Berlin: nothing short than full-fletched capitulation The German minister of finance, Wolfgang Schäuble, has made it candid-clear: no credit extension without complete surrender to the conditions dictated by the creditors’ financial oligarchy. This despite the fact that everybody knows that Greece will under no conditions be able to serve its debt. The German message therefore serves first of all to make clear to the entire southern periphery as to who is to command and who to obey. This will turn out to be a hubris of the type of Bush’s military “export of democracy” to Iraq. Syriza not to accept complete surrender For the last two months the Greek government has been trying to play cat and mouse. On one hand they signaled their readiness to agree to the troika’s … [read more]

Demise of the French elites For the EU France is not one country among others. She neither belongs to the southern periphery such as Greece and Portugal, nor the peripheral centre like Italy. Paris used to be the union’s spiritus rector, its very demiurge. It was the French bureaucracy to forge the German-French axis, the European integration with the aim to build a supra-national regime of the capitalist classes. Together with their partners they wanted to institutionally strengthen themselves to wipe out the social and democratic gains achieved by the popular classes after WWII. The goal was a European quasi-state. In this way they wanted at the same time to control the stronger and potentially dangerous German neighbour. The formula: In exchange to adopting the German economic … [read more]

Since the start of E(E)C / EU the monetary union was a paramount goal in this political project of Western European industrial and financial capitalists. However, after the Treaty of Rome was established, there were more primary short-run targets to long for, and the idea of a common currency remained a rather abstract or a rhetorical notion for some time. But even in those times it figured as a darling of conservative ideologues, and of some ambitious politicians, too. Anyway, the Werner- and the Tindemans-report remained dead letter. Helmut Schmidt and V. Giscard d'Estaing personally tried to draft a scheme for a European Monetary System in 1978, but it failed miserably. To use the terms of an old debate in the left movement, we have to revisit imperialism as the nec plus ultra of … [read more]

First of all and prior to proceeding to the main body of this speech I wanted to express the General Secretary’s gratitude for your invitation. Dimitris Kazakis personally and The United People’s Front (EPAM) as a whole are humbled and honored to be invited to become a part of this convention and join forces with likeminded people from all across Europe. Unfortunately, due to Mr. Kazakis’ heavy schedule he wasn’t in a position to actively participate in this convention himself but he wanted to thank you personally for the invitation. One of the most quoted remarks made from Karl Marx is the well known phrase regarding history. Heavily influenced by Hegel’s notion regarding history, Marx in his ‘The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon’ stated that "History repeats ... … [read more]

I. Crisis of unequal distribution II. EU under German hegemony III. The only solution: dissolve the eurozone IV. Breaking with casino capitalism   This catastrophic crisis is at the same time a great chance: in some of the most crisis-stricken countries the rule of the EU financial oligarchy might be toppled. Trying to analyse the acute crisis of the last five years and the build-up that preceded it, we suggest a rough separation into two basic levels: a global momentum on one hand and a specific European one on the other hand. The latter is connected to the actual constitution of the EU and the economic predominance of Germany, combined with the political weakness of its elites. This configuration triggers a powerful amplification of the crisis, turning Europe into its centre … [read more]

Acute crisis of capital flight The current stage of the crisis of the EU/Euro is marked by capital fleeing the European south. The symbol for this are the increasing interest spreads over German bonds. But also banks and the corporate sector are in acute shortage of capital while private consumption is plunging. Together with the severe austerity imposed by the EU centre the European south is suffering deep recession of which the worst is still to come. Large sections of the population including the middle classes are being impoverished to an extent and in a pace unprecedented since decades. For any peripheral country this would mean immediate default and devastating social crisis as countries like Mexico, Indonesia, Argentina and many other countries did suffer from. Only being … [read more]

Ägypten konnte ab 1876 seine riesigen Schulden trotz aller Peitschen für die Fellachin, die Bauern, nicht mehr bedienen. Der Khedive Ismail war sie im Jahrzehnt zuvor bei wohl informierten britischen und französischen Banken eingegangen. Die damaligen Großmächte Großbritannien und Frankreich entsandten daraufhin ein Tandem von Kontrolleuren, die zuerst prüften, was heraus zu holen war. Dann setzten sie den Khediven ab und installierten einen ihnen genehmen Regent. Ziemlich bekannt aus der Gegenwart, nicht? Die winzige ägyptische Armee wurde darauf mit einigen Offizieren (vor allem Ahmed Urabi) zur nationalen und antiimperialistischen Sprecherin des Lands. Als der neue Khedive Tewfiq die Proteste nicht mehr bewältigte, schickten die Briten Truppen aus England und Indien und … [read more]

A. The developments The EU finds itself in the heart of the crisis, wounded as never before. The diverging strategies and the explosion of the contradictions within the EU and the Eurozone (European Monetary Union) may lead the course of the “European integration adventure” to unanticipated consequences. While the integration formally advances, in reality it sheers off. The hegemonic role of German imperialism and the insolvable interconnection of the EU institutions with the most parasitic and rapacious financial capital reveal today more and more clearly the real nature of the EU: an absolutely anti-democratic, anti-social, aggressive, barbaric and cynical imperialist construction. The EU is internationally in the vanguard of the application of the harshest neoliberal policies … [read more]