Help us establish a DiEM25 political party in Greece
Today is our second anniversary. For two years now, DiEM25 has been preserving the spirit of the Greek Spring of 2015 across Europe.
Now, as we are preparing to present our program to Europeans across the Union via the ballot box, the time has come to launch the Greek DiEM25 affiliate that will return the spirit of the Greek Spring to the country that gave birth to it!
On March 26, DiEM25 members will gather in Athens to constitute ourselves as a political party that participates in European, national and local elections — but also as an indivisible part of the transnational, radical Europeanist movement DiEM25.
And right now, DiEMers across Europe are voting on the party’s name and guiding framework:
- European Internationalism (we are not just going to “remain in Europe” – we ARE Europe’s democratic future)
- Economic Rationality (which the troika and the national oligarchies of Europe have been denigrating for years)
- Social Emancipation (from Demeritocracy, from Indignity, from Fear, from ruthless Class War and Austerity, from Nationalism and from the Oligarchy)
Our Greek political party will start its life with an army of committed volunteer activists across Greece. A set of realistic proposals to make Greece’s social economy viable again, that is embedded in DiEM25’s European New Deal. The support of progressive leaders like Naomi Klein, Brian Eno and Noam Chomsky. And of course, the involvement of key Greek political players like Yanis Varoufakis who believe passionately that despite what the Establishment says, there is an alternative to Greece’s — and Europe’s — current course.
But all electoral actions cost money. And unlike our Establishment opponents and incumbents, DiEM25 rejects corporate and institutional funding. This means we are beholden only to you and the principles and ideals we share.
We need elected officials determined to fearlessly represent the will of millions over the whims of the ruling elite. There’s only one way to accomplish this: by building a transnational political force that can support and elect candidates across Europe who are neither chosen nor funded by the oligarchs, but by you!
So we’re asking you to help move forward our electoral actions in Greece.
Your contribution, no matter how small, will help establish DiEM25 in Greece — Ground Zero of the Eurocrisis, and bring about the change that Greece and Europe desperately need!
Together we can change the status quo.
Click here to make a contribution so we can make it happen.
Carpe DiEM!
Europe, is this your face to the world?
The migrant crisis has exposed the consequences of European ignorance and prejudice. We can no longer afford to turn a blind eye – our complicity threatens to undermine the entire European project.
Take the case of Nasir, an Afghan deported from the EU because his asylum application was rejected. Back in Afghanistan, he was a victim of a Taliban violence – the very violence from which he had fled. Or consider the case of Hayat Hooman, whom we paid to flee our continent, only to face further violence across the ocean.
The emerging question is simple: How can we, Europeans, take pride in our project in the face of all the pain that Nasir goes through? Is this part characteristic of our western ‘civilization’?
We must develop a movement to combat the growing wave of xenophobia worldwide. Countries across Europe are today engaged in a debate – though not always a fully informed one – on the number of refugees that Europe can handle, on how many asylum seekers to accept or on where refugees should be deported. DiEM25 members strongly oppose the framing of these debates.
We want to be able to look ourselves in the mirror and feel proud of our EU, not shame on its behalf. We envision an open Europe that welcomes people and supports families, instead of deporting them to unsafety. A Europe without shameful deals with neighboring countries. A Europe with compassion.
Share our vision? Join us here and volunteer with us!
Aris is a member and volunteer of the DiEM25 movement.
The fight to deplete gender disparities throughout Europe is not over
Women should be treated not only equally but also with equity. And we have a long way to go to fully achieve this throughout Europe.
Based on the European Institute for Gender Equality, some countries like Sweden and Denmark do pretty well in addressing gender differences but others like Greece and Hungary need to do more. However, despite overall scores getting better, even in Scandinavian “paradise” societies, women with children lag behind men income-wise. Iceland is on track, but how about the rest of Europe and the world? Societies should intervene to provide the appropriate support. We have to make a choice between selfishness and helping the people who are in more need than ourselves.
At DiEM25, recognizing the gender gap, we implement a strict 50-50 male-female representation and not only within the Coordinating Collective. In our events we strive for equal representation. We need to hear women’s voices and not only encourage them to decide for themselves but also help them succeed in the pursuit of their own interests! Become a member and join our Facebook group to get involved!
Aris is a member and volunteer of the DiEM25 movement.
Thomas Wieser hailing ‘reforms’ and downgrades democracy
Thomas Wieser has made the headlines again! After his recent advice (see here and here) that the first thing that should have happened in the Greek case was debt restructuring, he just applauded the current Greek government as the one that has best adhered to the MoU programs since 2010. This is something that we, at DiEM25, have been saying for a while now.
Mr Wieser misses no opportunity to attack DiEM25’s co-founder, Yanis Varoufakis. He accused Yanis of delivering long monologues in the Eurogroup that did not promote dialogue. Let us uncover the actual meaning of Mr. Wieser’s words: Varoufakis was not a lackey to the troika. He had the ‘audacity’ to outline the failures of the programs and offer new, constructive proposals. Obviously, Mr Wieser prefers those who believe “There is no alternative” and who blindly swallow self-destructive reforms.
But, astonishingly, there are many alternatives! Our European New Deal aims at a progressive and democratic European Union. This is our response to bureaucrats who owe their position to undemocratic and opaque processes. Join us and let’s fight together!
Adapted from DiEM25-GR’s communique.
Hard brexiteers tighten the screw on the UK PM
Tory in-fights are currently de-railing “Brexit” talks further. EU officials described the Tory’s current Brexit vision as too sketchy even to start negotiations. Theresa May who was a silent “remainer” during the Brexit campaign, is short of ideas on how to reconcile the soft/hard divide in her own party. In the meantime, hard Brexiteers increase their pressure on the faltering Prime Minister.
There are demands for investigation of the powerful fraction led by Jacob Rees-Mogg, rising star of British conservatism within the conservative party who is causing May sleepless nights. The number of die-hard Brexiteer MPs now reportedly varies between 35 and 60. Rees-Mogg and friends pretend merely to remind May of her promises to leave the single-market and the customs union. But Rees-Mogg’s challenge is more of a battle for the heart and soul of the Tory party than he will admit. As it stands Rees-Mogg does not have the numbers for his vision of a “clean” and hard Brexit. Even though he is polling highest among his party members to become next leader, his support inside and outside parliament is anything but overwhelming.
This in-fighting however, prevents May from offering necessary clarification on her Brexit vision. Her coping strategy is an uncompromising stance on migration policy. She has repeatedly shown her willingness to clamp down on free movement, leaving the future 3.7 million EU citizens living in uncertainty in the UK and by extension 1.3 million Brits in the EU. Never mind all the rest of the continent worrying about political meltdown and the rise of nationalism. Few are happy to be regarded as bargaining chips in this ever more farcical tragi-comedy.
Divorce is a nasty and costly business despite Brexiteers peddling their smokescreen slogan “Brexit dividend”. Should the Tory party in power deteriorate further in the race to the bottom it will be left to its citizens to rise from the ashes. DiEM25 lends support and solidarity to progressive forces inside and outside the UK who constructively want to work on re-building a caring Britain and Europe.
Jasper is an activist for DiEM25 in Berlin.
No Mr. Macron, on European federalism you can’t whistle and hum at the same time
Emmanuel Macron is a man of words. He’s a “littéraire”, as we like to say in France. Simply put: he likes reading and writing. That may seem like a good quality to have, especially for a politician. Only in Macron’s case, it’s all about whistling and humming at the same time – let’s not be fooled!
It seems like the French president has turned into a Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde-like character of late. Like Stevenson’s character there are two Macrons.
There’s the Macron who pleaded for untethered, free market economics at Davos in English and the Macron who spoke of the need to better distribute wealth and economic prosperity in French at the exact same event. In the same speech.
There’s the one who advocated for “humanity” towards refugees, but also the one who stressed the need to increase the number of them being thrown out of the country on not having been granted refugee status.
We have the French president who pretends to be both left-wing and right-wing, balanced and centrist, but the president who in the end scrapped the special income tax imposed on France’s highest earning individuals.
There is the leader who says he believes in building a safety net for workers who then passed a law dismantling hard-won labour protection laws in France and effectively installed the troika’s directorate in Paris.
Lastly, we have the Europeanist who speaks of the need to fundamentally change our Union, democratise its institutions and push for more integration, while at the same time doing U-turns on the democratic election of the Spitzenkandidaten to replace Mr. Juncker next year.
So far from being a “littéraire”, Macron is another Establishment politician: a man of many faces. He is part of a growing trend in which populists today (wherever they are from) are particularly two-timer or contradiction-mongering… hoping that by the time we have worked this out, it will be too late… a done deal.
Macron’s policies thus far can be best summed up by a phrase he was very fond of repeating during his presidential campaign: “et en même temps” (“at the same time/meanwhile”). However, the French version of the word “meanwhile”, is also a way of saying… “but”.
We can’t allow ourselves to be fooled by Macron’s attempt to whistle and hum on his pretended “Europeanist” stance.
One can’t be for AND against the democratisation of European institutions. One can’t both raise AND lower taxes on big corporations and high net worth individuals.
One can’t speak of European federalism whilst being eager to highjack democratic decisions voters should be the able to make during the 2019 European elections.
Macron’s policy of playing both sides can only lead to disaster especially given the fact that Europe can’t afford the luxury of immobilism, half-measures and broken promises.
As we stand on the brink of a new kind of nihilistic governmentality, where politics is turned into perpetual theatre, disconnected from any kind of coherent government programming, at DiEM25 we are pushing for a single, realist, federalist agenda ahead of the 2019 European parliamentary elections. There is no double-speak, no whistle and humming.
Learn more about DiEM25’s bid to challenge the status quo in 2019 – which we started in… Paris – and join us!
Photo: AFP PHOTO / Fabrice COFFRINI
Belgrade elections — here we come?
As you read last week, municipal elections in Belgrade will take place on March 4, and DiEM25’s local group (DSC) in Belgrade is teaming up with a local grassroots movement to return the city to its people.
Over the last week, DSC Belgrade helped to collect signatures to enable the movement, Ne Da(vi)mo Beograd/Don’t let Belgrade d(r)own, to contest the upcoming city elections. In spite of numerous obstacles (not to mention somewhat dubious activities like the absence of the public officials who are supposed to verify each signature at its location!), the number of signatures necessary was collected. The next step was to hand over the list of candidates for the City Parliament, and last Thursday they did.
We’re thrilled to announce that two DiEM25 members are putting their names forward for inclusion on the list with Don’t let Belgrade d(r)own. They are:
– Ivana Nenadović, DiEM25 Coordinating Collective (CC) member, theatre producer and a coordinator of DSC Belgrade
– Zoran Sokolovski our economic and European New Deal (END) wizard, also of DSC Belgrade
DSC Belgrade is also helping to develop the political programme of Don’t let Belgrade d(r)own. In particular, they are focusing on economic and social policy proposals, inspired by DiEM25’s END and adapted to Belgrade’s situation, like digital income tax credits and taxing unused working space and housing. They are also working on innovative proposals on culture and ecology.
As ever with DiEM25, our participation in this election will be up for a vote by the entire DiEM25 membership. We will announce details shortly, but here you can review their draft proposal.
If accepted by DiEM25’s membership, Ivana’s and Zoran’s presence on this list would be a big leap forward for DiEM25 in Serbia. It would ensure that yet another significant grassroots political force in Europe will have parts of END implemented in its programme.
DSC Belgrade is standing with those who shared its struggle, with those who fought on the streets when everybody else was doing business as usual. With people who are showing that there is an alternative, make an impact on the next rebel city, the next rebel region, the next rebel country!
It is winter again…
This is a picture which invoked a great deal of enthusiasm in my country. The people finally could join forces and take to the streets. Furthermore, the European Union, or rather its establishment, is apparently backing us. Mr Juncker and his vice president, Frans Timmermans, are sending “a clear warning” expressing their concern about the independence of our judicial system and that the “fight against corruption” must continue. The message is clear: now let’s work out why.
The context of current protests, apart from some “technical” details, is the same as that for last winter, the largest in post-communist Romanian history. This is due to the eager desire of the current Parliament, and its Social Democrat establishment party leadership, to bring the judiciary under its own control to provide a cover for their own corrupt practises.
It looks like we are chained to this “corruption battle” narrative, too dazzled to see beyond its horizon. Are we alone in this? Definitely not. All nations newly emerging into “liberal free-market capitalism”, stretching from Eastern Europe (see recent protests in Ukraine) and South America to the Middle East (see the Arab spring) suffer from the same disease. They too have experienced quite intimately the crooked neo-liberal establishment practices meant to divert public attention away from real social matters and to weaken democracy itself by tearing apart one institution after another. This has been masterfully described by Noam Chomsky on many an occasion.
Let’s turn briefly to the protests and see how they were portrayed, back in February last year, in Krytyka Polityczna, in two of its articles. One of them, signed by Demos, a European left-wing civic platform, expressed its deep regret for the manner in which social-democratic ideology has been wretchedly hijacked by the establishment party. The other one, authored by Florin Poenaru, owner and coordinator of Left East platform, dug a bit deeper into the public message around “the fight against corruption”. The underlying argument was that this was on many occasions a scapegoat simply used in order to steer attention away from the “bigger” picture, namely huge social inequalities, huge concentration of capital, 40% of the population living beneath the poverty line, and in some cases also human rights abuses.
Both messages, taken together, overlap with some pillars of the DiEM25 progressive agenda: social justice, freedom and the independence of the media. The sad thing is that the two sides cannot find and express a common message and moreover cannot combine into a strong political force. As has always been the underlying problem, but even more so in Eastern Europe, the Left is divided and can hardly make its message a reality.
I remember I read some while ago an article about why people are not out on the streets after the publication of the Paradise Papers. Following the same reason, I might ask, why were there no protests in Romania about TTIP or CETA, about NATO invasions everywhere, about G20 summits, where the political elites of the worlds’ most influential economies are taking strategic decisions on the back of their people, about austerity measures imposed some years ago in Romania?
Bogdan is a member of DSC Bucharest, but also a humble engineer living in Munich. His main points of interest are socio-political issues of South-East Europe, as well as promoting DiEM25 there.
Photo: EuroNews.
Our transnational party takes shape — and everything else we’re up to
In case you missed it, here’s what we’re up to currently:
Our bid to build a transnational political party is taking shape!
Over a weekend of meetings with potential political partners in France, we took vital steps towards building the progressive political alliance Europe desperately needs.
Among those we met: Génération-s’, the movement of former French Education Minister and presidential candidate Benoît Hamon. Our delegation also met DiEM25 activists from across the country to get their take on the issues from the grassroots level.
Next stop: March, when we hold a meeting in Naples with our political partners from all European countries to form, pending approval of our members, a council that will govern the transnational party list. By April, the combined forces joining the transnational party will have agreed on a basic European programme. And in June we roll out the party to the peoples of Europe with a series of large-scale events across Europe’s capitals. Read all about it here. Exciting times!
We’re developing our Constituent Assembly paper!
We’re now developing the framework for our “Constituent Assembly” paper — a roadmap for how we’ll draft the Constitutional pillar of our Progressive Agenda (which we plan to take to EU parliamentary election ballots in 2019!).
A draft of the framework document should be completed by March 15. We will share this draft for members’ feedback and then put it to a vote on April 15.
As ever, all DiEM25 members are invited to contribute to the drafting of this framework as per the questionnaire found here. Send your proposals by February 28 to Tommaso Visone and Marc Almagro at [email protected] so they can be included in the public database that will generate the first draft.
If approved by our members, the Constituent Assembly paper will be included in the transnational political party’s founding manifesto — a manifesto that will also be voted by our members, as well as by the members of our “electoral wing” partner organisations.
We’re growing our network in Ireland and the UK
On January 27, DCS Belfast members gathered for a strategy meeting to formulate priorities for the upcoming year. Many of our Dublin members attended as well, as they tackled the important question of building an “all-island”, cross party, cross border response to Brexit.
The meeting was held almost a year from Yanis Varoufakis’ last visit to Belfast, so it was particularly special that DIEM25 co-founder returned to address the meeting, having been the Keynote speaker at the Bloody Sunday memorial in Derry the previous day:
The energy in the room was matched by a deep commitment to speed up DIEM25’s development in Ireland with sharp focus on 2019.
Our emerging base of activists in the UK met on Sunday, January 28 to plan its next steps, together with Yanis and Rosemary Bechler representing the Coordinating Collective. The next day, DiEM25 UK and Yanis, joined by Advisory Panel member Anthony Barnett, held a Q&A and debate in Portcullis House, hosted by Catherine West, Labour MP, founder of the former All-party Parliamentary Group on UK-EU Relations. All present said they wished to be invited to more. Yanis was asked a huge range of question from how to inspire people, to who DiEM25 could ally themselves with under the heading: “How can Britain, under Brexit conditions, best have a progressive influence over European democracy?”
Yesterday evening Yanis, alongside MP’s Heidi Alexander and Alison McGovern, was invited by Chuka Ummuna to address Labour MPs and councillors at a meeting packed to the gills in a House of Commons Committee Room, called by the Labour Campaign for the Single Market. Here he unfolded the many useful dimensions of a Norway plus approach to Brexit that could make the Labour Party in Britain a beacon for European progress. He also urged the campaign to change its name.
Here’s the audio from Yanis’address at the House of Commons:
We’re partnering with (the people who could become) Belgrade’s next administration
Our local group of activists in Serbia is teaming up with “Don’t let Belgrade d(r)own”, a grassroots initiative to bring the city back to its citizens that will be competing in the local elections in March.
We’re having a birthday party…
Our movement is turning 2, and to mark the occasion we’re holding a weekend of work-oriented (!) celebrations in Berlin. The agenda includes workshops, brunches, hangouts and of course a damn good party. If you’re coming along, be sure to tell our Berlin 1 local group at [email protected].
We’re activating our ‘electoral wing’ in Greece, with a convention in Athens!
On March 26, our Greek National Collective (NC) will host a party convention in Athens to launch a new political party, DiEM25’s ‘electoral wing’ in Greece. More info coming soon!
And finally, we’re boosting our comms team. Want to be a part of it?
As our ambitions are taking shape to put our Progressive Agenda to the peoples of Europe, we need to strengthen how we communicate to the world. So we’re thrilled to announce some great new additions to our communications team.
- Davide Castro is our Social Media Coordinator. He is 25, from Portugal, based in Brussels. He loves Belgian beer and hates sharing it.
- Nataša Zorko is our new Graphics Coordinator. She’s 27, from Slovenia, and based in New Zealand (do we have a global team or what?).
Both of them are hardcore DiEMers and will be helping us take our comms to the next level as we wrestle with the Establishment towards 2019.
Do you want to join our comms team? We are now looking for:
- visual designers: illustrators, graphic designers
- writers, who can write for our site about the issues that matter
If you fit that description, we want to hear from you! Mail [email protected] with a few sentences on your field of expertise, availability, languages and location, and we’ll come back with next steps.
Carpe DiEM!