Kategorie: English

March 4, 2017

The 4th Forum of the European Coordination to Exit the Euro, the EU and NATO, held in Paris on March 4, 2017, was a success. However, it should be noted that though speakers had been invited to defend the A and B Plan strategies, none of them came to debate the matter – something we regret strongly.

The forum happened while the « European construction » is about to celebrate the 60 years of existence of the Rome Treaty on March 25, 2017, after the 25th anniversary of the Maastricht Treaty. A sad statement for the peoples that suffer from them.

All the speakers highlighted the disastrous consequences deriving from the euroliberal policies inflicted to the citizenry. They shed light on the impossible reform of the system, which has been designed and organized to reduce and then suppress national and people’s sovereignty.

For a unilateral exit strategy out of the EU and the euro

The citizenry understood that the real problem is the European Union. Yet, some still proclaim « an A plan and a B plan » again and again – such plans that have been implemented in Greece and have proved to be complete failures, as shown by the destitution in which the Greek people is now. These great supporters of Syriza suggest the same solution that Mr Tsipras has carried out : « negociate again and again ».

Their A plan : to discuss with the EU to change the ECB status. Yet, in order to change that key point, the unanimous agreement of the 28 Member-States is required. It is obvious then that all the EU Member-States governments are hostile to this idea and most likely for still a very long time.

As for the B plan, which plans a grouped, negociated exit, this is only a new smokescreen engineered to slow down the exit process – tergiversations that protect policies favorable to financial interests.

The EU has been designed and built to suppress national sovereignty and maintain policies favorable to the dominating classes. It is a locked system which cannot be modified from the inside. The only way to a solution is the unilateral way out to build a Europe of nations.

The European Coordination to Exit the Euro, the EU and NATO takes the following initiatives :

– Supporting and calling to demonstrate on March 25 in Rome during the march set up by a network of organizations and personalities against the celebration of the 1957 Rome Treaty by the 28 EU Member-States heads of government. For the European Coordination to Exit the Euro, the EU and NATO, March 25 must be a day to march and fight against this « European construction » and to exit the euro, the EU and NATO, and to restore national and people’s sovereignty.

– Supporting and calling to demonstrate on March 25 – Greek National Day – in the morning at the Greek embassies of European capital cities, requiring the restoration of human rights in Greece.

– Organizing the 5th International Forum of the European Coordination to Exit the Euro, the EU and NATO, in Barcelona (Spain) during Fall 2017, opened to the public and the press.

– Calling to reinforce the Coordination and to create an international front to implement common and coordinated initiatives.

– Promoting the largest unity possible in all the countries to defend the social and economic rights of the working and middle classes, and to fight against the adjustments and budget cuts required by the Troika.

For a wide alliance of democratic, social and popular forces to be prepare for the clash with the EU

by Wilhelm Langthaler

By means of the Euro regime the capitalist oligarchies of the European Union are inflicting the worst social disaster on the popular classes. The waves of attacks are carried out in an uneven way affecting first of all the peripheries which in some places are suffering more than during the great depression of the 1930ies. Enforcing mass impoverishment has been requiring a substantial curb on democratic rights and especially the dismantlement of national sovereignty by the Brussels supra-national bureaucracy.

Popular resentment, unease and also resistance is, however, rapidly growing. The subaltern strata eventually start to search for means to end the relentless attacks by the elites. They turn against globalisation. In order to restore social justice and democratic participation the popular masses envisage the return to national sovereignty. The Brexit vote was a heavy popular blow against the ruling elites both the British ones as well as those of the EU. New such acts of disobedience, rebellion and explosion are in preparation and can happen soon in a range of countries. The next litmus test is the constitutional referendum in Italy which could lead to the collapse of the Renzi regime which has been serving as the last defence line of the Europeist elites.

A look on Euromania to understand the disenchantment

The common currency was promoted as the crowning of European unification, depicting its core, the common market with is supra-national institutions, as a civilizational progress. That was based on two indeed historic promises which the workers’ movement ultimately had failed to delivery on: On one hand there is the pledge to social convergence of the continent which historically had been ragged by an abyss between rich and powerful centres and poor and subordinated peripheries. On the other hand there was the projection of a democratic framework which would provide for the overcoming of the inherited conflicts between the nations and allow for lasting peace. Obviously those two aspects go hand in hand influencing each other.

Those were the heydays of globalisation. Clinton promised that unchained capitalism would bring civilization to its highest point eventually ending there. This narrative tended to be bought by the global middle classes, the “Golden Billion”, well into the years 2000. The credit bubble enabled them to embark on a consumerist spree while celebrating that not work but mere financial speculation would secure their wealth.

That poverty has been steadily growing and an army of working poor reappearing, went unnoticed or encountered no interest by the middle classes which provided the pillars which casino capitalism was resting on. Neither did the NATO war on Yugoslavia disturb their perceptions. It appeared as a global policing operation driving out the bad spirits of the past and not as the inauguration of the renewed subordination under the western centres.

Massive and on the long run unsustainable imbalances had been building up, however, already at that time. There was the substantial current account surplus generated by the German centre which went inverse to offsetting capital flows to the periphery. The Schröder government further depressed wages development way below productivity growth – a systematic anti-popular policy no other country could match. But liberalist indicators have been blind to such signs of imminent crisis as market decisions are deemed always right and wise. On the contrary they have been turning it into a virtue every country has been bullied to emulate until today.

Change in the public perception by the middle classes came about only years into the global economic crisis which started in 2007/8. The credit bubble collapsed, banks were pushed on the brink of default being bailed out by the states, which on its turn triggered the sovereign debt crisis. The emergency credit programmes imposed on the periphery provided not only for extreme austerity, wage depression and eternal recession but also led to the loss of the last traces of national sovereignty by the debtor countries.

Hybrid imperial character of the Euro/EU regime

When creating the Euro the capitalist elites were unified in setting up a supra-national institutional framework armoured in front of the popular masses able to impose the neo-liberal agenda. But that did not mean that national interests ceased to exist. Actually it was a complicated compromise between the two leading countries France and Germany. Paris by means of the common currency intended to end the terror which had been exerted by the Bundesbank and to allow some economic co-ordination. Conversely, Bonn/Berlin maintained a sceptical view on the common currency for they feared to be forced to give in to demands of their partners. They eventually accepted the Euro in return to German re-unification and the modelling of the ECB along their extremist ordo-liberal conceptions. Finally German export business got the much wanted brake on currency revaluation which their ideologues and state bureaucrats did not want to grant them. It was this institutionally fixed undervaluation which allowed their ensuing exceptional expansion.

But this compromise included the break-up of the link between currency and treasury – an unprecedented situation where the issuer of money is not empowered to defend it as lender and spender of last resort. Germany refused any “transfer union” and made the “no bailout clause” a precondition.

Deprived of any protection including depreciation and use of their own currency the industries of the peripheral countries got heavily degraded. Austerity common from the mid 80ies did not suffice any more to keep the German pace of driving down the wage/productivity ratio. Given the construction principles of the currency union the default of the periphery became imminent. Without bailouts and bond market intervention by the ECB the Euro would have collapsed years ago.

As the main creditor state Germany thus acquired an extraordinary role calling the shots behind the supra-national bureaucracy. The lacking debt mutualisation, required by any common currency, serves as a powerful stick in the hands of the German elites blackmailing the rest of the EU onto their ultra-liberal line more and more running also against the interests of the respective national elites.

This imperialist turn, however, is of very limited reach and can backfire very soon. To refuse paying the imperialist costs in the long run is a weakness not a strength. The extraordinarily powerful lever of conditioned emergency credits can be easily turned into a lever to split the entire imperial edifice – a simple mechanism of reverse momentum. Suffice that a member country refuses to accept the conditions, is ready to default on its debt and is prepared to issue its own currency – exactly what the Tsipras government did not dare to endeavour.

That shows not only how unprepared Germany is for its newly acquired role but also how vulnerable the imperial edifice of the Euro regime is given the increasing contradictions it continues to generate.

The loss of hegemony of the EU elites across the continent is far reaching. Not only the poor strata but also increasing sections of the middle classes do no more believe in the narrative of social convergence. But the social component is only the basis on which the political crisis thrives. It is the imperial character as well as the German dominance within it that renders things so explosive. The promise of continental participation, democracy and peace crumbled. Not only the Euro but also the entire EU narrative is no more credible for the subaltern classes. The Brexit class vote there is indicative.

The centrifugal forces have grown too strong to be suppressed by the supra-national centre all the more as it is increasingly split along national interests. The collapse of the Euro regime is inevitable and only a matter of time. That will impact heavily on the EU edifice as well though there might be some possibilities of saving some elements.

Which way out this historic conflagration is being floated by the different tendencies within the elites as well as among the forces referring to the popular masses?

Social Europe

From the very start of the common market there has been the idea to push the supra-national authorities towards Keynesian measures. There are different shades and grades of this concept as well as various authors ranging from sections of the elites (like Delors) to the unions passing by the historic left which has not stopped to call for a “Social Europe” until today. Especially in its onset hope had been set on the common currency. First of all, the French state believed to become empowered to balance unchained German ordo-liberalism.

All this is based on an incomprehension of reasons and pre-conditions of the supra-national unification as well as on the prevailing relationship of forces. The common market and its supra-national institutions result in an explicit anti-Keynesian neo-liberal compact which became possible only after the defeat and U-turn of the Mitterrand government in France. Though the Euro started out with a compromise, it still had to accept the German ordo-liberal frame all along the ensuing treaties.

If the weaker states have not been able to withstand the pressure of the neo-liberal centre led by Germany (their elites even had joint voluntarily to be stronger against their own popular classes), how then it is reasonably conceivable that within the supra-national institutions Keynesianism would eventually prevail? It was the other way around: In order to enforce neo-liberalism, the social and democratic gains crystallized on the national level needed to be dismantled by pushing back the states’ distributional intervention by shifting sovereignty to the centre. The Brussels bureaucracy is nothing else than the European form of globalisation.

The best and practical proof for this is the Greek disaster. Syriza tried to extract at least some face-saving concessions but not even that worked. They set all their hopes on the interests of the other states to soften austerity. But the German stick threatened them all eventually leaving Greece alone.

There is the point that stronger economies would wield a more powerful lever like Spain, Italy and ultimately France. It is also true that in the final moment Berlin always has been cutting a deal in order to avert the collapse of the entire edifice. But the concessions, on the other hand, have always been minor and did not alter the overall framework let alone the dominant role of Germany.

Schäuble’s scenarios

The German elites are well aware that they are the main beneficiary of the Euro in an economic sense. Also, their newly acquired extraordinary political role stems from the Euro regime. They will do whatever possible to safeguard this favourable edifice. That does, however, not mean that they are not preparing contingency plans. When Schäuble proposed to Greece to leave the Euro zone, it was not only a means to coerce Athens into submission. It was a test balloon for an orderly withdrawal consistent with the project of a “Core Europe” floated in the early 1990ies. Schäuble was searching for a way to mitigate the predicted tensions within the system in order to save it. It hints that they will not continue centralisation at any cost. In case of significant demand-side Keynesian pressures and measures (not only on the level of monetary policy) they will prefer to quit the common currency and downgrade the supra-national para-state apparatus.

They do know, however, how difficult it is to avoid a chain reaction. Had Greece left, what reason would there be for other countries to stay? Their problems are of the very same nature only differing in degree. So the current solution with Syriza implementing their programme is the preferable one for the German rulers at least in the short run. They hope to be able to muddle through as they continue to believe in their liberal textbooks promising success of their recipes.

Stubborn centralisers from the left-wing of the regime

The Delors-type bureaucrats know, however, better and are aware that crisis is imminent and will erupt again. They also fear growing popular pressure, the German elites are much less exposed to or tend to underestimate being caught in their own ideological bubble. They strongly believe that in the final moment Berlin will need to consent into a mutualisation of sovereign debt as they will not risk the crumbling of the entire system. They think that in the long run they will obtain the compromise that the common currency should have brought already earlier including a common fiscal policy etc. So they push along the line of further centralisation towards a federal state totally opposed to the popular masses hoping that history will prove them right. This explains why Juncker right after the British referendum putting in serious troubles the “ever closer union” opted for a forward defence calling for a further acceleration now no more hindered by London.

Infected with a globalist phobia of the nation state, important sections of the left follow suit. Most prominent: Varoufakis, the former finance minister and negotiation leader under the Tsipras government responsible for the capitulation. After the capitulation of the Tsipras, he alluded to develop a Plan B. But within a few months this turned out to be a new leftist version of a federal EU state, for he considers the logic alternative, the return to national sovereignty, reactionary per se.

The inability and unwillingness to break with supra-national globalisation ties the left to the elites and sheds them from the popular masses leaving the field to rightist forces.

Attempts by right-wing forces

We need to unmask the narrative of the left supporting the EU regime according to which the historic right would be the organic leader of the popular upheaval against Brussels. From this assumption they derive that in order to fight rising nationalism and fascism the EU is the ultimate line of defence.

The reality is, however, that in all the countries most struck by the Euro crisis, the popular masses with their social and democratic demands turned to forces associated in a wider sense with the historic left regardless whether within the ruling political system, on its fringes or entirely outside. Their general tendency unfortunately is to lead them back into the system and to avoid a rupture with the EU.

Historically the right with its pre-dominant anti-communism used to be pro-US and accepted the EU unification on liberalist grounds though defending a more ideological and culturalist attachment to the nation and often nationalism with more or less chauvinist elements. Until the late 1980ies it was mainly the left to refuse the EU in defence of Keynesian economic policy and against the NATO war drive associated with the EU.

Things changed with the massive impact of globalisation after the end of the USSR. Parts of the right embarked on a permanent campaign against migrants and happily embraced Islam as a new enemy. The nearly transversal anti-Islamic mobilisation allowed them a reach deep into sections of the middle classes which had been averse to the right. Meanwhile the left backed globalisation which is free movement of capital, commodities and labour. They associated the defence of migrant labour with the deregulation of labour markets. Also, therefore the right succeeded in turning anti-migration into a code for anti-globalisation drawing on their chauvinist traditions.

But this did not suffice to attract the lower classes. They also needed to soften or hide the elements of economic liberalism and play with or even adopt the defence of social rights and the welfare state as well as Keynesian state intervention into the economy. See the example of the Tory’s leave campaign where one wing of the party of Thatcher used slogans like “instead of sending money to Brussels invest it in the health system”. This is being linked across the continent with the affirmation of national identity (mainly directed against Islam) and with allusions to the return to the nation state including nationalist and chauvinist elements.

So a kind of social democrat line is being mixed up or co-exists with traditional rightist and nationalist aspects in a contradictory co-habitation. This hybrid is possible only because the left sided with the supra-national centre declaring national sovereignty reactionary all together. Only that allowed for the development of a social right occupying at least partially the role of social democracy.

One should not forget that the historic right remains at the same time attached by many different strings with parts of the elite. In no place they are ready for a break with the ruling classes. This contradiction between their words and their deeds could be an important lever to separate them from the popular masses when building a revolutionary democratic and social pole.

Plan B: Lafontaine and the orderly dissolution of the Euro

The consistent calls of Lafontaine and others to dissolve the Euro zone and return to a system of managed exchange rates is the only serious voice from the official left against the Euro regime.

Actually, with its gradualist character this agenda could serve as an orderly withdrawal for the elites as well. It would really be a way to take out tensions and to save the EU though in a modified form. There are, however, some serious problems attached with the old EWS and it is not by accident that France and others wanted to overcome it. Not only the common currency but also the common market as such with its liberalist rules play to the detriment of the weaker states. But it would be certainly an important step in easing at least the additional stress momentum created by the Euro straightjacket on top on the basic symptoms caused by the global economic crisis. Actually, also a part of the Anglo-Saxon neo-classical elite economists lately turned neo-Keynesians have been advocating the same, indeed, in order to save the system and not to overcome it. Only, the EU elites do not show the slightest attempt to go for that proposal.

When transformed into a popular demand things do change. As soon as such a project is no more advanced by national elites but by more or less independent or popular forces not reliable for the elites they are perceived as a threat to the rule of the centre. A hostile class reaction by Brussels, Berlin as well as important parts of the respective national elites is to be expected with a very limited margin of compromise.

A plan for an orderly and accorded withdrawal will therefore most likely turn into a deep rupture. Defaulting on the foreign debt and issuing a new currency will require not only immediate capital controls but the nationalisation of the banking system. Embarking on a massive Keynesian-type state intervention on many fields including protectionist measures (to learn the lessons of Mitterrand’s failure) might follow in disregard of all neo-liberal treaties and rules enshrined not only in the Euro regime but in the EU as such. This unavoidable clash with the supra-national institution needs to be prepared. This flows also from the recent Greek lessons.

For the time being the Plan B milieu has not been able to cope with this problem. They do not want to accept that a very simple and basic social democrat Keynesian project requires a kind of democratic revolution against the EU. Varoufakis was right when he reproached to his former Plan B colleagues that whoever touches the Euro also needs to speak on the EU – concluding to return to the system asking for further increase of the power of the centre. (He does not see that he entered into an even deeper contradiction, for the supra-national centre is either neo-liberal or it will be dismantled.)

A broad democratic front against the Euro regime ready for rupture

On the level of the popular masses is becoming more and more clear that the Euro regime needs to be ended and popular sovereignty restored by returning to national self-determination. The differences between the different countries remain, however, enormous not only between the German centre and the different layers of periphery, but also between the latter themselves for specific reasons boiling down to historic peculiarities.

Some serious cracks also within the political elites are appearing first of all epitomised by the Brexit (though the British elites never shared the drive towards supra-national centralisation). Sections of the elites are starting to contemplate exit scenarios and sometimes also playing publicly with it. They feel that if the “ever closer union” cannot go forward, it needs to go back. Maybe in Italy this process is most advanced and could be much accelerated by a defeat of Renzi.

But we have to see that there is still a huge difference in the perception of the Euro and the EU especially in mainland Europe. While its so-called crowning or acceleration by the Euro is more and more put into question, the European Union as such still remains a taboo all the way down the social echelon. Important parts also of the lower classes fear the rupture and its imponderable consequences. They gauge that the way of less trouble might be a downgrade of the EU along the Lafontaine line minimizing the anti-democratic supra-national elements returning to the 1980ies or even the golden 70ies.

We need to take into account that the time for a democratic revolution against the EU has not come or it not ripe yet. Revolution is always the very last resort when all other attempts have been exhausted. But the conditions for a popular rebellion against the Euro regime are indeed mature and explosions can happen any time.

The main task for today is to build a vast European front of democratic and popular forces (excluding the chauvinist right) to bring down the Euro regime. Its immediate programme is very clear and simple:

• Default on foreign debt
• Issuing a new national currency
• Capital controls
• Nationalisation of the defaulting banks
• Massive public investment to overcome the demand depression caused by austerity
• Decrease inequality
• Regulation and protection of the national economy

It is not necessary to make the position on the EU a precondition for a broad coalition thus reaching out to much broader sections of society. Nevertheless, we are convinced that the question will come up rather sooner than later and we do address wit tour already existing European co-ordination against the Euro and the EU. The only condition is to be ready to follow the programme to the end preparing for a decisive clash with the ruling supra-national elites and the institutions of neo-liberal globalisation.

The consequences with regard to the EU, the inextricable nexus between popular sovereignty and national self-determination, can remain implicit within a common platform for a while as it is the intrinsic logic of the development of the popular struggle anyway.

New form of internationalist co-operation

Neo-liberal globalisation was selling itself as a modernised form of internationalism having adopted the rhetoric’s of the historic left. Nevertheless, it meant the unchained rule of the capitalist elites of the central countries led by the US. We need to return to the original meaning of internationalism that is the co-operation of the popular classes against their own ruling classes to bring down the global system of dominance. The decisive difference is that at the time of the ascendency of the workers’ movement the capitalist systems used to be organised in a bi-polar way using nationalism to bind the lower classes to the elites and to pit them against each other. Today we are facing an essentially mono-polar system which tries to crush any attempt of national self-affirmation against the centre or its sub-centres in the name of international solidarity. This substantially alters the danger of nationalism.

In the European case we need a very close co-operation of the popular movements against the Euro regime and in consequence against the EU trying to re-establish their national sovereignty. If a democratic popular neo-Keynesian regime can be established in one place it will need to strive for close co-operation with any state ready to do so across the globe. It will look especially in the close neighbourhood to its south and its east overcoming the EU borders defined along classical imperialist lines. New social and democratic unions in diverse configurations will become necessary though conceived as co-operation of sovereign states allowing a real movement towards social convergence and peaceful co-operation across the world.

For the defence of the people’s dignity, we must refuse the threats, political blackmail and intervention from the “Eurogroup and European Commission”

Before the servitude of the Spanish government and the political agents who negotiate and prepare new budget and public expenditure restraints for the accomplishment of the 2017 deficit objectives dictated by the Eurogroup and European Commission, the undersigned address to the citizenship, and political, social and civic organisations, for:

1.- To defence the sovereignty and dignity of citizens and peoples of the Spanish State before the brutal pressure exercised by the European Commission which threats with the suppression of the structural funds regularly envied to the Spanish State. This restriction could mean a loss of more than 1 milliard euros if the Spanish government can’t accomplish the objective of 15 milliards euros’ cutback in order to obtain a public deficit of 3,1% in 2017 (2,2% in 2018). The Spanish government must show the accomplishment of this cutback in Brussels before the 15th October.

2.- To refuse the arbitrariness and unequal treat of the EU institutions in their relations with the different state members. Is intolerable the omission of application in the past the sanctions for non-fulfilment of Maastricht criteria and the “Stability Pact” about public deficit in the case of states like Germany and France, whereas states like Greece were punished with measures that cause a great social suffering, the bankruptcy of the State and the obstruction of an effective exit from economic crisis. We firmly oppose against the application of new measures of punishment at Spain and Portugal, as at the rest of the EU members.

3.- To rebel against the unsuccessful austerity and pro-cycle politics which are imposed by the EU institutions, in spite of the social disaster, the grow of injustice and inequality brought on by this politics. Besides this politics have produced a political crisis with the growing delegitimisation of the parliaments and governments of the States members, and a growing euro-scepticism towards the EU project.

When those who hold the real power in EU don’t want to attend the citizens’ protest and indignation, undervalue the consequences of Brexit, remain insensible before the critics about their neoliberals economic politics expressed by economists of international prestige, even the opinions of institutions like IMF, the peoples of states members of the EU must say stop it! and following the example of United Kingdom break the chains which condemn us to a future without hope.

As a consequence, we call at the citizenship, the workers, the social and political organizations of all the peoples in the Spanish State to fight against the offensive, irrational and unfair “diktat” of Eurogroup and European Commission, to mobilize in order to press the provisional government for the no application the budget and public expenditure restraints derived from those impositions, to interpellate the parliamentary members to prevent with their participation the legitimisation of agreements which betray the interest and sovereignty of the peoples of Spanish State.

Is time to say Stop! To the injustice, the arbitrariness y treason to the popular sovereignty.

We must uphold our dignity breaking the treaties which enslave us, abolishing the article 135 of Spanish Constitution, and recovering the popular sovereignty.

October 2016

Julio Anguita González

Juan Andrade, profesor Universidad Extremadura

Alejandro Andreassi Cieri, profesor UAB (jubilado)

Jorge Amar Benet, economista. Presidente de APEEP (Asociación por el Pleno Empleo y la Estabilidad de Precios)

Antonio Amaro Granado, jubilado del sindicato de sanidad de CCOO, miembro de la comisión ejecutiva de CCOO-A

Mariano Aragon Pascual, ACIM

Vidal Aragonés Chicharro, abogado del Col·lectiu Ronda y Profesor Derecho del Trabajo de la UAB

Antonio Arnau, activista social

Maria Antònia Arnau Puigvert, jubilada, Assemblea Pensionistes de Gràcia

María José Aubet Semmler, socióloga, activista contra todos los tratados de la UE desde el de Maastricht

Antonio (Toni) Barbará Molina, médico y activista Marea Blanca

Josep Bel Gallart, sindicalista

Javier Bernad Aguilar, activista de EUiA y de CO.BAS

Nuria Blanco de Andres, jubilada

Luis Blanco Maldonado, portavoz de la Intersindical Alternativa de Catalunya (IAC)

Ramon Boixadera Bosch, economista

Jaume Botey Vallès, profesor historia UAB

Josep Manel Busqueta, Economista, miembro del Seminario de economía Critica „Taifa“ y pastelero

Jose Cabrero Palomares, ex-diputado en el parlamento andaluz y ex-senador de IU

Miguel Candel Sanmartin, profesor emérito de la Universidad de Barcelona

Manuel Cañada, miembro de los Campamentos Dignidad

Rosa Cañadell Pascual, profesora jubilada. Articulista. Comisión Promotora #ilpeducacio

Juan-Ramón Capella Hernández, catedrático emérito de Filosofía del derecho, moral y política.

Marta Carrera Plans, medica jubilada

María Teresa Cebrián Luque, secretaria médica, miembro de la Mesa de Catalunya y de la Mesa Estatal del FCSM

José Luis Centella Gomez, secretario General del Partido Comunista de España

Luis Cerrillo Escudero, activista social

Dolores Codina Camats, docente

Manuel Colomer Lluch, economista

José Alberte Corral Iglesias, economista

Jorge Cortegana López, sindicalista SEAT

Angel Crespo Sanchez, activista social

Sergi Cutillas, economista co-fundador de la cooperativa Ekona, miembro de la Plataforma para la Auditoria Ciudadana de la Deuda

Xesus Diaz Diaz, jubilado, secretario general de CCOO de Galicia (1989-2000)

Isabel de la Cruz, profesora Universidad de Valencia

Eva Mª Durán Blanco, periodista

Íñigo Echenique González, profesor IES José Luis Sampedro (Tres Cantos)

Albert Escofet Sanchez, miembro de Xsuc-Socialisme21

Neus Escofet Sanchez, activista social

Jone Etxeberria, miembro del Consejo Nacional de Sortu

Ginés Fernández González, director de Mundo Obrero

David Fernandez Ramos, periodista y activista social

Santiago Fernández Vecilla, activista de movimientos sociales (PAH, FCSM)

José Ignacio Fiz Fernández. Profesor de la Universidad Rovira i Virgili

Ramon Font Nuñez, portavoz nacional USTEC·STEs (IAC)

Ramón Franquesa Artés, profesor de economía mundial Universidad de Barcelona

José L. Galán Corrochano, realizador audiovisual

Ferran Gallego, historiador

Francisco García Navarro, metalúrgico

Ermengol Gassiot Ballbè, profesor de la UAB

Maria Pilar Genovès Cailà

Iñaki Gil de San Vicente, escritor, militante de la izquierda vasca

Antonio Gil Mainar, activista Marea pensionista

Ernesto Gómez de la Hera, sindicalista

Daniel Gómez de Cullá, jubilado de Administración Local

Manuel Gomez Muñoz, miembro del Comité de empresa y de la Sección Sindical de CCOO en DAMM

Andrés Gomez Pardeiro, proletario y sindicalista

Luis González Edreira, jubilado

José Antonio González Espada, abogado laboralista

Alberto Herbera López, metalúrgico, activista social

Juan Diego Hernández Valero, abogado

Héctor Illueca Ballester, inspector de Trabajo y Seguridad Social, profesor de la Universidad de Valencia

Pedro Jiménez Muñoz, activista de las Mareas del Prat de Llobregat

Pere Jódar Martínez, sociólogo

Salvador Jové i Peres, ex-eurodiputado por IU

Salvador López Arnal, profesor-tutor de la UNED, colaborador de rebelión, Papeles ecosociales y El Viejo Topo;

Pedro López López, profesor Universidad Complutense

Antoni Lucchetti Farré, abogado y economista

Pau Llonch, militante de la CUP y de la PAH de Sabadell

Josefina Llusa, activista

Angeles Maestro, militante de Red Roja

Juanmari Madariaga López de Sá, traductor

Patrizia Manzo Apice, restauradora de pintura en paro

Mercedes Martin Arancibia, periodista

José Luis Martin Ramos, historiador

Carlos Martinez García, primer secretario de Alternativa Socialista

Manuel Martínez Llaneza, profesor titular de Universidad Jubilado

Jordi Santiago Martínez, profesor de español, miembro del colectivo Sentit Comú

Albert Medina Català, economista

Stuart Medina Miltimore, Socio/Partner

Joan Mestres Giménez, activista Movimiento Desempleados

Elena Mingo Pérez, ex-funcionaria internacional jubilada

Jordi Mir Garcia, investigador y docente universitario

Luis Miranda Morales, responsable Secretaria Personas Mayores del PCM

Joaquín Miras Albarrán, presidente de Espaimarx, filólogo

Francisco Molina Varona, educador Social, Presidente de FAECTA Córdoba, activista del cooperativismo como alternativa al capitalismo

Isabel Molina, profesora Universidad de Alcalá

Neus Molina Moreno, sindicalista

Ivan Molinos Meire, delegado de CCOO

Juan Carlos Monedero Fernández, profesor de Universidad

Manolo Monereo Perez, diputado de Unidos Podemos

Jordi Juan Monreal, abogado laboralista

Juan Montero Ruiz, pensionista

Pedro Montes Fernández, economista, Presidente Socilaismo21

Antoni Montserrat, economista

Agustín Moreno García, activista Marea verde

Juan Manuel Navarro Reina, conserje escuela pública

Carlos Manuel Navas Ramírez, director del Centro Integrado Público de Formación Profesional
Canastell (San Vicente del Raspeig – Alicante)

Jonas Nilsson, tipógrafo y activista social

Joan Josep Nuet Pujals, diputado de Catalunya si que es pot

Arcadi Oliveres i Boadella, economista, activista por la justicia social y la paz

Ignasi Orobitg Gene, agricultor apicultor

Marta Padrós Castells, profesora de la UAB, secretaria de género de CGT

Giaime Pala, historiador

Gumer Pardo, sindicalista

Josep Maria Parramón Homs, economista

Silvio Peressini Prado, profesor

Marina Pérez Cañadell, profesora y sindicalista de USTEC-STEs (IAC)

Miquel-Dídac Piñero Costa, libertario, pensionista

Andrés Piqueras Infante, profesor Titular de Sociología y Antropología Social de la Universidad Jaume I de Castellón

Guillem Ramis Moneny, maestro de escuela jubilado

Valentín Redondo González, empleado público

Clara Rivas Sugrañes, activista social

Juan Rivera Reyes, profesor de Historia, Coordinador de la Mesa Estatal del Frente Cívico „Somos Mayoría“

Martín Rodrigo y Alharilla, profesor de Historia Contemporánea en la UPF

Lara Rodríguez, abogada

Lluís Rodríguez Algans, economista asesor laboral en Maitzaren Lehena Aholkularitza / Consultoría Primero de Mayo y militante en redes de economía crítica y autogestionaria

Abelard Rodríguez i Llàcer, operario industrial

Manuel Rodríguez Luceño, laboral Consejería Medio Ambiente Junta de Andalucia

Pedro Rojas Planas, profesor de enseñanza secundaria

Antonio Ruiz, miembro de Espai Marx

Jose Ruiz Lopez, sindicalista y activista marea pensionista

Manuel Sánchez Vicioso, vicepresidente de La Carta Malacitana, vocal del Ateneo de Málaga

Maria Cruz Santos Santos, historiadora

Gabriel Sanz Carras, profesor

Teresa Sagrado Vives, técnico de laboratorio, Universidad de Valencia

José Sarrion Andaluz, profesor de Universidad, diputado por IU en las Cortes de Castilla y Leon, coordinador general de IU de Castilla y Leon

Jose Saucedo Pedregal, bombero de la Generalitat

Rosario Segura García, economista

María Lidia Senra Rodríguez, diputada en el Parlamento europeo por AGE

Santiago Silva Camps, profesor de filosofía

Antoni Soy Casals, profesor de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Barcelona

Joan Tafalla Monferrer, miembro de Espai Marx, Doctor en Historia

Diosdado Toledano González, activista de Marea de mareas, miembro de la Asamblea Politica Social de Izquierda Unida y de Socialismo21

Jordi Torrent Bestit, profesor (jubilado)

Salvador Torres Serrano, activista movimiento vecinal Nou Barris-Barcelona

Rodrigo Vázquez de Prada, periodista, director de Crónica Popular

Juan Trias Vejarano, catedrático emérito de la UCM

Núria Vidal de Llobatera Pomar, bióloga jubilada, activista por la justicia social y ambiental

Nando Zamorano, miembro de Espai Marx

salirdeleuro.wordpress.com

Dear friends,

We wish you all the best, success and progress for the No Euro International Forum in Chianciano Terme! We think that struggling for social rights and democracy at the time being requires a direct attacking of the neoliberal type of European integration and the single currency regime. In that respect we deem international coordination as a key element of any serious political strategy.

Several people who have joined the Lexit Network are engaged in the coordination and will be in Chinaciano Terme. We´d be happy to show more presence as Lexit Network to allow a wider exchange on political views and strategies. Unfortunately, as a small network with limited capacity, this is not possible for us on September 16th to 18th. We have recognized that our appeal was object of debate in the coordination and are looking towards fruitful exchange in the future.

In solidarity,

Lexit Network

by Wilhelm Langthaler

From 16-18 September the No Euro International Forum is scheduled to take place in Chianciano Terme, Siena province. It is already the third such meeting organised by a European coalition of different political forces advocating the urgent exit from the single currency while not fearing the break with the single market and the European Union altogether as a consequence.

The previous meeting took place in Athens just one week prior to the historic resistance referendum which could have been interpreted as a popular mandate for the break with the Euro oligarchy but instead was turned into submission to the liberalist dictate.

The initiative had been launched by an “International Leftist Co-ordination against the Euro” founded in Assisi, Italy, in August 2014 by a core group from the countries suffering most from the Euro straitjacket, namely Italy, Greece, Spain and France. In some place even several factions have been participating spanning different political milieus. Forces or personalities from Germany, Austria, Finland, Portugal, Slovenia and Britain have been joining in gradually.

The Greek social revolt, its electoral consequences and its ensuing strangulation became a major turning point and push for the Euro exit project though with twists and turns. Soon after the Greek capitulation the Plan B initiative emerged promising to draw the lessons from the defeat and projecting an alternative to the rule of the Euro oligarchy. But the hopes for a second gradualist try, now in much larger and more powerful Spain, soon brought Plan B to collapse before it actually could take shape. The former Greek finance minister-cum-starlet-cum-clown took a u-turned eventually calling for the further radicalisation of the oligarchy’s centralisation project which he fantastically intends to turn leftist. The much humbler Italian ex vice minister Fassina declared plan B impossible and for French Front de Gauche leader Mélenchon the entire endeavour was only meant as an electoral game anyway. The only horse remaining true to his promise has been the German ex minister Lafontaine nevertheless being prisoner of a party longing to prepare itself for a red-red-green government in the footsteps of Schröder.

Meanwhile the Brexit vote of the popular classes has started to dismantle not only the Euro but hit the heart of the neo-liberal dictatorship – the EU itself. Everybody is now aware that the elite’s plan for a “ever closer union” of the capitalist classes crushing all remaining democratic and social gains under a supra-national para-state will not work out.

The moderate turn of Podemos and its near embrace of the “caste” has let to its electoral defeat. In Portugal the social democratic government tolerated by the left is unable to deliver on its promise to at least mitigate the impact of the Brussels/Berlin destructive programme. As soon as it squeaks to disregard the centre’s dictate, the terror of the spread re-emerges. But the epicentre of the Euro crisis eventually has shifted to Italy. Backed by the oligarchy, Renzi wanted to amour the elite by an authoritarian presidentialism to be voted for in a constitutional referendum. With the collapse of the banking system looming at the horizon a defeat of the elite becomes possible. That in turn could bring the anti-Euro forces led by the five stars movement to power with incalculable consequences on both the Euro regime as well as the EU edifice.

One of the results of the decay of the Plan B initiative from above is the formation of the Lexit platform from below which eventually drew the necessary consequences. Not only Fassina signed the call but also numerous scientists, intellectuals and activists who had hoped for more results of Plan B. Luis Bernardo from Portugal and co-founder of the Lexit network will even participate at the No Euro Forum as well as Costas Lapavitsas, the pro-break MP from Syriza who later joined Popular Unity (LAE) and also participated in the Plan B discussions.

Many other important personalities and forces are scheduled to speak in Chianciano like Tariq Ali from the British leftist Brexit campaign; Inge Höger MP from the left wing of the German LINKE; Julio Anguita, the historic leader of the Spanish Communist party; Manolo Monereo, MP for Podemos Unidos, influential political consultant for Podemos and United Left as well as co-founder of the European Leftist Co-ordination against the Euro; from France Jacques Sapir, anti-Euro writer and Jacques Nikonoff, former president of Attac; Yves Rouille, former leader of the union CGT; Luca Mesec of the Slovenian United Left; Vasilji Volga, Union of Leftist Forces of Ukraine as well as Alexej Albu, Borotba leader from Odessa exiled in Donbass – to name only a few.

The broadest range of participants, however, are coming from Greece and Italy, indicating the powerful tidal change against the Euro regime not only among the popular classes but also within the intellectuals and the political milieus including the radical left which for so long defended the false “internationalism” of the elites providing a leftist cover to the ultra-liberalist project.

What could emerge from the Italian meeting ahead of the impending devastating crisis of the Euro regime is a large coalition of democratic forces preparing for the break with the ruling EU elite starting with the Euro exit. This is the only way to stop the rightist forces which try to ride the growing discontent of the popular classes and steer it into a reactionary direction.

Further information: www.noeurointernationalforum.com

Written for: http://lexit-network.org

Athens, Oct 18, 2015

1. After the 2013 Cyprus events, when the unanimous “no to the Memorandum” of the Cypriot parliament was turned to a “yes” into a week’s time under ECB’s threat of halting economic support, the violent reversal of the popular „no“ at the referendum of July 5th into a „yes“ by A. Tsipras comes as a confirmation that staying at the E/Z-EU directly counters democracy. The third memorandum signed by Syriza also demonstrates that even modest attempts to challenge austerity policy cannot stand in the E/Z-EU context.

2. The events on Cyprus and Greece are thus added to the long list of violations of the will of the peoples by Eurozone / EU and various governments. Characteristic instances in this respect are the bypassing of the rejection of the “euroconstitution” that the Treaty of Lisbon reintroduced from the back door, the forced reversing of the Irish referendum with regard to the Lisbon Treaty, the required fiscal adjustment programs with the participation of the IMF at the Baltic countries, the attempt to blackmail the people of Iceland and the mandatory programs in a number of countries to rescue the euro.

3. The conclusion that all the peoples of Europe have to draw from these is that a struggle against the Eurozone / EU is the key element of the fight against austerity / Memoranda. It is a process paramount for the articulation of any exit plan from the crisis in favor of the popular classes and a key point for altering the existing equilibrium of power in favour of the popular classes. This is the key lesson to be learned from the recent developments in Greece – that resulted in a temporary parliamentary prevalence of the view that „there is no alternative”: ​​if you do not question the Eurozone -EU from the part of the popular movements, you cannot have progressive change

4. EU and eurozone’s orientation is not negotiable. They are both structured so as to serve the interests of capitalists, bankers and powerful countries, while in the years of the crisis they have created an iron grid of undemocratic tools and procedures that bind member states till the complete abolition of their popular sovereignty and national independence. The supervision institutionalized by these mechanisms, along with the assignment of monetary and exchange rate policy to the ECB, in reality abolishes the governments and neutralizes any potential pressure that working people could exercise with regard to economic policy. Any radical change is thus inextricably linked with the breach, withdrawal and dissolution of these unions and the creation of mutually beneficial and coequal relations between states.

5. In that context Eurozone constitutes a neoliberal program that not only inflicts severe losses on labour but also boost the surpluses of powerful countries at the expense of others that are forced to absorb these very surpluses in the form of lending thus further deteriorating their account balance. By blocking liquidity, the laws of modern Debtocracy are imposed within Europe from creditor countries to debtor countries. With liquidity being used as a weapon, ecomomies are forced to adapt measures and neoliberal reforms are imposed that on the one hand lead to an intentional reduction of the popular classes’ living standards and on the other aggravate public debt. Using the euro and liquidity as weapons, they impose a crisis exit strategy beneficial for capital. Labor costs decrease for the profitability of capital, self-employed are led to suffocation, small and medium enterprises are sacrificed for the benefit of multinational-big companies. Consequently, any alternative program cannot but have exit from the eurozone and the nationalization of the banking system as its starting point. It’s vital, though, to see the overall picture: The euro is not just a currency with wrong architecture. It is an imperialistic tool aiming to specific ends; it represents a coalition of national capitals that want to remain afloat both in the international level and in their own competition at the expense of the working class and the popular strata. That is why the fight against austerity cannot be consistently enacted neither at a national nor international context if breaking with this mechanism of neoliberal enforcement is not set as a key objective.

6. This debate is finally opening amid the European left based on the lesson tought by SYRIZA’s fatal capitulation. Initiatives such as the one of Mélenchon, Fassina and Lafontaine are very characteristic in this respect. We welcome the discussion. However, the European left for decades fared with illusions about the character of the EU, with disastrous results. It gave space both for social democrats to implement neoliberalism and for the far right to emerge as the only force willing to defend popular sovereignty. We cannot continue like this. We need an alternative plan, able to interact with social movements in each country, to effectively organize the struggle against austerity policies and the structural adjustments, and to confront the euro and the EU. Such an alternative will be the axis of international cooperation and solidarity, in case they try to punish a country opting for an alternative policy orientation via the use of liquidity as in the cases of Cyprus and Greece (e.g Portugal). The Left and the popular forces must claim a new political space after the tragic outcome of SYRIZA’s strategy to denounce austerity. A space of ​​popular sovereignty and social justice in opposition to the domination of monopoly capital and its international associations. These are not possible within the eurozone and the EU.

7. The EU treaties cannot be revised because they have been created to extend neoliberalism and dehydrate popular sovereignty and democracy. To the voices that insist on contemporary international problems (e.g. the refugee issue) and the need for international cooperation, we must insist on the fact that the EU and the dominant imperialist powers have the main responsibility for the situation in the Middle East as well as the fact that the imperialist EU is different from the indeed necessary international cooperation. Our goal is not the isolation of each country but a new partnership for European -and not only- peoples and countries, into a basis of mutual cooperation.

8. The wars of the West and the implementation of structural adjustment programs that lead to poverty and cause the collapse of states are behind the millions of refugees and migrants at the gates of Europe. We oppose the policies of ‘Fortress-Europe’ that are responsible for the deaths of thousands of refugees and migrants at the borders of Europe. We support the movements of solidarity to refugees and demand that the right of asylum and safe arrival is respected. We work for a broad anti-war and anti-imperialist movement in Europe, in order to stop the imperialist interventions that make people leave their countries. We struggle against racism and the policies and ideology of the reactionary xenophobic Far-Right.

9. We must act immediately, united and coordinated. With pan-European campaigns and initiatives, with a pan-European dialogue between social movements, leftist and in practice antineoliberal political forces. For popular sovereignty. For social justice and a crisis exit strategy in favour of labour and not capital. For another way of cooperation between european peoples that goes beyond the undemocratic and unpopular EU. The dissolution of the eurozone is the first step to that end.

10. To set this in motion, we propose to organize in the near future a forum of discussion in order to develop an alternative to the Euro-regime. We want to work together and coordinate our action with all forces and campaigns that want to breach with the ruling elites’ formula ‘There Is No Alternative’.

What Does Popular Unity Stand For?

The platform of Popular Unity, the Greek political front that emerged in the wake of Syriza’s capitulation to the eurozone.

Released on September 2 and translated for the first time below, the manifesto of Popular Unity is signed by the fifteen organizations of the radical left that comprise this political front, which seeks a rupture with austerity and the eurozone.

Usually presented as a split from Syriza, Popular Unity actually includes a more variegated blend of forces, from left social democrats and social movement activists to far-left currents. Some of these forces come from Syriza: the two components of the Left Platform (the Left Current, led by Panagiotis Lafazanis, and the Red Network around DEA/Workers Internationalist Left), which constitutes the backbone of the movement.

There’s also the Communist Tendency, which is affiliated with the International Marxist Tendency, and the Movement for the Radical Left, a network constituted by activists essentially working in the antiracist, pro-migrant, and LGBT movements previously part of the now-defunct tendency “53+”.

Other organizations come from Antarsya (The Left Recomposition/ARAN and the Left Anticapitalist Regroupment, the two historically Althusserian groups of the Greek far left) or from groups that have collaborated with Antarsya (Leftwing Intervention, Communist Renewal, and the Plan B, led by former Syriza president Alekos Alavanos).

Still more groups have roots in the KKE tradition (the Communist Group Reconstruction) or from layers of Pasok cadres who left the party either in the 1990s (the DIKKI-Socialist Left, a former component of Syriza) or in the last five years (Young Militant or the Left Socialists, a network of trade-union cadres controlling some important sectors of the labor movement).

Some prominent personalities and networks have also joined Popular Unity on a more independent basis, including Zoe Konstantopoulou, the outgoing president of parliament; Nadia Valavan, the former vice-minister of finance; and the network “the OXI lasts a long time,” which groups activists from a left Eurocommunist background around Eleni Portaliou.

What unites this diverse assemblage of groups, personalities, and tendencies is a commitment to replacing austerity with a progressive program of far-reaching social reform. “The alternative way forward that we are proposing,” Popular Unity insists, “will deprive Greece only of its chains.”

The starting point for the formation of Popular Unity is the Greek people’s resounding “oxi” (“no”) in the July 5 referendum. In the face of the scare tactics of the dominant forces in the European Union (EU) and in Greece, the great majority in society, with dynamic participation from the younger generation, staged an authentic popular revolt.

The basis of Popular Unity lies in the resistance of the Greek people, unprecedented in its persistence and numerical strength, particularly in the first two years of imposition of the memoranda. This struggle expressed generalized resistance to the strategic plan for imposing permanent austerity, the stripping of workers of every right, seizure of property, the dissolution of democracy, and the imposition of a regime of limited sovereignty.

A mere month after the Greek people’s “oxi” in the referendum, the passage of the third memorandum has brought dramatic changes to the political landscape. The leadership group in the government that emerged from the elections of January 25 violated the very social contract that linked it to the popular majority, sowing disillusion and rekindling fear. It switched sides and is now on the side of the neoliberal forces, bombarding working people and the middle strata with new anti-popular measures.

This development enabled the creditors to mount a political coup, violating both the Constitution and popular sovereignty in every sense of the term. The international tutelage becomes ever more stifling, the prime example of humiliation being the creation of the notorious fund for privatizations, which mortgages social wealth for generations to come.

The third memorandum is just the beginning. Already on the agenda is the further dismantling of workplace relations, new reductions for pensions that are already degradingly low, a taxation blitz on farm incomes and the small- and medium-social strata, along with a host of other measures that are to be implemented in the coming months.

It was precisely this, in conjunction with the attempt to avert the formation of an alternate anti-memorandum political front, that impelled the government to call a snap election. It is an attempt to sequester the popular vote before the electorate can be informed of, and experience fully, the consequences of the third memorandum. An attempt which enjoyed full support from the European overseers — Merkel, Juncker, Moscovici, Dijsselbloem — who two months previously connived to thwart the Greek people’s right to democratic self-assertion in the case of the referendum.

No serious person can possibly imagine that these socially catastrophic measures might prove effective even from a narrowly financial viewpoint. Their predestined failure will lead to new packages of anti-popular measures, perpetuating the vicious circle we have seen with previous memorandum governments.

Working people, farmers, the young, professionals, and small business people will be ruined simply for the sake of securing the next tranches of the “bailout,” 99 percent of which will go to the creditors or to the bankers. Nothing will be available for the real economy or for the citizens who find themselves on the brink of economic annihilation.

It is beyond a joke to imagine that this government, which signed the third memorandum and from that time onwards has been extolled by the representatives of the creditors and local oligarchs, will succeed — somehow, someday — to extricate itself from it.

If you take the wrong train, you are never going to reach your destination. A person is not living in the real world if he or she imagines that a government that agreed immediately to take €93 a month away from the poorest of the poor, reducing the minimum pension to the pitiful sum of €393 monthly, would be capable of challenging major vested interests.

For a great front of Oxi for as long as it takes

For all these reasons it is urgently necessary to form Popular Unity, a social and political front to overturn the memoranda, predatory austerity, the negation of democracy, and the transformation of Greece into a European colony by means of indebtedness.

What we need is a great popular patriotic front, characterized by credibility, reliability, and selfless­ness. A front that will revive the betrayed hopes, overcome the fears, and provide a prospect of victory for the fifth of July’s great popular and youthful current of Oxi.

Those who seek to malign this effort in advance, characterizing it as an act of desertion that supposed­ly brought down the “first left-wing government,” are simply wasting their time. The real deserters from the Left and its programmatic commitments are those who chose to become this country’s third memorandum government.

Popular Unity is not an electoral flag of convenience, nor is it willing to become just another addition to the bankrupt political party system. It represents a regroupment of political organizations, movements, and independent citizens that seeks to express, inspire, and strengthen the authentic popular movement through initiatives of self-organization.

We want to become the voice of those who at present have no voice, the power of those who lack power. We want to initiate a political and social front that can represent the social alliance of working people, the unemployed, farmers, the self-employed, the urban small and medium business strata, intellectuals, and artists, in a common endeavor to map out a new way forward for Greek society.

In this initiative there will be no room for monolithic logics and pretensions to exclusive truth. A variety of social sensitivities, political traditions ,and ideological preferences will have their place. It is a prerequisite for survival of this front that its functioning be democratic, centered on the activists themselves, their demands, and the answers they submit.

The forces, the activists, the men and women participating in Popular Unity are linked together by a powerful political consensus in favor of an immediate, vitally necessary alternative solution to the tragedy of the memoranda, a solution that will work to the benefit of the popular classes at the expense of big capital, and will free Greece from the deadly overlordship of the imperialist centers.

What unites us is a common quest, via different routes, for a new society, liberated from the bonds of exploitation and every species of oppression, a society of solidarity, justice, and freedom, on the path to socialism of the twenty-first century.

Immediate measures for an exit from social disaster

The basic immediate objective of the new Popular Unity is the creation, by the social movements and mass political action, of the prerequisites for a radical alternative solution to the disaster of the memoranda.

The basic features of the alternative route have already been mapped out by numerous leftist groupings, radical movements, and progressive scholars. The alternative solution we embrace seeks to provide answers to all the key problems of the economy, society, the state, and foreign policy. Naturally it is not confined to monetary policy, as is asserted by the swindlers and slanderers who speak of a “drachma lobby.”

The problem with this alternative proposal is not its supposedly inadequate “technical” elaboration but its inadequate political preparation: namely, the fact that it has not been discussed as much as it should have been among the people and the social organizations — among those, in other words, who will be called upon to put up a tough struggle against colossal vested interests in order to implement it.

We plan to fill this gap immediately, through a great campaign of public dialogue, in opposition to those who are intent on imposing a new “idionymon” (the law banning political dissent from the 1930s), demonizing and even penalizing this “prohibited” discussion.

The immediate emergency measures which must be taken to open up the new way forward are:

• Abolition of the socially and economically ruinous memoranda and the accompanying colonial loan agreements that mortgage our future.
• Suspension of debt repayments — whose non-viability has been recognized, from its own viewpoint, even by the International Monetary Fund — with a view to effecting an overall annulment of the debt, or at least the greater part of it. The suspension of payments will be accompanied by political and legal actions, at the international level, utilizing the relevant findings of the Greek Parliament’s Truth Commission on the Greek Debt.
• Independently of the action at the international level, but in parallel with it, there will be immediate and insistent demands — political, legal, and movement-based — for payment of German debts, that is to say the Greek loan to Germany at the time of the Occupation, and reparations to the victims and the compensation for the destruction from Nazi atrocities.
• An immediate end to austerity and implementation of a policy of redistribution of social wealth to the benefit of working people and at the expense of the oligarchs. Particular attention must be paid to the social strata worst hit by the crisis, with income support and a step-by-step increase in the minimum wage and the minimum levels for pensions and unemployment benefits, along with the securing of medical and pharmaceutical cover and basic provisioning (power, water, heating) for all.
• More generally, support for wages and pensions, and social expenditures for free public education, popular health care, and culture. Gradual wage increases will be encouraged, in step with the rate of growth. Punitive taxation and other memorandum-based measures against farmers and the self-employed will be rescinded. The Uniform Property Tax will be abolished, and a tax system will be introduced affecting only very large-scale fixed property.
• Nationalization of the banks and their operation under a regime of social control, with watertight guarantees for the savings of ordinary people. The new nationalized banking system, freed from the patronage of the European Central Bank (ECB), will underwrite the vitally necessary cancellation of debt for households exhausted by the crisis and the equally necessary liquidity for small and medium businesses threatened with closure. To this end, the Agrotiki Trapeza (Bank of Agriculture) and TachydromikoTamieftirio (Post Office Savings Bank) will start operating again, with investigation of the scandals surrounding their sale. Nationalization of the banks will make possible an immediate in-depth inquiry into the dodgy loans dispensed to monopoly groups, not to mention tax evasion though various lists of tax evades such as the “Lagarde-list.”

Economic reorganization and cultural rebirth

In parallel with these emergency measures, which will provide a first measure of relief to the economy and to ordinary people, radical reforms will be promoted to change the bankrupt developmental model and overturn the balance of social forces to the advantage of the people and to the detriment of the oligarchs of crony capitalism.

• Radical change in labor legislation, with restoration of collective agreements and free collecti­ve bargaining, a clampdown on unfair treatment by employers, stricter limitations on and disincentives for dismissals, activation and strengthening of labor inspectorates. A public, social, and upgraded Manpower Employment Organization, along with abolition of private employees subleasing companies.
• Establishment of a permanent, socially just, and redistributive taxation system so that the burdens of the crisis can be borne at last not by the customary pack animals but by the possessing classes.
• An end to predatory privatizations of enterprises, networks, and infrastructures (Public Power Company, natural gas, harbors, airports, real estate in the public sector, etc.). Immediate abolition of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund. Reacquisition, without compensation, except for small shareholders, of the public property that has been sold off to private capital, with cancellation of the illegal and unconstitutional decision for their sale. Nationalization, reorganization, and relaunching under a regime of workers control/social control of all strategic enterprises, networks, and infrastruc­ture, which will be assigned the role of economic powerhouses. The aim will be rapid economic revi­talization that will create jobs, strengthening the position of working people and protecting the environment.
• Reorganization of the demolished national health system and of public hospitals, with institu­tion of a first-rate, high-quality health system, accessible to all, in urban centers and in the regions.
• A policy for dealing with cultural decline, upholding the pubic character of cultural institutions and universal popular access to cultural creation. Public support for every creative initiative by the people of culture and the citizens themselves.
• Reconstruction of the economy and of production with the emphasis shifting (a) from consumption of imported commodities to production (above all, industrial and agricultural production of high quality goods), and (b) from contraction of labor costs to increased added value. Our aim, in the final analysis, is to effect a transition from development that serves the exploiters of labor and of nature to a development centered on producers of social wealth and supported by their knowledge, experience, ingenuity, and creativity. To this end what will be needed are policies of democratic central and regional planning, with participation and joint decision-making from local communities and a distinct environmental dimension.
• Generous funding for public, free education and research, which is, apart from anything else, a basic prerequisite for a productive turn towards a new and efficient social model.
• One essential aspect of economic reconstruction will be a strengthening of the “third” (alongside state-run and private) sector, that of the social economy (cooperatives, self-managing enterprises that have been abandoned by their owners, solidarity networks, etc.). Generous funding by state mechanisms and the public banking system will be indispensable.
• A policy of solidarity and humanism for refugees and economic immigrants. We will actively oppose every form and instance of xenophobic and racist behavior — the most extreme case being that of the fascist Golden Dawn— which tends to convert the social war of capital into an ethnic “civil war” within the ranks of labour. We oppose the imperialist wars that fan the flames of the refugee and migrant problem. We demand from the EU the support due to our country and the other “front line” countries while at the same time insisting on abolition of the Dublin II regulations that transform Greece into a prison for immigrants.

Exit from the monetary prison of the eurozone

It is entirely evident to us that cancellation of the memoranda in itself — and even more so the radical structural changes we have described — will face fierce resistance from the dominant forces in the EU. They will immediately try to throttle our effort, using as their basic instrument the cutting off of liquidity to the banks by the ECB. We have already experienced this in the last six months, even with the much more moderate policies of the Syriza-ANEL government.

Therefore, the question of an exit from the eurozone and of a break with the neoliberal policies and choices of the EU, which has been following an ever more reactionary and anti-democratic trajectory, will be placed on the agenda not as the product of some ideological obsession but in terms of basic political realism.

The bitterly acquired experience of the last months has revealed even to the most skeptical that the dominant forces in the EU are not “allies” and “partners.” They are financial blackmailers and political hit men who do not hesitate to impose on an entire people the most ruthless form of collective punishment when its decisions are not to their liking.

The attainment of monetary sovereignty and the establishment, on a new democratic, social, and developmental basis, of a national currency, is not an end in itself. It is one of the necessary instruments for the implementation of the radical changes we have outlined, for which, indeed, the ultimate guarantor will be not the currency but the struggle of the popular classes.

Whatever the inevitable difficulties of the first months, nothing justifies the stance of those Cassandras who equate such a move with economic disaster and national ruin. In the course of the twentieth century, sixty-nine monetary unions collapsed on this planet without this signifying the end of the world. The introduction of a national currency as a prerequisite for implementation of a progressive program for reconstruction and a way forward is not only a viable option; it is an option of hope, with the potential to launch the country on a new developmental trajectory.

We are not nostalgic for the capitalist Greece of the drachma. We know that the pre-euro situation of our country was anything but a paradise for the exploited classes. But the thirteen years we have been living with the euro have not been in any way better. The first seven were, for certain sections of the population, a protracted credit-based consumer binge, on the accumulated ruins of the country’s pro­ductive base. But the following six saw the abrupt end of the binge and the descent into the hell of the memoranda, with no hint of light at the end of the tunnel. It is time to venture an emancipatory exit.

Attainment of monetary sovereignty, with de-linkage of the Bank of Greece from the ECB, and its operation with governmental, public, and social accountability and with issuance of a national currency, will provide us with the necessary liquidity in the economy, without the onerous burden of the loan agreements.

It will be of great assistance in strengthening exports, limiting and gradually substituting local pro­ducts for imports, invigorating the country’s productive base and tourist inflow. It will foster job crea­tion through a program of necessary public productive investments, developmental initiatives from the big publicly owned enterprises, support for the social sector of the economy, and restoration of credit for small and medium businesses. Abolition of the unjust taxation and other burdens imposed on low­er-income households simply to service the unbearable debt will boost demand and stimulate development.

In sum, we are going to present a special plan for Greece and open it for discussion: a plan for implementing a radical, progressive program with a national currency.

A position of equality for Greece in today’s world

Exit from the economic prison of the eurozone does not mean national autarchy and international political isolationism, as our opponents maintain. On the contrary, by embarking on a new course of radical change the Greek people may be offering a beacon of hope for other peoples of Europe and the world, establishing necessary relations, building support, and securing allies.

The alternative way forward that we are proposing will deprive Greece only of its chains: the obligations that reduce it to the status of European and Atlanticist real estate. It will, however, liberate Greece’s potential to develop mutually beneficial relations with all countries that respect its sovereignty and its decision to be friendly towards all the world’s peoples, without being in the service of any great power.

Our basic orientation is towards a new independent multi-dimensional international relations policy, in the domains of energy, economics, and politics. International relations that will not be imprisoned in the straitjacket of the EU. We aspire to an energy policy of collaboration in the Mediterranean, the Balkans, and the Middle East. A policy that will take advantage of the new opportunities for mutually beneficial collaboration with the emerging economies of the BRICS nations, Latin America, and other regions of the planet.

We are against the new “Cold War” and a new division of Europe with the erection of new walls against Russia. We oppose the imperialistic options and the military adventurism of NATO. We are pledged to the exit of Greece from this coalition, a war machine that disintegrates states, tyrannizes peoples, and destabilizes the wider geopolitical arc of our region from eastern Ukraine to the Middle East. We campaign for the removal of the American-NATO bases, for non-participation of Greece in any imperialist organization.

To deal with the problems caused in Greek-Turkish relations by the demands of the Turkish governments, we seek to pursue peaceful dialogue, on the basis of faithful implementation of international agreements, international law, and in particular the Law of the Sea.

We are totally opposed to any attempt to change borders in our region. We reject all fomenting of nationalistic, chauvinistic tendencies. We campaign for a just and viable solution for Cyprus, on the basis of United Nations resolutions, for an independent Cyprus, without armies of occupation and foreign bases. We consider it necessary that military collaboration with Israel — occupier in our region of foreign territory — be terminated, and the Palestinian state immediately recognized. We are in solidarity with the peoples of the world who struggle for freedom, justice, and self-determination.

Exit from the eurozone and implementation of a radical alternative program with the organized people as the key protagonist amounts to a proposal for conflict with the options of the EU and its anti-democratic supranational agencies. As early as the Treaty of Maastricht, the European integration project served the neoliberal agenda, strengthening the imperialist proclivities of the dominant forces and undermining popular sovereignty.

In the face of the inevitable attacks from finance capital and its political representatives, the people must be ready for anything. The question of Greece leaving the EU may be placed on the agenda, de facto and at any moment. In this eventuality, we will call upon the people to insist on implementation of the progressive program it has chosen, taking the decision for remaining in the EU, or not, by referendum, in the same manner as other European countries.

In any case, exit from the eurozone and a break from the narrow constraints of the EU does not mean isolation of Greece from its European environment. We will address ourselves particularly to other peoples, the social movements, and the progressive forces of the EU member countries with whom we are linked by longstanding economic, political, and cultural ties. We seek to contribute to the establishment of a pan-European movement around the goals that are implicit in the common interests of working people, irrespective of nationality.

A landmark in the reactionary transformation of the EU is the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) now being hatched. An agreement that surrenders public goods (water, education, health, etc.) to multinational corporations, opening the doors wide to genetically modified food and at the same time abolishing every trace of workers rights and national sovereignty that might impose any limits on the unaccountability of investors.

We will employ all the powers at our disposal, together with the progressive movements of Europe, to prevent ratification of this monstrous agreement.

Democracy everywhere, people’s power

An essential component of our alternative proposal is radical transformation of the state, the judiciary, and public administration. The restoration and broadening of democratic liberties, from workplace rights to the right to demonstrate; the disbanding of the ΜΑΤ “riot police” and, more generally, the general confrontation with the mechanisms for repression of the “enemy within”; democratization and transparency in the realm of the mass media; and a decisive stance against corruption and vested interests are the most urgent measures in this respect.

We will at the same time reexamine the role and the orientation of “independent authorities” in the key sectors related to control of the banking system, telecommunications, energy, information, etc. Of course, other independent authorities that are able to play a useful social role — such as ASEP, the Supreme Council for Civil Personnel Selection — will be retained and strengthened, with upgrading of transparency and social control.

We will moreover launch wide-ranging social consultation for in-depth revision of the Constitution and the political system by a new constituent assembly to emerge from subsequent elections. A central objective of this new revision will be establishment of a new, much more advanced democracy, conjoining representative with direct democracy, with provision of a significant margin for popular initiative and self-activation, popular participation and direct popular decisions, on the basis of the international best practices and experience.

For us the claim to governmental power is not an end in itself. It is subordinated to a more general goal of claiming political power for a broader people’s alliance. It serves a program of immediate exit from today’s impasse, one that can be imposed by a government supported by the power of the orga­nized people and their own specific institutions, in the workers movement, the youth movement, local and environmental movements, movements of solidarity, forms of popular self-organization.

Implementation of such a program has the potential to create the conditions for forging a new way ahead for Greek society, from a socialist perspective.

Translated by Wayne Hall

Source: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/09/tsipras-popular-unity-syriza-eurozone-snap-elections/