The European Union is becoming the enemy of the European people

The European Union is becoming the enemy of the European people - it gives me no pleasure to post this, but it is essential that I do so because it is the truth. Like many people of my generation I had high hopes for the EU. I voted for the UK to join in a referendum in 1974. I didn't buy the 'common market' guff I was being sold at the time by the corporate propaganda machine of the Tory press. I was voting for the 'ideal' and by that I mean a peaceful, war-avoiding Europe, united in a common and progressive purpose. 

In those days a progressive purpose was a realistic project, that a social Europe would be a prosperous, sharing society in which everyone would benefit from the kind of economic and social progress that still seemed inevitable at the time. How things have turned sour since then! Although most Europeans have held fast to that concept of progress, the politicians and capitalists had other ideas. By the 1970's profits were falling and as the EU expanded, so did the influence of the 'free' market neoliberals who were determined to ensure that the EU became a neoliberal corporate club, dedicated to the interests of the rich, at the expense of the rest of us.

And so now we find ourselves at the end of the European dream, living in a union dedicated to destroying the living standards of workers down to third world levels. The exemplar for this is the treatment of the Greeks, by the so-called Troika, who have been beggared  because of a crisis not of their own making. That the hypocrites who lead the EU such as Merkel (and of late Sarkozy) have claimed that this is "solidarity" only serves to emphasise the hypocrisy and mendacity of the Eurocracy . The Greeks have been betrayed and crushed by their own ruling class, with the co-operation of the Eurocratic/capitalist alliance which is a the heart of darkness of the EU.The bailout was only ever intended to protect European banks at the expense of the Greek people.

Munch's The Scream sums up the fate of the Greeks at the hands of the EU

The primary instrument of our betrayal is the the Lisbon Treaty, a neoliberal charter, which enshrines the supremacy of the 'free' market above the needs and democratic rights of the European people. Until this charter is consigned to the dustbin of history where it belongs, there can be no solidarity, freedom or progress within the EU. We need to fight to overcome not only the democratic deficit in the EU but to free Europeans from the economic slavery of neoliberalism. 

Having said all that, its essential that we reject the anti-EU rhetoric churned out by the likes of UKIP, and the right of the Tory party. The only reason for their euroscepticism is because they want to destroy what remains of EU environmental and employment legislation so that they can can screw UK workers even harder than they are being screwed at the moment. Of course, its ironic that this kind of euroscepticism is popular, and that people's discontent in the UK with the EU has been manipulated by the capitalist media to benefit  the likes of UKIP who think that the neoliberalism of the EU doesn't go far enough. Don't be fooled! We don't need to leave the EU but we do need to change it for the benefit of the European people.

The Neoliberalspeak dictionary

This post was inspired by George Orwell's Newspeak. According to Wikipedia:

Newspeak is a fictional language in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the novel, it refers to the deliberately impoverished language promoted by the state.

Over the past 30 years or so neoliberalism has contributed to the impoverishment of our language by the usage, or perhaps mis-use of certain words. The aim of a neoliberalspeak dictionary is to give some of the key words their real meaning.

• affordable housing / adj. - unaffordable housing. Mythical housing unavailable to most citizens in the UK
• bailout / n.; v. - a method of privatising financial gains and nationalising financial losses
• capitalism / n. - a gigantic global Ponzi scheme designed to benefit a small elite whilst plunging billions of people into abject poverty
• deficit reduction / n. ; v. - a means of class war by which the populations of countries are made to pay for the failures of the markets
• efficiency / n. - increasing profits by lowering the living standards of workers. This is typically achieved by cuts in pay, a reduction in holiday entitlement and reduced pension.
• efficiency savings / adj. - cuts
• Eurozone / n. - proto-European capitalist empire where commercial interests are put above democratic rights
• gig economy / adj. low paid - sweatshop labour
• globalisation / n.; v. - a process of opening up the world to Western economic imperialism. A means of looting the natural resources, exploiting labour in all the countries of the world and lowering the standard of living of workers in the West
• Labour market flexibility / adj. - attack on workers conditions, lowering pay reduction in holidays - cheap labour. 
• privatisation / n.; v. - asset stripping of the public sector by the private sector 
• quantitative easing / adj. handouts for the rich. Printing trillions of dollars to prop up a broken global economy
• Social mobility / adj. - conservative fraudulent frame which is used to legitimise inequality in society
• strong leader / n. - a weak leader i.e. someone who will do what we tell them to against the wishes of their own party and its supporters. we being the neoliberal so-called free press (corporate media)
• sustainable / adj. - unsustainable. A word that has become so debased and devalued as to have rendered it virtually meaningless
• tax / n.; v. - a levy by the state on the 99%
• Trump / n.; v. - a fart, noxious gas released from the anus
• we're all in this together / adj. - you pay for our crisis
• WTO / n. - 'we've taken over' . Global organisation for the purpose of promoting the commercial interests of global corporations above the democratic rights of nation states.

I'm sure that in time the dictionary will grow into a comprehensive guide to Neoliberalspeak. I hope that I'll be able get some contributions from some of the greatest exponents of Neoliberalspeak  such as Nick Clegg, Tony Blair, Barak Obama, David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nicola Sarkozy.

The Workers Are Revolting

The British media keep very quiet about industrial action - unless it happens abroad. You only usually read about strikes over here if it can't be avoided, or if it gives the media an opportunity to bash the workers. Over many years, the British press has produced hectares of print telling us how innocent little old ladies have suffered at the hands of striking dustmen and tube workers. The workers are always presented as brutal and callous, lazy and overpaid, and worst still either dangerous subversives, or under the control of sinister militants.

So its good to hear that French workers are fighting back against poor wages and conditions - Sarkozy struggles to contain worker unrest - Guardian 21/02/08 - and are giving the French President a hard time.

Apparently ice cream workers and L'Oreal staff, not noted for their militancy, have been taking industrial action and holding their managers hostage! Thank goodness the French still have the bottle to take on the bosses - which is why they are reviled by the rich and neo-conservatives the world over. More power to their elbow!

Part of the reason the these French workers are revolting is that they have begun to realise what un petit merde Sarkozy is. How could anyone who modeled himself on Tony Blair possibly be anything other than a man of straw? So far Sarkozy has achieved nothing, other than driving away his long suffering wife, awarding himself a 170% pay rise whilst shafting worker's livelihood and pensions, and marrying a rich bimbo. Now he thinks Blair should be president of Europe and you can hear the hollow laughter echoing round the continent.

But don't be completely fooled by the apparent passivity of British workers. The longer New Labour continue to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, the more that pressure for radical change will build. And its not only workers who are getting upset about Gordon 'let them eat cake' Brown's love of the rich. The middle classes are beginning to realise they have been shafted also.

So, watch this space, it will have to get worse here before it gets better but the days when ice cream workers and cosmetics staff hold their managers hostage may not be as far away as you think. In the meantime - Vive La France!