We are saddened by the news that Elisabeth Gautier passed away on Tuesday, February 9th, after a brief, but fatal illness. Besides being a long-serving member of the Parti communiste français and a founding member of Espaces Marx, we have known Elisabeth especially for her constant effort within the transform! network. It is in this capacity that we had the opportunity to guest Elisabeth in 2013 at the May Day School in Ljubljana, where we debated transition, austerity and left answers and where The Initiative for Democratic Socialism was first officially introduced to the public. Ever since, Elisabeth has demonstrated great interest and support for our activities, for which we will always be grateful.
As comrades, colleagues and friends we share this loss as our own, and above all extend our sympathies to Elisabeth’s family.

The programme committee of the Institute for Labour Studies

and

The Council of The Initiative for Democratic Socialism,
member of the United Left coalition

Z veliko žalostjo v srcu smo sprejeli novico, da je v torek, 9. februarja, umrla Elisabeth Gautier, po boju s kratkotrajno, vendar usodno boleznijo. Poznali smo jo kot dolgoletno članico Parti communiste français in ustanoviteljico Espaces Marx, predvsem pa smo jo poznali po zaslugi truda, ki ga je vlagala v mrežo transform! V tej vlogi smo imeli priložnost gostiti Elisabeth na Prvomajski šoli leta 2013 v Ljubljani, kjer smo debatirali o tranziciji, varčevalnih politikah in levih odgovorih in kjer je bila Iniciativa za demokratični socializem prvikrat uradno predstavljena širši javnosti. Odtlej je Elisabeth pokazala izjemno zanimanje in podporo za naše dejavnosti, za kar ji bomo vedno hvaležni.
Kot tovariši, kolegi in prijatelji delimo to izgubo kot našo lastno in v prvi vrsti nudimo naše sožalje Elisabeth-ini družini.

Programski odbor Inštituta za delavske študije

in

Svet Iniciative za demokratični socializem,
članice koalicije Združena levica

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Paris, December 17th 2015

Dear Comrades of United Left,

On Sunday December 20th a referendum is to be held on the right of same-sex couples to marry.

The Parti de Gauche is eager to provide you with it’s wholehearted support in the YES [ZA] campaign which defends Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual individuals’ equal rights

In Slovenia, the debate surrounding marriage rights for same-sex couples has met with very strong opposition from conservative parties, backed by the Catholic Church. This will be the 2nd Referendum on the subject in 3 years. Furthermore, this referendum is taking place even though legislation has already been adopted by the Slovenian parliament. The conservative party has tried everything to oppose it, and forced the Constitutional Court to require a referendum and you to defend this project yet again.

In France, equal marriage rights encountered opposition among the strongest in Europe. We were obliged to confront oponents in parliament and in the street for several months. Even so, and in spite of the Far Right and radical groups’ homophobic campaign, the legislation was finally adopted in 2013 and validated by the Constitutional Counsel.

We are convinced that the Slovenian people will support this project, filled with hope for a more equitable humane society, respectful of individual men and women.

We seize the opportunity to thank you for the warm wishes of solidarity we received from you following the terrorist attacks in Paris on the 13th of November.

We have formed the hope that 2016 will usher in the changes which European people need. We will contribute as soon as next January 23rd – 24th- along with other European groups with the founding of a European Plan B Summit, which you have already ensured us to support.

Čas je ZA ! [Now's the time to vote for it !]

Jean-Charles Lallemand,
Member of the Executive National Secretary of the Parti de Gauche, in charge of LGBT questions.

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The memories of 9/11 are fresh with us. George W. Bush, the then militarist republican US president, found the event useful. The ensuing campaign on fear of terrorism, Islam and the “Axis of Evil” gave him legitimacy for a witch hunt, and an escalated repression at home, while abroad, his “coalition of the willing” of which Slovenia was a member enabled the American military adventures in the Near East.

Seven years later, with the fall of the Lehman Brothers and the beginning of the greatest crisis of capitalism post WWII, there was briefly the impression that change is in the air. The class contradictions of capitalism were clearer than ever, the slogan of the day were the 99 per cent against the 1 per cent, the economic crisis morphed into a political crisis, the Occupy and the uprisings happened, the political and the intellectual left were reborn. It looked like the days of the 1 per cent were numbered.

Seven more years later, in 2015, we find ourselves amidst yet another turnaround. The spirit of 2001 is rising again to defeat the spirit of 2008. Bush’s 9/11 came to Europe, literally so, and twice in a row. First with the thousands of refugees in direct consequence of Bush’s interventions in the Near East. And second, as was the case with the original 9/11, the European equivalent made room for the rehabilitation of the old political elites, their renewed hold on power, and the legitimation of repression and surveillance.

Except in Europe, we did not even need an ‘event’. No World Trade Center needed be brought down; it was enough to merely stir the imagination, to paint the suffering people at the borders as “Islamist, Asiatic hordes,” and the 9/11 scenario unfolded. Overnight, everything deemed inadmissible and unimaginable only yesterday became urgent and indispensable for the security of the state, like changing a constitutional category in order to bring the army permanently into the realm of interior affairs. Or having local officials, like the mayor of Zavrč on the Slovenian-Croat border, Miran Vuk, turned heroes on account of their racist rants. Only a few weeks ago, this particular makeshift hero was under investigation for a financial fraud involving 17 million euros of taxpayer money transferred to private accounts. The “crisis” whitewashed the politicians most responsible for the gaping deficit in the state-owned banks: suddenly, in the face of the alleged grave refugee danger, they repapered as ‘statesmen’.

So swiftly the tables turn. Effortlessly, the 1 per cent is regaining their legitimacy in the eyes of the public as soon as an external enemy is brought into the political discourse. The phantom Other, the refugees, thus serve not merely to repatriate the true Other, the elites, straight back among Us, but also to strengthen their grip on power, even as only yesterday, we knew precisely who are those most responsible for 80 per cent of public debt, the miserable wages, the growing precariat, the increasingly inaccessible housing, the plummeting pensions, the endless cases of corruption.”

Before the refugee crisis reached the Slovenian borders, the United Left refuted the government’s contingent plan to accommodate 500 refugees as unrealistic. Instead, we urged the government to work towards an EU-level agreement, given that the past counter-productive EU politics, Slovenia included, towards Iraq and Syria contributed to the core of the crisis. Ultimately, the United Left called upon the Slovenian government to pass an intervention act that would cover all the relevant dimensions of the problem: logistic, humanitarian, security, etc. Instead, the government opted for a permanent reconceptualization of state defence that is both ad hoc and dangerous, on top of unable to solve the problem at hand.

The post Luka Mesec: The European 9/11 appeared first on Iniciativa za demokratični socializem.

In this crucial time we must support the people of Greece and encourage them to say NO to the continuation of the kind of policies that have already pushed Greek society over the edge of ruin.

But to say that the events taking place in the following days are only about Greece would be an understatement. Not only is the current configuration of the European Union facing serious doubt, but an even greater question surfaces. A question between a blind faith in the global capitalist dynamic on the one hand and the idea that a democratic rule can enable people to choose and create the kind of society in which they wish to live. Hence the question in the referendum is not just a choice, but something more: an alternative to the existing state of affairs. Should the Greeks win back their country, a message will be sent to the rest of us, too. A message of hope and of a possible alternative.

In solidarity with the people of Greece, the Initiative for Democratic Socialism supports the NO vote. #OXI!

Initiative for Democratic Socialism,
member of the United Left coalition

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The United Left in its striving for freedom and equality proposed the Amendment to the Marriage and Family Relations Act, which rectifies the unconstitutional state of affairs and systemic discrimination of same-sex couples, which was up to today enshrined in the Republic of Slovenia’s legal order. The change grants all same-sex couples in Slovenia the basic social, economic and legal rights, which were so far unwarrantably provided only to different-sex couples. To the majority these rights are self-evident, such as the right to sick leave on behalf of one’s partner malaise, the right to income compensation for family member caregiving, the right to health insurance coverage via partner, and many others. By adopting the Act we, therefore, implement equality before the law, which is a basic principle of the Slovenian constitution.

The Act was adopted far too late, its passing being the result of more than 20-years of discussion. With it we are not establishing anything radical, we are just upholding the basic principles of a democratic society.

The amended Act provides in the field of marriage equality before the law and equal treatment of every resident/inhabitant in Slovenia. No one is deprived of any right. Rather the opposite, the Act expands the extent of rights and grants them to those who previously did not have them, although were entitled to according to the Slovenian constitution. We are glad that the majority of members of the National Assembly recognized that it is possible to regulate the same relationships only in a single manner. On the other hand we are saddened by the fact that some individuals are still not willing to recognize equality for all.

The amendment brings no change to different-sex marriages, here everything remains as it is. However, those fellow citizens who were up to today discriminated are finally becoming equal members of our society, with all the rights they should have had long ago. Not just because this is determined by the Slovenian constitution, but also because any other solution would be unjust. By adopting the Amendment to the Marriage and Family Relations Act we all gained and no one was deprived.

Initiative for Democratic Socialism and the coalition of United Left
Ljubljana, 3.3.2015

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Towards a Memorandum of European peripheries

Political elites of the European Union (EU) have built their response to this crisis through the signature of “Memorandums of understanding” with different peripheral countries. Memorandums with Greece, Ireland and Portugal shaped the intervention of anti-democratic forces in the very core of the political processes of these countries and introduced criminal policies that local governments have carried out in the last years in their condition of vassals. These Memorandums also represent the precedent of the strategic orientations of the central countries’ elites for the future of Europe. In 2012, with the collaboration of local elites, they approved a Fiscal Compact and created a European Mechanism of Stabilization (EMS), instruments that institutionalized the subjugation of our policies to the necessities of central countries.

It is time to start working on our own strategic response. It is necessary to oppose the tale of Memorandums of central powers with a Memorandum for the peripheries. Considering our common background, the work will be as necessary as difficult. From Belfast to Canary Islands, from Lisbon to Athens, from Nicosia to Ljubljana, peripheral Europe has been subject to political fragmentation. On the one hand, central elites have frequently used local divergences in order to avoid the concentration of power in our regions. At the same time, local vassals have frequently joined central powers in order to find support for their ambitions, to reproduce their own narrow power position, never mind the interest of their peoples. The cases of Spain and Slovenia will show how shocking the parallels within nations are and that peripheral countries are indeed facing systematic degradation, which derives its legitimacy under the pretext of the crisis.

1. Diagnosis

After the crisis broke out, several countries of the European periphery had to ask the EU for the financial bailouts. The bailout package was conditioned upon full and timely implementation of fiscal consolidation and growth-enhancing structural reforms agreed under the programme. In short, in exchange for the loans, countries were forced to follow strict austerity measures, which were proclaimed as the only guarantee for the resolution of the crisis. Instead, the same dire situation that emerged in Greece repeated itself also in other crisis countries like Spain and Slovenia, making austerity a receipt for universal deterioration of peripheral countries.

Even though Slovenia has not yet requested for an official international bailout, it is following the austerity measures on its own initiatives, and now faces similar consequences like Spain, which requested for assistance loan in July 2012. Since austerity measures begun, both countries have faced an increase in public debt. In Spain, public debt rose from 36% of GDP in 2007 to almost 94% at the end of 2013, with all projections further planning its increase to 105% in 2018. Austerity measure also managed to increase the public debt in Slovenia, which rose from around 22% of GDP in 2008 to almost 72% of GDP in 2013, and is expected to rise to 77.7% according to IMF estimates.

The reactions to projections of public debt increases were in both countries the same. Despite wider opposition and critique, the government elites in Spain as well as in Slovenia passed ‘the golden rule’ for budget stability in their constitutions. With this maneuver, both countries gave up the only macroeconomic policy tool, with which they could still independently regulate indebtedness. Leaving aside that both countries set their targets extremely unrealistically, with encompassing the golden rule in their constitutions, they have to follow the targets in order to avoid sanctions. ‘The golden rule’ does not permit any public deficit, only public surplus, which means that the countries plan to compensate public finances with state revenue. So far, one of the obvious ways of increasing state revenue were budget cuts that mostly entailed spending cuts and tax increases.

The first signs of aggravating effects of austerity measures can already be seen in the deterioration of social circumstances in both countries with the rapid drop in living standard and living conditions of their citizens. In Spain, more than the 25% of the working-age population cannot find a job and almost 20% of the population is on the edge of poverty. The situation in Slovenia is comparable since almost 20% of Slovenians either lived under the poverty threshold or are socially excluded. With youth unemployment rates increasing up to 55% in Spain and more than 26% in Slovenia, unemployment represents the biggest challenge for both countries’ economies. In addition, with continuous fragmentation of the labor market, both countries face growing precarization of their labor force, which is creating a new ‘social class’ of poor employees, dispossessed, deprived of most or even all their social benefits and facing a degradation of their retirement conditions. Needless to say, such social circumstances push more and more people into living in poverty and prevent them to provide a decent livelihood for themselves.

2. Alternative measures

In this scenario, a set of measures must be implemented in order to reverse the current tendency of economic recovery without employment. Austerity policy and the so-called structural reforms (or actual neoliberal reforms) must come to an end immediately. However, this will certainly not be enough. A program of economic development must urgently be implemented. The ‘New Deal for Europe’ proposed by Alexis Tsipras is the only possible way of ending the problem of unemployment that has become chronic and is socially devastating peripheral Europe. Investment in productive areas of economy is the first condition for reversing this situation. At the same time, availability of credit must be guaranteed for small and medium-sized firms, the ones that provide the backbone of our economies. For this, the mandate of the European Central Bank (ECB) must change radically, so it can become an institution at service of productive economy, and must be put under democratic control of the European Parliament. European states and productive initiatives should find an ally in their Central Bank, not an enemy at the service of speculative financial institutions.

Solutions offered by European political elites have proven to be economically ineffective, but also deeply anti-democratic. Since 2013, when the European Fiscal Compact entered into force, states cannot resort to fiscal stimulus in order to create employment and opportunities. National budgets are not anymore a tool for the peoples. Instead, they are subject to the dictates of the European Commission, the Eurogroup and the ECB, institutions that have set the priorities on deficit levels, putting aside the peoples to whom they are supposed to serve.

At the same time, according to the Fiscal Compact, debt levels of the countries should not increase over 60%. However, the debt of peripheral countries has increased spectacularly since the beginning of the crisis and, paradoxically, it is still not a matter of concern for European institutions. We should not expect mercy from our creditors, to whom loyal vassal elites are ready to sell out our countries. The problem of peripheral debt must be addressed urgently through a European Conference. European Left has proposed the path of the London Debt Agreement of 1953, which provided a frame in which the Federal Republic of Germany could afford a part of their debts while facing a prosperous future. The suppression of this agreement is a precondition of any initiative for the future of peripheral countries.

3. Concluding remarks: Periphery, unite!

A group of French economists calculated that the result of tax leniency, which forces member states to sell government bonds and get further indebted, causes on average a drop of 2 – 3% in their GDP and mostly covers only the payment of interest rates. This, in turn, causes a spiral effect that pushes countries into further recession. As seen, austerity measures are not and should not be the best solution for the resolution of the crisis, since they are the ones that caused and deteriorated it in the first place.

It is time to stop the devastation of austerity in our countries and unit in order to rebuild the system into a democratic and socially just one. As Alexis Tsipras said, we need to build the broadest possible social and political alliances. Therefore, it is important that European peripheral countries start cooperating closely with each other and other peripheries of the world to fight for an alternative, people and nation friendly, solution out of the crisis. Member states of the South need to unite to shift the balance of political power in Europe in order to change it into a better, socialistic one that will again serve its citizens and not the capital!

http://blogs.publico.es/dominiopublico/10008/hacia-un-memorandum-de-las-periferias-europeas/

http://www.izquierda-unida.es/

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