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Berlin, 10-11 January 2004
New
hope is springing up in Europe. A new vision is inspiring more and
more Europeans and uniting them in great mobilisations to resist the
imposition of a capitalist one-way street, which is an attempt to
trap humanity in a new social and cultural regression. The
conditions prevailing for peoples, social organisations and
individuals are marked by insecurity, uncertainty and hazards. New
resistance to capitalist exploitation is being expressed strongly. A
new option for change has touched the lives of men and women who are
increasingly affected by the disasters brought about by capitalist
globalisation policies.
The
new forms of power on a worldwide scale have precipitated crises in
nation states, in alliance systems and in the post-World War II
global order. The theory of permanent war, as currently put forward
by the Bush doctrine, and the vortex of terrorist violence that war
nourishes cause inequalities to increase and democracy to be
diminished.
Europe is for us a place for the regeneration of struggle for a
better society. The scope of this undertaking will include the
achievement of peace and the transformation of today’s capitalist
society. We strive for a society that transcends capitalist and
patriarchal logic. Our aim is human emancipation, the liberation of
women and men from all forms of oppression, exploitation and
exclusion.
We
perceive the role and the task of the European Left as contributing
to the formation of a broad social and political alliance to promote
radical changes of policy by developing concrete alternatives and
proposals to transform the present capitalist societies. We see in
it our responsibility to address all those taking action for a more
equitable society as a condition for their own self-determined life.
We want to establish the politics of the Left as a permanent,
independent, confident political voice that will contribute to
implementing solidarity and democratic, social and ecological
alternatives.
For
this reason the European Union, and indeed the European continent as
a whole – in addition to the traditional political levels of
nation-states, regions and municipalities – is becoming an
increasingly important place for alternative politics and interwoven
with world developments.
Therefore we see the universal scope of the anti-globalist movement,
its growing exchanges, mutual cooperation and influence on
traditional social, labour, feminist, environmentalist and
democratic movements as fresh participation in the fight for change.
All these movements propose – in opposition to the "private space"
of the major world powers – a "public space" inhabited by citizens
who want to reclaim fundamental rights such as peace, democracy,
social justice, freedom, gender equality and respect for nature.
These movements include the political Left.
In
many European countries, profound cultural and political experiences
and social struggles marked the original character of the European
social model. We look to these political and cultural roots, rather
than to the market values that define it today, especially the
Maastricht treaty policies and the decisions of the European Central
Bank.
In
each of our European countries, people are suffering from the
policies of globalised capitalism implemented by governments in the
interest of big capital and lobbies. These policies undermine the
solidarity and social gains won through struggle. There is a general
attack on pension systems; social security systems are being
dismantled and privatised; public services and essential sectors
such as health, education, culture and utilities including water and
other natural resources are being subjugated to the law of the
market; the labour market is being deregulated and more and more
jobs are becoming part-time. Anti-trade union repression is being
stepped up and migration criminalized.
Everything has become a commodity, from labour through the whole
life cycle. In Europe today there is growing unemployment,
insecurity, external militarisation as demonstrated in Bosnia and
Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, and internal militarisation through
repressive laws against those who oppose neoliberal policies. This
process is alienating ever larger numbers of people from politics;
it is causing wars between the poor; and it is responsible for the
resurgence of populism, racism and fanaticism.
The
social democratic Third Way failed in Europe because it was unable
to resist this trend and, having no alternative, actually promoted
it. This failure creates opportunities but also places a greater
responsibility on the Left, which wants to change the world. We
must, however, avoid the path taken in the 20th century,
which brought great achievements as well as great defeats and
tragedies to the forces with revolutionary ideals.
To
change society we need to broaden our action. In Europe the
challenge is to build an alternative, radical, environmentalist and
feminist Left. The pluralist nature of movements is intersected by
this new political force, because we want to build a new
relationship between society and politics.
We
want to build another Europe and give a different meaning to the EU.
We want it to be independent of US hegemony, open to the South, a
social and political model that provides an alternative to
capitalism, strongly opposed to militarisation and war, in favour of
environmental protection and respect for human rights, including
social and economic ones, and in favour of the right to citizenship
for all those living in Europe.
We
want a Europe free from the antidemocratic and neoliberal policies
of the WTO and IMF, free from NATO, foreign military bases and any
model of a European army leading to increasing military conflicts
and to a spiralling arms race. We want a Europe of peace and
solidarity, free from nuclear weapons and weapons of mass
destruction, a Europe that rejects war as an instrument for settling
international conflicts. This concerns the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict in particular, which should be resolved in accordance with
UN resolutions.
We,
the parties and political organisations inspired by communist,
socialist, democratic, environmentalist, and feminist ideals, who
are against neo-liberalism and in favour of social change, want to
establish a new political organisation: the Party of the European
Left (EL).
It is
our hope that we will be able to tackle in fresh terms issues such
as globalisation, world peace, democracy, social justice, and gender
equality; that we will be able to ensure a self-determined life for
handicapped people, sustainable and balanced development, and
respect for individual cultural, religious, ideological or sexual
choices.
We
can see the need for deep-rooted social and democratic change in
Europe. We believe the time has come to step up our struggle to
challenge the sacrosanct doctrine of the "free market economy" and
the power of financial markets and multinational corporations, and,
instead, to make our citizens active agents of the policies
implemented in their name.
Faced
with the recession and rising unemployment, we must challenge the
"stability pact" and the European Central Bank orientations, and we
must work to promote different economic and social policies and
priorities that foster environment-friendly full employment and
training, public services and a bold investment policy. Capital
movement must be taxed, and priorities must be changed in favour of
human beings, not money.
We
express our commitment to work throughout Europe to advance the
rights of wage-earners in their work-places. We consider that public
services are an indispensable means of guaranteeing everyone’s equal
rights to education, water, food, health, power and transportation.
We are in favour of modernized, decentralized and democratised
public services that guarantee equal social rights for all.
Today
ten new countries are joining the European Union and others have
expressed the desire to do likewise. But there are significant
political and social forces within these countries and in the
countries that are already EU members, who view enlargement with
reservations or outright hostility. The impasses created by the EU’s
present strategic choices reinforce these tendencies.
The
Party of the European Left also responds to challenges for countries
that are now outside the EU – such as the Balkan states and other
Eastern European countries – caused mainly by their transformation
and by the growing dilemma of choosing between independent
development and joining capitalist Europe as a middle-term strategy
for dealing with the conflicts in these countries related to past
and present changes. The European Left is ready to stand by all
democratic forces in these countries in support of democracy, peace
and social justice, social and economic development and stronger
democratic institutions.
We
want to ensure that elected bodies – the European Parliament,
national parliaments, and representative committees (such as the
Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions) –
have more powers of action and control. Today, whatever may be our
overall opinion of the "Constitutional Treaty" being discussed, we
are opposed to a Directorate of Great Powers. We do not accept the
effort to impose ultra-liberal economic criteria or militarisation
on us, as these will lead to substantial social setbacks.
We will strive unceasingly to broaden the citizens’ action,
participation and control at all levels and at every stage in the
building of Europe.
What
is finally at the heart of the crisis in the European Union is
Democracy. For decades the European Union has been built from above,
with disregard for its great diversity of cultures and languages —
without its people and often against them
But
something is already beginning to change. The great social, trade
union, working class and civic struggles against the war have begun
to change the situation. In just a few years these struggles have
contributed to rallying broad support for peace, equal rights, and
respect for the planet. As political forces for social
transformation, we want to contribute to this new dynamic that is
resolutely attacking neo-liberal policies. Social forums have
provided essential moments of debate, of confrontation and of
building popular and political alternatives to today’s neo-liberal
Europe. Social movements and citizens’ struggles have their own
dynamics, independent analyses, proposals and initiatives. We are in
favour not only of defending the rights of workers and trade unions
against all discrimination, but also of extending workers’ rights,
including benefits for the unemployed and for workers in insecure
jobs, extending democracy in the work place and in economic life, at
all levels, including the Europe-wide one.
We
stand for social, ecological, and sustainable development and for
the restructuring of the economy based on protection of the
environment and climate, and on the precautionary principle, through
the use of environmentally-friendly technologies, through lifelong
social solidarity, through the creation of new jobs and support for
the disadvantaged regions of the earth.
We
will promote an enhanced role in European decision-making for the
Committee of the Regions and the Social and Economic Committee, as
substantial statutory organs of democratic and regional policy in
the EU.
In
the EU there are a number of conflicting interests. For us, this
creates a new political arena for the class struggle and for
defending the interests of workers and democracy, as well as those
of European society with its organizations and institutions,
including the European Parliament.
The
European Left is committed to the fight to make the great changes it
espouses become reality – within the context of the constant
broadening of peace, democracy and social justice.
Let
us fight together for a new society, a world of justice free from
exploitation and war.
Together we proclaim that another Europe is possible. The future is
here; history never ends.
Berlin, 10/11 January 2004 |