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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Alter Summit
For Alternative Fronts
- 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
- 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
- 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’
- 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. ...
Thinking Europe Anew Without Imposing It from Above
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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 practices.
Alternative Conceptions
Social Appropriation: Paths to an Alternative Project
- 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
- 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 increasingly more difficult in Western and Central Europe.
International Points of Interest
The Productive but Incomplete Encounter Between the Social Movement and Ecology
- 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.
The UN Rapprochement With the Private Sector – A Dangerous and Undemocratic Orientation
- 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
- 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?
- 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 Reviews
European Union in the Constellation of Neoliberalism
- 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...
"Cosmopolitan futures. Global activism for a just world."
- For an institution which has recently moved to its second decade of existence, the time is ripe to undergo a thorough discussion of its future direction. The World Social Forum (WSF) - the great gathering of global justice activists, an inspiration for innumerable people worldwide, even hailed as “the world parliament in exile” in its early days - is in such a point.
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” Europe stands on the edge of a precipice, looking into the abyss. Austerity policies drive the peoples of Europe...
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