Κείμενο αντί-καλωσορίσματος Ελλήνων μεταναστών στο Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο

Αντί καλωσορίσματος στο Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο

Αυτό το κείμενο καλωσορίσματος απευθύνεται στους Έλληνες μετανάστες στο Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο (ΗΒ). Ήρθατε στο ΗΒ για να σπουδάσετε, να εργαστείτε ή να αναζητήσετε εργασία, προσωρινά ή για μεγαλύτερο διάστημα. Ίσως επιλέξατε –ή αναγκαστήκατε– να φύγετε από την Ελλάδα λόγω της οικονομικής κρίσης. Με αυτό το κείμενο, επιθυμούμε να συμβάλουμε με τον τρόπο που θεωρούμε χρήσιμο στην καλύτερη παραμονή σας στη χώρα, περιγράφοντας την κατάσταση στο χώρο της εκπαίδευσης, της εργασίας και της πολιτικής σκηνής της χώρας. Είμαστε μέλη της ΑΝΤΑΡΣΥΑ ΗΒ, ενός πολιτικού χώρου αλληλεγγύης , έκφρασης, πολιτικής συζήτησης και αγωνιστικής διεκδίκησης όλων όσων δικαιούμαστε.

Υπάρχει πλήθος ιστοσελίδων στις οποίες μπορείτε να βρείτε οδηγίες και συμβουλές σχετικά με τα πρακτικά ζητήματα που θα αντιμετωπίσετε στο ΗΒ. Αυτό το κείμενο δεν φιλοδοξεί να αποτελέσει ακόμη έναν πρακτικό οδηγό, αλλά να προτείνει μια οπτική γωνία από την οποία μπορείτε να δείτε τη θέση σας ως μετανάστης.

Για μια πιο ομαλή εγκατάσταση στο ΗΒ

Ερχόμενος/η κάποιος/α στο ΗΒ θα πρέπει να ξεκινήσει μια σειρά αναγκαίων γραφειοκρατικών διαδικασιών ώστε να γίνει η εγκατάσταση πιο ομαλή και να ανοίξει ο δρόμος για εύρεση οικίας, εργασίας αλλά και για πρόσβαση στο σύστημα υγείας. Όσον αφορά την εύρεση κατοικίας, πλέον γίνεται κυρίως μέσω μεσιτικών γραφείων, τα οποία διεξάγουν, πριν την ενοικίαση, εξονυχιστικό έλεγχο σε ύψος μισθού, στοιχεία εργοδότη (ή βεβαίωση πανεπιστημίου για φοιτητές), και εγγυητή- κάποιος που ήδη διαμένει στο ΗΒ- σε περίπτωση που δεν καλύπτετε τα οικονομικά τους κριτήρια.  Ένας από τους λόγους που το ΗΒ γνωρίζει κρίση στέγασης και έχει μεγάλο αριθμό αστέγων είναι γιατί οι ιδιωτικές επιχειρήσεις κατοικιών και τα μεσιτικά γραφεία ορίζουν πολύ αυστηρούς όρους και προϋποθέσεις για ενοικίαση και οι ενοικιαστές βρίσκονται πολλές φορές προ τετελεσμένων, χωρίς να τους δίνεται κανένα περιθώριο.

Απαραίτητο βήμα για να εργαστεί κάποιος/α στη χώρα είναι να ανοίξει τραπεζικό λογαριασμό και να βγάλει National Insurance Number (το αντίστοιχο ΑΦΜ ή ΑΜΚΑ) από το Job Centre. Με αυτό τον αριθμό θα μπορεί να αναζητήσει εργασία, να κάνει χρήση των υπηρεσιών υγείας αλλά και να αιτηθεί από το Job Centre τυχόν επιδόματα που δικαιούται. Αξίζει να αναφερθεί ότι από τον Απρίλη 2018 τα επιδόματα υπόκεινται πλέον στο Universal Credit, ένα νέο καθεστώς που με τα αυστηρά του κριτήρια έχει αφήσει χιλιάδες αιτούντες χωρίς επιδόματα και έχει συμβάλλει στην αύξηση του ποσοστού των αστέγων, σε μία κατά τα άλλα χώρα με ισχυρή οικονομία.

Οποιοσδήποτε διαμένει στο ΗΒ και έχει αποδεικτικό κατοικίας,  έχει πρόσβαση στην πρωτοβάθμια υγεία μέσω του GP (general practitioner, αντίστοιχος οικογενειακός γιατρός), δηλαδή το πρώτο μέρος που θα επισκέπτεστε σε περίπτωση που χρειαστείτε γιατρό. Τέλος, όσον αφορά φόρους και δημοτικά τέλη, το πρώτο το πληρώνετε αυτομάτως μόλις ξεκινήσετε να εργάζεστε, εάν έχετε σύμβαση πάνω από £12500/χρόνο, και το δεύτερο μόλις ενοικιάσετε κατοικία, μέσω αίτησης στην ιστοσελίδα του δήμου (οι φοιτητές εξαιρούνται).

Εργασία (συνθήκες, συμβάσεις, σωματεία)

Πολλοί/ές από μας πήραμε την απόφαση της μετανάστευσης στο ΗΒ με σκοπό να βρούμε μια καλύτερη δουλειά, ή απλά να βρούμε μια δουλειά. Έχει σημασία όμως τελικά να δούμε αν όντως οι συνθήκες ή η εύρεση εργασίας στο ΗΒ είναι τόσο καλύτερες από την Ελλάδα. Πολλοί είναι αυτοί που περιγράφουν το ΗΒ και τις χώρες της Βορείου Ευρώπης ως οικονομικό και εργασιακό παράδεισο, όπου δουλεύεις λίγο και αμείβεσαι πολύ, κλπ κλπ. Ωστόσο, οι κυβερνήσεις των Εργατικών αλλά και των Συντηρητικών από το 2008 μέχρι σήμερα φρόντισαν οι κάτοικοι του Ην. Βασιλείου να βρίσκονται ολοένα φτωχότεροι και πολύ πιο ανασφαλείς. Μπορεί τα ποσοστά ανεργίας να βρίσκονται σε ιστορικό χαμηλό σε σχέση με αυτά της μεταπολεμικής περίοδο, παρ’ όλα αυτά το 2018 το 26,5% των εργαζομένων εργαζόταν part-time, και το 3% με zero-hour συμβάσεις (από 0 ως 35 ώρες τη βδομάδα εργασία, χωρίς βασικά εργασιακά δικαιώματα, όπως άδειες επί πληρωμή) (Labour Market Statistics, House of Commons, 2018). Τα ποσοστά ανεργίας και ελαστικής εργασίας/ υποαπασχόλησης στο ΗΒ, συνδυαστικά με την αύξηση του κόστους ζωής, οδηγούν εύλογα στο συμπέρασμα ότι το ΗΒ όχι μόνο δεν είναι εργασιακός παράδεισος, αλλά αντιθέτως η κρίση έχει αλλάξει κατά πολύ τις ζωές όσων ζουν εδώ προς το πολύ χειρότερο.

Οι συνθήκες στους χώρους δουλειάς ακολουθούν το ίδιο μοτίβο, καθώς οι απαιτήσεις από τους εργοδότες είναι αυξημένες, και οι εργαζόμενοι βρίσκονται συνεχώς σε μια διαδικασία καταγραφής αριθμών και επιτυχιών ώστε να πιάσουν τα targets για να μπορέσουν να διατηρήσουν τη θέση τους, σε ένα περιβάλλον ολοένα και πιο ανταγωνιστικό, όπως άλλωστε ορίζουν οι νόμοι της ελεύθερης αγοράς. Η αξιολόγηση των εργαζομένων είναι συνεχής και τα targets συνεχώς αυξάνονται, ώστε να ικανοποιηθούν οι χρηματοδότες και να συνεχίζονται τα κονδύλια.

Σίγουρα ιδιαίτερα θετική είναι η τήρηση των συλλογικών συμβάσεων στους περισσότερους κλάδους εργασίας, και εδώ έρχονται τα σωματεία και τα συνδικάτα (trade unions) να παίξουν το ρόλο τους. Τα συνδικάτα στο ΗΒ κουβαλούν μεγάλη ιστορία και μια σειρά από αγώνες και απεργίες για βελτίωση των όρων εργασίας της εργατικής τάξης. Οι απεργίες των ανθρακωρύχων το 1984-85 επί Θάτσερ είναι σήμα κατατεθέν για το εργατικό κίνημα στην Αγγλία και μια σημαντική παρακαταθήκη για τα εργατικά κινήματα που ακολούθησαν.

Παρ’ όλο που η μαζικότητα των συνδικάτων δεν είναι πια η ίδια, η διαπραγματευτική τους ισχύ είναι αρκετά ισχυρή. Συνδικάτα όπως αυτά των εργαζομένων στα τραίνα, των δημοσίων υπαλλήλων και των πανεπιστημιακών έχουν μεγάλη απήχηση αλλά και επιρροή στην πολιτική και οικονομική ζωή της χώρας. Ωστόσο, παρ’ ότι έχουν χιλιάδες εγγεγραμμένα μέλη, οι διαδικασίες που ακολουθούν είναι γραφειοκρατικές και τις περισσότερες φορές οι αποφάσεις παίρνονται από την ηγεσία, χωρίς ενεργή συμμετοχή της πλειοψηφίας των μελών τους. Ακόμα κι έτσι ωστόσο συνεχίζουν να καλούν σε απεργίες, όταν αυτό απαιτείται, και να μετρούν νίκες, όπως π.χ. αυξήσεις στους μισθούς των εργαζομένων στα τραίνα το 2018 μετά από απειλές του συνδικάτου για απεργίες, ή το πάγωμα της προσπάθειας για αλλαγή του συνταξιοδοτικού συστήματος των πανεπιστημιακών, μετά από απεργία 5 εβδομάδων το περασμένο έτος, σε πολλά πανεπιστήμια σε όλη τη χώρα. Σήμερα λοιπόν είναι επίκαιρο και αναγκαίο τα σωματεία και τα συνδικάτα να αποκτήσουν ξανά πολιτικό χαρακτήρα και να καταφέρουν να συνδέσουν τους αγώνες όλων των εργαζομένων με την κεντρική πολιτική σκηνή, ξεφεύγοντας από τα όρια του στενού οικονομικού αγώνα σε κάθε κλάδο ξεχωριστά. Αυτό απαιτεί εγγραφή και μαζική συμμετοχή των εργαζομένων στα σωματεία τους ανά χώρο δουλειάς, και την ενεργή τους δράση μέσα σε αυτά.

Τα κύρια συνδικάτα είναι τα ακόλουθα:

UNISON: το μεγαλύτερο συνδικάτο στο ΗΒ είναι αυτό των εργαζομένων στο δημόσιο τομέα: https://www.unison.org.uk/

UNITE: το δεύτερο μεγαλύτερο συνδικάτο στο ΗΒ: https://unitetheunion.org/

Τα πιο ενεργά σωματεία είναι τα ακόλουθα:

UCU: σωματείο των εργαζομένων στο πανεπιστήμιο: https://www.ucu.org.uk/

RMT: σωματείο των εργαζομένων στις μεταφορές: https://www.rmt.org.uk/home/

Είναι σημαντικό να συμμετέχετε στις δραστηριότητες των συνδικάτων με δημιουργικό και συλλογικό πνεύμα. Αλλά και εκτός από τη δραστηριοποίηση στο σωματείο και τον χώρο εργασίας, σας καλούμε να συμμετάσχετε και στους κοινωνικούς αγώνες που λαμβάνουν χώρα στο ΗΒ.

Εκπαίδευση (κατάσταση πανεπιστημίων, δίδακτρα – δάνεια, επιχειρηματικό πανεπιστήμιο)

Όσον αφορά το κομμάτι της εκπαίδευσης, υπάρχουν δίδακτρα στα ιδιωτικά αλλά και στα δημόσια πανεπιστήμια, άρα όποιος/α θέλει να σπουδάσει, πρέπει να έχει την οικονομική δυνατότητα ώστε να ανταπεξέλθει! Ολοένα και περισσότεροι νέοι πτυχιούχοι επιλέγουν να κάνουν ένα μεταπτυχιακό στο εξωτερικό, ώστε να είναι μετέπειτα πιο ανταγωνιστικοί στην αγορά εργασίας, ενώ άλλοι πτυχιούχοι κάνουν αίτηση για διδακτορικό, ελπίζοντας να βρεθεί και κάποια χρηματοδότηση/ υποτροφία για την αμοιβή τους. Υπάρχουν βέβαια αρκετά πανεπιστήμια που απαιτούν δίδακτρα για το διδακτορικό, απαιτούν δηλαδή όσοι/ες εργαστούν για να παράγουν έρευνα, για το συμφέρον του πανεπιστημίου ή/και του οργανισμού/φορέα του αντίστοιχου εκάστοτε αντικειμένου, να πληρώνουν αντί να πληρώνονται. Ακούγεται αρκετά παράλογο, πόσον μάλλον για μια χώρα σαν το ΗΒ, που τα πανεπιστήμια διαθέτουν πολύ μεγάλο κεφάλαιο.

Ενάμιση χρόνο πριν, άλλωστε αποκαλύφθηκε ένα μεγάλο οικονομικό σκάνδαλο offshore εταιρειών σε περιοχές ελάχιστης/ ανύπαρκτης φορολογίας, στο οποίο συμμετείχαν μεταξύ άλλων και τα δύο πιο φημισμένα πανεπιστήμια της Αγγλίας (Οξφόρδη και Κέιμπριτζ), επενδύοντας υπέρογκα ποσά σε έρευνες για εξόρυξη πετρελαίου και θαλάσσιες γεωτρήσεις. Και έτσι εγείρονται ερωτήματα όσον αφορά το ποιος παράγει και ποιος διαχειρίζεται τη γνώση, με τι οφέλη κλπ. Πέρα από τα ζητήματα ηθικής, υπάρχει και το προφανές: σε ποιο βαθμό καθορίζουν οι εταιρείες το πρόγραμμα σπουδών των πανεπιστημίων, πόσο κατευθυνόμενη είναι η γνώση που λαμβάνουν οι φοιτητές και ποια χαρακτηριστικά εγχαράσσονται στους αυριανούς εργαζομένους. Έννοιες όπως η παραγωγικότητα, η αξιολόγηση και η αριστεία καθώς και ανταποδοτικά κριτήρια είναι άρρηκτα συνδεδεμένα με τις σπουδές στην Αγγλία και σε άλλα πανεπιστήμια ‘’διεθνούς κύρους’’, ενώ δυστυχώς αυξάνονται δραματικά τα περιστατικά κατάθλιψης ή κρίσης πανικού φοιτητών που παλεύουν να ανταπεξέλθουν. Ένα από τα μεγαλύτερα άγχη βέβαια, είναι το οικονομικό, το οποίο στρέφει μεγάλη μερίδα φοιτητών στα φοιτητικά δάνεια, η αποπληρωμή των οποίων απαιτεί κάποια χρόνια σκληρής εργασίας. Τέλος, η μη αναγνώριση της γενικής συνέλευσης ως το ανώτερο όργανο του φοιτητικού συλλόγου και η (σχεδόν) απουσία συλλογικών αποφάσεων και διεκδικήσεων εμπεδώνει μια κατάσταση αρκετά δύσκολο να αλλάξει. Η παιδεία είναι και πρέπει να παραμείνει δικαίωμα όλων, και ο μόνος τρόπος να εξασφαλιστεί αυτό είναι ο δημόσιος και δωρεάν χαρακτήρας της.

Σύνοψη της πολιτικής κατάστασης στο ΗΒ

Η κατάσταση με το Brexit είναι λίγο πολύ γνωστή. Η κυβέρνηση Κάμερον (Συντηρητικοί) διεξήγαγε δημοψήφισμα το 2016 με το ερώτημα της παραμονής ή μη του ΗΒ στην Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση. Από τότε γίνονται συνεχώς μέχρι σήμερα διαπραγματεύσεις για τους όρους εξόδου, με την κυβέρνηση να δυσκολεύεται αρκετά να τα φέρει εις πέρας με τις μικρότερο δυνατό πολιτικό κόστος. Οι εργατικοί (Κόρμπυν) στήριξαν στο δημοψήφισμα την παραμονή της χώρας στην Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση.

Αντί κατακλείδας

Πιστεύουμε ότι, ανεξάρτητα από τους λόγους που σας έπεισαν να έρθετε στο ΗΒ, θα πρέπει να θεωρήσετε τον εαυτό σας ως ενεργό πολίτη με δικαιώματα και όχι μόνο υποχρεώσεις. Η εργασία, οι σπουδές, η διαμονή και η αναζήτηση εργασίας στο ΗΒ διέπονται από νόμους και κανονισμούς οι οποίοι έχουν προκύψει μετά από πολυετείς κοινωνικές διεκδικήσεις και διαπραγματεύσεις στο παρελθόν. Δεν θα πρέπει να θεωρήσετε ότι σας κάνουν χάρη που σας προσφέρουν μια θέση εργασίας ή σας αποδέχονται σε κάποιο πρόγραμμα σπουδών. Ως εργαζόμενοι, προσφέρετε την εργασία και τις γνώσεις σας σε μια οικονομία που εξαρτάται έντονα από ειδικευμένο εργατικό δυναμικό κι ανειδίκευτο σε ορισμένους τομείς από άλλες χώρες. Ως φοιτητές, προσφέρετε όχι μόνο χρήματα αλλά και γόητρο στην ανώτατη εκπαίδευση της χώρας, για την οποία η προσέλκυση φοιτητών από το εξωτερικό αποτελεί επίσης υψηλή προτεραιότητα, και για την οποία γίνεται ιδιαίτερη μνεία στην κουβέντα περί του Brexit.

Πιστεύουμε, ότι η συλλογική αντιμετώπιση των ζητημάτων είναι ο καλύτερος τρόπος για την αποτελεσματικότερη επίλυσή τους αλλά και την ομαλότερη ένταξη καθενός από εμάς στη Βρετανική κοινωνία. Γι’ αυτό, είναι πολύ σημαντικό να μην περιοριστείτε στον εαυτό σας ή σε έναν μικρό κύκλο ανθρώπων και να μην μονοπωλήσει η δουλειά σας το ενδιαφέρον σας. Μιλήστε με τους συναδέλφους ή τους συμφοιτητές σας και διεκδικήστε μαζί τα δικαιώματά σας αν κρίνετε ότι αυτά απειλούνται.

Χρήσιμες ιστιοσελίδες

Job Centre Plus (NIN):

https://www.gov.uk/apply-national-insurance-number

Job Centre Plus (benefits-επιδόματα):

https://www.gov.uk/search?q=benefits

Council tax (δημοτικά τέλη):

https://www.gov.uk/search?q=council+tax

Rent house/room websites:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/ ,

https://www.zoopla.co.uk/to-rent/

https://www.openrent.co.uk/

https://www.gumtree.com/property-to-rent/uk/house

List of trade unions in the UK:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-list-of-active-trade-unions-official-list-and-schedule/trade-unions-the-current-list-and-schedule

Καλή διαμονή!

ΑΝΤΑΡΣΥΑ ΗΒ

The intervention of Michael Roberts in the event about the EU and the Radical Left

It’s been 70 years since the political leaders of European capital began the process of trying to integrate the previously warring states of Europe into a single trading bloc with a view to turning Europe into a force capable of rivalling US imperialism across the Atlantic and later, the rising powers of Japan and industrial Asia.

It started with the integration of key basic industries in the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951; then with the formation of a Common Market based on the core economies of Western Europe and then to the wider European Economic Community in 1957 with a customs union.  Finally, the political project was completed with the formation of the European Union in 1993.  Such was the early success of this project that eventually the declining imperialist power of Britain decided to join and put its future in the hands of Europe rather than with any ‘special relationship’ with America.

In the period of fast growth and high profitability of the 1950s and 1960s, the EU was a relative success.  Indeed, when the weaker capitalist economies joined, like Spain, Portugal and Greece after their revolutions to overthrow military rule, these economies made gains through more  trade and investment, even converging somewhat towards the rich core economies of Germany and France.

But, as the world capitalist economy entered the 1980s with low profitability of capital across the board, that early success in integration began to subside.  The French and Germans then took an historic decision to drive integration forward with a move to single currency area and the euro.  But convergence to the euro was based not on closing productivity, employment or income levels, but purely on monetary and fiscal convergence.  The squeezing of the weaker capitalist economies into the Eurozone’s monetary and fiscal straitjacket turned convergence into divergence and set up faultlines for future crises.

Franco-German capital took advantage of cheap labour and the single currency to invest in the weaker Eurozone economies, but not always productively and not necessarily to the benefit of weak.  Indeed, the strong got stronger and weak got weaker.  The weak were only able to expand by borrowing heavily.  Private sector credit rocketed in Spain, Greece, Portugal and Ireland.  At the same time, EU governments cut taxes on the rich and corporations and so lost revenues, while still trying to sustain welfare benefits and public services.  Then came the global financial crash and the Great Recession.

The credit crunch and the collapse in world output and trade pushed the weaker Eurozone economies into bankruptcy.  They could not pay their debts to German and French banks.  Public sector finances were trashed by the loss of revenues and the huge rise in unemployment and other welfare benefits.  And then the banks had to be bailed out  and the public sector had to pay.

Greece’s public sector debt had risen to 100% of GDP when the euro was launched, so already very high.  But in order to pay off the Franco-German banks in the Great Recession, the government had to nearly double that debt.  It only got the funds to do that by borrowing from the IMF, the ECB and the EU funds – the dreaded Troika.  In return, the Troika demanded the most vicious austerity measures since the Versailles treaty imposed on Germany after WW1.  Pensions, wages, public services and benefits were decimated; public assets were sold off for a song.  The funds saved and raised were not used to sustain the Greek people in this terrible depression.  They were used to pay off the banks and then meet the repayment schedule of the IMF and the ECB.

The Greek people fought back.  When the Syriza government reluctantly called a referendum on whether the government should accept the draconian measures demanded by the Troika, despite the international media pressure and despite the domestic big business attacks, they rejected the Troika deal by 60-40.  This was not what European capital or Syriza expected, and as we know, within days, the Syriza government broke the people’s mandate and capitulated.  Finance minister Varoufakis, having failed in his policy of trying to ‘persuade’ the German and the EU leaders to ‘see reason’, resigned and rode off into the sunset.  Syriza split but the bulk of the government party stayed behind Tsipras to keep Greece in the EU and Eurozone and impose the Troika’s austerity.

Now four years later to the very month, Greece’s public debt ratio remains unchanged at 180% of GDP.  This debt that Greece owes to the EU will remain on the books for a generation at least and so austerity has become permanent!  No wonder Greek will probably vote to oust Tsipras and return the conservative pro-business New Democracy in the July elections.

Was there an alternative to this capitulation?  And what can we learn from this tragedy for the future of the EU and the outcome of the current battle in Britain over Brexit?  Was Grexit the answer?  At the time, some on the left in Syriza and much of the revolutionary left groups outside Syriza, as well as the Greek Communists, put forward this alternative.  For example, Costas Lapavitsas, a Marxist economic professor and Syriza MP, who correctly broke with the government over its capitulation, advocated Grexit.  Lapavitsas said at the time: “the obvious solution for Greece right now, when I look at it as a political economist, the optimal solution, would be a negotiated exit. Not necessarily a contested exit, but a negotiated exit.”

But would that have worked to avoid austerity and put the Greek economy back on its feet?  Even if the Troika were to have agreed to such a ‘negotiated exit’, which is a moot point; and even if the new Greek drachma only depreciated by 20% (extremely unlikely), the Greek economy would still be on its knees, unable to restore living standards for the majority. Devaluation and rising prices would eat into any gains made from cheaper exports. Lapavitsas seemed to recognise this: “Wages must rise, but even if they rise, you’re not going to go back to where you were. It’s just not feasible at the moment. We need a growth strategy for that.” Exactly.

But Lapavitsas was opposed to a growth strategy that took away the levers of power from capital in Greece and put it the hands of the government and people.  “I don’t think that Syriza should come out with a broad and wide nationalization program right now.” Apparently, that was something for the future, the medium-term, not then in 2015. “I am very skeptical, though, about this in the context of Greece right now… These are medium-term questions. These are questions that one should knuckle down and begin to confront once the problem of debt, fiscal pressure, and the monetary union have been resolved.”

But this idea of stages: first exit and devaluation and later, socialist measures, seemed to me to be both suicidal economically and also weak politically.  The Greek people opposed austerity but the majority also wanted to remain in the EU and the single currency (and still do four years later).  They sensibly recognised that exiting the EU would put Greece overboard in the Aegean without a paddle, suffering the fate of Argentina in the early 2000s of hyperinflation and mass unemployment.

Sure, if the Syriza government had nationalised the banks, taken over the major sectors of Greek big business and introduced controls to stop the flight of capital, as well as taxing the rich and ending huge spending on NATO-style defence, the EU leaders and the ECB may well have moved to kick Greece out of the EU.  But then the government could show the Greek people and the wider European labour movement that they were not exiting out of choice but being thrown out because the government opposed austerity and was for class policies.  That seems to me a much better way of raising the consciousness of the people as well as being much more effective in taking the Greek economy forward.

For me, that lesson applies to Brexit as well.  The Brexit referendum in 2016 and the argument since was a product of a split in the British ruling class over which direction to take British capital.  The British finance sector in the City of London and the multinationals want Britain to stay in Europe as it benefits their profits most.  But there has always been a layer of the ruling class, based on old empire and imperialist ideology, particularly among smaller business where exports are less important and finance capital is remote. This layer has always opposed entry into the EU and Europe.  It still reckons that Britain could ‘go it alone’ in the world of capital and do better.

This is nonsense, of course – no capitalist economy is an island, particularly island Britain. But this old ‘empire’ view held the hearts and minds of the old petty bourgeois elements that make up the ruling Conservative party and a layer of voters.  And these elements whipped up a myth that ‘EU regulations’ and a flood of EU immigrants were the cause of the woes of many workers, particularly in those areas where austerity under the Conservative government had hurt most.  Thus the myth was created that the EU was the enemy, not capitalism or the Tories and their austerity policies.  This myth was enough to deliver such a potential loss of votes for the Conservatives to pro-Brexit forces that the Conservatives opted for a referendum to solve the issue.  Much to their amazement and chagrin, the vote went for leave, if narrowly.

In the referendum, the British population was split down the middle; split in the top 1%; in the middle-class, in the working class, between city and town, town and country; between young in the cities and the old in the small towns; between the south and the north.  The class lines within British society were totally submerged into whether to leave the EU or not.

But the reality is that the Great Recession and the ensuing Euro debt crisis in 2012-14 was not the product of the euro or EU structures as such, but the result of the global crisis in capitalism.  The British capitalist economy is already suffering from the uncertainty about Brexit as parliament bickers and drags out a way of reaching a deal with the EU on the future.

The solution to austerity in Britain and a raising of living standards is not to be found in exiting the EU but in the replacement of capitalism and implementation of socialist measures by a socialist government.  If the UK leaves the EU, then most realistic estimates are that the UK economy will end up being about 4-10% smaller in output in ten years than it otherwise would have been.  But if there is another global slump in capitalism, that will be much more damaging.  The Great Recession lost four times as much potential output from the UK economy over the last ten years than Brexit would in the next ten.  So Brexit is not vital to the future of British capital or the British people: the state of capitalism is.

That’s why I do not think that putting Brexit at the top of any left programme for socialist change in Britain is the best way to proceed.  The Brexit referendum did not unfold on class lines and Brexit is not an opportunity to promote socialist policies.  On the contrary, it is a reactionary smokescreen erected by far right nationalists and the Conservatives to shift the blame for working people’s miseries onto the remote bureaucrats of the EU and onto Polish and other Eastern European immigrants who have contributed so much to keeping the UK economy going since the Great Recession.

My approach would not be dominated by some ‘Lexit’ policy as such.  It would aim at getting a socialist government elected that would push for taking over the banks and multinationals and reversing austerity through a plan of production and investment involving workers in control.  If such a government then came into conflict with the EU leaders who threatened to expel Britain, then Brexit would become a class issue for the first time.  Unfortunately, for now, leaving the EU can only be posed as a reactionary nationalist demand.

The intervention of Nikos Kapitsinis in the event about the EU and the Radical Left

In my political life, I have learned to structure my thought in a way that it is led by the wider long-term political strategy, connecting it with the short term more specific tactics pf everyday political life. So, if our strategy is to live in a better and more just society, which implies the overthrow of capitalism we need to analyse the opponent, the decisions of capital. A strategic move of capital is its integration in economic, financial and geographical terms. A move like this, pioneer, back then, in the 1950s, in the world, is the EU.

Just a clarification here. Europe and the EU, let’s be clear, are different. So, being a European does not mean that you are in the EU, this is a significant impact of the dominant debate in the UK. Let’s be clear about terminology. Europe is a continent, defined by physical geography and geopolitics aspects, and the EU is a union of capitalist states. They have different population levels, different countries, 55 to 28 states, but the EU is expanding gradually from 6, to 15, 25, and 28 member states. Why is the EU expanding? Capital seeks new markets, fresh opportunities for deeper workers’ exploitation. How is it expanding? The candidate member states need to apply for membership and then initiate structural adjustments in their market, politics, labour market, finances, to comply with the criteria of the EU.

In the left spectrum of political thought there are three stances related to the EU:

1. EU can be reformed
2. The left should not deal with the EU, let’s focus on capitalism
3. The left must fight against the EU in the wider strategy of anti-capitalist struggle

I would like to argue why the EU cannot be reformed, why fighting against the EU is important in the struggle for a better life, and why the EU is the Europe of capital.

The EU has been created by capital, by capitalist governments, in detail. All started in 1945 with the initiative of Churchill, who declared the United States of Europe and then in 1952 the European Coal and Steel Community emerged. So, the foundations are clearly based on capital and markets, since coal and steel were the two industries that were most developed, at that period. And then, late-1950s, the European Economic Community was established, regulating the customs union.

The EU is the integration of capital, capital created it in the post-war Europe to address the intra-capital competition, to open new markets, to signal a new era for the Europe of capital. Let’s see some aspects, which are either inherent in the character of the EU or are addressed in its constitution.

Financial-fiscal terms

-Fiscal stability pact: Maastricht conditionalities: 3% of GDP deficit, 60% of GDP public debt. Public debt is a very useful means for capital to impose austerity.

-These entail certainly permanent austerity within the EU

Political terms

-The whole neoliberal agenda was passed through the EU directives

-Structural adjustment programs

-Privatisations, such as rail and post: industries cannot be re-nationalised within the EU

-Several left positions in the UK argue that the EU is a defender of working rights. Let’s have a look

-The EU has been driving wages down, sometimes increases but much lower than productivity and inflation increase, just securing the profits of corporations

-Less working rights

-Flexible work

-Anti-trade union policies, just to recall the anti-trade union law in 2015, in the UK, within the EU, that regulated that in every trade union ballot, more than 50% of its members should participate, in order for the ballot to be legal.

Educational terms

-Bologna directives

-Marketisation of universities

-Privatisation

-Increase of tuition fees

-Further downgrade of degrees

-More specialised and flexible workers, with less working rights, who when the conditions of the market change, they will be in a very difficult position

-Assessment of universities according to private and economic terms, not the social needs

Migration terms

-Migration is not an opportunity; it is a necessity, since people are obliged to move. After the economies in their countries being deregulated, they are obliged to move to the core, where bosses hire them under very bad working conditions, as people are desperate, which has sometimes impact on the working conditions of people already in the core. And then some others take advantage of high paid positions, but this is not working class, this is not the majority, and they would probably move even without open borders.

-In this way, corporations shift labour around countries, drive wages down, and increase the degree of exploitation

-And let’s recall another example, in the UK, within the EU. What were the rights of the EU migrants in the UK during Cameron’s era? Everyone has an example of a migrant who could not have access to the benefits, which have an exclusionary character towards migrants.

Imperialist role – refugees

While the EU countries have stopped fighting each other, the EU has been transformed to a major imperialist power with invasions in several countries. This has entailed huge refugee flows. The concept of Europe fortress is important here, while we cannot ignore Frontex and the concentration centres. Hundred thousands of dead people in the Mediterranean Sea.

Economic terms

-Single market, customs union: free movement of capital, goods, and services, based on market forces

-De-industrialisation: weakening the social bonds and solidarity that were developed through manufacturing

-Inherent division between core and periphery

Conceptualising the EU?

EU is an integration of capital that benefits the economies (as a whole) of the core and deregulates the economies of the south. Capital is the winner with deeper exploitation of the working class and migrants. The EU benefits upper classes in both core and periphery, mainly in the core, while the big losers are the working-class people in both core and periphery. How? Apart from the previous terms, there is the following inherent and structural process of the EU.

In the open market we have foreign investments and migrant flows. The peripheral economies had structural weaknesses before the integration which expanded within the single market. Then, they saw a deregulation of the productive structure and huge unemployment, which brought migration of people from the periphery to the core. On the other hand, we saw migration of capital from the core to the periphery. Capitalists take advantage of desperate people, offering low paid jobs with weak working rights.

Eurozone was one step forward for capital. It has deepened austerity with stricter fiscal criteria, and implied lower interest rates for workers. Therefore, it has been driving down wages, increasing subprime lending, and expanding the debt of households.

In summary, the open borders, the integration, the flows, are all for the capital in the EU. This is what we should respond to the left that is afraid to speak about the EU. The EU is internationalist, yes, but it is internationalist for capital. From this perspective, we need to defend all the people who were forced to migrate, in every country. But all the migrants, we should forget neither the visas for the overseas people, nor the refugees. There is not a single convincing argument for not speaking about the EU.

So, what should we do?

The main question that needs to be addressed is what the left actually wants. Europe of capital or Europe of people? If the left wants a better society, it cannot be in favour of the EU. What has been happening in the EU till now? Unfortunately, the big dissatisfaction about the EU, which exists in all the EU member states, has been absorbed by the far-right parties which speak about national democracy. Why?

-Since the left has been afraid to lead the anti-EU struggle, due to the weaknesses of the left. Most left support the EU. Important here, is to examine whether there is an alternative within the EU. The example of SYRIZA in Greece is illustrative. People were surprised in 2015 when the Greek government decided to reverse the result of the referendum and apply austerity, but we should not forget that SYRIZA is a pro-EU party. This explains all the events after the referendum. And then people just punished them in the euro elections

-This absorption of dissatisfaction from the far right is also a strategy of the capital. We should not forget that the far right has historically been a very useful weapon for capital, a strong ally. After the 2007 capitalist crisis, the far-right parties recorded significant growth. Then, the neoliberal and ex-social-democrat forces took advantage of this and now highlight the dilemma to the working class people: Do you want the unified EU or a divided Europe based on nationalist ideas?

Regardless of the rhetoric of the far right, we know their agenda which is always serving the capital, be careful within the EU! The examples of Hungary, where Orban voted 400 hours of compulsory overtime annually, paid only after negotiations with the boss, and Austria, where the right and far right coalition regulated the 12 hours working day (within the EU, just to respond to the argument the EU supports working rights), are illustrative. This is the far right. It targets the foreign workers, it is racist against the poor, to destroy the whole working class. It seeks to renegotiate the position of the upper class of each country within the EU.

In the UK, several trade unions have opposed the EU, like RMT, however, the big unions, UNITE, Unison, have supported the it, perceiving it as an umbrella of the working rights, such as maternity and paternity pay and leave, the right to paid leave for holidays, a working week limited to on average 48 hours a week. Apart from the examples of Austria and Hungary and other compelling evidence about the negative impacts of the EU on working rights, there is the question about whether this is what we want. This is not an argument for fighting to stay in the EU, it is evidence that speaks to stronger working struggles to make it 30, 25 and 20 hours per week, not to stay in the EU.

In my opinion, the left, especially in the UK, has been afraid to speak about the EU, as they would be considered as racist. And what has been the outcome? The great weakness of left groups speaking only anti-austerity, not putting into the game the bosses and capital, not targeting the deeper scopes of capital and the EU, even to condemn them politically. In the referendum, some of them, supported the Remain, claiming that the left cannot ask now for an exit from the EU, when it does not have the power. This is a significant proof of no connection between strategy and tactics. Then we should question the participation of the left in the elections, as according to the argument, the left program and demands cannot be implemented. From this perspective, this is also an extreme lack of faith and determination. After the referendum, things got really bad. Few left voices in terms of Brexit, the discourse has been dominated by others, while on top of this, several left people support the Brexit party of Farage.

Addressing the three positions about the EU, remain, ignore, or fight against, I think that we need to demand an internationalist, working class and migrants’ friendly, overthrow of the EU.

Accounting for the connection between tactics and strategy means that believing that the EU can be reformed entails the belief that the system can be also reformed. There is an issue of wider political stance, here. The Radical Left needs to structure the strategy, to adjust the tactics and the struggles of everyday life based on this strategy, to support the working class for a better life, out of the EU, without exploitation, since there is no improved life within the EU; the latter cannot be reformed. The EU has its own structural features and rules, it is impossible to reform them. Overthrowing the EU is a crucial step in the wider anti-capitalist struggle, towards a more just, fair, equal society, but of course it does not certify it. So, it is a necessary, but not sufficient step.

From this perspective, questioning the EU should be associated with the bigger question about who owns the economy. If the Left does not ask this question, then the chances to get into the nationalist trap increase dramatically. Overthrowing the EU is not sufficient on its own. The overthrow of the EU should be associated with a wider spectrum of immediate demands that would relieve working class people, such as write off the public debt, public health and educational system, nationalisation of the banking sector and key industries under workers’ control, decent jobs, rise in wages and pensions, stable work with rights against the flexible work, against fascism, racism, and war. All these simply cannot happen within the EU.

How to do it?

We need to create anti-EU initiatives in each EU member state which will be connected with the labour movement and then be unified at a European wide level. From this perspective, we need to fight for the overthrow of the EU, not just the exit of a country. In this way, the Radical Left can highlight the wider role of the EU, weaken far right and nationalist ideas, and connect this fight with the wider struggle. Can we do it in the UK? I think that there is always time. We need more imagination, to vision another type of society and economy. We need to get stronger by the result of the referendum and change the things. This popular ‘the country is divided’ is in reality a class divide, the poor said enough with this, ‘we are fed up’, we cannot offer these people to the far right! However, we need the left to start organising and mobilising the working class, otherwise others will do it, as they already do.

Several times the Radical Left postpones discussions and actions for crucial issues, like the EU or even the social change, to the future, like they cannot happen anytime. However, this is a methodological mistake! Labour movement trajectory is not linear, its historical trajectories have been full of wild fluctuations! This is a certain weakness of the Left. Moreover, we are not at this stage at the moment. The issue of the EU is now, more topical than ever, especially after Brexit. This dilemma Remain in the EU or Brexit under Tories is fake. We just need to respond immediately. We need to act now, to mobilise the working class for an internationalist workers and migrant friendly anti-EU, European wide struggle, otherwise history, once again, will not treat both the society and the left in a good way. We can always win!

The intervention of Simon Elmer in the event about the EU and the Radical Left

Leaving the Garden: Brexit and the Housing Crisis

Video of the recent ANTARSYA UK event about the EU and the Radical Left

ANTARSYA UK organised a successful event in a crowded room about the topical issue of the EU and the stance of the Radical Left. A useful and lively debate followed the presentations of the speakers (Simon Elmer, Michael Roberts, Nikos Kapitsinis). You can watch the video of the entire event here

The interventions of each speaker will follow soon.

Event: EU and the Radical Left

In the aftermath of the euro elections, the discussion around the EU and its features is deepening. New challenges rise as the wave of questioning the EU since the early 2010s, in the aftermath of the capitalist crisis, dominates the public debate. It is of great concern that this wave is directed towards the far right across the whole EU, although during the last 10 years, the working class and the youth in the EU fought from a progressive perspective so that they wouldn’t pay for the crisis that they did not cause. More recently, the yellow vests movement and the youth struggle against climate change have offered fresh hope to the radical left politics in the EU.

These movements have revealed the reactionary and anti-social structural character of the EU, which covers several dimensions. First, the political, with the EU being the ‘headquarters’ of neoliberal restructuring and reactionary policies, constituting the pillar for resolving the capitalist crisis with banks’ bailouts and huge deterioration of working class people’ living standards. Second, the economic, with the structural division of the EU between the core and periphery. Third, the migration perspective, with the EU forcing millions of poor and unemployed people from the periphery to the core, seeking deeper forms of exploitation, while acting as a fortress against the refugee flows that it caused by joining imperialist invasions. Fourth, the environment, with the EU promoting ‘environmentally friendly’ measures of small and ambiguous efficiency, while allowing the large multinationals making irreversible damage to the environment. Finally, the EU has an important role in the housing restructuring, facilitating the huge urban sprawl, the division between urban and rural areas, the spatial division of cities between poor and rich areas, the huge rise of housing prices, and thus the significant increase of homeless people.

For all these reasons, members of ANTARSYA, the Greek anticapitalist front, living in the UK, organise an event around the analysis of the EU and the response from a radical left perspective. We want to contribute to and deepen the ongoing discussion in terms of the ‘nature’ and structural features of the European capitalist integration. We invite individuals and political forces that consider the question of the political struggle in Europe a relevant cause in order to enrich the debate around the political strategies that the radical left and the labour movement must develop in order to respond.

Speakers include:
Michael Roberts, Marxist Economist
Simon Elmer, Architects for Social Housing
Eddie Dempsey, RMT Union
Nikos Kapitsinis, ANTARSYA UK

Saturday, June 15, 17.00, SOAS University, Room DLT, London

“Στις 26 του Μάη στηρίζουμε-ψηφίζουμε ΑΝΤΑΡΣΥΑ”

“Στις 26 του Μάη στηρίζουμε-ψηφίζουμε ΑΝΤΑΡΣΥΑ”

Είμαστε νέες και νέοι, εργαζόμενες κι εργαζόμενοι που από την αρχή της κρίσης ως και σήμερα, πάνω από μία δεκαετία πλέον, έχουμε μεταναστεύσει. Είτε ως εργάτες, ειδικεμένοι ή ανειδίκευτοι, είτε ως επιστήμονες, είτε ως φοιτητές αναγκαστήκαμε να μεταναστεύσουμε σαν απόρροια των πολιτικών επιλογών που επιβάλλονται από την ΕΕ στα κράτη-μέλη. Τις πολιτικές επιλογές αυτές στη χώρα μας τις εξυπηρέτησαν οι κυβερνήσεις από την αρχή της κρίσης ως σήμερα με στόχο δήθεν “την έξοδο από την κρίση”, αλλά στην πραγματικότητα την υπεράσπιση της κερδοφορίας του συστήματος.

Η παγκόσμια καπιταλιστική κρίση δεν έχει ξεπεραστεί. Οι αντιθέσεις ανάμεσα στα ιμπεριαλιστικά κέντρα και τις αστικές τάξεις δυναμώνουν, ενώ τα πολιτικά συστήματα γίνονται πιο αντιδραστικά. Όσο κι αν η κυβέρνηση ΣΥΡΙΖΑ ευαγγελίζεται πως η χώρα έχει εξέλθει από την κρίση, τα λαϊκά στρώματα εξακολουθούν να υποφέρουν. Η κυβέρνηση του ΣΥΡΙΖΑ έχει οδηγήσει στην συνέχιση και κλιμάκωση της αντεργατικής επίθεσης, στη μόνιμη επιτροπεία, ενώ η οι εργασιακές σχέσεις ελαστικοποιούνται και η μερική απασχόληση επελαύνει. Τρανή απόδειξη, το μεταναστευτικό ρεύμα από την Ελλάδα όχι μόνο δεν μειώνεται αλλά παραμένει σταθερό.

Η μακρόχρονη πλέον προσωπική μας εμπειρία μας ανέδειξε ότι η κρίση δε συνιστά “ελληνική ιδιαιτερότητα”, αλλά είναι μία δομική κρίση του ίδιου του καπιταλιστικού συστήματος, που σκοπό έχει να ρουφήξει όλες τις δυνατότητες που έχει ο άνθρωπος και η φύση, με στόχο την παραγωγή κέρδους. Βλέπουμε την κρίση μέσα από τα μάτια μας στις χώρες της Ευρώπης.

Το βάθεμα της εκμετάλλευσης των εργαζομένων και οι αντιδραστικές αναδιαρθρώσεις στις Ευρωπαϊκές χώρες, περνάνε μέσα από την ΕΕ. Εδώ και μισό αιώνα μας λένε ότι η συμμετοχή στην ΕΕ θα μας εξασφάλιζε ευημερία, σταθερότητα, δημοκρατία. Αλλά μας εξασφάλισε μνημόνια, λιτότητα, αιματηρά πλεονάσματα, ιδιωτικοποίηση των δημόσιων αγαθών. Η Ε.Ε δεν είναι το «ήσυχο λιμάνι» της ευημερίας, αλλά ένα βαθιά ταξικό κι αντιδραστικό οικοδόμημα. Η ΕΕ των 17 εκατ. Ανέργων και των 15 εκατ. φτωχών βρίσκεται σε βαθιά δομική κρίση. Δεν διορθώνεται, δεν εκσυγχρονίζεται, δεν μεταρρυθμίζεται.

Η μόνη διέξοδος για την υπεράσπιση των εργατικών λαϊκών δικαιωμάτων, είναι η πάλη ενάντια στην ΕΕ, η αντικαπιταλιστική διεθνιστική ρήξη και η αποδέσμευση από αυτήν. Η αμφισβήτηση της ΕΕ, που έχει ξεκινήσει εδώ και καιρό, και που κορυφώθηκε με την ιστορική ψήφο των πολιτών στη Μεγάλη Βρετανία για την αποχώρηση από την ΕΕ (ψήφος λαική αλλά με αστική ηγεμονία), θα πρέπει να συνεχιστεί. Θα πρέπει να συνεχιστεί γιατί βλέπουμε πώς εκμεταλλεύονται και εδώ τους εργαζόμενους, πως βιώνεται η ανεργία και ο ρατσισμός από πρώτο χέρι. Ζούμε τις προωθημένες εργασιακές σχέσεις της ΕΕ μέσα από την επισφαλή εργασία και τα συμβόλαια μηδενικών ωρών. Βλέπουμε στην πράξη τι σημαίνει “ανταγωνιστικό περιβάλλον” και “ανεπτυγμένες οικονομίες”

Καταλαβαίνουμε τη μεγάλη άνοδο της ακροδεξιάς με δήθεν αντί-συστημικά συνθήματα, που απορροφάει σημαντικό κομμάτι της εναντίωσης στην ΕΕ, αλλά που οι πολιτικές της είναι βαθιά συστημικές, αφού δεν κάνουν τίποτε άλλο παρά να διαπραγματεύονται μια καλύτερη θέση για την δική τους αστική τάξη μέσα στο πλαίσιο της ΕΕ. Πάνω στο έδαφος της οικονομικής κρίσης και της κρίσης της ΕΕ αναπτύσσεται το ρεύμα του εθνικισμού, του ρατσισμού και της ακροδεξιάς.

Μπροστά σε αυτή την αναστάτωση, οι κυρίαρχες πολιτικές δυνάμεις στις χώρες της ΕΕ ισχυρίζονται ότι στις επερχόμενες ευρωεκλογές θα κριθεί το δίλημμα «ΣΥΡΙΖΑ ή ΝΔ»,», «Μνημονιακή βαρβαρότητα με ευαισθησία ή με φιλελευθερισμό;» «Μακρόν/Μέρκελ ή Σαλβίνι / Όρμπαν», ευρωπαϊσμός, δημοκρατία» από την μια και «εθνικισμός, ρατσισμός, ακροδεξιά» από την άλλη.

Ωστόσο, υπάρχει κι ο άλλος δρόμος, ο ανατρεπτικός, ο δρόμος του αγώνα, της αντίστασης, και της διαρκής πάλης ενάντια στην ΕΕ. Ο αγώνας αυτός, στον οποίο πρωτοστατούν εκατοντάδες χιλιάδες εργαζόμενοι πανευρωπαϊκά, αναδεικνύει τον αντιδραστικό χαρακτήρα της ΕΕ, δείχνοντας ότι δεν μπορούν να καταργηθούν η λιτότητα, τα μνημόνια, ιδιωτικοποιήσεις και η διαρκής επιτροπεία εντός της. Οι εργαζόμενοι που παλεύουν για να πληρώσει το κεφάλαιο και οι τραπεζίτες, για την άμεση βελτίωση της ζωής των λαϊκών στρωμάτων, ενάντια στην εκμετάλλευση και τα μνημόνια. Οι εργαζόμενοι που δίνουν την μάχη κόντρα στην κυβέρνηση ΣΥΡΙΖΑ που υποσχέθηκε ότι θα «σκίσει τα μνημόνια» μέσα στην ευρωζώνη και την ΕΕ, για να οδηγήσει στην συνέχιση και στη κλιμάκωση της επίθεσης. Οι εργαζόμενοι που αντιμάχονται αποφασιστικά την δεξιά αντιπολίτευση της ΝΔ, του ΚΙΝΑΛ και συνολικά το αστικό πολιτικό σύστημα, που εκφράζουν με το δικό της επιθετικό τρόπο την προώθηση της ίδιας αστικής μνημονιακής πολιτικής και πρωτοστατούν στην ανάπτυξη του εθνικισμού αγκαλιά με την ΧΑ. Υπάρχει ο δρόμος του πλατιού αντιφασιστικού και αντιρατσιτικού κινήματος σε κάθε γωνιά της Ευρώπης. Οι 200 χιλιάδες διαδηλωτές ενάντια στο AfD στο Βερολίνο και οι δεκάδες χιλιάδες στο Κέμνιτζ, το μαζικό Ιταλικό κίνημα που καλωσορίζει πρόσφυγες από το Παλέρμο έως το Τορίνο.

Σε αυτές οι αντιστάσεις που αναζωογονήθηκαν από τις μάχες πανευρωπαϊκά, ήμασταν κι εμείς παρόντες. Οργανώσαμε σε πολλές ευρωπαϊκές πρωτεύουσες συγκεντρώσεις αλληλεγγύης στους αγωνιζόμενους στην Ελλάδα. Υπήρξαμε ενεργοί στα κινήματα ανά χώρα, όπως πρόσφατα στη Γαλλία με τα «κίτρινα γιλέκα», στις απεργίες στην εκπαίδευση στην Ολλανδία και στη Μεγάλη Βρετανία, στη Γερμανία με τον αντιρατσιστικό ξεσηκωμό, στη Μεγάλη Βρετανία με τον αγώνα για τα δικαιώματα των μεταναστών, ενώ συμμετέχουμε ενεργά στα συνδικάτα και κινήματα των χωρών που βρισκόμαστε. Προσπαθήσαμε να μεγαλώσουμε την αντίληψη εκείνη που αναδεικνύει τη θέληση των ευρωπαϊκών λαών να πάνε τα πράγματα διαφορετικά, σε ριζικά άλλη κατεύθυνση.

Σε αυτή τη βάση, εμείς δηλώνουμε ότι απαιτείται να στηριχτεί στις ευρωεκλογές της 26ης Μάη αλλά και στο δρόμο, σε κάθε μικρό ή μεγάλο αγώνα από τις 26 του μήνα και μετά, εκείνη η Αριστερά που θα συμβάλλει σε ένα οργανωμένο λαϊκό ξεσηκωμό, την μόνη λύση για να μπει φρένο στη βαρβαρότητα. Η Αριστερά που απαιτεί αποδέσμευση από το ευρώ και ρηξη και αποδεσμευση από την ΕΕ, από θεση διεθνιστικη, ταξικη, αντικαπιταλιστικη. Η Αριστερα που αντιλαμβανεται ότι η παλη για έξοδο από την ΕΕ είναι αναπόσπαστα δεμένη με τους κοινωνικούς αγώνες, με την πάλη για τη διαγραφή του χρέους, με τον αγώνα για τα σύγχρονα δημοκρατικά δικαιώματα, με τον αγώνα για ειρήνη ενάνατια στην ιμπεριαλιστική επιβολή της ΕΕ, με την πάλη για την οικολογικη επιβίωση του πλανήτη, με την πάλη ενάντι στην καταπίεση των γυναικών και των ΛΟΑΤΚ.

Η Αριστερά που δίνει τη μόνη ρεαλιστική διέξοδο στους εργαζόμενους της Ευρώπης σήμερα: να διαλύσουν αυτό το ατσάλινο κλουβί που τους εκμεταλλεύεται και να χτίσουν αλλιώς τις κοινωνίες τους, βασισμένες στην αλληλεγγύη και τη συναδέλφωση των εργαζόμενων.

Γι αυτό στις ευρωεκλογές της 26ης Μάη στηρίζουμε-ψηφίζουμε ΑΝΤΑΡΣΥΑ

Ταυτόχρονα επιθυμούμε την καταγραφή του αντι-ΕΕ και αντικαπιταλιστικού ρεύματος στην Ελληνική κοινωνία μέσω της ΑΝΤΑΡΣΥΑ, ώστε να αναπτυχθεί σε πανευρωπαϊκό ρεύμα μια σοβαρή αμφισβήτηση της ΕΕ από την Αριστερά, που θα βάζει όλα τα ζητήματα επί τάπητος και δεν θα χαρίζει τη θέση για έξοδο από την ΕΕ και διάλυση του ευρώ στις εθνικιστικές φωνές, όπως συμβαίνει τώρα με τη Λεπέν στη Γαλλία, τον Σαλβίνι στην Ιταλία, το AfD στη Γερμανία κ.ο.κ.

ΣΤΙΣ 26 ΤΟΥ ΜΑΗ ΣΤΗΡΙΖΟΥΜΕ ΨΗΦΙΖΟΥΜΕ ΑΝΤΑΡΣΥΑ

ΑΝΤΑΡΣΥΑ Βελγίου

ΑΝΤΑΡΣΥΑ Βερολίνου

ΑΝΤΑΡΣΥΑ ΗΒ

ΑΝΤΑΡΣΥΑ Ολλανδίας

Μέλη της ΑΝΤΑΡΣΥΑ στη Γαλλία

ANTARSYA’s open call for the upcoming European elections

ANTARSYA addresses an open call for a wide rally of anti-capitalist/anti-imperialist/anti-EU forces in the wake of the May European elections. The full text of the call is the following:

• Against the Europe of capital, racism and war, for an internationalist breach with and disengagement from the EU
• In favour of the workers’ and peoples’ rights, against the government of the euro-memoranda and the right-wing opposition, for the debt deletion and the workers’ control
• Struggle for peace and internationalist solidarity of the peoples, against NATO, imperialism and nationalism
• For a wide rally of anti-capitalist/anti-imperialist/anti-EU forces

1. The 2019 European elections are held in a period where both Europe and Greece are facing a turning point. The crisis that broke out in the global capitalist system in 2008 cannot be surpassed, while new clouds are gathering on the horizon. The contradictions between the imperialist centres and the bourgeois classes are getting stronger, war and military preparations are a part of the daily agenda. The political systems are becoming more reactionary. On the ground of the financial and political crisis of the EU grows the current of racism, nationalism and the far-right that even takes up governmental positions.

Domestically, it is fully revealed in the eyes of hundreds of thousands of workers that the policy of the SYRIZA administration is failing, as they promised to “wipe out the memoranda” within the Eurozone and the EU, only to lead to a further escalation of the capitalist assault, a permanent supervision, and a joining of hands with the most aggressive choices of the USA-NATO imperialism, in order to serve the interests of the Greek capital in the region.

But the situation is far from one-sided. Because at the same time, movements and resistances are growing. Each time that the dominant classes proclaim their “final” victory, the people and the movements prove them wrong. From the “yellow vests” movement to the antifascist and antiracist struggles and strikes, the workers and the lower class are not giving up. They find ways to remove the veil of consent and defeatism, to trace the “other way” that the working people need.

2. The course of things demonstrates that two paths lie ahead of the workers and the people in our country and in Europe as well: either the bourgeois political forces will impose their own “exit” from the capitalist crisis over the shoulders of the workers and the people, or the labour movement and the people will impose their own anti-capitalist alternative forcing the ruling class to pay the price, against the barbaric exploitation, the competitions and wars, the repression and anti-democratic enforcements, the ecological catastrophe.

The struggling forces of the Left need to fight the political and electoral battles so that the popular discontent will be oriented towards a “left, overturning, anti-EU” direction, and not in a right or far-right one.  This includes a struggle for the rights and liberties of the workers and the people against the government, aiming towards the shaking and the overthrowing of the policy of the capital, the EU, the IMF and the bourgeois political system, as well as an unwavering front against nationalism, racism and the threat of fascism.

3. The dominant forces in the Union seek to trap the peoples of Europe into the dilemma “European way”, “democracy” on the one hand and nationalism, “racism”, “far right” on the other.

Correspondingly, in our county, SYRIZA propagates the dilemma “SYRIZA or the Right”, “progressive pole or extreme neoliberalism and far-right”.

But the political base of the government and the bourgeois opposition is the same. It is the interests of the bourgeoisie, the euro-memoranda, the support of Atlanticism and the policy of the capital. This is the policy that targets the rights of the people and lowers their morale, strengthening the forces of the far-right.

The confrontation with the far-right mob that tries to legitimize itself as a “fighter for Macedonia” does not give SYRIZA the right to determine the names of Balkan countries through the Prespes Agreement.

When the government prides itself for sealing the borders of Evros and the Aegean Sea while people freeze to death in hellholes like Moria, when it has abandoned even its declarations regarding the right of the immigrants to vote while citizenship is still awarded through racist filters, then it boosts racism rather than confront it.

We reject the “lesser evil” line of thought and the dilemmas that the government imposes. The “lesser evil” logic always leads to the greater evil, as the historical examples have shown.

4. In contrast to what the dominant views are propagating, the EU is trembling due to a deep political crisis, due to its amplifying interior contradictions. The detestation of millions of workers towards this reactionary corporate mechanism, the “Greek issue”, the amplification of the imperialistic competitions and contradictions as depicted in the Brexit negotiations, the EU-Italy clash, the amplification of the contradictions between the EU and the USA and the strong rise of the far-right in a series of European countries are signs of the deep crisis that the EU is going through.

But their crisis is also fueled by the struggles of the workers and the youth. The year of 2018 ended with the “yellow vests” symbolizing and condensing the fears of the ruling classes regarding the future of the European capitalisms and the EU itself. Just a few years back, Macron was presented as the holder of the magic formula against “populism”, which was the “reinvention of capitalism”, the “restart” and the speeding up of the European unification. Now he is the hated “president of the rich” and the grand designs for the EU are crumbling. The other pillar of the EU, German capitalism, is preparing for a halt in growth, with a fall of the industrial production and deceleration of the GDP. More importantly, the political crisis there is also on the daily agenda.

5. As a response to their crisis, the ruling classes seek to escalate their anti-labour offensive at all levels – economic and political. Their response combines the intensity of the reactionary shielding of the economic and political functioning of the EU, the institutional consolidation and the imposition of capitalist reforms, forms of permanent guardianship, intensification of inequality, a shift towards militarization and war. At the same time, they are intensifying racist campaigns and the construction of Fortress Europe against refugees and immigrants, to disorientate the rage of the working class and of all social strata which are heavily affected by the crisis, in harmless directing it to paths that are harmless for the system. In this way, they are opening the way to the extreme right and the fascists. The SYRIZA government is leading the way in the promotion of these policies.

6. All developments confirm that the E.U. is not a safe haven of stability and prosperity. It is a deeply class, reactionary and imperialist structure which has been screeching not only under the pressure of the crisis and the antagonisms but also due to the rage fed by the sharpening gigantic class polarization.

The only way out in defense of the workers’ and people’s rights, for salary and pension increases, in defense of public goods, for the liberation from the permanent guardianship regime, racism and antagonisms is the struggle against the EU, the break and disengagement from it from an anti-capitalist, class and internationalist perspective.

The total experience from recent years proves in a cruel way that the EU cannot be reformed or “see reason”. On the contrary, it is becoming the headquarters and the alibi of all the antilabor offensives.

7. The break and disengagement from the EU, the insubordination to the financial slaughterhouse and the imposition of the barbaric capitalist reforms is an indivisible part of the total struggle to impose the interests and the needs of the workers and the people.

A broader program for struggle is needed, one that aims to make the capital lose wealth and power in order for the working class and the people to gain back their life. We need a movement for the overthrow of the capitalist offensive, one that will clash with the EU and will be based on the power of the working class’ struggle in Europe and around the world.

The struggle for the exit from the EU is indivisibly tied with:

– The social struggle of the workers, the youth and the poor social strata for salary and pension rises against the perpetuation of the austerity, for stable work with rights against the flexible and illegal work. For the defence of the public goods against the privatization and the liberalization of the markets. To combat unemployment and reduce the work hours. To fight against the sexist discrimination in the workplaces.

– The struggle to erase the usurious debt, which despite their rhetoric will never become manageable. The nationalisation of the banks and the big enterprises under workers’ control.

– The struggle for the contemporary democratic rights of the workers and the youth and the sovereignty of the people. The disobedience against the brutal trusteeship, for full independence and disengagement from the imperialist mechanisms, against the transfer of the decisions far from every social control in the hands of the technocrats of the EU and the multinational corporations.

– The struggle for peace, against the imperialist imposition of the EU, the European Army, the shift to militarization.

– The fight for open borders, cities and neighbourhoods for the refugees and the immigrants who are a part of our class and our struggle. For closed cities for fascists and the extreme-right scum.

– The struggle for the ecological survival of the planet, against the profit, the GMO’s, the imprudent development.

– The fight against the suppression of the women, the discrimination against the LGBTQ people, the sexist attacks of the ruling class which are even supported by the decisions of the European Court.

8. The struggle for a left, internationalist exit from the Eurozone and the EU is an integral part of the struggle that seeks to weaken the multinationals and the forces of the capital, to create breaches in the reactionary edifice, for broader changes that will benefit the popular majority, for the struggle against imperialism, for the anti-capitalist overthrow. It cannot be postponed to a vague future of “another society”, nor can it be a means to develop “competitiveness” and  “liquidity” of the capitalist economy.

9. The exit from the EU cannot happen on the grounds of “national entrenchment”. We confront capitalist internationalization because we are for the unobstructed internalization of resistance, the voluntary collaboration among peoples, paving the way to the abolition of the capitalist relations of production, inequality and exploitation. Capitalist internationalization, which takes place on the grounds of the unobstructed ruling of the “market forces”, the multinationals and their institutions (EU, OECD and various agreements of international trade) is what leads to the unobstructed expansion of the exploitation and ruling by a handful of stock-market and industrial giants. Our slogan “Exit from the EU” is inspired by the great internationalist movements against capitalist globalization since Genova up to nowadays.

Its compass is the historical perspective of the total liberation of the workers and of the peoples, the overthrow of capitalism, the revolutionary change of society, a different internalization to the benefit of the working majority.

10. In this framework of the reactionary policies of the EU and the capitalist crisis, the reactionary “eurosceptic” currents, nationalistic and racist ideas and the far-right are developed in Europe during the last years.

The reactionary bourgeois political forces of the so-called “Euroscepticism” (Salvini, Lepen, Orban etc) do nothing more than negotiate a better position for their own bourgeois class within the framework of the European capitalist integration.

They are the governments and the political forces of the “liberal” and “democratic” EU, that adopt step by step the agenda of the far-right, supposedly in an effort to tame it but the only thing they manage is to legalize it and enforce it, and at the same time their own crisis deepens even more.

The far-right seeks to use the political, economic and ethical crisis of capitalism and the EU and to build a reactionary, nationalistic and fascist current. It brings a civil war among the workers and the poor, talking about “our workers”, in order to wage more effectively the war against all workers, like in Austria and Hungary where they voted for an 80-hour working week! They are talking of “Our nation”, preparing with their warmongering rhetoric the slaughter of all peoples.

This is just one side of reality, though. The other one is the development of a massive, anti-racist and anti-fascist movement all around Europe. This is what the 200,000 demonstrators in Berlin show, the tens of thousands in Chemnitz. The far-right and the fascists in Britain believed that they would have political gains from the political crisis of Brexit, but in December they discovered that the streets of London belong to a broad and colourful mobilization of the anti-fascist and anti-racist movement. Paris experienced the most massive anti-racist demonstrations amid the Yellow Vests uprising. Italy is not only Salvini but a massive movement that welcomes refugees from Palermo to Torino…

We confront both the cosmopolitan “Europeanism” as well as the far-right and nationalistic “Euroscepticism”. Only the workers’ movement, the left and the consistent anti-fascist action can come up against fascism.

ANTARSYA CALLS

To a large gathering of social and political forces for our intervention in the European elections. With this proposal, we address to the organized forces and collectives of the labour, youth, anti-racist and ecological movement. This will give hope and perspective to those who insist, to those who fight.

Labour reforms of SYRIZA government? On the occasion of Minister Achtsioglou speech in London

On Friday, March 22, Effie Achtsioglou, Greek Minister of Labour, Social Security and Social Solidarity, is set to deliver a speech to the London School of Economics, on “A New Model for the Greek Labour Market”. The harsh reality is that the SYRIZA government has not introduced any new model through its labour market reforms. In fact, it has continued pursuing the same regressive agenda that has been implemented by its predecessors since 2010, when the first bailout for Greece was agreed. While this statement could be supported by evidence in many fields since the inevitable capitulation of SYRIZA, we will restrain ourselves to describing the most critical reforms on the labour market.

The fourth memorandum that was voted by SYRIZA in May 2017, loosened the regulations on employment protection, making it easier for employers to enact collective dismissals. Even the requirement of administrative control and approval of such dismissals from the Ministry of Labour was abolished, adopting the so-called “best practices” of EU. For years, strikes have been one of the most powerful ways of collective action of Greek trade unions. In January 2018, similar to practices of Cameron’s government in the UK, the SYRIZA government passed legislation raising the requirements of calling strikes, a condition that was set up by the EU commission, European central bank and the IMF, to limit the frequency of strikes. While the Greek PM claims to take the country out of the restrictions of the memoranda and endless austerity, at the same time it seems that they need to suppress the protests and strikes over the measures that they are committed to implement against the workers and unemployed people.

An issue that has recently emerged, is the announcement of an increase of the minimum gross wage by the Greek government, changing from €586 to €650. A government that was elected promising to raise the minimum wage to €751, presents this increase as an emblematic action, while the 500 most profitable Greek companies increased their profits by 25.8% in 2017, compared to 2016. The impact of this change on the lives of those who work under part-time or temporary contracts (more than 20% of them get paid with less than €300 per month) or in general the employees (more than 40% of them earn a salary less than €700), cannot be compared to the 20% average slump of Greek wages during the last 10 years of capitalism’s global crisis. Due to some reforms related to the memoranda, a side-effect of the minimum wage’s increase is that those who are self-employed will have to pay €20 more per month in the social security contributions, lowering the real increase of the gross wage from €64 to €44!

It is worthwhile to mention that what SYRIZA is trying to present as an “increase of the minimum wage”, is nothing but the implementation of a law that SYRIZA had fiercely opposed, voted from the previous ruling party of New Democracy, that established the blockage of collective bargaining. Thus, the minimum wage can no longer be a subject of negotiations between the trade unions and the employers. It can only be determined unilaterally by the government.

Another fact that must be interpreted, is the fall in the unemployment rate by 8% during the last 4 years. This has been a result of the dramatic increase of part-time and temporary contracts, from 5% to 9%, while 61% of the new contracts that were signed in the first 8 months of 2018 were part-time. This is also proved by the fact that 2.3 million dismissals and 2.4 million new contracts were signed in 2018, clearly showing the vicious circle between short-time jobs and unemployment.

ANTARSYA, the Anti-capitalist Left front in Greece, will take initiatives to build an anti-capitalist – anti-governmental – internationalist anti-EU front, to oppose the attack on workers’ rights, to fight back against austerity and the escalation of war threat, racism and fascism.

We fight for a better and more equal society without exploitation of human by human

ANTARSYA UK

The marginalisation policies brought the murder of the activist Zak Kostopoulos

The marginalisation policy of addicts brought the murder of the activist Zak Kostopoulos

Lynching to death by two or even more human-like monsters, activist Zak Kostopoulos, an active member of the LGBTqi community and the struggle against the stigmatization of HIV positive people, is a devastating and racist crime under the tolerance of the police, which took place on 21 September. A crime by those who think they can enforce the law of the jungle against the weak and the rebellious.

Whatever happened on that Friday afternoon, and while new information is constantly revealed, it is clear that the shop owner assumed that a drug addict had invaded his shop, while believing he could be assisted by others, to kick him up to death and be left unpunished. Then, police seems to be kicking the already injured Zak Kostopoulos, who died later in the day.

This cold murder is the consequence of targeting and suppressing drug addicts, immigrants and any weak or socially excluded citizen, who are defined by the state, local authorities and police as unwanted “trash” that spoils the tourist “glamor” of the centre of Athens. It is the consequence of the logic that the weak and the poor are not the priority for social care, but the object of revenge and humiliation.

The government and the Athens council have given the green light to racist police campaigns against drug addicts and immigrants in the centre of Athens to surrender it “clean” to the speculative activities of contractors, big merchants and hotel owners. They were followed by the media, as most of them interviewed the murderer of Zac by focusing on the “fear of the shopkeeper” instead of condemning the murder.

All of them lay the ground for the modern petit-bourgeois who portray as their enemy the weak of this society, thus boosting fascism.

The government’s responsibility for the stance of police can no longer be hidden. Its responsibility of the government regarding the medical treatment of drug addicts and HIV positive people is enormous. The memoranda and austerity policies have dismantled the care programs for these individuals leading them marginalised.

With Zak Kostopoulos we took part in struggles defending diversity, tolerance, the rights of LGBTQi people, for the protection of the oppressed and the socially excluded people.

We will fight to punish Zak’s murderers. To attribute the responsibilities to police officers who seem to have put handcuffs on Zak while injured and possibly to make the final blows.

We will fight to stop the cuts in public health spending, a policy imposed by the memoranda. We demand an immediate opening of all the closed structures for the addicts.

We will fight against the logic that targets the poor, the addicted, the LGBTqi, the HIV positive and the socially excluded people.

We will fight against fascism in every neighbourhood.

We will struggle to overthrow the memorandum policies that entail poverty, unemployment and impoverishment.

ANTARSYA, 23.9.2018