European Union

Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Panelists Juan Roch (Podemos) Jens Wissel (Assoziation für Kritische Gesellschaftsforschung) Martin Suchanek (GAM/LFI) Nikos Nikisianis (DIKTIO) Moderated by Thodoris Velissaris. Description A united and peaceful Europe seemed to be a distant dream for a generation which went through the experience of war and destruction. Today, this hope gained shape in the new realities of the European Union. Despite its official proclamation of peace, social well being and an “alternative to capitalism and communism” the project finds itself in a prolonged crisis with uncertain expectations. [Read More]

THE POLITICAL LIFE OF GREECE during the last months has been determined by the quick and complete failure of SYRIZA to achieve its goals through negotiations with the leading powers of the European Union (EU): relaxation of the harsh austerity policies being applied to the country, a partial write-off of its unbearable debt, and thus mitigation of the humanitarian crisis. Though quite modest, SYRIZA’s aspirations were not therefore more realistic. Because of its commitment to Greece’s Eurozone and EU membership, SYRIZA from the very start subordinated itself to the operating principles of these institutions and the negotiating framework set by the creditors. [Read More]

Oakland: AK Press & Occupied London, 2011 What is happening here exceeds us. (199) THERE IS A BAD THEORETICAL HABIT common among leftists: the confirmation of revolutionary aspirations through an unmediated verification by the “facts” or “data.” The ghost of an “objective” reality obscures the effort to grasp the “concrete” as the combination of many abstractions and, instead, “a chaotic representation [Vorstellung] of the whole” (Marx) is preferred, offering a temporary foundation for self-affirmation and miraculously turning a “bad” reality into a “good” one. [Read More]