We are all PIIGS

We are all PIIGS: statement on the German Finance Minister Posted: 06 Mar 2012 06:31 PM PST How can Schäuble lecture us on Europe while, behind the pro-European rhetoric, austerity is really tearing the continent and its people ever further apart? WE ARE ALL P.I.I.G.S. Via Collettivo Prezzemolo On Wednesday at 7.15pm, the German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble will come to the European University Institute in Florence, Italy to give a lecture on “Europe – economic and institutional perspectives”. Schäuble is one of the main protagonists of the neoliberal right that is imposing the logic of austerity and cuts on the whole of Europe – and particularly on Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain – as a supposed solution to the Eurozone crisis. As researchers and workers of the EUI, a European institution in every sense, we cannot stand quietly by in the presence of one of the architects of the social butchery currently destroying the lives of millions of European citizens. We are now seeing the mechanisms of this destruction: cuts to education, health and welfare; attacks on workers’ rights; the limitation of democratic sovereignty and the passing over of parliaments in deference to the will of financial institutions. How can Schäuble lecture us on Europe and its “perspectives”, while austerity, behind the pro-European rhetoric, is in reality tearing the continent and its people further apart, in a race to the bottom that makes us Europeans poorer and weaker? Since 2008, Europe has been facing a crisis that is undermining what is left of its social model and of our chance of a future,  while the so-called solutions imposed by European and international institutions and national governments have been making things worse and worse. In terms of effects on our everyday lives, it has even become difficult for us Europeans to distinguish between the crisis on the one hand, and the austerity which is supposed to solve the crisis on the other. Who is making our friends and families lose their jobs? Who is cutting our funds for research and knowledge? Who is emptying representative institutions of any democratic character? Is it the crisis or is it the supposed solution to the crisis? We know that there is no difference, because the crisis is not a natural fact, but the result of political choices: this crisis is the crisis of neoliberalism, and therefore neoliberal austerity cannot be the solution. Austerity, in reality, is not the solution to the crisis, but an attempt to make a profit out of it: the same banks and transnational financial elites that generated the crisis are now earning profits on the Greek and Irish “bailouts”, on the Italian bonds, on every supposed “rescue package” that the ECB and IMF put in place. Furthermore, the crisis and austerity provide a good frame through which to justify an unprecedented attack on what is left of the European social model. This is something that the neoliberal right and the transnational financial elites have been waiting for for decades: the chance to make socially acceptable the kinds of extreme anti-social measures that in other circumstances would be seen as the pipe dreams of fringe ideologues. Things like banning deficit spending in national constitutions, demolishing collective bargaining, and privatising education, health and welfare. We will welcome Schäuble with a peaceful and determined protest, making visible in the EUI the opposition and resistance to austerity that millions of Europeans have been engaging in in city streets and squares across the continent over the past year. We, as researchers and workers of the EUI, feel compelled to denounce what is happening and to exploit the privilege of personally facing one of Europe’s butchers in order to tell him what millions of European would like to tell him. We do not accept the blackmail of austerity: we are all PIIGS, we are all Portuguese, all Irish, all Italian, all Greek, all Spanish, and all brothers and sisters of every human being who loses their job, income and rights because of policies that are guided not by the public interest, but by the profit margins of big finance. We refuse the ‘TINA’ narrative and its increasingly breathless mantra that “There Is No Alternative!”, we denounce neoliberal austerity as not neutral, but socially, politically and nationally partisan, and we claim the right and duty, as part of an academic community of social scientists, to engage in the collective task of finding alternative routes to a future based on social justice, democracy and equality, and to participate in the global struggle against the zombie neoliberalism that seeks to turn crisis into its own opportunity.

Violent arrests as Russia takes to the streets against Putin Posted: 06 Mar 2012 06:02 PM PST Hundreds arrested as tens of thousands pour into the streets of Moscow to contest this week’s fraudulent re-election of former president Vladimir Putin. By Sakari Nuuttila and Roope Luokkamäki MOSCOW — On the day following the Russian presidential election we were making our way to Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow, the setting for the first big opposition demonstration protesting against the victory of Vladimir Putin. Even early on it was clear that the government wouldn’t take any grumbling from the sore losers. The streets were lined by policemen and military personnel. Despite the strict security measures, a vast number of Russians had decided to ignore the attempts of intimidation, and were headed in the same direction as we were. The whole metro system was flooded with people. Once we got to the Square, we realized that is was not only the rush hour that had flooded the metro. Tens of thousands of people opposing the illegitimacy of the election had arrived at Pushkinskaya. What surprised us was that this was not only a gathering of young radicals: the demonstrators were of all classes, young and old, men and women gathered together to voice their dissatisfaction. There were young students with scarves covering their faces, parents with their children, and of course a couple of guys with V for Vendetta masks to complete the ensemble. One spirited old woman especially drew our attention. The tiny old lady was shouting out louder than anyone else and vigorously waved a Soviet flag. The diversity of flags flying on the square showed us just what a wide spectrum of opposition had really arrived to demonstrate together. Flag-waving citizens braved the cold as they listened to speeches from representatives of the opposition movements. When a person on stage would speak, half the crowd would cheer while the other half booed. The demonstrators were united, however, when the shouts “Russia without Putin!” and “Russia – yes! Putin – no!” rang across the Square again and again, emanating from the mouths of thousands. Each one in their own words, the speakers accused Putin’s regime of thievery and oligarchy, demanding new, fair elections. Someone even found it appropriate to diss the president-to-be for his Botox-injected face. A young woman named Galina stood with the demonstrators holding a sign stating her disbelief in Putin allegedly gaining over 50 percent of the votes the day before. She told us she had come to Pushkinskaya Square because she believes it is a way to make a difference. “I hope that the people can affect what is happening, just like they did 20 years ago when everything changed. I hope that a similar change will happen now.” “We need a democracy in which people can say what they want, write what they want and choose what they want,” she stated sincerely. A 20-something Russian man who introduced himself as Dima told us he had driven 15 hours straight from his hometown in southern Russia in order to attend the demonstration. “Elections don’t work in Russia. The last and only way to express your opinion in this country is to go out to the street and protest,” Dima said. The demonstration of Monday evening was a stark contrast to the celebrations of the election night, when the same streets of Moscow were filled with Putin supporters. Dima shares a common feeling that many of the people attending pro-Putin rallies are either forced or paid to be there. “Especially youth organizations are deployed from around the country to simulate support for Putin. What’s worst about it is that their actions are financed by the Russian government — with taxpayer’s money!” According to Dima, the problem with the presidency in Russia is that the president wields too much power. “The president is like a tsar. Putin didn’t create the system — Yeltsin did — but Putin is a smart man and he has developed that system in order to give himself even more power.” After driving through the night and day to attend the rally in Moscow, Dima said he was disappointed to see how small the demonstration of the opposition ended up being, and how soon it was over. “The people will have no effect on the country this way. The opposition must be more radical; it must be a direct confrontation of the regime. I think we should occupy the Red Square, the symbol of our country. If there were enough people there, the government would not dare to use force.” However, it started to look like it wouldn’t take long for Dima to get his wish of a more eventful demonstration. After the official program was over and the scheduled speakers and less fanatic attendants had left, the remaining demonstrators gathered in the center of Pushkinskaya Square, unwilling to leave. Obviously the militants that had been standing on the sidelines all along were not too happy about this and started to form a circle around the remaining crowd. While the remaining demonstrators shouted into megaphones in the center of the park, the riot police began tapping their batons against their shin guards in an intimidating manner. At this point it started to feel like things were going to get real. There was a great deal of shouting back and forth through megaphones, and the demonstrators began to call out in unison: “Police with the people!” Their invitation, however, was answered only with louder baton banging. Then it happened. Suddenly the policemen rushed towards the center of the park, pushing people back, surrounding the remaining demonstrators in the middle. There was a brief moment of panic, when no one was sure what was going to happen. Once they had closed most of the people out, the police formed a tight barrier and took control of the situation. As a single column, they began pushing the remaining demonstrators and media representatives out of the park. It was difficult to see what happened to the protesters who refused to yield, but it is likely that a good number of them were arrested. At this point the majority of the people came to the conclusion that the party was over, as the line of policemen pushed forcefully through the park. Likewise, we decided it was prime time to scram. Among the last of the people we began running ahead of the approaching line of police, trying to snap as many photos as we could on the way. Once we reached the edge of the park and the column was still behind us, we dived through some bushes and slid into the metro station in which the police were corralling people. Although the police used force in clearing out the park, all-out violence was not used to a great extent. We found it strange, however, that the police acted in the way they did, since at the time of the clearing most of the people had already left and the remainders of the demonstration would probably have died out within an hour or two in the freezing Moscow weather. This morning the Moscow police announced that it had arrested about 250 people in protests throughout the city last night. Sakari Nuuttila and Roope Luokkamäki are freelance journalists currently covering the ongoing protests in Moscow.

European day of action against the EU’s crisis dictatorship Posted: 06 Mar 2012 10:27 AM PST In a declaration, the 400 participants in the European Action Conference have called for a European day of action in Frankfurt from May 17 until 19. Via European Resistance The 400 participants of the Action Conference from February 24th to 26th in Frankfurt/Main, Germany, have decided to call for days of protest from May 17th to 19th against the crisis dictatorship of the European Union. We resist the disaster that is applied to Greece and other countries, against the impoverishment and denial of rights of millions of people and the practical abolition of democratic procedures resulting from the decisions of the Troika consisting of ECB, EU and IMF. The days of protest in Frankfurt directly succeed [sic.] to the International Action Day on May 12th and the anniversary of the first assembly in Madrid on May 15th. We are therefore sending a visible sign of solidarity to those people in Europe who have been and are resisting against the debtocracy of the Troika and the attacks on their livelihood and their future. Simultaneously, protests are being organised in the US against the G8 Summit in Chicago. The choice of Frankfurt for the protests results from the role that the city has as headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) and of powerful German and international banks and corporations. On May 17, we will occupy parks and main squares of the city to create spaces for discussion and exchange. On May 18, we will block the running business of banks in Frankfurt and turn our anger about the Troika’s policies into action. We will gather for a large demonstration on May 19 and visualise the broad base of the protests. From many countries and regions of the world people will travel to Frankfurt and participate in the days of protest. The success of the protests requires a mobilisation that is actively supported by as many as possible: the Occupy movement, the initiatives of unemployed and the crisis alliances, trade unionists, Attac, the environmental and peace movement, migrants’, youth and students’ organisations, anti-racist, anti-fascist and left groups, activists of various local struggles and the Left Party. The period of mobilisation includes the European action day on March 31st and international Mayday, as well as collective bargaining struggles in Germany that have our solidarity.   § Deutsch § Español § Français § Ελληνικά