Manifesto for a New Popular Internationalism in Europe recommons europe fore word This text is the short version of the thors are active in different organisa- “Manifesto for a New Popular Inter- tions and movements (trade unions, nationalism in Europe”, which was political parties, activist movements) published on 21 March 21 2019 in and bring together diverse and com- English, French and Spanish. plementary expertise (economics, political science, philosophy, anthro- This Manifesto has been drawn up pology, law, ecology, unionism, fe- by a group of activists and resear- minism, North/South solidarity, and chers from a dozen or so countries in so on). Three generations are repre- Europe who wish to propose a blue- sented. The Manifesto is supported print to be carried out by the popular by more than 160 signatories from Left forces. It is part of the ReCom- 21 different European countries, monsEurope Project which was ini- among whom a majority of women. tiated by two international networks, The collection of signatures, as well the CADTM and EReNSEP, and the as the collective reflection and elabo- Basque trade union ELA, in order to ration from which this Manifesto has contribute to the strategic debates ta- emerged, are continuing. king place within the European po- pular Left today. It was written in one We have written a coherent proposal year by sixteen people active in six for the commitments, initiatives and different countries (Belgium, Bosnia, measures to be taken by the forces France, Greece, the Spanish State, of the popular Left in Europe. The and the United Kingdom); the au- proposals address the main issues that a people’s government will have In recent years, several opportuni- to face as soon as it comes to power. ties have been missed, especially in The Manifesto is intended for poli- 2015 in Greece. The ecological cri- tical organizations and social move- sis, violent austerity policies, and ments (trade unions, associations, ci- the danger represented by the rise tizens) fighting at local, national and of a racist and xenophobic far right, international levels for fundamental only make it more urgent to define human rights and equality for all, for a strategy associating organization social emancipation and democracy, from below, social movements and and against the destruction of eco- political organizations, in order to systems. make politics serve the interests of the majority. Our objective is to submit these ana- lyses and proposals for discussion to the social and political left, and to all those activists and citizens of Europe who are convinced that a radical change is necessary if we are to meet the major challenges of the day. Europe is going through a major and prolonged crisis. The European Union is basically anti-democra- tic and in the service of the richest. summary foreword Introduction Chapter 1 - First steps of a popular government Chapter 2 - Banks Chapter 3 - Debt Chapter 4 - Work, employment and social rights Chapter 5 - Eco-socialism and energy transition Chapter 6 - Feminism Chapter 7 - Health, Education and Housing Chapter 8 - International relations Chapter 9 - Social struggles, political confrontations and constituent processes Long version of the Manifesto: www.cadtm.org/Manifesto-for-a-new- popular-internationalism-in-Europe INTRO DUCTION ver the past decade, popular the anti-abortion law in 2017), Ita- anger has been expressed ly (“Non Una di Meno” movement Owithout interruption against since 2016), Spain (feminist general discriminatory and anti-democratic strike of 5 million people on the 8th policies in favour of the rich and of March 2018), as well as a victory large corporations - policies which over the political influence of the are implemented by national go- Catholic Church in Ireland with the vernments and often coordinated legalization of abortion by referen- by the European Union (EU). This dum in May 2018; they are at last discontent has been reflected in succeeding in imposing their cen- initiatives by trade unions, but also trality in all social struggles. The by new movements such as ‘15M’ in year 2018 also saw the emergence of Spain (also called in other countries new social movements against the the movement of the ‘Indignados’), dominant economic and political the occupation of the squares in order, with the movement against Greece and the huge demonstra- the “slavery law” (neoliberal reform tions in Portugal in 2011, the mo- of labour laws) in Hungary, the de- vements against the “Loi Travail” monstration and development of the (Labour law) in France (which led “Indivisible” antiracist movement to the ‘Nuit Debout’ movement) in Germany, the Yellow Vest move- and against the Water Tax in Ire- ment in France and French-spea- land in 2016, the great demons- king Belgium against unfair tax po- trations for autonomy and against licies and the lack of democracy in political repression in Catalonia in political institutions. Nor should we 2017. Feminist struggles have given forget the climate demonstrations, rise to historic demonstrations in driven mainly by young people who Poland (“Czarny Protest” against have gone on strike in many coun- This Manifesto sees itself as an integral part of social movements which These social movements are inse- parable from the social, ecological, are inseparable from the democratic and feminist emergen- social, ecological, cies, as well as a ‘crisis of solida- rity’. A social emergency because democratic and feminist the living and working conditions of the popular classes have conti- emergencies, as well as a nuously deteriorated over the last ‘crisis of solidarity’ forty years, most notably since the crisis which affected the continent in 2008-2009. An ecological emer- tries, including Sweden, Denmark, gency because the exponential Switzerland, Belgium, France and consumption of fossil fuels required Great Britain. All these social move- by capitalism, and its corollary, the ments, and others, have challenged destruction of ecosystems, threaten the austerity measures and autho- the very existence of humanity. A ritarianism of the policies that are democratic emergency because the implemented in Europe, by posing dominant classes have not hesitated directly or indirectly the question of to adopt methods of domination a radical alternative social project which ignore democratic appea- to capitalism, productivism, eco- rances to an ever-greater degree, logical devastation, racism and pa- and are increasingly repressive, triarchy. This Manifesto sees itself in response to the challenges they as an integral part of these move- have been faced with over the last ments and shares their objectives : thirty years. A feminist emergency the struggle against all forms of do- because patriarchal oppression in mination, for universal rights, for all its forms is rejected by millions equality and for a democracy to be of women and men. A crisis of so- invented – a democracy which does lidarity because the closing of bor- not stop at the gates of companies ders and building of walls as a res- and the threshold of working-class ponse to the millions of migrants areas, and which is radically op- fleeing war, poverty, environmental posed to the logic of a capitalist sys- disasters and authoritarian regimes tem (whether the latter claims to be world-wide constitute nothing less ‘protectionist’, and so against ‘forei- than a denial of humanity. Each of gners’, or ‘liberal’) which destroys these emergencies leads, in res- social rights and the environment. ponse, to mass civil disobedience, self-organization and the building The European institutions incite and of alternatives, which represent sometimes constrain possible sources of democratic al- ternatives in Europe. national governments to In this Manifesto, our reflections accelerate the processes and our determination to act are of lowering wages and solidly rooted in these Europe-wide movements, without limiting them- pensions, dismantling selves to existing borders and insti- laws regulating labour tutions: all the challenges and rights mentioned have become global. relations and social These take different forms in each country and on each continent, rights, privatising of with their own specificities and public services histories. Social attacks are articu- lated from the “local” to the “glo- bal” depending on the strategies of privatizing public services, etc. Of both multinational companies and course, neoliberal policies are not their interest groups within natio- dictated by the European institu- nal states and the institutions of tions alone – countries outside the globalized capitalism, based on the EU also apply them – but the trea- norms of so-called “free trade”. It ties and institutions are a power- is this logic which defines the pro- ful lever to encourage and impose foundly unequal “partnerships” them. Whatever the various inter- that the EU has developed with the pretations of the past phases of “the countries of the south and east of construction of Europe” may be, it the territory of Europe. is clear that the EU has always been a set of pro-capitalist institutions The European institutions play an and, ever since the Treaty of Rome, essential role in the development, has been constructed as a vast mar- organisation and coordination of ket for capital and “free and fair neoliberal policies at a transna- competition”, protected from po- tional level. They encourage and pular and democratic intervention. sometimes constrain national go- Recent developments, however, vernments