilitates the implementation of its aims:
– Bobby Gillespie — Scottish musician and singer-songwriter. He is the lead singer and founding member of the alternative rock band Primal Scream and former drummer for The Jesus and Mary Chain in the mid-1980s. Bobby is also a passionate advocate for social rights and has supported our movement actively by giving us visibility in interviews and by participating in events such as the “Here and Now: A Creative Vision for Europe” which DiEM Voice hosted in London this past October.
– Jane Sanders — Co-founder of the Sanders Institute and now serves as a Fellow. A political scientist, Jane has served as a president of two colleges, a political consultant, and held appointed and elected office.
– George Bizos — Human rights lawyer and one of the major figures in the protests against apartheid (especially during the Rivonia Trial). His long and successful legal career includes many high profile cases, including the defence of anti-apartheid revolutionary and first post-apartheid president of South Africa Nelson Mandela.
The 34-strong Advisory Panel includes two-time Palme d’Or film director Ken Loach, UK Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, renowned philosopher Slavoj Žižek and award-winning journalist, writer, film-maker and activist, Naomi Klein. See full line-up here.

US midterm elections: the fight continues!

Pubblicato Novembre 15th, 2018 di Aris Telonis & inserito in Member-contributed (English), Uncategorized.

The 2018 midterm elections in the United States will be remembered as a rebuke to president Donald Trump.
Heading into the elections, president Trump campaigned on a toxic mix of fear, ‘fake news,’ and sustained efforts to suppress voting among low-income and communities of color. But voters said no. High participation rates, the youngest women elected, the first openly gay governor elected, more great news from Kansas: the so-called ‘Blue Wave’ of Democrat participation helped them to take control of the House of Representatives.
But it was not the Democratic Party that won. It was progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that emerged from the grassroots with a policy agenda to address real people’s problems and without ties to big corporations and lobbyists.
Now, the real fight begins — not only against the corruption of the far-right and the financial elites, but also to raise up the real voices of the people: a fight for democracy. American progressives are not alone in this fight. Europeans, including DiEM25, are fighting alongside them, building bridges around the world!
Aris is a member of DiEM25 and part of the NYC1 DSC.

The “far right-conservative revolution” will hit the most vulnerable first

Pubblicato Novembre 7th, 2018 di Elisa Stowe & inserito in Member-contributed (English).

Autumn leaves were glowing in the afternoon sun when, on October 12, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Berlin with a clear message: we are indivisible!
We are indivisible when we oppose hatred, xenophobia, misogyny and racism. The “far right-conservative revolution” will not make our lives better. On the contrary, it will tear us apart — hitting the most vulnerable first and worst.
242,000 people united as “Unteilbar” in a broad alliance of political movements, parties and civil society marching from Alexanderplatz to Siegessäule.
The need for indivisibility is clear: from the attempt to criminalize humanitarian work in the Mediterranean — which reached another peak when the mayor of Riace was arrested last month — to the rise of hateful rhetoric like Salvini’s reference to refugees as human flesh, to the elevation of misogynists to the highest levels of judicial power in the United States. Above it all, the urgent threat of climate crisis, which could be felt at the demonstration in Berlin, where temperatures ran way above the average.
Ulteilbar was a sign of hope, reminding us that the political game isn´t over yet. All over, Europe people engaged in similar actions under the umbrella 13-10.
We DiEMers started our day at Volksbühne, where we gathered with our friends and sister movements. For us this was a special moment. Volksbühne was the birthplace of our vision of a democratic Europe back in 2016. As we have seen ever since, our dark predictions came true.
Since DiEMs inception we have learned that we must catalyse a process of alliance-building and seek to be inseparable. We were proud when we united our friends and sister movements behind the DiEM25 banner, and yet we would have carried theirs in the same manner.
We were especially proud when the women from these movements and parties – Razem, Demokratie in Bewegung, European Moment, DiEM25- took over the banner to lead the group for a while. We, the women, chanted and danced together and along the line we talked about strategies and commonalities too.
We all shared moments of joy and friendship that we can carry back into our daily activist practice. The politics of friendship are a mode of resistance.
In this spirit, let’s hope that DiEM25 — and all our societies — shall have a brighter future.
Carpe DiEM