These days, these terms are very popular. On January 20th, Mr. Carney, the Prime Minister of Canada, started his speech in Davos by mentioning how the rules-based order is fading. He then continued—and I quote: “Intermediate powers are not powerless. They have the capacity to build a new order that encompasses our values: human rights, sustainable development, solidarity, sovereignty, and the territorial integrity of states.” He cited a piece from The Power of the Powerless, written by Václav Havel, and mentioned: “We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false. That the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient. That, trade rules were enforced asymmetrically. And we knew that international law applied with varying rigor depending … [read more]

The imperialist structures of the EU are seeking expansion in the context of the upcoming full-scale war against Russia. Over the last few years, the comprador ruling class in Bulgaria has been doing everything possible to get the country into the eurozone in order to do the will of its Western masters. The planned date for this is 1 January 2026. This will happen against the will of the vast majority of the Bulgarian people. Even official sociology admits that about two thirds of Bulgarians are against this move. It is obvious to everyone that this will lead to further impoverishment of the working class and even greater dependence of Bulgaria on Western corporations and institutions. There is a large-scale opposition to the euro in the country. With the efforts of the entire … [read more]

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 … [read more]

The location of the third European No-Euro-Forum itself, Chianciano Terme in Tuscany, can be considered symbolic for the urgent need of an exit strategy to leave the corset of the currency union: during the 80ties it was a prosperous small town with it’s hot springs and hundreds of hotels where workers and pensioners spent their spa stays, financed from a growing economy and the social rights that were conquered. Today, 30 years after without investment, the infrastructure leaves a curious old-style-feeling (in modern terms „retro“) and it is largely empty. One and a half decades of economic recession, deconstruction of the welfare state and an increasing number of unemployed and precarious workers without access to social rights has left traces. The numerous congresses that gather … [read more]

Contrary to the theory of the EU as a neutral level playing field, the events after the Great Recession (2007/2009) have shown that the current European integration project is defined by the regressive nature of its treaties and by an unprecedented radicalization of its neoliberal character. Uneven and hierarchical power relations (core – periphery) have long been a feature of European integration, finally culminating in Germany’s dominance of the EU’s economic policy orientations after the Great Recession. The regulatory developments that accompanied the establishment of the Eurozone and the measures taken in response to the Euro crisis through the imposition of ever stricter and ever less legitimated rules and governance structures (EuroPlus-Pact, Firscal Compact, etc.) deepened … [read more]

The crash came from the United States in 2007-2008 exposed the structural flaws of the single currency regime and its unsustainability: many eurozone countries are grappling with the biggest recession in its history, acute imbalances instead of convergence between the countries; extermination of companies and destruction of productive forces; collapse of investment; Growth of bank insolvencies and parallel paralysis of loans; increase in public and private debt; double-digit unemployment; decline in consumption, growth of social inequality. From the economic sphere, the crisis is thus passed to the political and institutional. The jump to the United States of Europe, recondite goal of the new neoliberal financial aristocracy, there will never, we go instead toward a new stage of the … [read more]

Find here the announcement and programme of the conference. First of all one will notice that the former Greek finance minister Varoufakis has disappeared from the agenda. The four figureheads remaining: Oskar Lafontaine (former German minister), Stefano Fassina (former Italian minister), Zoe Konstantopoulou (former Greek parliamentary president) and Jean-Luc Mélenchon (leader of the French Left Party). A reason for this further zigzag of Varoufakis’s might be his announcement of a plan C. Claiming that the return to national monetary sovereignty would result in a disaster, he actually recovers the failed plan A – as if nothing had happened: No lessen drawn from the humiliating capitulation inflicted on the Greek people by the troika, Varoufakis continues to float the … [read more]

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 … [read more]

Journalist [Mrs Xenakis]: Mr. Alavanos, you 'welcomed' the Brussels agreement with harsh characterizations. You spoke about “betrayal of the people. "Now, after some days, I would ask you if you insist in this very sharp thesis and why? Alavanos: In the referendum, the question was clear: Yes or No to the plan Juncker. And the message of the people was clear: a sweeping NO. A week after, the government signed the Tsipras Memorandum, which is much worse than the plan Juncker. Let's imagine something very similar: while, in the 1974 referendum, the people of Greece had voted against the king, a week after Konstantine returned not just as a constitutional king but as emperor. If this is not treason, then what is treason? J: Many say that what succeeded Mr. Tsipras was the best he … [read more]

In the 5th of July 2015 the huge majority of the Greek people (61%) rejected the insolent demands of the EU for the extension and deepening of the austerity and pro-capital restructuring policies in Greece. These demands were codified in the so-called Juncker Plan for Greece that set barbaric terms for the extension of the previous austerity program (the 2nd Economic Adjustment Program for Greece) in exchange for releasing much delayed tranches of the troika loans to Greece. These tranches were urgently needed for repaying instalments of previous loans by the troika. As I have argued in a previous note (‘The Greek referendum and the tasks of the Left’) SYRIZA was led unwillingly to call this referendum because of the failure of its unrealistic program for a ‘decent compromise’ … [read more]

But the shortcomings of Syriza’s leadership are obvious and endangering this possible popular victory. They have had nearly half a year to dissolve the widespread paradigm within the popular masses of being able to ending austerity while maintaining the Euro. All Greek attempts to pressurize Berlin into a “compromise with dignity” along the last months clearly taught that this is completely impossible. Instead of helping the people to understand the need of a rupture dissolving the impossible electoral mandate of January, instead of openly and convincingly preparing a plan B, Syriza keeps sticking to the contra factual idea that they can soften austerity within the Euro regime. They presented the referendum as nothing more than the last bargaining chip to threaten the troika into … [read more]

For six months, after its January 2015 election victory, the SYRIZA government began negotiations with the EU. In these negotiations SYRIZA was confronted with the stubborn and increasing intransigence of EU and its companion institutions (the ECB and the IMF). SYRIZA very soon accepted the logic and the structure of the troika program; that is the Economic Adjustment Program for Greece popularly called the Memorandum. It simply tried to modify it by making it less front-loaded (i.e. delaying the implementation of reductions in pensions and hidden wage cuts, reducing fiscal primary surplus targets and thus making fiscal policy less austere). It also asked for facilitating debt servicing (by rolling back debt, leveraging and ‘financial engineering’) and an increase in aid funds … [read more]

The NO vote will be a vote for confrontation with the EU and not for a renegotiation with it. The delegations and the participants of the Athens anti-EU Forum call for a massive popular NO to old and new memoranda, to unemployment, to austerity, to the infringement of social and political rights, to the abolition of national sovereignty, a NO to debt, to euro and the EU! They call for a common front of struggle of all the popular and democratic forces for a victory of the NO vote. The breakdown of the negotiations of Greece and the EU prove beyond doubt the true nature of the EU and its companion institutions (the ECB and the IMF): They represent the interests of capitalists and bankers. They impose neoliberal policies. They undermine democracy. They suppress popular and national … [read more]

The elites and their media are however continuing with their campaign, and cry “populism”: they say it is necessary to make cuts, because Greece supposedly had lived beyond its means. And they try to frighten the public: without austerity, there will inevitably be insolvency. What they keep to themselves is, that at the heart of the matter this is a question of distribution. Obviously it is a global matter, but if we restrict the view to the national level. Even if we take as granted the current level of capacity of the Greek economy set by the global frame, there is absolutely no reason that a tiny elite is unflinchingly enriching itself, while the vast majority – and especially the poorest strata – are impoverished. (In fact Greece could be much more productive, and of course … [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]

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]