ReCommonsEurope: Manifesto for a New Popular Internationalism in Europe

26 May 2019 by Eric Toussaint , Esther Vivas , Catherine Samary , Costas Lapavitsas , Stathis Kouvelakis , Tijana Okić , Nathan Legrand , Alexis Cukier , Jeanne Chevalier , Yayo Herrero

This text is the short version of the “Manifesto for a New Popular Internationalism in Europe”, which was published on 21 March 21 2019 in English, French and Spanish.

This Manifesto has been drawn up by a group of activists and researchers from a dozen or so countries in Europe who wish to propose a blueprint to be carried out by the popular Left forces. It is part of the ReCommonsEurope Project which was initiated by two international networks, the CADTM and EReNSEP, and the Basque trade union ELA, in order to contribute to the strategic debates taking place within the European popular Left today. It was written in one year by sixteen people active in six different countries (Belgium, Bosnia, France, Greece, the Spanish State, and the United Kingdom); the authors are active in different organisations and movements (trade unions, political parties, activist movements) and bring together diverse and complementary expertise (economics, political science, philosophy, anthropology, law, ecology, unionism, feminism, North/South solidarity, and so on). Three generations are represented. The Manifesto is supported by more than 160 signatories from 21 different European countries, among whom a majority of women. The collection of signatures, as well as the collective reflection and elaboration from which this Manifesto has emerged, are continuing.

We have written a coherent proposal for the commitments, initiatives and measures to be taken by the forces of the popular Left in Europe. The proposals address the main issues that a people’s government will have to face as soon as it comes to power. The Manifesto is intended for political organizations and social movements (trade unions, associations, citizens) fighting at local, national and international levels for fundamental human rights and equality for all, for social emancipation and democracy, and against the destruction of ecosystems.

Our objective is to submit these analyses and proposals for discussion to the social and political left, and to all those activists and citizens of Europe who are convinced that a radical change is necessary if we are to meet the major challenges of the day. Europe is going through a major and prolonged crisis. The European Union is basically anti-democratic and in the service of the richest. In recent years, several opportunities have been missed, especially in 2015 in Greece. The ecological crisis, violent austerity policies, and the danger represented by the rise of a racist and xenophobic far right, only make it more urgent to define a strategy associating organization from below, social movements and political organizations, in order to make politics serve the interests of the majority.

ReCommonsEurope : Manifeste pour un nouvel internationalisme des peuples en Europe (PDF -1.1 Mb)

Manifesto for a New Popular Internationalism in Europe (PDF -1 Mb)

Author

Eric Toussaint

is a historian and political scientist who completed his Ph.D. at the universities of Paris VIII and Liège, is the spokesperson of the CADTM International, and sits on the Scientific Council of ATTAC France.
He is the author of Greece 2015: there was an alternative. London: Resistance Books / IIRE / CADTM, 2020 , Debt System (Haymarket books, Chicago, 2019), Bankocracy (2015); The Life and Crimes of an Exemplary Man (2014); Glance in the Rear View Mirror. Neoliberal Ideology From its Origins to the Present, Haymarket books, Chicago, 2012, etc.
See his bibliography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89ric_Toussaint
He co-authored World debt figures 2015 with Pierre Gottiniaux, Daniel Munevar and Antonio Sanabria (2015); and with Damien Millet Debt, the IMF, and the World Bank: Sixty Questions, Sixty Answers, Monthly Review Books, New York, 2010. He was the scientific coordinator of the Greek Truth Commission on Public Debt from April 2015 to November 2015.

Author

Esther Vivas

est née en 1975 à Sabadell (Etat espagnol). Elle est auteure de plusieurs livres et de publications sur les mouvements sociaux, la consommation responsable et le développement durable. Elle a publié en français En campagne contre la dette (Syllepse, 2008) et est coauteure des livres en espagnol Planeta indignado. Ocupando el futuro (2012), Resistencias globales. De Seattle a la crisis de Wall Street (2009) est coordinatrice des livres Supermarchés, non merci et Où va le commerce équitable ?, entre autres.
Elle a activement participé au mouvement anti-globalisation et anti-guerre à Barcelone, de même qu’elle a contribué à plusieurs éditions du Forum Social Mondial, du Forum Social Européen et du Forum Social Catalan. Elle travaille actuellement sur des questions comme la souveraineté alimentaire et le commerce équitable.
Elle est membre de la rédaction de la revue Viento Sur et elle collabore fréquemment avec des médias conventionnels tels que Público et avec des médias alternatifs comme El Viejo Topo, The Ecologist, Ecología Política, Diagonal, La Directa, entre autres.
Elle est également membre du Centre d’Études sur les Mouvements Sociaux (CEMS) à l’Université Pompeu Fabra.
@esthervivas | facebook.com/esthervivas | www.esthervivas.com

Author

Catherine Samary

Author

Costas Lapavitsas

is a member of Popular Unity, Professor of Economics at SOAS and former member of the Greek Parliament.

Author

Stathis Kouvelakis

teaches political theory at King’s College London. He formerly served on the central committee of Syriza and is now a member of Popular Unity.

Author

Tijana Okić

Author

Nathan Legrand

CADTM Belgium

Author

Alexis Cukier

membre d’Ensemble ! et du réseau ERENSEP (European Research Network on Social and Economic Policies)

Author

Jeanne Chevalier

est cadre du secteur public bancaire, militante associative dans le domaine de la culture et responsable de la rédaction du livret programmatique “Banques” de la France Insoumise.

Author

Yayo Herrero

professeure à l’Université Nationale d’Education à distance de Madrid et co-coordinatrice des Ecologistes en Action (Espagne).

Translation(s)

Other publications in English :

Africa : the debt trap and how to get out of it
27 March - CADTM
A century of debt crises in Latin America : from independence to the Great Depression, 1820-1930
24 January 2022 - Carlos Marichal
Greece 2015: There was an alternative
6 October 2020 - Eric Toussaint
Impact of European policies on the Global South and possible alternatives
8 September 2020 - ReCommons Europe
Package of common demands on debt and the need for citizens’ control on finance at European level - Executive summar
3 August 2020 - CADTM, Collective

Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt