18.3.04
Against the terrorists - international working-class solidarity
"The bombing which killed over 200 people at three railway stations in Madrid in the morning rush hour of 11 March was an unspeakable atrocity. Whoever did it is as much an enemy of the working class and democracy as were the Italian fascists who killed 85 people by bombing Bologna railway station in 1980, or the American right-wing terrorists who killed 168 with a bombing in Oklahoma in 1995.
It would be plain stupid for socialists to translate what the bombers do and aim for into our liberationist concerns, and conclude that they were representing Third World people against imperialism. They see themselves as soldiers of God making war on everything in the modern world that socialists, or even liberals, prize and see as a stepping stone to a better world.
The chief targets of al-Qaida and their like are not, in fact, the US or Spanish governments, but ordinary people — including Muslims — in Madrid or New York or Istanbul, and, above all, the ordinary people of Muslim countries, whether religious, not-so-religious, or secular, who reject the evil, life-hostile, death-worshipping, demented bigotry that al-Qaida stands for. (Alliance for Workers' Liberty)"
"The bombing which killed over 200 people at three railway stations in Madrid in the morning rush hour of 11 March was an unspeakable atrocity. Whoever did it is as much an enemy of the working class and democracy as were the Italian fascists who killed 85 people by bombing Bologna railway station in 1980, or the American right-wing terrorists who killed 168 with a bombing in Oklahoma in 1995.
It would be plain stupid for socialists to translate what the bombers do and aim for into our liberationist concerns, and conclude that they were representing Third World people against imperialism. They see themselves as soldiers of God making war on everything in the modern world that socialists, or even liberals, prize and see as a stepping stone to a better world.
The chief targets of al-Qaida and their like are not, in fact, the US or Spanish governments, but ordinary people — including Muslims — in Madrid or New York or Istanbul, and, above all, the ordinary people of Muslim countries, whether religious, not-so-religious, or secular, who reject the evil, life-hostile, death-worshipping, demented bigotry that al-Qaida stands for. (Alliance for Workers' Liberty)"
15.3.04
The Strange Illusion of a "Social Europe"
"For many years now the thinking of the left in Western Europe has been dominated by an enormously optimistic view of the social policy of the European Union. Trade unions and left parties told everyone that we were on our way to a "Social Europe", one in other words which distributed available work fairly; a Europe which would offer security even to workers with little education, to the unemployed, to those who cannot for whatever reason work, to young people just starting out on working life, to mothers with little experience of work outside the home, to pensioners.
The trend is in reality not towards a 'Social Europe' but in entirely the opposite direction. The social and economic model of the Soviet Union and its allies is no longer around to offer the threat of competition and many workers do not bother to participate in European Parliamentary elections. In the EP elections of 1999 the social democrats, who had until then formed the biggest political group, suffered a heavy defeat, losing out to ourselves - the GUE-NGL - and the Greens, but also to the right. The European People's Party, a combination of Christian Democrats and conservatives, is now the biggest group in the EP, and together with other right wing forces forms a majority."
by Erik Meijer
"For many years now the thinking of the left in Western Europe has been dominated by an enormously optimistic view of the social policy of the European Union. Trade unions and left parties told everyone that we were on our way to a "Social Europe", one in other words which distributed available work fairly; a Europe which would offer security even to workers with little education, to the unemployed, to those who cannot for whatever reason work, to young people just starting out on working life, to mothers with little experience of work outside the home, to pensioners.
The trend is in reality not towards a 'Social Europe' but in entirely the opposite direction. The social and economic model of the Soviet Union and its allies is no longer around to offer the threat of competition and many workers do not bother to participate in European Parliamentary elections. In the EP elections of 1999 the social democrats, who had until then formed the biggest political group, suffered a heavy defeat, losing out to ourselves - the GUE-NGL - and the Greens, but also to the right. The European People's Party, a combination of Christian Democrats and conservatives, is now the biggest group in the EP, and together with other right wing forces forms a majority."
by Erik Meijer
