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.
Archive for the ‘European Left’ Category
Sinistra, Ecologia e Libertà
Saturday, October 30th, 2010The Congress formalized the birth of the party Sinistra, Ecologia and Libertà, therefore merging the founding parties and movements, cooperating since 2009 ( Movimento per la Sinistra ( from PRC), Uniti per la Sinistra (from PdCI), a part of the Greens, Sinistra Democratica). Numbers: more than 1000 delegates representing 42,000 SEL members. Note that the high number of SEL members was highly facilitated by membership’s online procedure.
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, 2010Luciana Castellina is a communist, journalist, author, and a former Member of the European Parliament.
The Left in Government in Latin America and Europe
Friday, July 9th, 2010Political activists from Latin America and Europe met for the second time in recent days at the invitation of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in Brussels to discuss their experience with participation in government. At the first conference, the opinion had been unanimous: Yes, despite some disappointing results, such as those in France and Italy, the left could not resist the challenge of assuming governmental responsibility. The recent second conference was to serve to deepen the discussion. How is the left reacting to the worldwide crisis? What strategic concepts are they following? Are there political topic areas, in which the left is implementing new ideas? What about such issues as participatory justice, ecology, deepening democracy, or an alternative financial architecture?
Is Socialist Politics Possible from a Position in Government?
Monday, May 3rd, 2010
Is Socialist Politics Possible from a Position in Government? Five objections by Rosa Luxemburg and five offers for a discussion – By Michael Brie
Participation by the left in governments dominated by other forces has always been controversial. Primarily, five objections to government participation by the left have been formulated, to the effect that: (1) capitalism cannot be changed fundamentally; (2) only a revolution can solve the basic problems; (3) the state is only the instrument of political power of the economically dominant class; (4) government participation inevitably weakens the left; and (5) by its participation in government, the left makes the continuation of rightist politics possible in the first place.
The Left in Iceland
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
Auður Lilja Erlingsdóttir, Iceland
From the middle of the 19th century, the question of Iceland’s independence from Denmark dominated the Icelandic political scene. With sovereignty in 1918 and full independence in 1944, the Icelandic society began to change. Iceland moved from being an agricultural society to a more industrialized one, causing swift changes in settlement, life style and living conditions. The Icelandic party system was not immune to these changes in the social structure.
Making Use of the Vacuum of Hegemony
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
Anna Striethorst (Brussels) – “Why Seems the Crisis to Favour Rather the Right than the Left?” In March 2010, the leftist network Transform!Europe invited experts from all over Europe to Palma de Mallorca to discuss strategic options for the left during the crisis.
The debate first of all addressed the question of an analysis as to whether the crisis has in fact strengthened the position of right-wing political forces, as assumed at the outset. A study by the Austrian Barbara Steiner, who had compared the results of the elections in a number of European countries, arrived at no clear conclusion. Many took issue with the thesis of the Czech Jiri Malek that crises always help the rightists: Ruurik Holm from Finland pointed out, for example, that the Finnish economic crisis during the nineties has led to a landslide victory of the left. Other participants argued that the right, too, had been caught unprepared by the crisis and would now have to reconsider its neo-liberal positions. Some even went as far as Richard Detje of the magazine Sozialismus, who noted a vacuum of hegemony, in view of the obsolescence of deregulation and depoliticising. In his opinion, the situation has seldom been as open as now; the left, he said, must make use of this.
For a Continued Emancipation of The Left
Monday, March 1st, 2010
Birgit Daiber (Brussels) and Cornelia Hildebrandt (Berlin) – The old socialist model imploded in 1989. The perversion of the idea of socialism by Stalinism, the democratic deficits inherent in its system, the failure of the planned economy, the bureaucratic paralysis of the societies subjected to its claim that political leadership belong to the communist parties… not much was left of the wealth of ideas of the left’s history; the hope of humankind had worn itself out in “real existing socialisms”.
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