politics for the 99%

Published on The Bullet No. 1277, by Ingar Solty, June 30, 2016.

Critical remarks on the new post-“Brexit” strategy paper by Sigmar Gabriel and Martin Schulz.

In light of “Brexit” and within 24 hours after the publication of the final results in the British referendum on EU membership, Sigmar Gabriel, Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) chairman, German vice-chancellor and Minister of Economic Affairs in the Merkel government, and Martin Schulz, EU Parliament President, published a new strategy paper analyzing the origins of the deep legitimacy crisis of the European Union amid the Europe-wide rise of the nationalist Right and outlining political pathways to overcome this legitimacy crisis in order to prevent the EU’s disintegration[1] … //

… Alliance of Progressives? … //
… Omissions in the Plan: … //

… Furthermore, it is definitely interesting to note that they suggest this democratization as a technocratic measure from above. This, however, is crucial because it is indicative of their general technocratic top-down idea of politics which is the exact opposite of the activating and movement-oriented approaches to politics embodied by Corbyn or Sanders, for instance. However, a democratization presupposes exactly this kind of mobilization because of the social forces that have an interest in the status quo. This is not only because of short-term political opponents to the meager, institutional changes with regard to the role of the EU parliament that Gabriel and Schulz suggest. It is not just the axis Merkel-Schäuble etc. that need to be taken into account here. The point is that any kind of material democratization would have to tackle the question of the budget rights of the EU Parliament whose ability to implement, for instance, something like a European Marshall Plan, as it has been demanded by the European Trade Union Confederation would currently actually amount to a violation of existing EU primary legislation (for instance Article 126 of the Treaty on the Function of the European Union). As a consequence, without massive mobilizations – that might even constitute a European sovereign (something which the Elite-driven EU does not have and whose lack might be the biggest obstacle for the elite’s project to deepen the integration during the crisis) – this kind of real democratization is not to be had. And insofar as democracy without material foundations is a hollow shell, “postdemocratic” (as Colin Crouch has argued), it presupposes a re-founding of Europe that is real instead of just a catchy slogan.

(full text, endnotes).

Related Links:

• Perilous Plebiscites: Brexit Vote Underscores Limits of Direct Democracy, on Spiegel Online International, A SPIEGEL Editorial by Michael Sauga, July 5, 2016: Brexit sheds light on the problems created when the idea of direct democracy is abused … (??? WHAT? ABUSED? … MY COMMENT: notice, every time folks do not agree with this kind of elites, we are titled absurd, populists, not mature … not obedient enough. I hope strongly that still much more people will taking their destiny in their own hands and f… out these feudalistic dinosaures for whom our diversity is too painful, and our disagreements not understood as our way to negotiate for solutions – a crowd of power intoxicated would-like master-race. I hope strongly for a FREXIT to break definitively the aristocrat capitalistic experiment in which our humanity should be definitively caught. JUST STOP THEM – Heidi);
• Europa neu [be-]gründen;
• Study by Heiner Flassbeck and Costas Lapavitsas;
• The European working classes that have culminated in Brexit;

Other Links:

They abused, cut up corpses’: Escaped ISIS fighter shares his horrors from Syria (RT EXCLUSIVE), on RT, July 6, 2016;

‘Absolute blindness in the EU’: Italy’s wealthiest region urges lifting of Russia sanctions, on RT, July 5, 2016;

FBI recommends no charges against Clinton, but Snowden & others didn’t get off so easy, on RT, July 5, 2016;

Brexit – Let the UK Screw Itself, on Axis of Logic, by Andre Vltchek, July 4, 2016;

Guess Who Wants Authority to Murder by Drone, on Let’s Try Democracy, by David Swanson, July 3, 2016;

Milagro Sala:

• on en.wikipedia: (born January 27, 1964) is a leader of the Tupac Amaru neighborhood association,[1] part of the Association of State Workers (ATE) of Jujuy, and a leading figure in the Movimiento piquetero of Argentina. On January 16, 2016, Sala was arrested on charges of fraud and criminal conspiracy in with her alleged embezzlement of ARS $30,000,000 intended by the government to help the poor …;
• on Google News-search;
• on YouTube-search;
• dans pressenza, une page spéciale concernant l’emprisonnement de Milagro Sala;
• on teleSUR, July 1, 2016. He says, Justice Bends to Political Whims in Argentina: Milagro Sala denies stealing public funds, one of many charges leveled against her, slamming the accusations as political persecution;

Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (Spanish: Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru, abbreviated MRTA) was a Peruvian radical group which started in the early 1980s. The group was led by Víctor Polay Campos until he was sentenced to 32 years imprisonment in 1992[1] and by Néstor Cerpa Cartolini (”Comrade Evaristo”) until his death in 1997 … // … At the height of its strength, the movement had several hundred active members. Its stated goals were to establish a socialist state and rid the country of all imperialist elements …;

Túpac Amaru (1545–1572) … was the last indigenous monarch (Sapa Inca) of the Neo-Inca State.