Zeitschrift

Editorial

The only way out of the current crisis in the European Union would seem to be through the effective unity of action of left political forces and social movements. One is prompted to go back to the slogans of US President Barack Obama’s first electoral campaign: ‘Yes, we can!’

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Inhalt

• Alter Summit

• • For Alternative Fronts

  • Von Pierre Laurent

  • We are in an exceptional moment in history – a crisis of civilisation, a historic clash between the dominant and globalised capitalist system that has entered into a lasting crisis and the many-sided...
• • ‘We Will Roll Back Austerity before it Destroys Democracy’
  • The Alter-Summit (AS) takes place in June in Athens, with the participation of hundreds of collectives and organisations from Europe and Greece. Already, in the European preparation committee there...
• • The Alter-Summit: Unity of Action Is Necessary

  • Von Felipe van Keirsbilck

  • Recent events surrounding attempts to ‘save’ Cyprus enable us to draw two different conclusions. On the one hand, they confirm that Europe is entering an ‘austerity’ dead end based on submission to...

• The Future of Europe

• • Europe Between Disintegration and Revolt

  • Von Walter Baier

  • On 7-8 June the Alter Summit of the European Peoples takes place at the Velodrome in Athens. An alliance of more than 150 organisations – including trade unions, social movements, NGOs and political...
• • Putting an End to ‘Governance’

  • Von Roger Martelli

  • Things are going badly in Europe? That’s because it is not federal enough, we are told. Accordingly it is proposed to give yet more power … to those who have reduced Europe to its present state. Toda...
• • Thinking Europe Anew Without Imposing It from Above

  • Von Andreas Fisahn , Peter Wahl

  • The EU’s crisis management is deepening the disaster in which the Union finds itself. However, a change of course is not in sight. This would require insight into the causes of the debacle and the...
• • Alternatives for Europe

  • Von Joachim Bischoff

  • Europe finds itself in the midst of a very severe crisis. If this crisis cannot be overcome, both the political project of European integration and the European and global economies will be heavily...
• • A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: European Security Strategy

  • Von Jürgen Wagner

  • The June 1999 Council Summit of the heads of state and government in Cologne is considered the founding date of the European Union’s militarisation. At that time the principle of establishing troops...

• New Politics of Trade Unions

• • Trade Unions: The Difficult Path to Solidarity in One’s Own Interest

  • Von Steffen Lehndorff

  • In both the ideals and the rhetoric of trade unions international solidarity plays a major role. Trade union practice, however, is first and foremost focused on the context of those nation-states, in...
• • Renewal through Strike

  • Von Fanny Zeise

  • Strikes are a major means of trade union self-assertion. A closer look at strikes in Germany reveals interesting trends and developments, indicating new approaches to trade union strategies and...

• Alternative Conceptions

• • Social Appropriation: Paths to an Alternative Project

  • Von Benoit Borrits , Chantal Delmas

  • For a long time the idea of social appropriation was thought of as amounting to no more than public property. The ease with which neoliberalism was able to privatise a number of public services shows...
• • Energy Poverty as a New Social Plague

  • Von Lutz Holzinger

  • Power cuts in winter, people falling into debt traps due to additional charges by gas and electricity companies, heating or eating as a crucial choice – the condition of the poor is becoming...

• International Points of Interest

• • The Productive but Incomplete ­Encounter Between the Social Movement and Ecology

  • Von Hervé Kempf

  • One high point of the World Social Forum (WSF) that took place in Tunis from 26 to 30 March was the presence, for the first time in the Forum’s existence, of a Climate Space. This discussion space was...
• • The UN Rapprochement With the Private Sector – A Dangerous and Undemocratic Orientation

  • Von Chloé Maurel

  • For some decades now increasingly intimate connections have been developing between the United Nations and the private sector. While it would seem logical that the UN, a worldwide and universal body,...
• • New Political Actors in Polarised ­Democracies: The Case of Beppe Grillo – Perspectives for the Left

  • Von Roberto Biorcio

  • The appetite for change which characterised the recent national elections of February 2013 was largely identified with and expressed by Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement (M5S), which took 25% of...
• • Towards a Common European Historical Narrative?

  • Von Sigfrido Ramírez

  • On 24 March transform!europe organised a debate on the ‘European House of History’ (HEH) project in order to elaborate critical approaches to the public use of history and particularly the creation of...

• Book Review

• • European Union in the Constellation of Neoliberalism

  • Von George Souvlis

  • Edward Thompson is our finest socialist writer today - certainly in England, possibly in Europe’.1 With this flattering statement 33 years ago Perry Anderson began his monograph on E. P. Thompson Argu...

• Document

• • A People’s Manifesto: Let’s Roll Back Austerity and Claim Real Democracy!
  • “Urgent common priorities for a democratic, social, ecological and feminist Europe”...