Signs of resistance against the neoliberal catastrophe in Europe

by system failure

It is more than obvious that using the latest big crisis, the economic elites in Europe and globally, are planning to impose all the catastrophic neoliberal measures tested in Greece by Troika. Dijsselbloem signaled recently the start of this plan. (http://failedevolution.blogspot.gr/2014/10/plutocrats-tighten-siege-around-europe.html)

As Social-democrats in nearly every European country have been "absorbed" by the neoliberal perception carried mainly by the neoliberal European Right, there is a big political gap to be filled by political forces who could fight against plutocracy and defend majority's rights. In Greece, which was chosen to be the field of the new conditions, the Left, naturally, became a significant power, taking the first position in recent Euro-elections through the radical-Left party, SYRIZA.

Costas Lapavitsas, professor in economics at the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies, described it very well in an interesting discussion with the audience at the Real News network:

"... to me, the most important change and transformation over the last two decades, as financialization went into overdrive, is the collapse of all social democracy, the social democrats. [...] obviously, in Europe and elsewhere, it has collapsed. And the reason it's collapsed is because it basically accepted, lock, stock, and barrel, the arguments of neoliberalism, the idea of the market, the idea of financial growth, of financial expansion. It really believed in it. And the ones who argue most forcefully still for that are actually social democrats. It's incredible. And, therefore, their influence, certainly in Europe, it's just a vanishing. The social democratic party in Greece has disappeared. The social democratic party in Spain is disappearing nearly as fast. Social democrats in Portugal are nowhere to be seen. In country after country--in Germany, the social democracy is hobbled because of that, because they've accepted these--they've got nothing to propose which would be the equivalent of what they used to propose back in the '50s and the '60s and the '70s, which was some kind of regulated capitalism within those confines mentioned before, some kind of--you know, let's manage it. The scope for that has become much less. In this context, there is room for the left, as in the non social democratic left. The tragedy there is that the left in Europe and elsewhere has been incredibly weak because of the events of the last two to three decades--the collapse of the Soviet Union, the massive defeats of the '80s in terms of class struggle and so on. And the left hasn't been able to take up the mantle. Not yet. There is life. It's not a corpse yet. There is life. Things are happening, particularly because of the crisis. It took time for the left to comprehend what happened in the crisis, and they're beginning to respond. Who will fill the space left by the collapse of social democracy, by the ideological bankruptcy of social democracy, is a most interesting question for politics today. Who will fill that space? How will it be filled? It remains to be seen." (http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=12593)

Currently, people appear to be confused, in Europe, in the US and elsewhere, about the ways they could mobilize to fight for their rights which are systematically abolished. During the conversation, someone asked a question that shows this fact in the most characteristic way: "So what is this kind of mobilization of the people, the labor markets, the small businesses, medium businesses? What does that process look like to change the big business, to change the banking institutions, and even the household dynamics?"(http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=12562)

In Europe, the first signs of such a mobilization come from Spain with the Left-wing party Podemos. Latest polls showed that Podemos has a bigger electoral preference than the two major parties in Spain, only eight months after it was created. According to the poll, Podemos has 27 percent electoral support in Spain, the former governing party PSOE (Spain Socialist Workers Party) has 25.5 percent, while the currently governing conservative PP (Popular Party), which has recently being involved in a corruption scandal, has only 20 percent. (http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/New-Left-Wing-Party-Podemos-Over-takes-Major-Parties-in-Spain-20141102-0002.html)

As mentioned in a previous article: "Today's conditions are such that, the Left in Greece could not be able to change the course of the class-war in favor of the majority by itself. It could trigger, however, a general rise of the Left in Europe which could block, for a start, Europe's catastrophic course towards the new, brutal Feudalism." (http://failedevolution.blogspot.gr/2014/09/a-new-attempt-to-domesticate-left-in.html) It seems that this "triggering" has started (there is also some mobilization in Croatia with the creation of a Leftist party inspired by SYRIZA in Greece).

For the first time in Greece a Leftist party wins an election, but the message from Spain is even more promising because Podemos was not created by small groups behind closed doors, but from people protesting out in the streets.

The next big test for the Leftist parties would be to synchronize their efforts and create a solid European front capable to fight against the neoliberal catastrophe. SYRIZA leader, Alexis Tsipras, was called to speak today at the founding conference of Podemos in Madrid.

It seems that there are signs of resistance in Europe. Societies are politically mobilized to face the new challenges. What is left to see, is whether this would be enough for Europe to change its course, and bring back the lost values that have been sacrificed on the altar of the illusive economic indexes. A Europe that will work for the benefit of the real democracy and majority, not for the benefit of the bankers and lobbyists.