Transparency, Financial Crisis and Tax Havens
Transparency has been a major topic ever since the explosion of the financial crisis. There are several reasons for this. We need more transparency in order to make the global financial system stabler, more predictable and...[more]
Amazon Rainforest, a heritage for all
After the huge march at the start of the World Social Forum, Wednesday saw the beginning of the more than two thousand debate sessions that make up the program, spread out by major thematic areas which point out the main claims...[more]
The Crisis in the World Social Forum
The international crisis was one of the main issues discussed on the World Social Forum. On the last day, I was in charge of delivering a lecture about it, together with the Venezuelan economist Eduardo Lander, in a seminar...[more]
Fighting Plant Closures
Results of a study from Germany The crisis on the international financial markets has had a powerful impact on the real economy. The explosive nature of the situation is produced by two crises coming together and to an extent...[more]
Social-ecological Reconstruction as a Challenge for Left/Socialist Politics
We are concerned with societal changes which improve people’s conditions of life. “People’s conditions of life” always involve the integrity of people, their individual freedom and possible influence on social developments, their...[more]
Finnish experiences on economic stagnation in the 90s
Presentation at Nordic Conference: The global financial crisis – and the answers from the left-wing [more]
Saving Jobs. Proposals against deflation by trade unions
Presentation at Nordic Coference, Copenhagen 26./27.1.2009[more]
The European Welfare Models: Changes, Prospects and Strategies
This is the title of a Transform! workshop to beheld in Stockholm on June 13-14. Its aim is to contribute to the analysis of the changes in European welfare states, both in terms of empirical reports and theoretical analysis,...[more]
The Attack on the Welfare State in the Name of the Welfare State
Discussion of the welfare state and the European social model has intensified in the last years. This is of vital importance, not only for European workers and citizens, but also in terms of the role Europe is to play in the...[more]
Present and Future Impact of the Crisis
United Nations Conference on the Financial Crisis and its Impact on Development – New York, June 24-26 2009 Much has been said of the impact of the crisis on the foundations of the economy and of its social consequences,...[more]
The Crisis of Capitalism and Post-Capitalist Horizons
Introduction A century ago, Rosa Luxemburg expressed humanity’s historic dilemma in these terms: socialism or barbarism. Now, the global crisis underlines the urgent need to create objective and subjective conditions which...[more]
Europe in the Crisis - On the Road to Breakup?
In the current economic crisis, the character of the European Union as a “project of the elites” is clearly revealed. Now it comes back to haunt us that “… at the turning points of the unification process European policy has...[more]
Greek banks in the Balkans. Effects of thi crisis and the internationalist deficit
1. IntroductionSince the demise of actually existing socialism in the ‘90’s, a process of reforms was put forward in the Balkan countries with the aim of preparing these countries’ transition into...[more]
The Speculative Real-Estate Bubble and the Securitisation Scandal in Italy
In the explosion of the most serious economic crisis since 1929, international real-estate speculation has played a fundamental role. This holds true for Italy as well. I will emphasise three aspects, each of which require more...[more]
A Critical Report on the Crisis in Romania
Introduction: crisis upon crises It would not be far from the truth to say that in Romania the crisis overlapped an already embedded multi-layered crisis. What is happening today to Romanians in the Romanian state and society...[more]
Precarisation and Financialisation
I would like to develop two theses suggested by Rosa Reitsamer – precarisation and financialisation – in order to examine their consequences for the way we act, work and – last but not least – live. The first thesis is that...[more]
The Portuguese State’s Promotion of Precarious Labour Relations in Public Services
The latest figures show that unemployment in Portugal exceeded 9% for the first time. Short-term labour contracts increased by over 50% in the last ten years. The state itself is exploiting precarious workers for permanent tasks....[more]
A Journey to the Centre of the Transition
The eventOn April 23, 2009, a group of unemployed textile workers in Novi Pazar, southern Serbia, began a hunger strike. Their main demand – in the name of all 1,532 members of the Association of Textile Workers of Novi Pazar,...[more]
“Seeing Things Their Way”: The Contemporary Immigrant Experience in Europe
Seeing things their way” is Quentin Skinner’s fundamental methodological exhortation. Skinner advances interpretations of specific political or moral beliefs by placing them in the context of other beliefs, the interpretation of...[more]
The Precarisation of Life and Work and Alternatives from the Biblical Perspective
“The labourer’s Appetite Works for Him” (Proverbs 16, 26) A consideration of the biblical concepts of righteousness/justice and shalom/peace and of the climate of neoliberalism which sharply clashes with them prompted the...[more]
Facing Reality – Strategies to Increase Power from Below in an Era of Neoliberal Globalisation
Early in the rise of industrial capitalism in the mid-19th century, a set of ideas emerged and came to grip the imagination of the new working class that was being created by industrial capitalism. Those ideas reflected in part...[more]
Economic Democracy: A Crisis Alternative
On June 22, 2009, at the initiative of Espaces Marx (transform!) and the regional government of the Île de France, labour leaders, elected officials, scholars and representatives of civil society met to discuss economic democracy...[more]
The State and the Economic Crisis of 2008
The state in the neoliberal era In the tradition of Foucault, the state is not understood as a rational agent located outside of society, aiming to serve dominant class interests. It is rather a source of power diffused within...[more]
People Must Adopt These Issues As Their Own
Emergency climate control and social justice: people must adopt these issues as vital ones. Yet, a few days before the opening of the Copenhagen Summit, the chances of arriving at an agreement on these questions are minimal....[more]
Europe, the crisis, divisions, alternatives, strategic issues
This text has benefited from the seminar on crisis organized by Transform! In Vienna in January 2010 and has been enriched from a debate carried out in the Managing Board of Transform! Europe and particularly thanks to the useful...[more]
The peoples’ summit of Cochabamba
The social, political and ecological economic crisis we are undergoing, is in fact a crisis of capitalism. Following the human and ecological destruction, its utility for the general interest of society is therefore more and more...[more]
Seminar I: Why the Crisis seems to Favour Rather the Right than the Left in Europe
The strategic challenges for the European Left First seminar March 2010 International workshop by transform! Europe in mallorca In cooperation with FIM - Foundation for Marxist Studies[more]
The Social Crisis in Europe: Politics of Precariousness or Shift to a New Social Model of Regulation
One year and a half after the outbreak of the current economic recession, generated by the financial crisis that began in the USA a year earlier, all international organisations are announcing the beginning of recovery in Europe,...[more]
Crisis, Europe, Alternatives and Strategic Challenges for the European Left 1
After the EU-summit in March it is becoming even more obvious to what extent the EU and the governments are in quite a dogmatic and irresponsible way setting the course for a downward spiral. Merkel and her coalition are...[more]
Can PIGS Fly?
”Thinking again?” the Duchess asked, with another dig of her sharp little chin. ”I’ve a right to think,” said Alice sharply, for she was beginning to feel a little worried. ”Just about as much right,” said the Duchess, “as pigs...[more]
About Good and Bad of Copenhagen
In recent months climate policy was on the top of the agenda of international politics. Many international meetings took place in the run-up to the climate summit in Copenhagen. However, despite some extravagant statements by the...[more]
Greece in front of the abyss?
The financial situation in Greece is getting worse everyday. For the time being, it is impossible for the country to borrow from the financial markets. The rate of interest for the Greek 10 years bonds is 10,55% (18,50% for the 2...[more]
What future for the PIGS? The case of Greece, the response of the EU and alternative solutions.
In the midst of the Greek crisis, the transform Working Group Brussels organised its second meeting this year after a successful kick-off on 7th April 2010. Like in the previous occasion it brought together a milieu of activists,...[more]
The Past of Three PIGS
Economic, social and political developments in various countries are certainly determined by the present state of the world capitalist system, but are also to a large extent conditioned by the history of the specific social...[more]
Letter from the Italian economists
A RESTRICTIVE POLICY WORSENS THE CRISIS, ADDS FUEL TO SPECULATION AND CAN BRING TO THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE EURO ZONE. THE DIRECTION OF ECONOMIC POLICY NEEDS TO BE CHANGED TO PREVENT ANOTHER BREAKDOWN OF INCOMES AND...[more]
EUROMEM0RANDUM 2010 Rethymno, Crete
Notes on presentations and discussions[more]
Europe in the Great Crisis
For years the EU-Commission has been complaining about society in the Euro-zone being divided into two classes. The gap between those Euro-states able successfully to compete, with Germany as the market leader, on the one hand,...[more]
Resistance and Struggles Against Austerity in Europe
A Round table was held in Paris on October 24 with the following participants: Elisabeth Gauthier, Espaces Marx (Paris)/Transform!, Alessandra Mecozzi, International Secretary FIOM-CGIL (Italy), Petre Damo, Romanian Social...[more]
Modern Times: The New Attack on Working Time in Europe
“Time is the delimiter of human development. A person who has no free time at his disposal, whose whole lifetime – aside from the mere physical interruptions of sleep, meals and so on – is taken up by his work for the...[more]
Employment in the Centre
Interview with Miguel Portas, Portuguese Member of the European Parliament, Bloco de Esquerda (Left Bloc), regarding the Pervenche Berès report on the financial, economic and social crisis. What does the GUE/NGL Group think of...[more]
Car Conversion:Towards an Eco-Socialist "Economy of Reproduction"
The car industry is a good example of the current many-sided crisis, or, better, its crystallisation point: for decades the industry has been characterised by enormous over-capacity – nevertheless western car manufacturers want...[more]
Alternatives to the Crisis
A Comparison of Left Alternative Proposals [more]
The Costs of Carbon Dioxide Emissions: A Just Basis for the UN-Global Climate Summit in Canc
After the negotiations at the last Climate Summit in Copenhagen failed so spectacularly, even well-meaning and sensible climate politicians are saying that global climate negotiations within the UN-framework cannot be successful....[more]
Strategy Meetings Against Neoliberal Austerity Plans
In the wake of the European trade-union mobilisation on September 29 in Brussels various political meetings took place in order to strategise joint struggles against the neoliberal policies in Europe. transform! europe took part...[more]
Symposium: The Crisis of Civilisation
Organised by Espaces Marx in co-operation with transform! europe and the Gabriel Péri Foundation. Paris, 28-29 January 2011 [more]
International Conference: Public Debt and Austerity Policies in Europe. The Response of the European Left
Athens, March 10-12, 2011[more]
Seminar of the Dynamo-Group hosted by transform!europe: Models of Capitalism in Europe
Paris, March 18-19, 2011. Publication: A triumph of failed ideas. European models of capitalism in the crisis[more]
Fukushima, Mon Horreur - The Dream of Economic Reason Gives Birth to Tremendous Catastrophes
Co-President of the party DIE LINKE, Klaus Ernst, explained the meagre results of his party in the March 27, 2011 German regional elections (3.1% in Rhineland-Palatinate, 2.8% in Baden-Wuerttemberg) and the two-digit increase...[more]
Social Relations Put to the Austerity Test
In a statement submitted to the Seoul Summit of the G20, the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC) recalls that “the economic crisis that has disrupted the lives of so many wage earners is far from being over –...[more]
At the Heart of the “Crisis of Civilisation”: The Issue of “Living Well”
The crisis of civilisation and the crisis of capitalism are thus closely linked: on the one hand, because capitalism is the product of western civilisation and even of its conception of progress inseparable from “the...[more]
The Conflict between Conflicts in the Crisis of Globalised Capitalist Civilisation
I am not going to talk as a sociologist about class composition, about the debate over the notion of class. I will approach these indirectly. I would like to put forward some thoughts on the conflicts that characterise our...[more]
Economic and Institutional Crisis - Perspectives for the Belgian Social Movement
Today the majority of the media and most analyses of the Belgian situation speak of an “institutional crisis” or a “communitarian crisis”. While this way of conceiving the Belgian situation does reflect a part of the reality, it...[more]
The Financial Crisis as a Political Opportunity for the New Extreme Right - The Economic Crisis in Greece and the Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS)
The reinforcement of the European extreme right coincided with the crisis of the 1970s, accompanied by transformations in production, changes in social structure of European societies and the inability of the dominant political...[more]
The Financial Crisis as a Political Opportunity for the New Extreme Right - The Economic Crisis in Greece and the Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS)
The reinforcement of the European extreme right coincided with the crisis of the 1970s, accompanied by transformations in production, changes in social structure of European societies and the inability of the dominant political...[more]
The German Miracle? Interests and Orientations for Action During the Crisis – the Perspectives of Those Affected
The economic and social map of Europe is jagged. In 2010, the production of social wealth decreased for the third year in succession in Greece, Spain and Ireland. Also, Italy and Great Britain did not find a way out of the...[more]
Transform Brussels Seminar 13th April 19-21- Economic Governance in the European Union
THE WORKING GROUP OF TRANSFORM IN BRUSSELS- NEW SEMINAR SERIES IN BRUSSELS WEDNESDAY 13TH APRIL 2011. 19:00 AT ESPACES MARX, 4 RUE ROUPPE (METRO-ANNESSENS) BRUSSELS Economic Governance and policies in Europe (EU2020, Pact...[more]
Austerity, debt, social destruction in Europe: stop ! Coordinate our strengths - Democratic alternatives are necessary and possible!
European Conference on 31 May 2011, 9h - 18h in the European Parliament (Brussels) - in partnership with the GUE/NGL Since May 2010, the policies pushed by the E.U. and carried out in each country are greatly worsening...[more]
Joint Social Conference: The European Competitiveness Pact is unacceptable. But there are alternatives! We will fight for them.
The conference aims to bring together each year before the Spring European Summit, a broad range of unions, social movements and activists looking for alternatives to globalisation in order to reaffirm the priorities necessary...[more]
Πυρηνική Ενέργεια; Ούτε να το σκέφτστε!
Ανακοίνωση του τμήματος Οικολογίας και Περιβάλλοντος του Συνασπισμού[more]
Austerity, debt, social destruction in Europe: stop ! Coordinate our strengths - Democratic alternatives are necessary and possible!
European Conference on 31 May 2011 in the European Parliament (Brussels) - in partnership with the GUE/NGL Parliamentary[more]
European Conference: Austerity, debt, social destruction in Europe
Find here our conclusions - also as pdf download in 4 languages (en, de, es, fr) [more]
European Conference: Austerity, debt, social destruction in Europe. May 31, 2011
Find here our conclusions - also as pdf download in 4 languages (en, de, es, fr) [more]
Newly released: The Left Between Growth and De- Growth
Discussion Papers. Edited and introduced by Teppo Eskelinen[more]
Urgent Appeal to the International Academic Community
"Defend Higher Education in Greece!"[more]
The EU-Crisis and the Battle of Interpretation*
The great crisis that we are experiencing is the result of nearly forty years of neo-liberal offensives. The crisis is particularly severe in Europe – which is not unconnected with the very manner in which Europe is being built,...[more]
“Let’s Unite against the Austerity Programmes!”
Joint Social Conference and Coalition of Resistance gathered in London[more]
Joint Social Conference and Coalition of Resistance, London, Sept 30 & Oct 1, 2011
Presentations by Johannes Jäger and Steffen Lehndorff. Report by Walter Baier[more]
Europe in the Centre of the New Phase of the Big Crisis
We are in the deepest crisis in the history of the European Union. Only if both the governments of member-states and European institutions act decisively, can we get out of it. European countries can only regain their credibility...[more]
The Peculiarities of the Greek Crisis: Democracy, Protest and Contention in Syntagma Square
This article attempts to illustrate the particularities of the Greek movement organised against the austerity measures, imposed by the government under the auspices of the EU and the IMF. Apart from its economic demands, the...[more]
3 Short Perspectives on the EU Economic Crisis
Andy Storey (University College Dublin), Dominique Plihon (Attac France) and Hilary Wainwright (Transnational Institute) share their perspectives on the EU economic crisis as it unravels in Ireland and France, and its impact on...[more]
The Crisis of Europe: Elements of a Political Strategy
At the time of this writing, Europe is becoming increasingly unstable and no one can predict the scenario of the coming weeks. It is safe to predict that we are heading for a series of tragedies. The great crisis that we are...[more]
Austerity, Debt, Social Destruction in Europe: Stop! Coordinate Our Strengths – Democratic Alternatives
European Conference, May 31, 2001 (Brussels) in Partnership with the GUE/NGL Parliamentary Group After September 2010 forces involved in the European Social Forum and in European social mobilisations wished to organise this...[more]
Organic Crisis of Financial-Market Capitalism: Scenarios, Conflicts, Competing Projects
Preliminary Remark “Upswing XXL” was recently proclaimed, and now the ruling elites are not getting their well-earned vacation. Every just acquired and announced “solution” of each most recent crisis is always out of date a few...[more]
Crash as Cash Can – Crises, Bubbles, Speculators – 1929 and Today
In autumn 2008 the world experienced a financial crash, which brought the financial markets to the outer edge of collapse. Then peace returned (or more accurately: organised pacification), until another issue gave new cause for...[more]
The Medium-Term Fiscal Strategy in Greece Tracing Ruptures and Indicating Tendencies in the Memorandum Policies
In what follows we will analyse the general impact of Memorandum policies adopted one year ago and that of the measures introduced by the Medium-Term Fiscal Strategy Law this summer. Given the fact that both the Memorandum recipe...[more]
Reforms in the Czech Republic – Towards Social Darwinism
The current situation in the Czech Republic is quite tense. Once again, twenty years after the so-called Velvet Revolution, citizens are asked to “tighten their belts” – however, this time not with the perspective that better...[more]
May 15 and the Spanish Revolution
In Spain the crisis of 2007/2008 marked the end of a long political cycle. Since the 1980s, a big centre coalition tried to build a modern welfare state on the ruins of a destroyed labour society and to finance it through...[more]
October 15th, Stockholm: The battle for the suburbs
Accommodation is an explosive issue. Housing loans played a central role in the outbreak of the global economic crisis and in many countries, the increasing costs of living is the ultimate reason for people to go out in the...[more]
Occupy Oakland Calls for TOTAL WEST COAST PORT SHUTDOWN ON 12/12
Posted on Nov. 19, 2011, 8:35 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt [more]
The State of the EU Crisis – the Urgency of Alternatives
Brussel, 8-9 December 2011. Find the bibliography here. [more]
Contributions to the Workshop "The State of the EU Crisis" Dec 2011, BXL
Bibliography and Program. Report and Minutes. Contributions and Presentations. [more]
An Alternative Takes Shape
Report on the Workshop of transform! europe and the European Left[more]
Greece on a Tightrope
Two months after its formation, the new coalition government of the Socialist Party of PASOK, the right-wing party of New Democracy and the far Right under the technocrat, ex-senior officer of the ECB, Lucas Papademos, continues...[more]
2012 – Year of Crisis and Resistance: Creating a New Balance of Power
Ten years after the introduction of the Euro, of which it was said that it would unite Europe, the European Union is more divided than ever both socially and economically. [more]
Research Project: Austerity Policies and the Crisis of Political Representation
One of the main borderlines differentiating the dominant interpretation of the current crisis from the one shared by the social and political Left as well as heterodox economists, is the insistence of the latter that we are...[more]
The Compulsory Loan of Greece to the Nazis and Fascists in the Second World War
An Interesting Discussion in Times of Crisis[more]
Conference: EU in Crisis – Analyses, Resistance and Alternatives to Corporate Europe
Brussels, 5-6 May 2012[more]
"No fiscal treaty"
Important Call of German Trade Unionists and Academics [more]
The Crisis of Europe: Elements of a Political Strategy
Many of our friends have been asking the following question over the past few months: What if Portugal was to leave the Eurozone? Should I withdraw my savings, should I look for a foreign bank to deposit them, should I anticipate...[more]
Women Facing Crisis and Austerity
The crisis has very negative effects on society as a whole, especially on women. The austerity policies established in Europe are making the populations pay by sparing those responsible, namely the major banks. As an additional...[more]
Can We Design a European New Deal for the 21st Century?
Can we design a “New Deal” for our European Union countries that are in profound crisis? And – because to me, this is the real, underlying question – to what practical end? Aside from being an intellectual challenge, how could...[more]