[P2P-F] Fwd: [Networkedlabour] New article by Paolo Gerbaudo on the political revolt in Europe

[Michel Bauwens]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Orsan Senalp <orsan1234 at gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Nov 22, 2014 at 2:51 PM
Subject: [Networkedlabour] New article by Paolo Gerbaudo on the political
revolt in Europe
To: networkedlabour at lists.contrast.org, squares <
squares at lists.takethesquare.net>


...

Amid a worsening economic crisis, a look at the protest movements that are
struggling against austerity could be described as a two-speed.Europe  An
expression abused by economists and political scientists talking about the
different levels of economic productivity and political integration of
European countries, it also captures well the distance between countries
where protest movements have won the approval of a majority of the
population, and others where they continue to be in the minority.

On the one hand there are Spain and Greece, which since 2011 have seen an
impressive citizen mobilization and in which the force of the movement is
blowing wind in the sails of Left parties, like the new-born Podemos in
Spain and the remodeled SYRIZA in Greece, which are now in for a chance of
government. On the other hand there are a number of countries such as
Italy, Germany, France and Great Britain, where the protests against
austerity are far from representing the majority support that has been
secured by the*indignados* in Spain and the *aganaktismenoi* in Greece.

Spain has undoubtedly been leading Europe in the social movements stakes in
recent years. Since the birth of the *indignados* in May 2011, the country
has experienced a high level of protests. From the “citizen tides” against
government cuts to the campaigns against housing evictions, to a
flourishing of associations, alternative media and grassroots legal
campaigns against corrupt politicians. It is in this context of the awesome
strength of social movements that we have to read the spectacular growth of
Podemos, now the no. 1 party according to the opinion polls, as well as the
development of local initiatives such as Ganemos in Madrid, Guanyem in
Barcelona, participatory civic lists, through which movements directly seek
local government power, without the mediation of any party.

Greece follows close behind. After the occupations by the aganaktismenoi
(“outraged” in Greek), the country has seen the emergence of various
protest actions against cuts to public spending, new forms of local
associations, campaigns of solidarity with migrants and factory
occupations. The relationship of the movement with SYRIZA is more
problematic than that of the indignados with Podemos, as SYRIZA is more
classic  party, more bureaucratic. But even in this case the reason for the
electoral growth of Alexis Tsipras’ party, likely to win early elections in
2015, is the result of broad consensus that the movements have been able to
create in a country massacred by austerity policies.

Far behind are  all other European countries, where the “movement of the
squares” were killed in the cradle, as happened in Italy with the debacle
of October 15, 2011
<http://strugglesinitaly.wordpress.com/2011/10/18/occupy-rome-the-day-after/,>
or
have made little impact, as in Great Britain, where the Occupy movement was
much weaker than the US cousin. To be sure, signs of activity in these
countries are not lacking. In Italy, the strength of the movement for
housing, the large turnout for  in the the CGIL protest on 25 October and
in the strike on November 14, offer some hope.

In Germany, Blockupy, a group that has launched several protests against
the European Central Bank promises to spoil the party for the opening of
the new headquarters of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. In Britain,
the People’s Assembly in recent years has reconstructed the left front
against austerity. In France, the “classic country of the class struggle,”
according to Marx, has in recent years witnessed major protests like the
one in 2006 against the European Constitution,  but the movement against
the economic crisis has proved to be surprisingly weak, although in recent
days we have seen union mobilization targeted against budget cuts ordered
by a deeply disappointing Socialist  President Francois Hollande.

What is still missing in these countries, even in those where the protest
movements seem to be more active, is the spirit of the people, in a
positive populist meaning, something which allowed the movements in Spain
and Greece to win the approval of a majority of the population and create
the basis for a conquest of state power.

Instead of innovating practice and language in order to capitalize on the
growing dissent of large segments of the population, we continue to cling
to tradition, as if 2011 and the Occupy movement never happened. Or we
resort to the antagonist political tactics adopted by the
anti-globalization movement or we stick to the traditional union
procession. Practices that mobilize different sectors of the organized
left, be it independent or institutional, but that are unable to reach mass
of unorganized and unrepresented, the impoverished middle and working
class, the new poor that dot the landscape of the great recession, and
could become the basis of consensus for the Right.

The reasons for this movement in Europe of two speeds are varied. Spain and
Greece, the leading countries for the anti-austerity movement, are not
surprisingly also the the ones where the social effects of the crisis have
been felt more explosively, with a quarter of the population and half of
young people out of work. In other countries, the effects of the crisis
have been experienced in more slowly and moderately, either because the
impact has been cushioned by a more generous welfare state like France and
Britain, or due to a better economic situation such as in Germany, or
because household savings have been used to temporarily limit social
problems, such as Italy.

However, the gap between Spain and Greece and the rest also has to do with
political and cultural issues. In Italy the burdensome presence of  groups
inherited from the anti-globalization movement is one of the factors has
hindered the emergence of a indignados-style movement. But to move from a
defensive attitude to ambitious majority, in Italy as in other countries,
there lacked a resource that is at the basis of the birth of the i
*ndignados* in Spain and in the *aganaktismenoi* in Greece. It’s one thing
summed up the ambivalent Spanish word ‘ilusion’, often used by Iberian
activists to explain the spirit of the recent protests; it means at the
same time “illusion” and “enthusiasm” for the things to come. It is this
that we need to defeat the resignation and invent new forms of protest at
times of economic and social hardship.

Il Manifesto
<http://ilmanifesto.info/indignados-continentali-a-doppia-velocita/>

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