We all have under the eyes of the effect of the "crisis", but it is wrong to use this word, “crisis” is a turning point, is a brief moment when a sick person has to be hospitalized or dies, what we live in is the sequel of the crisis that began five years ago. The crisis is the result of the construction of neo-liberalism as the "ideology of the time", built with meticulous attention and not fallen from the sky. The "Chicago Boys" with a long march in institutions, have gradually imposed, exercising the cultural hegemony needed to convince people that there were no alternatives to an economy that has led to the concentration of power in a few hands, creating social inequality and moral and ethics crisis in our society. The rich people, what we call the "class of the devil" have no interest in supporting democracies and the general interest, not even on the possibility that this injustice will lead to political instability. The level of poverty in the world is even increased after 2008, social crises are intertwined with the issue of climate change, food sovereignty. Today 50 corporations own 40% of the global economy, 48 of these are of a financial nature. The domain of finance is total and less than 20% of the investments in this market goes in the real economy, where the situation is worsening day by day. Unemployment in France is 10%, in Greece, Spain and Portugal, 50% of young people are unemployed. Krugman or Stiglitz, Nobel Prize in economics, see the policies of austerity as the economical suicide of the continent, attributing it to the incompetence and the inability of analysis and therefore of appropriates actions of European oligarchies, their vision is naive. Not so, it’s not that they do not know what they’re doing, it’s simply a matter of choice, the European leader knows what he does and in the class conflict are simply pursuing the specific interests of their side. The construction of the European Union was made passing over the democracy, over the referendum against the constitution made in France, Ireland, the Netherlands. In 2008, with the Treaty of Lisbon, they simply told us that people will not be heard and that the free union market is even constitutionally guaranteed. After the huge crisis of 2007/2008 it was expected that were approved laws that really intervene to stop the speculation and control the banks. None of this has happened, in Europe no single measure has been taken. The banks having received large sums of public money, have returned to the command using those funds to continue to give themselves top managers salaries and bonuses. Financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs not only did not have a stop, but became even head of government in Italy and Greece and have strengthened their role in the central bank. What is now in act is a clash between them and the idea of Europe that we have built in spite of our story made also of genocide, world wars, colonialism, in an ideal of democracy, human rights, care for the weak, personal freedoms.
What they want is to replace it with another idea of individualism in which the charity is good for the poor but there is no reason why the rich pay more for public services, "If you do not have success in life is your fault because you haven’t worked hard". We have proof of what evil austerity policies produce. Today we know that mathematically, economically, these will not lead to more jobs or benefit for the people. They bring in a vortex that is increasing in all European countries, into a spiral that drags them down, which means poverty, misery, unemployment. People are aware of what is happening, in Portugal one million people in the streets, a great mobilization in Spain, the Greeks are the awesome things on the ground of solidarity to replace public services, which have more resources to work, people do all that is humanly possible. Meanwhile in Brussels applies the " radio silence ", do not listen to anything. What should we do? It ’clear that we must unite, it is clear that we must unite all European countries to force the officials in Brussels, the European Commission, the central bank and we have to cross the ocean because even the IMF intends that these policies need to be changed. It is not enough to fight individually or collectively at the national level. We should immediately go to the next level, you have to struggle together in Europe. That’s why we launched the Alter Summit to be held in Athens on 7 and 8 June. The network Alter Summit is a convergence of social organizations and movement, which seeks to build a plot of convergence of actions and strategies to deal with the challenge at European level and the creation of an opposition to neoliberal policies. Born 40 between union structures and active citizenship organizations and movement, now has 189 between members and observers. Its strength is the articulation not only geographical but also thematic, of those who constitute it. Subjects such as the European Attac network, the network transform! europe, research institutes as TNI, European trade unions such as teachers and national entities such as the CGT and Solidaires from French Commissiones Obreras from Spain, the campaign for the State Wefare from Norway along with the union Ve.rdi a department of IG Metall from Germany and from Italy , among the others, the Fiom and Arci the CGIL and Cobas. In Greece, as many as 45 between unions and movements have currently joined. The intention is to build a platform where everyone can recognize and which leads to define a unitary capacity to intervene in the political field on the many and various aspects in which the policies of austerity and privatization involved. The path that led us to Athens was a constituent process still open but defined by writing a "manifesto" in which are highlighted our priorities and our claims. The final day will have a demonstration through the streets of Athens, a unified movement that for the first time in the history of our continent will act at European level, because if Greece was the workshop of the austerity policies will also become for the creation of the European opposition . It will be an important event but it will not end there. It will end when we build a fairer Europe, ecological, democratic and feminist.
Susan George - Roberto Morea
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