The first-ever DiEM25 Academy is here!
Our movement is as powerful as the activists that drive it. That is why this September 15-17 in Belgrade we will bring together a hundred of our most passionate activists to train them on the skills they will need for the fight ahead: policy advocacy, campaigning, fundraising.
The background of the Academy dates back to discussions among DiEMers, during our big events (Rome, Berlin, Brussels and so on) and other occasions, where we realised the importance of meeting face to face and getting to know each other.
Yet when it comes to putting our policies into practice, mutual support and trust play a pivotal role. We see DiEM25 Academy as a place where we can meet people who are fighting the same fight in different countries; exchange experiences; gain new skills and appreciate the community that we have built.
In the run-up to the May 2019 European Parliament elections, this September we will focus on the European Spring and the way each of us can contribute to this unique endeavour. Campaigning, advocacy, social media: all will be covered by experts ranging from the senior advisors of the Bernie Sanders campaign, to European professionals and of course the expertise coming from our own grassroots. At the same time, we will meet, chat and have fun together – thus proving that politics is not reserved for gray suits and black ties. Join us by sending your application through this link.
To set this foundation for a successful electoral campaign, we need all the help we can get from members, friends and supporters. DiEM25 is as powerful as we make it! To help us make the DiEM25 Academy a success, follow this link.
Lastly, don’t forget to take a look at the full 3-day programme here!
Looking forward to meeting you in Belgrade!
Repeal Article 135 of Spain's Constitution
August 23 marks the seventh anniversary of Spain’s political elites betraying the people and condemning us to misery.
In the middle of August, seven years ago, with hardly any previous debate or taking into account the will of the people, the political elites decided to reform the Constitution on their own, to submit the country to the creditors of Spain’s public debt. We have suffered the serious impact of this economic catastrophe, starting with cuts in public spending, particularly in social policies, which have led, inexorably, to reductions in freedoms and the loss of democracy.
August 23, 2011, with the reform of Article 135 of the Spanish Constitution, will be remembered as the day when Spain was subdued.
But Spain’s subjugation through debt is not an isolated case. Far from the perfidious discretion of constitutional reform, we highlight the atrocious submission of Greece, where the machinery of the European Union’s establishment had no qualms about showing its strength and began a campaign to overthrow de facto a government determined to fight for its people, in a historic episode of how technocratic authoritarianism subjugated a government and forced it to betray the popular will that gave it its mandate. Not to mention the various forced poisoned bailouts on some of the countries most affected by the crisis.
In this subjugation to the debt we find the seed that leads us to reductions, to an economic model that forgets people and condemns them to misery, and that, ultimately, is one more tool for the powerful to impose their will from the shadows.
Therefore, DiEM25’s Provisional National Collective for Spain has decided to join the campaign for the repeal of Article 135 of the Spanish Constitution, promoted by the citizen campaign #10añosdeCrisisEstafa (10 Years of Scam-Crisis).
The people of Europe cannot really be free as long as they are subject to debt.
We will fight to free ourselves from the various constraints that bind us and, turning the crisis into an opportunity, we promote a new economic policy for Europe (our European New Deal) that will take us out of the vicious circle of austerity and make social Europe a reality.
Divided we fell, but we’ll save ourselves together. We’ll get our democracy back.
Marc J. Almagro is Policy Coordinator for DiEM25 Spain.
Summary of meeting organised by DiEM25 local groups of Trieste (Italy) Ljublijana (Slovenia) and Rijeka (Croatia) in Gorizia
On Saturday 30 June, a diverse of group activists – from different countries, organisations, and political persuasions — met at the Kulturni dom of Gorizia in Italy. Present were the DiEM25 DSCs of Ljubljana Rijeka and Trieste, the representatives of Kulturni dom, Forum Gorizia and Ecopacifists of Friuli Venezia Giulia and Slovenia.
Participants gathered there to demand that their respective countries join the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (the “Nuclear Ban Treaty”), under which it is possible to denuclearise the Aviano air base and the military transit ports of Capodistria and Trieste, which the Treaty of peace in 1947 defined “demilitarised and neutral”.
They also expressed support for the creation of the Slovenian language section of the “Tartini” Conservatory of Music in Trieste, proposing the study of at least three languages for all those who live in a multicultural territory.
The goal of the meeting was to deal constructively with the issue of migration and the free movement of people. While leaders across Europe dominate headlines with vicious attacks on newcomers from within Europe and around the world, the group was focused on the improvement of the condition for migrants and the international partnership between the countries of the Global North and the South.
Today, many Europeans live in a politics of fear and insecurity — despite the fact that there are very few migrants. Many simply assume that they are unable to integrate into the societies of countries like Italy, Slovenia and Croatia.
In contrast to the racist culture of the European “sovereignists,” the assembled parties aim to create understanding for people’s fears, as well as correctly inform them about the actual dynamics of migration in Europe and the actually existing and life stories in migrants’ countries of origin.
The assembly agreed to support the demonstration of 14 July in Ventimiglia, as well as a range of other initiatives that aim to counteract the xenophobic drift with the intelligence and strength of mutual relations.
There also was talk of the upcoming European elections, with the commitment to meet again by September to try to build a common programme at the center of Europe, participating in the movements that propose a “European Spring”.
We want to go beyond the current political situation that has produced disasters. Radical alternatives are desperately needed, and a strong investment in social communications to pierce the silence in international media.
The assembly concluded with the commitment to meet on the initiative of DiEM25 Ljublijana, again in Kulturni dom in Gorizia, an ideal place for cultural and political relations between the realities of neighboring countries (Carinthia, Slovenia, Croatia and Friuli Venezia Giulia). We hope that many of you will join us there.
MeRA25's appeal to help fire victims
Dear friends,
You have heard of the biblical calamity that befell the people of North East Attica in Greece.
DiEM25 and MeRA25 activists were affected directly, like for instance Kostas and Argyro whose house was burnt down totally, their next door neighbours faring far, far worse – all of them perishing, including their three-year-old daughter.
From the moment the fires were extinguished and the charred corpses were discovered, DiEM25-MeRA25 members have been thinking about ways to respond in solidarity, but also effectively. We spoke to the local Mayor, whose house by the way also burnt down. He told us that the municipality is inundated with offers of foodstuff and other material goods but it is money they miss the most. So, we thought that DiEM25-MeRA25 should direct our energies to help financially.
Thinking of the best way of helping, without sending money to dubious NGOs or state accounts that may be misappropriated, here is what we decided to do – and what we recommend to DiEMers and friends wishing to help:
We sent activists into the affected areas with a mission to find some of the most badly affected and neediest families. Rather than spreading our resources thinly across thousands of families or organisations, our activists spoke to victims and identified families that are desperate for help, are impecunious, and would most benefit from the last euro, pound or krona that DiEMers can spare.
Below you will find two lists of these families, with a short description of their circumstances. LIST A contains families whose circumstances our activists deemed heart-breaking, desperate, appalling. LIST B contains families that also deserve help but who are not as badly afflicted as those in LIST B. Please note that none of these people were known to our activists, nor are they DiEM25-MeRA25 members or even supporters. Lastly, we also list the Municipality’s bank account, set up to help victims.
LIST A
Sevdagian Rose Marie Ahanes & Kolokotronis Georgios
National Bank of Greece, IBAN GR7101101490000014961766236
Four-member household with two children, their house totally burnt down in Mati
Baxevanidis Konstantinos
Piraeus Bank IBAN GR8901717350006735119162990
An aged couple, they household total burnt down
Baxevanidou Sophia (daughter of the above)
National Bank of Greece IBAN GR34011072400000072460561805
Four-member household with two kids, their house also burnt down in Mati
Matrakidis Demetrios
Eurobank ΙΒΑΝ GR0902600960000120200453776
Four-member household with one child and a grandmother, their house a total loss
Paleologopoulou Angeliki
Piraeus Bank IBAN GR8001711820006182010018296
Two-member household, house burnt down
Mavroudis Nikolaos & Koutsouki Spyridoula
National Bank of Greece IBAN GR2201107060000070660047682
Family with 5 members (3 children) in the Rafina-Skoufeika region – their house was completely burnt down
Kourtidou Eleni
National Bank of Greece IBAN GR5101104320000043274562040
2 members (mother and daughter); their main residence in Neos Voutzas completely burnt down.
Tasoulas Alexandros
National Bank of Greece IBAN GR1601107060000070600186277
Husband and wife, 65 year-old
Their main residence was a rented house in Kokkino Limanaki that burnt down completely along with all their belongings. They are extremely poor.
LIST B
Nikolaou Petroula
Piraeus Bank IBAN GR9101715980006598110285668
Family with 4 members (2 children), their main residence at Diastavrosi was partially burnt but is habitable.
Kabrigianni Kleopatra
Alpha Bank IBAN GR8101402670267002310003064
Family with 3 members (mother, grandmother and child); Main residence in Mati partially burnt.
Nikolaou Marika
Alpha Bank IBAN GR7101401760176002101073593
Family with 3 members (son, grandmother and grandchild); Main residence in Mati partially burnt.
MUNICIPALITY ACCOUNT FOR ASSISTING VICTIMS
Account Name: Municipality of Rafina-Pikermi
Bank: Piraeus Bank
IΒΑΝ: GR2001721860005186092291418
On behalf of everyone here are MeRA25, DiEM25-Greece, thank you for reading this and for having these people, and the other victims, in your thoughts.
If you can contribute monies, please make a note (in the web-banking field that allows you to add a comment, or a purpose for the payment) specifying “To assist the family in overcoming their losses due to the Attika fires” (or if you want to cut and paste it in Greek: «Ενίσχυση της οικογένειας των δικαιούχων λόγω της απώλειάς τους από τις πυρκαγιές της ΝΑ Αττικής»). The reason for this is our/their fear that the Tax Department, which now is fully owned by the Troika, might confiscate these funds – to give these families leverage in any legal dispute, that statement of yours would help.
With comradely greetings,
On behalf of MeRA25-DiEM5 Greece
Yanis Varoufakis
Ecological conversion together with migrants
What is it we have forgotten? He asked for “Urbi et Orbi”, in Rome and the world, the Young Pope of Sorrentino. We have forgotten all about climate change and ecological conversion.
Climate change caused by fossil fuels affects the entire planet. But the most devastated and exposed countries are those from which most of today’s refugees and migrants come, generally escaping wars and conflicts triggered by a reduction in the resources needed for survival and the appropriation of the lands and resources still available by the very few. They are wars and conflicts largely fueled by various governments of the West or otherwise, who have resorted to economic robbery and environmental degradation after losing the direct control they exercised when those countries were still their colonies.
The ongoing climate changes can still be curbed, and in part even reversed; the lands that are devastated can be reclaimed and recovered; the environmental and war refugees forced to abandon them could, and many would like to see this, return to rebuild their countries and regenerate their lands and their communities if they only had the chance. Many others of their countrymen could in turn leave for Europe, determined to return, after having worked a few years with us, if they had the possibility to do so by safe and legal routes. Nothing that is turning Europe into a barracks, the Mediterranean into a cemetery and Libya into a lager is irreversible, but there is not much time left. Soon those processes will become irreversible, the planet Earth will become an unbearable habitat for most of its inhabitants, including those who today feel safe. People forced to leave their country to try to survive will count in the hundreds of millions and the false well-being that many of us (actually fewer and fewer) think we can defend with ever higher barriers around our countries, entrusting to dishonest politicians the task of building them, is destined to dissolve within a few decades. Only the very richest will benefit: always fewer and always richer, as has already been happening for some time right before our eyes.
For years the owners of oil and those industries that depend on it, by corrupting scholars, politicians and journalists, have tried to deny the deadly danger of climate change and its causes, knowing very well how real that danger was. Even the military knows it and has been preparing for some time to no longer fight communism, drug trafficking or terrorism (all things for which they have in the past justified the need to arm themselves more and more), but the migratory waves that will hit the rich enclaves in the West when the effects of climate change begin to be felt in a widespread and profound way. This is testified by documents from the Pentagon over 15 years ago.
None of this is denied any more today, it is simply ignored. Politicians, media, journalists, intellectuals do so, only contradicted weakly by the cry of those scientists who see the night approaching for human life on our planet. The problem at the heart of politics, in Europe as in the United States, is now considered to be how to stop refugees on the external or internal borders of the states, as if the migrants suddenly materialised in the Mediterranean or on the Mexican border, without ever worrying about the before or after.
The “before” is the devastation of land, the robbery of resources, wars and the sale of weapons that have forced so many people, and will continue to force them, to flee. The “after”, if there can still be considered an after, is certainly not “growth”, the few percentage points or decimals of a percentage point of increase in GDP, or whatever, that economists, politicians and bankers are scrambling to chase as if that was the key to salvation for all (it is only for a few and even for them only for a short time).
The real “after”, if we know how to build it, is that that can offer land, home, work for all, migrants and natives, even those who find themselves increasingly at the margins of a society that does not offer or promise anything anymore, if not reductions and sacrifices, and right at the moment it flashes before the eyes all the unbridled luxuries of the few who can afford them. That future for all is only there in ecological conversion, in the care of the common home, in the safeguarding of the Earth. That is, in the rapid abandonment of all fossil fuels, in the re-conversion of polluting industries and arms factories, in the closure of all the “Great Works” sites that devastate the land and create neither employment nor well-being, in blocking the looting of resources, abandoning the culture and the economy of waste, which transforms men and things into rubbish in the shortest possible time, in the fight against poverty and exploitation, guaranteeing to all, migrants and natives, sufficient income to live, but also the opportunity to study, learn and find a job that values each person’s abilities.
These are the things that everyone dreams of, except those who live from the exploitation of others, who have managed to make us believe that they are unattainable because the real problem would be the growth that no longer brings any benefit except to those who already have everything and will always want to have more. These are the things that the political parties should talk about, instead of engaging in a cynical, cruel and deadly race to be those who do more to repel migrants trying to reach Europe, actually very few, so far, compared to the many forced to abandon their lands. Thus politics has shriveled up and became hardened and instead of understanding, studying and explaining how all those goals, and others, could be traced back to one big programme to put our planet back on its feet, articulating it country by country, city by city, district by district, company by company, field by field – and that without the arrival of new migrants and without giving them the opportunity to return to heal the lands and communities that they left – none of those goals can ever be achieved (and our conditions will get worse and worse), we are furiously travelling along a spiral that plunges us into misery.
But who can do what no one has done so far? We can start with the associations, the committees, the groups involved in the field of solidarity and integration, they are many but have neither voice nor power, currently suffocated by a vapid debate that speaks of something else and takes place elsewhere. It is from there that the strength to rise to the challenge of what history is putting puts on the agenda can be born and grow.
Author: Guido Viale
Bio: Guido Viale was born in Tokyo in 1943. He currently lives in Milano. He has worked as an economist in Italy and in International Cooperation.
The fight for migrant rights is all around us
In a video that surfaced this week, we see Elin Ersson, a young student from Sweden trying to prevent the forceful deportation of a 52-year old man to Afghanistan. She refuses to sit down on her seat, preventing the plane ‘s departure and the deportation of the man sitting in the back of the plane. She resists the intimidation by the cabin crew who demand that she sit, and by a fellow passenger who claims that Ersson is upsetting the other passengers. She agrees to leave the plane if the Afghani man is allowed to leave the plane as well. After a few minutes, they both leave the plane.
Elin Ersson is the heroine we need – making the fight for migrant rights into a daily practice. Her act of resistance poses a question to all of us: What kind of person do you want to be? In times when our governments criminalize support for migrants and subsidize holding camps beyond our borders, it is a question that we cannot avoid. In the past, we may have sought refuge in private comforts. But that time is over.
Elin Ersson takes back control. She not only attempts to save another human being from deportation. She also shows us, all of us, that we can make a difference. Do we want to enjoy modern amenities in spite of those dying around us or do we want to build a European society that upholds the values of dignity, freedom and the solidarity of all people?
DiEM25 was built by students, activists, artists, and citizens that want to make this difference. One of our strategies is called “Constructive Disobedience” – of which Ersson’s act is one great example. She disobeys the rules for the sake of a man’s live.
If you, too, want to make that difference, come join us.
by Lorin Brenig, member of DiEM25 Germany’s National Collective.
Radical change, by consensus
In Barack Obama’s recent speech in South Africa, he offered a rare, honest diagnosis of our political and economic challenge:
“While globalisation and technology have opened up new opportunities, have driven remarkable economic growth in previously struggling parts of the world, globalisation has also upended the agricultural and manufacturing sectors in many countries. It’s also greatly reduced the demand for certain workers, has helped weaken unions and labour’s bargaining power. It’s made it easier for capital to avoid tax laws and the regulations of nation-states – can just move billions, trillions of dollars with a tap of a computer key. And the result of all these trends has been an explosion in economic inequality. It’s meant that a few dozen individuals control the same amount of wealth as the poorest half of humanity.”
This is a familiar refrain: DiEM25 shares the anger at the injustice of explosive inequalities.
Unlike Obama, however, DiEM25 is offering solutions: concrete policies to eliminate tax havens, strengthen the labour movement, and curb inequality.
Join the movement, and help us fight for a better world.
Friend or foe? America’s changed relationship with Europe
Last week, Europe was treated to a visit from Donald Trump. The visit yielded one clear conclusion: the United States government has no interest in maintaining its former self-appointed role as global policeman. Europe must now prepare itself for a new era of autonomy from the imperialist agenda of the United States — and assume new responsibilities in championing a better world order.
Several signs could be discerned from Mr Trump’s recent visit. In Helsinki, he demonstrated to the world just how close he stands to the Russian president. Before attending that embarrassing meeting, he referred to the European Union as a foe — in the same breath as China and, conversely, Russia. The week before prior to the NATO summit, he tried to justify for the Russian seizure of the Crimea. Most significant to my mind, however, is the arrest of alleged Russian agent Maria Butina, and the revelation that she appeared at the annual so-called ‘National Prayer Breakfast’ in Washington D.C.
TYT Investigates wrote an enlightening article on the connections between Ms Butina and the Fellowship Foundation — the fundamentalist Christian organisation that organises the breakfast — including a private meeting and the alleged promise of 10 seats at the 2017 breakfast for Russian envoys. The foundation’s activities are significant for Europe because of their sponsorship of “37 trips abroad by individual members of Congress in the last 18 years,” several of which were to Eastern Europe. Their purpose here? To foment opposition to the standards on gay-rights legislation required to be a member of the European Union.
Fostering anti-gay sentiment on Europe’s eastern frontier has been a tactic of the Russian government since before the Ukraine conflict began in 2014. Indeed, anti-gay propaganda is one of many tactics used by Russia in a broader discernible strategy of divide et impera in Eastern Europe to prevent the Union from cementing its presence in states along the Russian border. The Kremlin has also sponsored far-right parties in Italy, Austria and France, in an effort to undermine the integrity of the Union. United, Europe is a challenge to Putin’s Russia. Divided, Europe is its playground.
The recent Butina scandal reveals the presence of a similar agenda festering deep in American politics. The shift in US-Europe relations is not a sudden one. Trump’s America is a culmination of increasing division between Europe and the US: a difference in beliefs, values, social standards and international objectives. The Iraq war was just the beginning. Trump has simply drawn back the veil. Today, America’s Republicans stand behind Trump’s agenda towards the EU because they share his antipathy towards the Union.
This raises major questions about Europe’s role in the world. If Europe is built on the promise of peace, can Europe deliver on that promise beyond its borders? Must we be tied permanently to an imperialist project pursued vigorously by successive American governments over the past 20 years, rather than determining our own vision of defending the values of a free and just world?
Countries across the world are sliding into despotism, xenophobia, isolation and a general ugliness not seen in many decades. Some say Europe should simply watch this slide, abdicating the responsibility to advocate for peace, justice, and equality.
But we cannot afford this complacency. Europe must use its voice to protect human rights and stand against authoritarianism. Only a progressive international can fend off the new wave of nationalist movements and fight the failing establishment that gave life to them. Only a progressive international, bound closely together, can defend freedom and deliver on the promise of a better tomorrow.
Introducing the European Spring programme
Our campaign for the European Parliament elections in May 2019 is underway, gathering a coalition from across the continent in a movement for European Spring.
This week, we made an important step forward in this movement: introducing the European Spring policy programme and inviting all of our members – from any party, from any country – to help shape it. In order to do so, sign up at www.our.europeanspring.net, the common platform of communication with all our prospective partners as well as independent progressive voters.
To submit a proposal, simply click on a part of the policy diagram, read what we have so far on that topic and then use the “amend” or “propose” buttons underneath, or go to the forum to discuss solutions first. If you submit your proposals this way, and join the forum discussion there, your ideas can be picked up transnationally, including by people who aren’t in DiEM25.
Alternatively, if you are completely set against joining the platform, you can review the beta programme at www.diem25.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/European-Spring-Policy-Programme_ENG_Final.pdf and send comments to [email protected]
The election of our common candidate for the presidency of the European Commission (spitzenkandidat) and any votes to decide policy questions with regard to the European elections will also take place on this new platform, since this has to be agreed by all participating parties. So join up, and help DiEM25 lead our coalition!
Animation by Gianluca Constantini