by system
failure
It is more
than obvious that using the latest big crisis, the economic elites in
Europe and globally, are planning to impose all the catastrophic
neoliberal measures tested in Greece by Troika. Dijsselbloem
signaled recently the start of this plan.
(http://failedevolution.blogspot.gr/2014/10/plutocrats-tighten-siege-around-europe.html)
As
Social-democrats in nearly every European country have been
"absorbed" by the neoliberal perception carried mainly by
the neoliberal European Right, there is a big political gap to be
filled by political forces who could fight against plutocracy and
defend majority's rights. In Greece, which was chosen to be the field
of the new conditions, the Left, naturally, became a significant
power, taking the first position in recent Euro-elections through the
radical-Left party, SYRIZA.
Costas
Lapavitsas, professor in economics at the University of London School
of Oriental and African Studies, described it very well in an
interesting discussion with the audience at the Real News network:
"...
to me, the most important change and transformation over the last two
decades, as financialization went into overdrive, is the collapse of
all social democracy, the social democrats. [...] obviously, in
Europe and elsewhere, it has collapsed. And the reason it's collapsed
is because it basically accepted, lock, stock, and barrel, the
arguments of neoliberalism, the idea of the market, the idea of
financial growth, of financial expansion. It really believed in it.
And the ones who argue most forcefully still for that are actually
social democrats. It's incredible. And, therefore, their influence,
certainly in Europe, it's just a vanishing. The social democratic
party in Greece has disappeared. The social democratic party in Spain
is disappearing nearly as fast. Social democrats in Portugal are
nowhere to be seen. In country after country--in Germany, the social
democracy is hobbled because of that, because they've accepted
these--they've got nothing to propose which would be the equivalent
of what they used to propose back in the '50s and the '60s and the
'70s, which was some kind of regulated capitalism within those
confines mentioned before, some kind of--you know, let's manage it.
The scope for that has become much less. In this context, there is
room for the left, as in the non social democratic left. The tragedy
there is that the left in Europe and elsewhere has been incredibly
weak because of the events of the last two to three decades--the
collapse of the Soviet Union, the massive defeats of the '80s in
terms of class struggle and so on. And the left hasn't been able to
take up the mantle. Not yet. There is life. It's not a corpse yet.
There is life. Things are happening, particularly because of the
crisis. It took time for the left to comprehend what happened in the
crisis, and they're beginning to respond. Who will fill the space
left by the collapse of social democracy, by the ideological
bankruptcy of social democracy, is a most interesting question for
politics today. Who will fill that space? How will it be filled? It
remains to be seen."
(http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=12593)
Currently,
people appear to be confused, in Europe, in the US and elsewhere,
about the ways they could mobilize to fight for their rights which
are systematically abolished. During the conversation, someone asked
a question that shows this fact in the most characteristic way: "So
what is this kind of mobilization of the people, the labor markets,
the small businesses, medium businesses? What does that process look
like to change the big business, to change the banking institutions,
and even the household
dynamics?"(http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=12562)
In Europe,
the first signs of such a mobilization come from Spain with the
Left-wing party Podemos. Latest polls showed that Podemos has a
bigger electoral preference than the two major parties in Spain, only
eight months after it was created. According to the poll, Podemos has
27 percent electoral support in Spain, the former governing party
PSOE (Spain Socialist Workers Party) has 25.5 percent, while the
currently governing conservative PP (Popular Party), which has
recently being involved in a corruption scandal, has only 20 percent.
(http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/New-Left-Wing-Party-Podemos-Over-takes-Major-Parties-in-Spain-20141102-0002.html)
As mentioned
in a previous article: "Today's conditions are such that, the
Left in Greece could not be able to change the course of the
class-war in favor of the majority by itself. It could trigger,
however, a general rise of the Left in Europe which could block, for
a start, Europe's catastrophic course towards the new, brutal
Feudalism."
(http://failedevolution.blogspot.gr/2014/09/a-new-attempt-to-domesticate-left-in.html)
It seems that this "triggering" has started (there is also
some mobilization in Croatia with the creation of a Leftist party
inspired by SYRIZA in Greece).
For the
first time in Greece a Leftist party wins an election, but the
message from Spain is even more promising because Podemos was not
created by small groups behind closed doors, but from people
protesting out in the streets.
The next big
test for the Leftist parties would be to synchronize their efforts
and create a solid European front capable to fight against the
neoliberal catastrophe. SYRIZA leader, Alexis Tsipras, was called to
speak today at the founding conference of Podemos in Madrid.
It seems
that there are signs of resistance in Europe. Societies are
politically mobilized to face the new challenges. What is left to
see, is whether this would be enough for Europe to change its course,
and bring back the lost values that have been sacrificed on the altar
of the illusive economic indexes. A Europe that will work for the
benefit of the real democracy and majority, not for the benefit of
the bankers and lobbyists.
"And the reason it's collapsed is because it basically accepted, lock, stock, and barrel, the arguments of neoliberalism, the idea of the market, the idea of financial growth, of financial expansion. "
ReplyDeleteThe "idea of the market"?
Sorry, there was no market. All decisions were made by governments, not the consumer. Stop rewriting the history of the last 20 years of Europe. Yurrip is screwed because of the liberals and the left. "Regulated Capitalism"? What a joke. In is pure and out socialism.
Not exactly. There was market, but not free market and not because all decisions were made by governments, but because it was rigged and still totally controlled by banking-corporate monopolies. It's called neoliberalism in practice.
DeleteYes, "the free market" has never existed any way, It is a fairy tale. Economy has always been managed, just when the right manage It and do trickle down, then they they call It free market. Free market is anarchy by definition. Yo are right about the social democrats unfortunately. I think It is not so much about the social democratic ideas but just people have started to believe in this utopic project called EU as if the EU would solve everything by magic. Voters are not really interested in what is going on in EU politics, it is the magical EU that is supposed to solve everything without their own participation. Political elites don't have to respond to them any more. The utopic dream shows signs of totalitarianism already, nobody questions the success of econonimic reforms in Greece or the success od euro.
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