On Mon, 26 Jan 1998, William Kirk wrote:
> Added to that, I was told yesterday that the EU is now run by a council
> of the 'unknown', the ERT I think they are called, and I have no idea
> what that means. What happens if one member takes a bad turn or becomes a
> 'visionary'? Or convinces himself he is right?
Do you mean the European Commission? They're appointed by the elected
national parliaments of the member states; there's also the European
Parliament which, if I recall aright, has been slowly taking on a bigger
role in the EU as of late. The EU has its problems, but it's a promising
model of transnational democracy, debate and discussion compared to, say,
the authoritarian, top-down neoliberal savagery engulfing the ex-American
Empire.
> Political reform is next to impossible.
It may look that way in the Anglo-Saxon countries. I think the answer is
to generate a new kind of politics, on the model of the Central European
Green parties, where struggle outside of the existing political
institutions is as important as votes and elections.
> Added to this the EU hands out cash so who
> cannot resist taking it? Anyone who shows displeasure, and the only way
> to do that is take positive action, as in the Newbury by-pass and the
> extension of Manchester Airport, to mention just two of many hundreds,
> are 'listed' as 'enemies of the state'.
Well, Britain is a dependent semi-periphery of the European Union, so it's
not surprising to see Albion taking money where it can get it. But why not
elect folks to the European Parliament who'll use that money to pay for
schools and hospitals, and not asphalt and weapons systems? If capitalism
wants to abolish the nation-state, and it appears to be in the process of
doing so, then Left alternatives to Business As Usual must go beyond
national utopias. For Brits, this means dumping Labour's Murdochian
capitalism and building Green or other Left Parties; for Americans,
dumping the Democrats, etc. Local activism is meaningless without global
solidarity, and vice versa.
-- Dennis