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MediaBite >>
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Open letter of solidarity and support for
resistance to austerity in Europe
international
| eu
| press
release
Tuesday June 14, 2011 15:48
by Paul Murphy MEP - Socialist Party
01 6795030
Letter signed by 12 MEPs from Left Group
In light of the major movements taking
place across Europe in the next week, I initiated an open letter of Left
MEPs in support of these protests and urging the building of a one day
general strike across Europe against austerity. Twelve MEPs from seven
countries have signed the letter so far.
Dear friends,
We write to you as elected
members of the European United Left / Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) in the
European Parliament. We represent workers, pensioners, the unemployed,
students, youth and those socially excluded.
The massive movement
demanding ‘Real Democracy’ in Spain and the social earthquake rocking
Greece are the response of working people, the unemployed and the poor to
the vicious attack on living standards. We support the struggle for real
democracy, but argue that this cannot be achieved while the dictatorship
of the market and the dictates of the ‘Troika’ are allowed to continue.
The crisis in Europe continues to worsen. Millions across Europe,
in particular in the so-called peripheral European countries, have
experienced vicious austerity driven by neo-liberal governments and the
European Commission, the ECB and the IMF. These policies have worsened the
crisis for working people, the unemployed and small business owners, while
protecting the interests of the bankers and international bondholders.
Women have been particularly hard hit by the economic crisis. These
policies also threaten to destroy the future for a whole generation of
young people. Even in those countries where the economy is growing, social
rights and wages and conditions are under attack.
One aspect of
this austerity programme is the European establishment's attempt to
introduce an "Economic Governance" package which will put the budgets of
national governments under the scrutiny of the unelected European
Commission, with massive fines for states that do not comply with
Commission and Council diktats and targets. This will not only undermine
democracy but will be a tool to introduce further austerity and
privatisation programmes on a European level.
We salute the
movements of the “indignados”, where hundreds of thousands of young people
have now occupied squares in cities across Europe. Significantly, they
have been joined by workers, unemployed people and pensioners. These
occupations demonstrate the anger of young people as they face a future of
unemployment and illustrate their alienation from the political
establishment. The protests have clearly taken their inspiration from the
revolutions that are taking place in the Middle East and North Africa and
indicate that the wish for change and real democracy of the masses in that
region strikes a chord with people in Europe.
To defeat the
austerity attacks and to fight for real democracy in Europe, we feel it is
necessary to mobilise the power of the organised and united working class
in conjunction with these movements. Therefore, we welcome the general
strike in Greece on 15 June and we encourage trade union activists to
discuss organising industrial action in their countries to maximise the
effect of a joint fight back.
15 June will be an important day of
struggle across Europe. Together with the general strike in Greece, mass
demonstrations are planned in Barcelona and other Spanish cities. On 19
June, national protests have been called in Spain. On 30 June, a public
sector strike has been called in Britain. The European Trade Union
Confederation (ETUC) is planning to organise an action and information day
at the European and national level on 21 June.
We urge that
European trade unions use their power to turn 21 June into a day of mass
protests and strikes that underline the trade union movement’s
determination to fight austerity. In order to build for this, we feel that
solidarity protests should take place across Europe in the next weeks to
give a clear message of opposition to the European establishment. We will
raise the idea of joint action with the parties, trade unions and social
movements that we are affiliated with.
The attack on living
standards is Europe-wide. It is vital that a united response is built by
workers, young people, the unemployed, socially excluded and pensioners
across Europe. These protests should be used as the next step in building
for further European wide action, including industrial action, building to
a European-wide one day general strike.
We propose the following
demands as a basis for discussion and organisation in the countries across
Europe:
• Build demonstrations and protests in solidarity with the
movements in Greece and Spain. • For united action of working people
across Europe to defeat the austerity measures – build for further
European wide action, including industrial action involving both the
private and public sectors, building to a European-wide one day general
strike. • The problem of mass youth unemployment must be tackled
through public investment in job creation • No to the austerity
policies pushed by the EU and IMF and national governments such as
cutbacks, wage cuts, unemployment, increases in the retirement age and
privatisation of public services. • Workers, pensioners, the
unemployed, students, youth and those socially excluded must not pay for
the crisis - Make the super rich and bankers pay. • To fight for real
democracy, the dictatorship of the financial markets, credit ratings
institutions and the IMF must be broken. The banks and financial
institutions should be taken into democratic public ownership and run in
the interests of the majority of the people.
Yours in
solidarity,
Paul Murphy MEP Socialist Party (Ireland) Nikolaos
Chountis MEP Syriza (Greece) Willy Meyer MEP Izquierda Unida
(Spain) Eva-Britt Svensson MEP Vänsterpartiet (Sweden) Patrick Le
Hyaric MEP Front de Gauche (France) Søren Bo Søndergaard MEP
(Denmark) Gabriele Zimmer MEP Die Linke (Germany) Sabine Lösing MEP
Die Linke (Germany) Lothar Bisky MEP Die Linke (Germany) Jürgen
Klute MEP Die Linke (Germany) Cornelia Ernst MEP Die Linke
(Germany) Sabine Wils MEP Die Linke (Germany)
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Comments (2 of 2)
Jump To Comment:12That's nice but we don't need and don't want politicians involved in these protests. Doesn't matter what party are they from. We need more people on the streets instead of MEPs trying to pretend they represent us. We need self-organization instead of groups of "elected" elites making decisions for us.
Power to the people.
Unless the term "Real Democracy" is defined very accurately and very efficiently, it seems to me that all opposed to this style of government will "muddy the waters" at every opportunity they get: for the purpose of fooling people, and causing avoidable divisions of the "divide and rule" kind.
Very fortunately, as I see things, former US President Abraham Lincoln has already provided us all with such a definition for "Real Democracy", and it is simply this:
"government of the people, by the people, for the people".
As can be seen at the www address provided just below, I have tried to draw attention to this definition of "Real Democracy" in the e-mail I sent to Paul Murphy MEP (Member of the European Parliament) -- and to several of his MEP colleagues -- on Sunday, 5 June, 2011.
Related link: http://www.humanrightsireland.com/MEPs/5June2011/Email.htm