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 ‘Social Movements’ Category
Free Our Seeds! International Days of Action, Brussels, 17-18 April 2011
Thursday, April 7th, 2011
The International Seed Action Days will be held on 17/18 of April 2011 in Brussels, with a public debate on the 17 April (Sunday), 16.00 -19.00 (Molenbeek Cultural Centre) on “Access to seeds is a human right” with activists from India, Turkey and several European countries. They will describe the situation concerning seeds in their countries and the consequences of the planned EU laws. There is food offered by a good popular Brussels kitchen after the debate.
From the invitation: Tens of thousands of people throughout Europe are actively demanding that the right to produce seeds remains in the hands of small farmers and gardeners. … The big seed trusts are determined to obtain worldwide control. This has been made clear by genetic engineering, patents on plants and animals, the introduction of seed reproduction fees… We must prevent the very basis of our food supply from becoming a source of profit for multinational companies. …
From Dakar to Egypt and Back Again – The 2011 World Social Forum in Dakar
Tuesday, March 1st, 2011
By Ulrich Brand, University of Vienna
These days, world history is being written in Cairo and other North-African cities and countries. But the ten-year old World Social Forum, which took place in mid-February in Dakar, Senegal, has proven itself to be an indispensible transnational space of encounters, for the development of strategy, or for launching campaigns. For many activists, the Forum began already one week before the official opening, with a migration caravan from Bamako, Mali, to Dakar, which sought to both inform people, and learn from and network with them, about the complex interrelationships surrounding the issue of migration. Beyond this one, a number other caravans towards the Senegalese capital had been organised as ways for their participants to highlight their respective issues, and to learn about other conditions and situations.
Voices from Mali of the Network Afrique-Europe-Interact
Sunday, February 13th, 2011The 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
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.
Association Agreements between the European Union and Latin America
Thursday, April 8th, 2010
Acuerdos de Asociación Europa-América Latina: Socios privilegiados o tratados de libre comercio? – RLF Brussels, 2010
Association Agreements with Latin America are increasingly pushed by the European Union. The brochure “Association Agreements European Union – Latin America – Privileged partnerships or Free Trade Agreements?” gives insights into impacts of Association Agreements with the EU on specific sectors, such as agrofuels, water and energy, investments and services, analyses the negotiation processes between the European Union and the Andean Region, and explaines the political context of the probably soon be signed EU-Central American Association Agreement.
The authors are academic researchers and/or associated with civil society organisations that are active in the Hemispheric Social Alliance, a network that originated in the opposition to the American Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA, span. ALCA).
The studies in detail: El Savador (context of EU-Central American Association Agreement and study on anticipated outcomes for micro and meso enterprises), Costa Rica (legal and institutional changes for energy and water), Nicaragua and Guatemala (changing role of agrofuels and impact on association agreements), Colombia and Peru (negotiation processes of association agreements and general overview on experiences with trade agreements in Latin America), Bolivia (role of social movements in the negotiation process), Chile and Mexico (experiences with free trade agreements, impact on investments and services).
Social and Climate Justice Caravan
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009Social and Climate Justice Caravan (Bulletin), 2009
Download Caravan Bulletin here
From the text: India Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Watch, has created Joint Action Committees across India, led by those who will be most affected by corporate rise in the retail sector. In 2007, during two major mobilizations hundreds of thousands of peopled were joining protest marches against backdoor entry of retail demanding “Corporations to quit retail”. A year later FDI Watch coordinated a halla bol (speak up!) mobilization with major actions happening simultaneously in various parts of the country.
Delhi: Responding to the national call of India FDI Watch Campaign to take the fight to the doorsteps of supermarkets, hundreds of small shopkeepers and street vendors staged militant protest at the doorsteps of Reliance Fresh, Subhiksha and More in the Shakarpur area of Delhi. The protesters forced corporations to down their shutters and locked them. A ten-headed tall effigy was also burnt. Each head of the effigy was symbolizing corporations namely Wal-Mart, Tesco, Reliance Fresh, Big Bazaar, Subhiksha, More, Spencers, Big Apple, Metro and Carrefour.
Anti-Poverty Conference: Building the Unsettling Force
Sunday, June 21st, 2009
“Building the Unsettling Force” was the slogan of the National Anti-Poverty Conference held from July 16 through 19, 2009, on the campus of Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky by a coalition including the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC), the Social Welfare Action Alliance (SWAA), Women in Transition, and Disappeared in America – Hiding the Poor, as well as local action groups.
Some 200 people from all over the USA participated, from Florida to California, from Maine to Oregon and also from Canada. It was not a conference about poverty, but rather one of the anti-poverty movements of the people affected by poverty, who are present in most towns in America today. Represented were grassroots movements to which, due to the economic crisis, ever more people from classically middle-class backgrounds are gravitating, and also social workers from government agencies and care personnel from the hospitals, who have either been affected by unemployment, or else can no longer bear the deterioration of working conditions. Some trade unionists and university professors also took part in the conference.
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