Income, Commons & Democracy

From A European People’s Campaign to the Building of an Alternative Europe

Throughout Europe, we are witnessing massive transfers of common resources from the public to the private sphere. Our democracies are increasingly being jeopardized by collusive state and market actors; government representatives that have prioritized the short term profits of individuals and corporations ahead of the interests of the people, resulting in the lowering of incomes for common people while raising them for those that created the crisis. From Greece to Spain to London and Rome, the European people are increasingly aware of the need for a different model of globalization. From those resisting the privatization of resources (for example in Italy with the water referendum) to the recent occupations of public spaces against neoliberalism (for example in Spain and Greece), we see these movements as efforts to reclaim the commons, both of resources and democratic spaces, which belong to the 99% and have been appropriated by the 1%. The moment is ripe for the building of an alternative Europe, one which is not merely the product of neoliberal economic policies but rather the political will of the European people. Verder lezen →