Europe

Ukraine War Turns Into Russian Roulette

September 17, 2024 M. K. Bhadrakumar, Consortium News. Educate! Europe, Joe Biden, NATO, Nuclear War, Russia, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK), US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism, World War III

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with U.S. President Joe Biden in the White House on Friday with the question of the use of long-range missiles by Ukraine to hit deep inside Russia on their agenda of conversation. But there were no announcements, nor was there any joint press conference. Starmer later told the media that the talks were “productive” but concentrated on “strategy” rather than a “particular step or tactic.” He did not signal any decision on allowing Kiev to fire long-range missiles into Russia. Starmer said no final decision had been taken on the Storm Shadow missiles and hinted that further developments may follow at the gathering of the U.N. General Assembly later this month. “We’ll obviously pick up again in UNGA in just a few days time with a wider group of individuals,” he said.

ManiFiesta 2024 Brings New Energy To Activists And Movements

September 9, 2024 Ana Vračar, People's Dispatch. Organize! Belgium, Europe, Israel, Manifiesta, Palestine, Palestine Solidarity, Solidarity, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Over 15,000 people gathered in Ostend, Belgium, for ManiFiesta 2024, a two-day event of activism and solidarity. Inspired by speeches from global activists and union leaders, attendees left with a renewed drive to pursue mobilizations in different parts of Europe. Speaking at the central event of ManiFiesta, Raoul Hedebouw, president of the Workers’ Party of Belgium (PTB), set the tone by addressing growing inequalities and attacks on workers’ rights in Belgium, announcing a response from the party. A significant part of the event was also devoted to building solidarity with Palestine, with speakers such as Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) and climate justice activist Anuna De Wever Van Der Heyden emphasizing the importance of international support for Palestinian liberation.

Europe’s Thirst For Green Imperialism In Serbia

September 5, 2024 Revolutionary People’s Party-Front, Black Agenda Report. Educate! Europe, Green Imperialism, Imperialism, Lithium, NATO, Serbia, Western imperialism

On the 18th of June 2024, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany visited Serbia. The two countries signed an agreement to give mining permits to German industrialists in the lithium-rich region of Jadar in Western Serbia. This will enable Germany to continue to compete with China’s manufacturing capabilities. Mass protests are ongoing in Serbia against this project and the selling of natural resources with complete disregard for the environmental ramifications. This deal between Serbia and Germany comes amidst imperialist tactics that are unfairly trying to compete with China’s advancements in the mass production of electric vehicles (EVs) through tax hikes on Chinese EVs and making Europeans hoard the market share without fair competition.

Pro-Palestine Activists Are Under Attack In Europe

August 12, 2024 Leon Wystrychowski, People's Dispatch. Educate! Europe, Gaza, Human Rights, Israel, Palestine, Palestine Solidarity, Repression

Since October 7, and the subsequent genocide in Gaza, millions have taken to the streets worldwide to demonstrate against the current genocide, as well as against the 76-year-long Israeli occupation of Palestine. In Europe and North America, and in countries in West Asia, these protests are largely directed against their own governments that are accused of not doing enough for Palestine, or are directly involved in the occupation in Palestine and in the genocide in Gaza. Political protest, which is opposed to the state and government policy, inevitably runs the risk of being met with state repression.

Towards A Degrowth Border Perspective

August 10, 2024 Jenny Ufer, Resilience. Strategize! Borders, Elections, Europe, Far Right, Immigration

What do we do with our borders? The right-wing shift in the European political climate in recent years has meant a higher degree of securitisation. At the same time, some are calling for border controls to be reduced or even abolished. Perhaps the answer lies in a change of perspective; a new outlook free from the shackles of capitalism and inspired by degrowth. Recent national and European elections have marked a shift to the right in European politics. While the far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally, RN) failed to win a majority in France’s parliamentary election, it will still be the most represented party in the French Parliament. In other European countries, such as Italy, Finland, and the Netherlands, radical right forces have formed coalition governments.

Just Stop Oil Just Showed Exactly How The Left Needs To Organise

August 8, 2024 The Canary. Strategize! Europe, Far Right, Just Stop Oil, Left, Racism

Just Stop Oil is calling a pause on further actions while far-right race riots are continuing to affect many towns and cities around the country. In recent weeks, Just Stop Oil has been acting with groups internationally, to demand governments establish a Fossil Fuel Treaty to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030. However, by pausing its own actions it means it can mobilise with communities and other groups to present a united front against the far-right – exactly the approach that’s needed. A Just Stop Oil spokesperson issued the following statement: “Like the entire country, our community has been deeply disturbed by the events of recent days. Disturbed, but not surprised. The civil unrest the country is experiencing is a taste of what science is telling us will happen, as climate chaos accelerates and makes the preservation of a stable society untenable.

Grassroots Mobilizations To Challenge Surge Of Far-Right Violence In Britain

August 4, 2024 Ana Vračar, People's Dispatch. Resist! Europe, Far Right, Fascism, Immigration, Islamophobia, United Kingdom (UK)

Anti-fascist groups in Britain are preparing for a weekend of mobilizations against the far-right. For the past week, far-right groups have incited a series of violent rallies across England, exploiting the public discourse after three children were tragically killed in a stabbing in Southport, northwest England. Exploiting the towns mourning, far-right groups have cynically manipulated the narrative surrounding the event into their hate-driven, racist, and Islamophobic discourse. Hundreds traveled to Southport and other towns in the north following vigils held for the killed children, only to spark violent riots. The rioters surrounded and attacked mosques with people inside, set police vehicles ablaze, and vandalized local shops.

The Venezuelan People Stay With The Bolivarian Revolution

July 31, 2024 Vijay Prashad, People's Dispatch. Resist! Bolivarian Process, Bolivarian Revolution, Europe, Nicolas Maduro, Sanctions, US Imperialism, US sanctions against Venezuela, Venezuela

On July 28, the 70th birthday of Hugo Chávez (1954-2013), Nicolás Maduro Moros won the Venezuelan presidential election, the fifth since the Bolivarian Constitution was ratified in 1999. In January 2025, Maduro will start his third six-year term as president. He took over the reins of the Bolivarian Revolution after the death of Chávez from pelvic cancer in 2013. Since the death of Chávez, Maduro has faced several challenges: to build his own legitimacy as president in the place of a charismatic man who came to define the Bolivarian Revolution; to tackle the collapse of oil prices in mid-2014, which negatively impacted Venezuela’s state revenues (over 90% of which was from oil exports); and to manage a response to the unilateral, illegal sanctions deepened on Venezuela by the United States as oil prices declined.

Europe’s Path To War And Self-Destruction

July 27, 2024 Fabian Scheidler, Scheer Post. Educate! Europe, European Union (EU), Hungary, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine

Brussels is working hard to boycott Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s EU Council Presidency. The background: Orbán’s trips to Kiev, Moscow and Beijing, which were aimed at negotiating a ceasefire agreement, are infuriating EU leaders and the governments in Berlin, Paris and other capitals. There is certainly a lot that can be said against the right-wing Hungarian head of state and Trump friend, who is responsible for a whole series of rule of law deficits in his home country. But to accuse him of a diplomatic initiative that other member states have so far been unwilling or unable to take shows how far the EU has moved away from its former claim to be a force for peace.

NATO’s Civilian Bases

July 25, 2024 Joan Roelofs, Counter Punch. Educate! Europe, NATO, NATO Bases, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism

Why has NATO been so generally accepted in Europe by almost all the major political parties and especially puzzling, the social democratic ones? Its economic costs, illegal aggressive wars, environmental damage, and the risks of nuclear annihilation would seem to make it a prime platform item. Well-informed political activists are unlikely to believe that an invasion of Switzerland or Denmark is imminent. There are significant anti-NATO movements, such as No to War No to NATO, but so far they haven’t been able to turn the tide. Some reasons are fairly obvious. The US military connections to European defense and foreign ministries began during World War II.

President Daniel Ortega On The 45th Anniversary Of Sandinista Revolution

July 21, 2024 Tortilla con Sal. Educate! Europe, History, Nicaragua, Sandinista Revolution, US Imperialism, Western imperialism

Here, No One Surrenders! Young people are in command and do command, the People is in command and does command, and Daniel obeys. Yes, thanks be to God that we are ready, we are prepared, and this is a task, a labor demanding a great deal of Love for Peace, and that is what Nicaraguans defend. First of all, we Sandinistas are committed to that Principle, and too, the Nicaraguan people are also convinced that only Peace brings Well-being, Employment, Schools, Hospitals, Roads, Housing, Transportation, Entrepreneurship, Education and Free Education, because that is a Right of the People, a Right of our Families, a Right of our Young People.

Will Immigrant Workers In Britain Win Europe’s First Amazon Union?

July 16, 2024 Luis Feliz Leon, Labor Notes. Organize! Amazon, England, Europe, Unions, United Kingdom (UK), Worker Rights and Jobs

Workers at fulfillment center BHX4 in Coventry, central England, cast votes July 8-13 for the GMB union to negotiate over pay, hours, and working conditions with the Amazon bosses. The results are expected July 17. The watershed vote comes after a long, bruising battle; Amazon tried U.S.-style stalling and union-busting tactics. Meanwhile the workers have taken 37 days of strike action in two years. They’ve grown their union to 1,400 members, established a stewards network, and built multiethnic solidarity. In the U.K., workers can become dues-paying members before union recognition is attained.

Mining Lithium In Europe’s (Semi) Periphery

July 14, 2024 Nina Djukanović, Lefteast. Strategize! Europe, Imperialism, Lithium, Mining, sacrifice zone, The Balkans

Perhaps more than any other material, lithium has, in recent years, been increasingly presented as the silver bullet for the so-called twin transition—the digital and the green transitions. Lithium is essential to most conventional batteries used in diverse technologies, from phones and laptops to increasingly and overwhelmingly so in electric vehicles. It has become the symbol of growth-based solutions to climate change where technological fixes, rather than more equitable and just structural changes, take the primary role. Escalating concerns within the EU regarding its material sovereignty and security have been intensified by the conflict in Ukraine and the growing awareness about China’s dominance of the battery supply chain, as well as other green technologies.

Europe’s Elections As A Mirror

June 16, 2024 Patrick Lawrence, Scheer Post. Educate! Elections, Europe, European Union (EU), Rightwing Politics

Ah, those elections last week to the European Parliament, in which voters across the European Union administered a sound whack to the technocrats, market fundamentalists, and liberal authoritarians who now hold power across much of the Continent: Let us attempt what we are not supposed ever to undertake. Let us try to understand them. The E.U. Parliament, to get straight a few basic details, is one strut of the three-legged stool of which the union is made: The unelected technocrats are in Brussels, the unelected central bankers are in Frankfurt, and the elected legislature is in Strasbourg. Belgium, Germany, and France: The distribution of institutional power in this way is meant as a display of the Continent’s hard-won unity.

Left And Progressives Form New Popular Front To Counter Far-Right

June 15, 2024 Ana Vračar, People's Dispatch. Resist! Elections, Emmanuel Macron, Europe, Extreme Right, France, La France Insoumise (LFI), New Popular Front (NFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly following the devastating outcome of the European Parliament election on June 9. The liberal coalition to which Macron’s Renaissance party belongs won only 13 seats, compared to 30 seized by Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally. The announcement was initially cheered by the far-right and met with shock at the center. Macron’s government has been hemorrhaging popularity due to several controversial policies: increasing the retirement age, tightening immigration guidelines, and signaling readiness to send French soldiers to Ukraine.

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