Alter Summit: A People’s Manifesto. Roll Back Austerity and Claim Real Democracy!

[논둑길맨발로]

Alter Summit: A People’s Manifesto. Roll Back Austerity and Claim Real Democracy!

Our Urgent Common Priorities for a Femocratic, Social, Ecological and feminist Europe.

By Socialist Project

Global Research, June 09, 2013

Socialist Project and Alter Summit

Region: Europe

Theme: Global Economy, Poverty & Social Inequality

 32

 10 0

 

 80

google_protectAndRun("render_ads.js::google_render_ad", google_handleError, google_render_ad);

Europe stands on the edge of a precipice, looking into the abyss. Austerity policies drive the people of Europe into poverty, undercut democracy and dismantle social policies. Rising inequalities endanger social cohesion. Ecological destruction is worsening while acute humanitarian crises devastate the most affected countries. Women and young people are hardest hit.

The European oligarchy employs ever more authoritarian methods to prop up a failed neoliberal system – all this despite widespread protest and resistance. Democracy and peace are under threat. Discrimination, based on religion, racism, homophobia or sexism and nationalism are on the rise and the crisis is deepening daily. The very existence of the European Union is now at risk while current policies weaken solidarity among European people.

Our most urgent priority is to build Europe on the basis of equality, solidarity, and authentic democracy. EU institutions and European governments now serve the interests of financial markets, with no respect for popular sovereignty. They must be brought under democratic control, just as the public interest must prevail and ecological and social needs be met. We base our demands for a democratic, social, ecological and feminist Europe on these principles, in solidarity with the people of the world.

I) End Debt Slavery

Public debt stems from economic and political choices still on the agenda of EU institutions and European governments. Decades of regressive tax policies have consciously and outrageously enriched a small minority whereas public revenues have declined and public entities using public money have bailed out failed banks. Austerity policies have drained household and small business resources and made the recession worse. Speculation on government bonds is commonplace for private banks while public finance has been tainted by corruption and collusion between politicians and private economic interests.

Moreover, in many countries private, as opposed to national debt, is due to household borrowing, aggressively promoted by the financial sector and governments in order to compensate for the stagnation of real wages while prices were rising.

The measures imposed by European institutions and governments are designed to make the people pay for this debt. However, in large part, this debt can be considered illegitimate since it was amassed with no regard for the common good. It is now clear that some countries will never be able to reimburse their debt.

Human rights must come before debt service and human needs before profit. As a matter of urgency, we demand European-wide measures to free people from the pressures of financial markets and austerity policies. Fiscal, tax and monetary policies must be changed so as to defuse the debt trap.

Our common and urgent demands:

1. Cancel immediately the ‘memoranda’ imposed by the Troika upon over-indebted countries. Cancel as well a considerable share of the public debt without harming the interests of small bondholders, savers and pensioners. Banks and the financial sector must take their share of the losses. Specific amounts to be cancelled should be defined democratically. In this regard, citizen debt audits can serve as a useful tool.
2. Suspend repayments until populations are protected against worsening poverty and employment and until economic development and ecological transition are ensured, public services strengthened and social and economic rights consolidated.
3. Target the richest segment of the population with a one-off wealth levy.
4. Mandate and oblige the European Central Bank and other public European banking institutions to lend directly to states at low interest and under democratic supervision without neoliberal “reform” programme conditionality.

II) Toward an Ecological and Social Europe:
Roll Back Austerity

Throughout Europe, particularly on its southern and eastern rims, harsh austerity policies are imposed, supposedly for the sake of debt repayment and reduction. Entire populations are overburdened, public spending is cut dramatically in essential areas, valuable investments in research or industrial activities are downgraded although they could contribute to a social and ecological transition.

 These austerity policies enforced by EU institutions and European governments create a downward spiral, destroy economies, add to deficits, debt, unemployment and poverty and intensify the ecological crisis and the looting of the environment. Meanwhile, a small minority continues to enrich itself unduly.

Today, more than half of European wealth is captured by 10 per cent of the population. Present policies are intentionally designed to maintain these inequalities as well as the neoliberal model which is devastating the planet and undermining democratic and social rights.

We demand a complete reversal of these policies and a different model of society that ensures social justice, equality, a fair distribution of wealth, ecological sustainability and protection of the commons.

Our common and urgent demands:

1. Roll back austerity now: it is driving Europe deeper into recession. Cancel or veto the treaties and regulations that underpin it, such as the Fiscal Pact, the Six-Pack, the Two-Pack or the Pact for Competitiveness currently negotiated. Trade imbalances within the Monetary Union must be reduced by adjusting surplus country policies, not by imposing austerity on the deficit countries. Fiscal policy should remain a democratic choice.
2. Ensure tax justice with a just, progressive and permanent taxation system on revenues, wealth and corporate profits, with effective minimum rates applied in all European countries. Revoke increases of consumption taxes such as VAT and drastically reduce those on basic goods. Outlaw tax havens and strengthen measures against fraud and tax avoidance and evasion.
3. Develop public, Europe-wide investment programs under social control for a social and ecological transition. This transition should be based on an industrial and agricultural policy that addresses the ecological crisis as well as the need to create millions of quality jobs and should rely on ecologically sustainable and socially useful activities in the public interest. Among these would figure increased investment in education, energy transition, public transportation, and food sovereignty. It would simultaneously require cutting military spending and socially and ecologically harmful expenditure. EU and national budgets should also be reoriented in this direction.
4. Strengthen and develop the social and ecological commons, redefine and expand public services, including health, scientific research, education, early childhood nurturing, transport and energy, water, information and culture, public housing, credit and so on. Stop all privatization of these services, establish their public or cooperative ownership and manage them democratically.

III) Rights for All: No to Poverty and Precariousness

Austerity policies attack economic and social rights and dismantle social protection. They lead to a drop in the standard of living and in many countries to acute humanitarian distress. The consequences are massive unemployment as well as a serious downgrading of working and living conditions. These, in turn, lead to unacceptable increases in poverty: today, 120 million people in the EU are poor.

In the present context of the crisis, these measures are taken even further. They attack labour rights and the role of unions, including their capacity to organize and bargain collectively. They impose competitiveness as a principle in order to divide people, increase profits, lower wages, and turn nature and human activities into commodities. Free trade agreements also foster social, ecological and fiscal dumping.

People living in precarious conditions, unemployed, disabled and pensioners are hardest hit. Among them, women, young people and migrants are first in line. Women are particularly affected by attacks on labour rights and are also obliged to compensate for the demolition of public services with unpaid care work; migrants’ basic rights are denied and an entire generation of European youth is subjected to unprecedented joblessness and social decline.

We demand that every person enjoy effective democratic, economic, environmental and social rights.

Our common and urgent demands:

1. Restore the right to bargain collectively and the right of collective action; Safeguard or reinstate collective agreements and labour rights under threat from austerity packages. Guarantee democracy inside the work-place as a fundamental workers’ right. ILO standards and the European Social Charter must be applied to all workers, including migrants. Put a stop to precarious work.
2. End social and wage dumping in Europe and in the world, including through international agreements; promote a common ground of collective guarantees in Europe that can ensure high-level social security systems and economic rights.
3. Increase wages, establish an adequate minimum wage for every worker set by law or binding collective agreement in each country and a minimum income sufficient for a dignified life. Decrease working hours without decreasing wages and ensure a just division of unpaid care work; promote quality and sustainable employment for all with decent working conditions. Decrease radically salary differentials in the same company.
4. Protect security of tenure of indebted households and generally the right of all people to decent housing. Ensure effective access to prevention and quality healthcare for all.
5. Impose equality of wages, pensions and career development between women and men and outlaw discrimination at work based on gender, ethnic origin, nationality or sexual orientation. Vigorously oppose violence against women.
6. Strengthen the social and political protagonism of migrants. Oppose the politics of criminalization of migrants and refugees. Secure equal rights for migrants and the granting of asylum, close detention camps, close the FRONTEX Agency and end its EU border operations.

IV) For a Democratic Economy: Make Banks Serve the Public Interest

 The collapse of the private banking system in 2008 was not an accident but rather a direct consequence of finance serving only shareholders and speculators to the detriment of the public interest. In recent decades, governments have both authorized and encouraged this system by consenting to every demand of the financial industry. Many public or cooperatively-owned credit institutions previously devoted to financing useful regional activities have been privatized. Meanwhile, the absence of regulation has allowed criminal organizations worldwide to launder money and invest their huge profits freely.

 Governments responded to the crisis by injecting hundreds of billions of euros into bank rescues at the expense of taxpayers and provided financial interests with unconditional guarantees, thereby strengthening the private banks even further.

In order to make the banking sector and the financial industry serve the public interest, society and the environment from now on, the disproportionate power of financial institutions must be curbed through strict regulation and public and democratic control over banks.

Our common and urgent demands:

1. Review the extensive guarantees granted to private finance and exercise public control in the event of bank failures so as to avoid negative impacts on society. The shareholders of failed banks as well as their creditors must take their share of losses. Bailed-out banks must be socialized.
2. Impose effective and strict regulation of banks and other financial institutions. Enforce complete separation of commercial and investment banks. Prohibit the use of tax havens and off-balance sheet activities. Abolish bank secrecy rules. Tax financial transactions and restore control over capital inflows or outflows. Break up “too big to fail” banks.
3. Enforce democratic and social control of banks and financial institutions. Orient credit toward job-creating activities that encourage social and ecological development. Give priority and incentives to publicly and collectively owned cooperative public credit systems.

STAND UP FOR DEMOCRACY!

Current developments in Europe represent an outright denial of democracy. Democratic debate is silenced, repression against social movements is increasing and divisions are encouraged between people and between countries. The predictable outcome is the rise of racist, right-wing or fascist movements as resentment is partly directed against migrants, poor people, minorities, foreigners, and/or other European people. The best way to defeat these movements is to get rid of austerity.

Alternatives exist: our responsibility is to change the balance of power in order to impose them and build genuine political, social and economic democracy in Europe.

Because we refuse to be governed by a self-appointed European oligarchy,

Because we refuse the exploitation of people and nature in Europe and in the rest of the world,

Because we reject the European Union’s contribution to conflict and militarization,

Because we call for an end to the exploitation and the oppression of women and for a break with the patriarchal system,

Because we want real democracy, real participation and popular sovereignty,

Because we want a society that gives priority to ecological and social needs,

We are building a united movement for a democratic, social, ecological and feminist Europe!

We are supporting and strengthening each other’s struggles;

We pledge to join forces and to fight together to make our demands a reality through national and European actions.

The Alter Summit in Athens on June 7 and 8, 2013 is an important step in this direction. •

http://www.globalresearch.ca/alter-summit-a-peoples-manifesto-roll-back-austerity-and-claim-real-democracy/5338275

• Alter Summit June 7th and 8th !

  On June 7th and 8th the Alter Summit took place in Athens with all European movements and organizations.

  

  This event was organized with the Greek social movement with the support of civil society organizations, trade unions, NGOs, political and cultural personalities from all around Europe.

  The Alter Summit in Athens is a step forward in the building of more convergence between movements opposed to the current anti-social and anti-ecological policies promoted by European governments and institutions.

  The plenary session on June 7th

  

  The portuguese delegation sings Grândola, Vila Morena during the plenary session

  

  The feminist delegation at the European demonstration in Athens on June 8th

  

  A short of the presentation of the manifesto on June 7th in Athens by the Norway Social Forum

  It will be a highly symbolic gathering, since Greece has been the laboratory of the destructive austerity and so-called competitiveness policies, but can also become the laboratory of the resistance against austerity... Read more

• German unionists and prominent academics support the Alter Summit !

  Many trade union leaders and prominent academics in Germany have publicly declared their solidarity for the Alter Summit. Attached you will find their Sympathy–Declaration of the ‘European Alternative Summit’ in Athens.

  Read more of German unionists and prominent academics support the Alter Summit !

• Practical Information

  Assemblies, network meetings and the plenary will take place on Friday and Saturday at the Olympic Stadium (Irini station, 25 min from Omonoia sq. metro station). For direct access to the Olympic Stadium, where the Alter Summit will be held, you can take the Athens Suburban Railway from the airport to the Nerantziotisa station; from there change to the Green Line (Athens Metro) to Irini station.
  To get to downtown Athens you can take the Blue Line (Athens Metro) to Syntagma station.
  here you can see the venue
  http://www.altersummit2013.blogspot.gr/p/blog-page_3.html
  The demo on (...)

  Read more of Practical Information

http://www.altersummit.eu/

Eurozone crisis

Alter Summit demands new eurozone solutions

Thousands of activists and trade union representatives came together in Athens for a two-day forum aimed at opposing eurozone austerity measures and finding unconventional solutions to EU problems.

In a document titled "A Peoples' Manifesto," the participants of the Alter Summit summed up their views at the close of the event. They see the debt of the crisis-hit eurozone countries as illegitimate, because it "was amassed with no regard for the common good," and are calling for opposition to austerity measures and growing inequality. At the same time, they hope the European Union will "strengthen and develop the social and ecological commons" and conduct stricter supervision of European institutions.

The writers of the manifesto did not agree with each other on all points, however. For some, the message it conveyed was not radical enough. There was also dispute about whether the indebted countries should be advised to leave the European Union and the eurozone.

Christian Pilichowski condemns austerity measures

Christian Pilichowski, for one, does not advocate the exit strategy. The delegate from the French metalworkers' trade union FTM CGT calls for intra-European solutions. He also wants to see a turnaround in the overall approach, as he believes the stringent cuts applied across the continent exacerbate the problem. "This isn't about a Greek, Spanish or Portuguese crisis - what we have is a European crisis," he said.

He pointed out that angry people have been protesting against the EU - yet from his perspective the problem is not the EU itself but the way politics is conducted. In order to alleviate the crisis, wages and salaries need to be increased and employee rights strengthened, he believes.

France in danger?

France, the EU's largest country by surface area, was particularly well represented at the summit. Delegates from 24 French labor unions and NGOs made their voices heard at the event, advocating more social equality in Europe and showing solidarity with Greece.

Pilichowski sees no hope in the free market and in austerity measures. He also disapproves of the path taken by French President Francois Hollande, viewing it as a continuation of his predecessor's, Nicolas Sarkozy's, political course. He believes that France needs to break with the past and that labor unions have a duty to spread awareness about the issue. This is why he came to the Alter Summit.

Most of the participants at the conference had clear left-wing leanings. Greek opposition leader Alexis Tsipras made a short guest appearance. He is currently on an equal footing with conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras in Greek opinion polls.

The summit ran for two days and ended with anti-austerity demonstrations

By choosing Athens as the location for the summit, the representatives of the various movements wanted to show solidarity with crisis-plagued Greece. Their manifesto harshly criticizes the bailout troika made up of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In workshops, the activists argued that Greece was a case study showing the consequences austerity measures could have in other European countries.

Spotlight on poverty in Greece

In order to understand why many Greeks oppose the Troika and are turning to left-wing parties, one need only speak to some of the country's young people - such as Irene Agathopoulou. The 27-year-old from the northern city of Kilkis has been involved in the establishment of special pharmacies that provide free medicine to the needy. At the Alter Summit she spoke about her experiences, saying the demand for such pharmacies was great as 40 percent of Greeks don't have any health insurance. The situation is made more difficult in that Greek pharmaceutical companies are curbing their production, and international producers are only prepared to trade for cash.

Such a situation calls for unconventional measures, believes Agathopoulou. "We have asked patients' families to donate medicine that is no longer needed - from ointments to cancer drugs," she said. In the city of Kilkis alone, there are over 800 people who depend on free medicine. She is also aware of hospitals that have benefited from the service, which is technically illegal.

Agathopoulou is Greece's youngest member of parliament

The Kilkis pharmacy project made news throughout the country. In the 2012 election, Agathopoulou ran for parliament as a member of the left-wing SYRIZA party and managed to get in. At 27, she is the youngest member of parliament, and she now hopes to attract international attention to Greek social projects. She has already received enquiries about the free medicine handouts from other EU countries, as well as offers of assistance.

Many of the summit's participants presented Greece as a negative example, showing what devastating effects austerity measures can have on healthcare in the European Union. They believe that public health insurance and medicine distribution systems are at risk of collapse. The manifesto also demands a stop to privatization in the healthcare sector.

In support of migrants and refugees

Another focus of the Alter Summit is the welfare of immigrants and asylum-seekers in Europe. According to some of the activists, there are plenty of negative examples in this area in Greece alone. During an April visit to Lesbos - Greece's third-largest island, not far from the Turkish coast - Germany's Left party member Annette Groth was stunned. "There's not enough of anything," she said at the Alter Summit. "The refugees are being fed by the local people - 20 women who cook every day." She pointed out that the island lacked a proper facility for accommodating asylum-seekers - it only has a few police stations and a closed-off harbor area.

Groth: more rights for migrants and asylum-seekers

At the conference, Groth was keen to advocate more rights and greater protection for asylum-seekers and migrant workers. She was therefore disappointed to find that the topic was mostly overlooked, and shocked when the suggestion was made that the European social movement should focus on campaigning for the ratification of the UN convention on migrant rights. Groth sees this as something that should be left to the politicians and lawyers - she expected something different from the popular movement.

The "Peoples' Manifesto" demands the closure of detention camps and the EU's border protection agency Frontex. However, it is too optimistic to expect any major changes in this area, according to Karim Essahli. He is a Morocco-born French citizen who has lived in Norway for 19 years, and he represented the Norwegian trade union federation LO at the summit. Essahli emphasized that, in any case, most of the work has to be done by local popular movements in the various countries, but he agreed that the summit was an important opportunity to meet like-minded people and establish cooperation.

The Alter Summit ended with its participants gathering in Athens city center, where they mounted a mass protest against the government's harsh austerity measures.

DW.DE

http://www.dw.de/alter-summit-demands-new-eurozone-solutions/a-16869316