FOR A DIFFERENT EUROPE

TNI

November 2005

FOR A DIFFERENT EUROPE

In June 2004, Europeans voted in a new European Parliament. A new group, Citizens' Initiative for a Social Europe, that was started by socially committed scholars at the University of Amsterdam and had the support of a number of high profile people associated with TNI, issued a call for the electorate to reclaim Europe from corporate neo-liberalism and the militarist agenda of the USA. The appeal was signed by seventy-five scholars, artists, political figures and ngo activists from ten European countries. Please see below the full text of the call and those who signed it. The issuing group is planning a website to define more closely the goals outlined in the appeal, and to discuss the work of the European Parliament and its legislative proposals with interested MEPs. If you wish to participate in this site, send your name and email address to Arthur Mitzman.

In June 2004, all member-states of the European Union will hold elections to the European Parliament. Popular disgust at the arrogance of American power offers the Left a major chance to begin the reconquest of Europe from corporate neoliberalism, a free market utopia linked to the global economic and military dominance of the United States.

Leverage at the European level is indispensable for changing the neoliberal drift emanating from Brussels: Most of the national economic legislation for pro-business "reforms" - deregulation, privatisation and diminution of social welfare, promoted by both center-right and center-left governments - is based on EU law that leads to the subordination of government to corporate interests.

Breaking the corporate strangle-hold on European social policy requires a strengthened and environmentally aware Left in a purposeful European Parliament, a Parliament capable of demanding a larger role for the only democratically elected institution in the European scheme and willing to reverse the current priorities of deregulation and privatisation. A Europe based on democracy and solidarity is all the more necessary in the light of the current expansion of the EU to 25 member nations.

A progressive European Parliament could implement a European social program revitalizing protections for health, old age and unemployment currently menaced everywhere. It could reduce the work week rather than the work force, control outsourcing of jobs and financial speculation, and accelerate EU investment in public transportation, public education and public health.
Such a Europe could unite the social goals of the left to the imperatives of environmental wisdom, thus creating a breakthrough for the critical forces that have been germinating in Europe ever since the collapse of the Soviet empire ended the Cold War. It could increase European funding for sustainable energy sources, sharpen anti-pollution legislation, end the continent-wide menaces of nuclear power and genetically manipulated foods, and mandate an ecologically responsible agriculture.
These programs are essential since without visible, effective policies for a social and green Europe, Europeans will be trapped between the protectionist populism of the Far Right and an opportunistic Atlanticist bellicism. Where guarantees for a decent and sustainable existence break down, social insecurity breeds xenophobic hostility, undermining and dishonoring Europe's commitment to universal human rights. The Left must articulate the desire of the peoples of Europe not to exchange their welfare states for warfare states.
Instead of closing itself off from the rest of humankind, a Social Europe could openly confront neoliberal trade policies on a world scale, offering the countries of the global South an alternative to corporate domination by the global North. It could use the wealth and creative idealism of Europe to help the peoples of Asia, Africa and South America develop their economies on their own terms, not on those of multinational investors.

We believe that an alliance between an informed European electorate and an empowered European Parliament can and must reshape Europe for the welfare of its peoples and as a model for the global future.

Michael Krätke (political science, UvA [University of Amsterdam]), Joep Leerssen (European Studies, UvA), Arthur Mitzman (History [emeritus], UvA)
Issued by Citizens' Initiative For A Social Europe.

Co-signers of "For A Different Europe" (June 17)

Netherlands:

Farouk Achour (author)
Kiki Amsberg (documentary film maker)
Chris&Ton van Asseldonk, Wim Bartels (Interchurch Peace Council [IKV])
Lily van den Bergh (filmmaker)
Alexander von Bormann (Professor of German Literature [emeritus], University of Amsterdam [UvA])
Jesse Bos (Wethouder (alderman)Amsterdam-North)
Brid Brennan (Trans National Insitute [TNI])
Daniel Chavez (TNI)
Hinde Chergui (jurist)
René Danen (coordinator, Keer het Tij)
Fiona Dove (TNI)
Roel van Duijn (Groen Links [Green Left Party])
Frances Gouda (History and Gender Studies, UvA)
Myrtille Hellendoorn (Social Sciences, Vrije Universiteit)
Godelieve van Heteren (MP, PvdA)
Olivier Hoedeman (Corporate Europe Observatory)
James Paul Kahan (professor of psychology and policy analyst)
Gabriel Kolko (historian)
Joyce Kolko (historian)
Rudi Künzel (History, UvA)
Solange Leibovici (Comparative Literature, UvA)
Machteld Löwenstein (art historian)
Denise Martinez (visual artist)
Huub Oosterhuis (De Rode Hoed)
Jan Nederveen Pieterse (sociologist)
Luciano Pitzalis (Globalization Festival)
Rachel Ploem, Gary Price (retired consultant)
Anke Polak (chairperson, Humanistisch Vredesberaad)
Jan Pronk (former cabinet minister, PvdA)
Inez Schreurs (coaching practice)
Rob Simons (journalist)
Joost Smiers (Professor, Utrecht School of the Arts)
David Sogge (TNI)
Aafke Steenhuis (writer and artist)
Henri L.J.A. van de Vall (Stop de Bezetting [Stop The Occupation])
Mr. Berend C. Vis (Faculty of Law, University of Groningen)
Anne-Ruth Wertheim (publiciste)
Marleen Wessel (historian and law student, UvA)
Paul van der Wilt (artist)
Karel van Wolferen (Political Science, UvA)

Belguim:

Luc Herman (American Studies, University of Antwerp)
Riccardo Petrella (economist, Université de Louvain)
Albena Azmanova (political scientist, Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
Philippe van Parijs (philosoper and economist, Université de Louvain)
Myriam Vander Stichele (historian).

Germany:

Elizabeth Abendroth (writer and translator)
Konrad Boehmer, (composer)
Claus Offe (sociologist, Humboldt Universität)
Peter Schöttler (historian, CNRS and Free University Berlin)
Margareta Steinrücke (sociologist, Arbeitnehmerkammer, Hamburg)
Heiner Stück (sociologist, Arbeitnehmerkammer, Hamburg)
Frieder Otto Wolf (philosopher)

France:

Francis McCollum Feeley (Professeur d'Etudes américaines, Université de Grenoble3)
Susan George (writer)
Laurent Gerbaud, (Health Policy Research, Auvergne University)
Michael Löwy (sociologist, CNRS)
Thomas Perrin (Assistant ingénieur/recherche et formation, Paris)
Kapil Raj (Historian of science, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris)
Michel Rocard (former Prime Minister [1988-91], former member of the European Parliament)

England:

Peter Gowan (editorial board, New Left Review)
Bob Jessop (political scientist, Lancaster University)
Hilary Wainwright (editor, Red Pepper)

Ireland:

Seamus Deane (literary historian)

Spain:

Francisco Fernández Buey (sociologist, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona).

Italy:

Marco Berlinguer (Transform! European Network for Alternative Thinking and Political Dialogue)
Luciana Castellina (former MEP)
Malcolm Sylvers (historian, University of Venice).

Greece