For three years now, Europe has been in the throes of the worst economic crisis since the end of the Second World War. Especially in the poorer countries of the EU, the crisis has struck with full force. In preparatory obedience, to make sure it would indeed fulfil all the expectations of international speculators, Spain brutally slashed its public budget. Pensions were reduced, workers rights struck down, public investments cut back and taxes raised. The result is a paralyzed country in which 40% of young people are now unemployed.
Archive for the ‘European Institutions’ Category
Investment Rights Stifle Democracy
Friday, April 1st, 2011
Report on current decision-making in the European Institutions on investement policies that stifle democracy – by Corporate Europe Observatory.
Dilemmas of Contemporary Environmentalism
Friday, March 4th, 2011Joan Martínez Alier analyses in his paper the negative tendencies of the impacts of the economy on the environment and the rising conflicts of ecological distribution. The text is in Spanish.
The EU-Free Trade Agreement with Colombia and Peru
Saturday, January 8th, 2011
“This publication contains an overview of the FTA’s history, of human rights violations in Colombia and Peru as well as a critical analysis of the draft agreement which recently leaked to the public. It appears that the main beneficiaries of the agreement would be European transnational corporations (TNCs) working in Colombia and Peru. The text, therefore, describes European TNCs’ activities in these two Andean countries and their involvement in human rights violations, particularly in commercial agriculture and extractive industries like mining and petroleum.” (From the Introduction of the book)
The Second Conquest: The EU Free Trade Agreement with Colombia and Peru – by Thomas Fritz | FDCL (Berlin), TNI (Amsterdam), October 2010, ISBN: 978-3-923020-50-8
The EU Trade Policy on Raw Materials
Friday, December 24th, 2010
The New Resource Grab: How EU Trade Policy on Raw Materials is Undermining Development – WEED, 2010, in German, English and French
From the introduction: … The Raw Materials Initiative, launched in 2008 by the European Commission, stressed the EU’s dependence on ‘strategically important raw materials’ such as ‘high-tech’ metals like cobalt, platinum, rare earths and titanium as well as other raw materials, such as wood, chemicals, hides and skins. The key problem with securing access to these materials was said to be the ‘proliferation of government measures that distort international trade in raw materials’, notably export taxes and ‘restrictive investment rules’. The main countries applying these restrictive measures were identified as the emerging countries of China, Russia, Ukraine, Argentina, South Africa and India. But other developing countries, notably in resource-rich Africa and South America, were also on the EU target list. …
Download book from WEED homepage »
Die EU versucht ihre Rohstoffinteressen über Freihandelsabkommen durchzusetzen. Entwicklungsländer sollen Handelsbarrieren abbauen und neuen Investitionsregeln zustimmen. Das hat Folgen.
Acting for the Transformation of Our Societies
Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010
“Acting for the transformation of our societies – Examples from different World Regions” – RLS-Conference in Brussels, October 2010
For a long time the left has highlighted the emerging problems of the neoliberal counter-revolution. Persuasive analysis of the backgrounds of different but interconnected crisis have been developed. But what is less developed is the capability of the left to present concrete steps how to change the world we live in today. Although many of us may have a vision about the future structure of our societies, the question is how to go from the here and now towards more equal and sustainable societies in the future.
Entry Projects to a Politics of Solidarity: A Radical Practice Test of Counter-hegemony in Times of the Crisis of Neo-liberal Financial Market Capitalism
Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010
By Michael Brie, Director of the Institute of Social Analysis, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (Berlin)
An analysis of Antonio Gramsci’s concept of hegemony reveals a “magic square” which societal forces must form in order to successfully challenge the ruling structure in a counter-hegemonic manner: The first side of that square is the emergence of the possibility for a new and higher societal stage of productivity. The old power and property structures must have proven themselves as chains binding the new productive forces. The second concerns individual life opportunities. “Society” or “classes” do nothing; rather, it is always concrete people in concrete groups who take the risk of dissident action, or of refusal, upon themselves. The third is the necessary interconnection of conflicting interests, a historic compromise which links very different or even contrary classes and social groups. The fourth is that none of this is possible without a new moral foundation, a superior system of values.
Another Europe is Possible – The GUE/NGL Group in the European Parliament
Thursday, October 21st, 2010
The green-left group in the European Parliament is an alliance of MEP from 12 European countries and 17 parties. What are the characteristics of the GUE/NGL group in the European Parliament, what does “confederalism” mean to them and what is the relationship between the GUE/NGL group and the European Left Party?
Within Europe, the parties of the radical left are united in overlapping forms of cooperation. With over 30 members and observers the most inclusive among them is certainly the European Left Party (EL) which is currently counting down to its 3rd congress in Paris in December. The Paris Congress is expected to adopt a Joint Action Platform for resistance and alternatives in Europe, concrete lines of actions that six years after the founding of the EL shall move the European left parties towards a new level of cooperation.
Europe Must Become Conscious of its Own Culture
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
Von Luciana Castellina – I would like to start my talk with a remark which has no direct connection to CULTURE, but I think we can’t do without a somewhat dramatic observation: We are currently experiencing the decline of Europe and of the role of Europe. The dynamic is gone; the citizens don’t understand the European Union.
Video of Lecture by Luciana Castellina
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
“Europe Must Become Conscious of its Own Culture” , Lecture by Luciana Castellina (in French), RLS Brussels, December 2009.
Luciana Castellina is a communist, journalist, author, and a former Member of the European Parliament.
English