editorial - Jeunes Socialistes

OF A NEW EUROPE
«
« WE DREAM
JULY 2012
EDITORIAL
This ECOSY summercamp will have to be unique.
It will be the summercamp launching a new dynamic for the young European left, for the generation of a democratic, social and ecological
Europe. From 18 to 30 years old, we have never
known the economic boom, full employment,
regular salary raises, that is to say economic and
social progress.
Yet productivity has never increased so much,
and there has never been so much wealth on the
planet. Our generation is overqualified but it encounters precarious jobs and endless internships
when it is not unemployed. 22,7% of young
people in Europe – and in France, 52% in Greece
and Spain, 38% in Slovenia, 36% in Italy and Portugal, 9% in Austria – that is to say more than
twice as much as the normal level. And we know
these figures are underestimated. The current
migrations of young people looking for a better
life inside Europe reveal their social desperancy
as they have to go and live in countries to which
they don’t belong and ignore the language.
We dream of another mobility for the European
youth. We dream of another Europe. A Europe
which does not consider young people as a problem but as a solution, and as citizens of their
own. We dream of a Europe which puts ecology at
the centre of its concerns, of an economic policy
with a high level of employment and a low level
of carbon. A democratic Europe in its institutions,
with the European Parliament being truly federal
and given the same competences as the Member States. Because we refuse for the European
project to be confiscated by conservative heads
of states, denying the right of people to decide
> Next on page 2
A NEW EUROPE FOR NEW BATTLES
Find out the entire text adopted by the
French Young Socialists and the Sozialistische Jugend Österreichs in June 2012.
Page 2
AFTER ACTA,
A NEW AGE FOR DIGITAL RIGHTS
For once, the European Parliament has
heard for European citizens wishes, especially our generation.
Page 8
SOCIALISTS SO FEMINISTS
As socialists we cannot accept one part of
the population being discriminated against
in all fields of social life.
Page 9
ETHNIC PROFILING,
HOW TO END WITH IT?
Racial discriminations during identity check
are a common and repetitive discrimination
in France, and have kept increasing.
Page 10
RIO, 20 YEARS AFTER,
MAKE STATES MOVE
Since Kyoto in 1997, no restrictive agreement has been adopted by States while the
Earth devastation is in the full swing.
Page 10
FACING FAR RIGHT,
BE THE ALTERNATIVE
We cannot and should not believe this is an
accident or a temporary trend.
Page 11
A NEW EUROPE FOR NEW BATTLES
> Next of the editorial
for their own destiny. And, above all, as the ACTA treaty
showed, our rights and freedoms must be preserved from
the logics of economic supremacy.
We hope this journal is the first one of a series. As Austrian
and French Young Socialists, the ideas we have advocated
together for over 10 years – making the European left a
true alternative to liberalism and the promotion of a new
development model is more than ever relevant. We dare
saying being against a treaty is not being against Europe,
in the contrary it is fighting for it. In the text we adopted in
common, « A New Europe for New Battles », we refuse to
admit the absence of conflicts should be a foil for neo-liberals to implement their agenda aiming to dismantle the
State and do fiscal and environmental dumping. We will
fight for a democratic Europe, which is a precondition for
ecological and social progress at the European level for
all, because we are federalists and internationalists.
These last weeks have been productive for the Young Socialists of Europe. In Vienna we made common progress
in order to push our ideas in direction of our mother
parties. In Berlin at the end of June we were numerous
(Germans, Austrians, Italians, Belgians, French, Irish, Spanish) to protest against austerity programmes regardless
of unemployment rates in each country. Indeed we know
our future is linked. We will keep this work going and advancing within the summercamp by gathering as many
young socialists as possible around this willingness to
change radically society in order to change Europe.
We share a common destiny, the none of a generation of
Europeans who have very little but aspire to so much for
tomorrow.
Thierry
Marchal-Beck
President of the
French
Young Socialists
Wolfgang
Moitzi
Président of the
Sozialistische Jugend
Österreich
2
A NEW EUROPE
FOR NEW BATTLES
This text has been adopted by the French Young
Socialists and the Sozialistische Jugend Österreichs in June 2012.
Following the electoral victory of socialists in France and
Denmark, the nomination of a socialist Prime minister
in Belgium, a new future is appearing for Europe, a new
deal that sounds like a warning call to the Europe of austerity. The time of decisions has now come, a time
which will lead us to choose between chaos and hope,
between a frenzied neoliberalism that bears further systemic crises, and a new social, political, democratic and
green Europe that looks toward future.
The Left is rising again in Europe, because it realized that
you only lose the battles you don’t fight. The Left has
realized that it is time to break free with a certain brand
of European Union that compromises with conservatives, in which social democrats were left to negotiating
the terms of regression with the right-wing.
Our generation needs to take its full place in this political alternative to come. We, young Socialists, intend to
defend this strong line within ECOSY, within our parties
and the PES in order to mobilize all those that will join us
to build this new Europe.
30 years of neoliberalism: a challenge to
European democracy
In the last 30 years, we have known multiple crises, produced by a social model that is out of breath. Ever since,
Europe has known lackluster growth, only interspersed by brief flashes due to speculative bubbles, as well
as fiscal rigor that increases the national debts, a rise of
inequalities and towering unemployment rate among
youths – especially those most vulnerable – and among
the left behind territories of our countries.
The rise of the far right, of xenophobia, of racism, and
other forms of discrimination in Europe, are by-products
of the dire social situation. In Hungary, the ruling party
is leading its country down a dangerous path toward
authoritarianism, limiting fundamental rights without
any possible efficient reaction of the EU. Nationalism is
also rising in the Netherlands, in France, in Belgium, in
Greece and elsewhere in Europe as the electoral results
jeunes-socialistes.fr - sjoe.at
3
of far right parties shows.
Meanwhile Treaties are negotiated by the Commission
and by Heads of State without
people’s representatives in the European Parliament
being systematically consulted. Financial markets and
rating agencies seem to bring more influence to bear on
the European Central Bank’s decisions than this institution. Technocracy is winning and democracy is losing.
At a time when peoples are facing the question of the
effectivity of their democracy, Europe is at a crossroads.
This democratic crisis is no accident. It is the result of
30 years of neoliberalism in the world, behind which
the European Union, encouraged by European conservatives since the 1980s, has been a driving force. The
Washington consensus, the German social market economy and Thatcherism have helped carving in stone the
policies of neoliberalism, which has become an inescapable economic dogmas. Far from having slowed down
this choice of policy, the social democrats that held a
majority of European governments in the 1990s have
helped comfort it.
The American consumer credit crisis through the explosion of Subprimes in the USA, but also the explosion of
European real estate bubbles (Spain, Ireland) pushed the
States to subsidize with Sovereign debt the bank rescues
in order to minimize its impact on their national economy, weakening even more the heavily in debt states,
by financing themselves on the financial markets. This
downward spiral can only be broken by transforming the
system.
The numerous ongoing crises are symbolizing the overrunning of the political power by the economic one: the
economic crisis appeared, because of our incapability
to stamp out the headlong rush towards an unrestricted
and uncontrolled financial capitalism; the social crisis
appeared because of our incapability to develop or even
to preserve, our public services and social programs; the
environmental crisis appeared because of the influence
of industrial lobbies on the political powers of the most
polluting countries. All these crises are linked to the political crisis. The liberal model is thriveing from the agony
of public authorities, we have to be offensive especially
on the question of the instruments that a State can use.
Far from engaging in necessary public investment policies, which could help maintain an indispensable social
safety net, Europe is getting deeper into a fiscal tightening that is presented by the ruling conservatives as the
only possible option. The Greek crisis came at the right
time for those advocating a “shock strategy” that had
already been used in the 1980s as a testing ground for
new neoliberal policies.
The question of whether or not European States still
enjoy economic sovereignty has to be asked, ever since
the Maastricht Treaty laid the foundations of “economic
constitutionalism” and tied government’s hands, ever
since the Single European Act instituted the single market, ever since the Constitutional Treaty of 2005, ever
since the Euro Plus Pact in 2011.
The failure of the “small steps” strategy
The problem is not the opening of the European internal
barriers, the problem remains in the fact that this opening did happen without any harmonization of the social
and fiscal policies. This original sin of the Internal Market
still has heavy consequences: it pits the States against
one another, fighting in order to obtain the investors
through fiscal and social dumping. This loss of balance
weakened Europe and its States, nourishing the criticism
against the powerlessness of the public actors. Tomorrow’s challenge is to find the way of this fiscal and social
harmonization. This will happen through a transfer of
sovereignty of these state prerogatives towards Europe
and through a great reform of the European institutions,
giving them more legitimacy.
A Europe of standards has superseded the Europe of
As they did in the past, today’s economic crises which
were caused by conservative economic policies become
an excuse to harden the very neoliberal dogma that
caused them.
jeunes-socialistes.fr - sjoe.at
A NEW EUROPE FOR NEW BATTLES
rights and common values that was promised in 1950.
The goals of improving the fate of European peoples,
of harmonizing fundamental rights and individual freedoms, have given way to the mere observance of uniform economic, fiscal, and budgetary rules, which form
the only remaining link between Member States.
These rigid standards have been imposed on very diverse
countries, with very different economic constraints, specific political systems and unequally developed social
systems, without developing the necessary instruments
for the constitution of a genuine European budget. They
are co-responsible for all of the crises that Europe has
known in the past three decades, and have not permitted
any other harmonization than by the
lowest bid in social, fiscal, and enviA Europe of
ronmental standards.
4
The environment, finally, is not spared by the liberal
policy of harmonising down. The productivism of the
CAP favors big farmers and hinders the development of
a more local and rural agriculture, functioning in shortcircuit, which would also be better for the environment
and the household budget. Concerning the energy questions, the EU prefers to develop unconventional hydrocarbons (shale gas, oil sands, oil shallows) than to promote renewable energies, letting the goal of reducing
the greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2020 become
a pure fiction. Unrestrained free trade within and outside
European borders has only resulted in the relocation of
industries abroad, and has caused that today, the most
common goods are produced and shipped to Europe
from the other side of the globe.
standards
has superseded
the Europe of rights
and common values
On social issues, the Bolkestein directive (directive instituting a disloyal competition between European
states) remains the poster child of harmonizing down.
It is a textbook example of the drive to create competition between social systems and a first step towards
a real « social dumping » which will have direct effects
on wages, worker’s rights, and the social safety net they
enjoy in the country they work in. The dogmas of free
trade and free competition have been used as an excuse
to destroy public services by privatizing them.
The method remains the same in the field of fiscal policies. Corporate tax rates tend to be harmonized down
toward the very low Irish rate. Meanwhile the European
citizens have to endure an upward harmonization of the
VAT, at the expense of a progressive tax system.
Having abandoned the original goals
of European integration, an EU led by
conservatives and past social democrats has been satisfied with an economic integration through markets,
promising a step-by-step social integration that would
follow the Maastricht Treaty. These promises have never
been kept. The European Socialists have to break with
the belief according to which we should expect a strong
growth in order to obtain social conquests. The social
progress is gained through trade union and political
fights that have to be lead at a European level.
The return to power of economic
constitutionalism, at the expense of
peoples
The ESM (European Stability Mechanism) and the new
European Fiscal Compact are the youngest breed of the
ideology that systematically submits every refinancing
opportunity of Member States to the goodwill of markets
and rating agencies. The stability pact already showed its
limits and pointed its incoherencies, notably by fixing the
objective to set the public deficit limit at 3% of GDP – the
Fiscal Compact reduces this to 0.5%. And from now on,
the European Court of Justice will be able to sanction a
Member State, a sign of a political defeat towards technocracy, and the government of judges.
We cannot accept that the European Central Bank remains exclusively focused on its goals for inflation that
can harm growth and increase public debts by preventing governments from using monetary policies, and by
refusing to let States borrow directly from it at lower
rates.
jeunes-socialistes.fr - sjoe.at
5
Today, we are facing a choice, of either letting the right
impede a genuine European social right construction, or
to give to the left the power to renegotiate the treaty,
inducing a new European social pact.
1 – Harnessing the financial systeme to
put democracy back at the heart of Europe
The break between technocrats and peoples bears a real
risk for European democracy. Those responsible for the
crisis, including Goldman Sachs, have seen their past
employees take over positions of power in Europe, for
instance Mario Draghi as director of the European Central Bank, Mario Monti as Italian Prime Minister or Petros
Christodoulos as manager of the Greek sovereign debt.
This deliberate blurring of the lines between experts and
politicians signals that political power is bowing down to
the power of international finance.
Economic constitutionalism is the other result of European neoliberalism. By enshrining it in Europe’s constitutional rules, the ability to choose and implement economic policies according to the particular state of the
economy is taken away from democratically elected
governments. There are four aspects to this economic
constitutionalism: the power to implement exchange
rate policies has been taken away from States, and yet
the EU does not exercise it; the Common External Tariff
remains toothless; there are no European fiscal policies;
and the European Union is still deprived of any meaningful budget and of the power to levy taxes. This dangerous infringement on the sovereignty of the people
lets liberals free to take apart the Welfare State piece by
piece; all the while wealth is increasingly used to pay off
shareholders instead of workers. This is the strategy of
neoliberals: transferring powers to the EU first, and then
preventing it from using them for anything other than
their own policies.
the public power to take this lever back.
Instead of considering a low rate of inflation as a goal in
and of itself, monetary policies should be used as a tool
for attaining goals that should be determined through
political debate. The European Central Bank must have
its role completely redefined. It is today free from any
kind of democratic or political control, and refuses to act
in accordance with goals determined by the European
Parliament. A reform needs to address its aimed inflation
rates, in order to allow for their adaptation to the state of
the economy, and its goals must be expanded to include
full employment and a sustainable growth with low carbon emissions.
ECB’s role should also be redefined so it can buy state
obligations on markets or directly to the states at rates
similar to those offered to private banks in order to break
the speculative attacks from financial powers on european countries. We support private banks political take
over when the public power recapitalised them. The
creation of Eurobonds will increase the EU’s financial capacity, which can be used for big investment programs.
But while Eurobonds are a precious tool to counter markets’ pressure on sovereign debts, they cannot be the
one and only solution to pull Europe out of the crisis. We
will only put an end to imbalances and unleashed competition between the states with an economic solidarty
and coordinated politics at the european level. It should
be driven by the industry and pursue the construction
of a new development model with finance serving social
Europe.
At the same time, the financial sector needs to be reined
in, so that politics can resume its rightful role. European
countries will have to impose a tax on financial transac-
On the contrary, it is the people that should be put back
at the heart of European policies. As showed by the 2005
debates on the European Constitutional Treaty on the
future of Europe, this crisis must allow us to rethink European construction, especially regarding people’s participation, the role of the European Parliament and the
question of federalism. Similarly the renegociating the
Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance (TSCG)
must enable us to impose more solidarity between states
and thus between peoples. Whereas creating a common
currency should have been a tool for economic and social progress, states have lost control on their monetary
policy since the creation of the Europe. It is essential for
jeunes-socialistes.fr - sjoe.at
A NEW EUROPE FOR NEW BATTLES
6
tions in order to limit out-of-control speculation and
find a new source of revenue for the EU. Part of it could
be dedicated to development aid which is necessary to
build a fairer world.
lost in Europe. In order to fight unemployment, Europe
must transform our economies, fight for the reindustrialization of the continent, and promote shorter distances
between the consumer and the producer.
Deposit banks and investment banks must be separated,
in order to protect the savings of private citizens from
speculation. This will also favour loans to the « real »
economy, which many banks have drastically cut back
because of the higher profits that pure speculation produces. Europe will also have to make sure practices and
tools enabling speculation on sovereign debts, such as
CDS, are forbidden.
This will also help meeting the goal of reducing Europe’s
greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020, a commitment that has been made by the EU but that it will not be
able to keep without a stronger financial commitment
and some restrictions to free trade. We have to reserve
the right to increase the goal to a 30% reduction at European level. An ambitious rail transport development
policy for passengers and goods should be started.
Corporate tax has never been as low as it is today in
We will reaffirm our commitment to the « polluter pays
Europe, and with the creation of a new, European cor» principle, by taxing companies according to their ecoporate tax, we will begin the journey toward a positive
logical footprint. A carbon tax must also be created for
fiscal, social and environmental harmonisation. This tax
imported goods. This participation of firms should also
will allow for a common budget that would not depend
be linked to an industrial research policy which will enon Member State contributions, and
courage discovery and use of techInstead of free trade,
be big enough to implement autononologies that are more adapted to
we
want
a
fairer
trade,
mous policies in accordance with the
environmental stakes.
will of the peoples of Europe.
in which countries
know their own strengths Instead of free trade, we want a fairer
Finally, a people’s Europe will only
trade, in which countries or entities
be possible through democracy. Major political decisuch as the EU know their own strengths and are able
sions, notably those in the fiscal or social fields should
to protect them from unfair competition from countries
require a qualified majority of a stronger European Parwithout any kind of significant social and environmental
liament. It should appoint the Commission according to
rules. Europe will have to converse with all of economic
the majority which emerged in the European elections,
powers on the planet in order to implement common
which should be held on the same day in all member
environmental norms while participating to the developstates under a transnational list system. Therefore the
ment of Southern countries. The United States and the
Commission will be politically accountable towards the
States of MERCOSUR have long taken the necessary proEuropean Parliament. The Commission and the Eurotectionist measures to safeguard their jobs and induspean Council should be put on an equal footing in the
tries. Meanwhile, Europe has opened up its single market
ordinary legislative procedure. The European Parliament
to the rest of the world within 30 years, refusing any kind
should share the legislative initiative right with the Comof regulation, and following the neoliberal dogma of the
mission wich is actually monopolizing it. Finally, citizens’
Washington Consensus in power at the IMF and WTO.
initiative should be strengthen by making the CommisThus, we reaffirm the necessity to activate the Common
sion’s opinion a consultative decision. This is how we will
Tariff at the EU’s borders, which would take into account
build the Europe of humanist values that we want.
social and environmental criteria in producing countries,
in order to protect our industries, by going back on the
constant decrease of import duties that has taken place
2 – Creating jobs and building a greener,
in the last decades without consulting the European Parsocial Europe
liament. In Europe, the fight for employment requires to
start reindustrializing.
The questions of the content of economic policies as
regards employment and a fairer distribution of wealth
must be addressed by European democracies. The Left
must put forward real alternatives, in order to challenge
our current consumption habits. It is unacceptable to be
forced to buy washing machines produced on the other
side of the planet when so many industrial jobs have been
In order to create jobs, Europe will need to massively
invest in energy transition, and in the diversification of
energy sources through the development of local enery production units. The EU has to attain energy independence, by putting the reduction of energy consump-
jeunes-socialistes.fr - sjoe.at
7
tion front and centre. Alternative energies such as solar
power, wind power, hydraulic power, biomass energy,
and geothermal energy need to be developed. . We will
also need to pool and interconnect our energy resources
at the European level in order to reduce our dependency
on nuclear power and fossil fuels, and in order to put
our economies on the path to future. We want to go further with a common energy policy in order to rationalise production and to end the national vision of energy
production that prevails today. A common voice should
speak in negociations with exporters. Finally, investing in
energy efficiency for new and old buildings will create
thousands of jobs. It is a social imperative as well as an
environmental one.
investment or redistribution. Even worse, this imbalance
created by conservatives has been used as a justification
for anti-social policies. Pension systems, for example,
have been dramatically cut back in order to safeguard
countries’ AAA ratings.
Against all this, we assert that it is crucial and urgent
for Europe to negotiate a progressive Social Treaty. This
commitment that the Socialists have promised for decades will now have to be kept in 2013, with the victory
of the Left in the elections in Italy and Germany. Practically, such a Pact should define common rights and targets for the evolution of social legislations in Member
States. A European minimum wage, calculated using the
parity of purchasing power method, should be instituEurope should be concerned with favouring better jobs,
ted first, as well as a minimum retirement pension of at
and giving consumers more choice, including on agrileast 60% of the median income of each country. Wage
cultural products. This will require a deep reform of CAP,
equality between women and men should also be guaof the management of fisheries resources, and towards
ranteed in every country. Work legislations (work hours,
a more local, farmer’s agriculture to encourage territopaid vacations, parental leave, social safety nets) must
rial quality sectors, local distribution networks and colbe harmonised up. We must also put an end to “social
lective structures. This is crucial to the jobs of European
dumping” through the unfair competition between Eufarmers and their survival, crucial to the purchasing
ropean workers – in the field of labour laws, those of the
power of consumers, and crucial to
host country should always apply. The
Against all this,
the environmental safety of European
arguments of « flexibility » or « labour
we
assert
that
it
is
crucial
citizens. Supporting the development
cost » are too often used by neolibeof social, solidary and environmental
and urgent for Europe rals to harmonise down the rights of
economic sectors will also contribute
European workers.
to negotiate
to this change.
a progressive
Not everything should be subject to
Social Treaty.
Finally, the comeback of the undethe market. Health, culture and edumocratic Anti-Counterfeiting Trade
cation, but also the justice, the secuAgreement (ACTA) brings up the question of the “patenrity and the defense, should for instance remain public
tability” of living organisms and of common goods. More
affairs. Other public services such as energy, telecomthan ever, Europe needs to be at the forefront of the
munications, and networks of transportation for goods,
struggle for universal access to clean water, for biodiverpersons or energy have proven that they are most efsity, and to prevent the appropriation of these resources
fectively treated as natural monopolies. Thus, there is
by a minority for their own profit.
only one possible solution: The public powers should
become majority shareholders in those companies and
their democratic administrations at a European level
3 – Toward a new social Treaty for a better
(wich ou rien) is the most pertinent. This will be possible
distribution of wealth
through the institution of continental network of public
services and the revocation of the separation between
For the past 30 years, inequalities have grown exponennetwork operators and service providers. Only thus can
tially, economic insecurity has increased and unemploythe quality of service be guaranteed for citizens, and
ment reaches records heights, chiefly among the young
some measure of territorial equality – which is also crugeneration. This crisis of wealth distribution makes our
cial for economic development – be ensured.
solutions all the more necessary. It is the result of rightwing policies: since the 1980s, the part of added value
used for wages has decreased compared to that used
for capital. Profits, including those from productivity
increase, have been confiscated by a small privileged
class of shareholders and executives, to the detriment of
Finally, at a time when major economic decisions should
be made on a continental level, and when Europe should
take its rightful place on social issues, it is vital to allow
for a greater role of trade unions. The EU must encou-
jeunes-socialistes.fr - sjoe.at
A NEW EUROPE FOR NEW BATTLES
rage collective bargaining between trade unions and
industries, in order to better distribute profits from the
productivity increase, to boost wages, or to restart a program of working hour reduction in order to effectively
fight unemployment.
Conclusion
Our generation bears the responsibility to implement the
change called for by the electoral victories of the Left
in France and Denmark, and to work on future victories
in Italy, Germany and the rest of Europe. A progressive
Europe should give priority to the issues of employment,
access to common goods, ecological development and
public services, and work on the emancipation of individuals as well as individual and collective wellbeing. It
is our duty to fight a real political battle on these issues.
With all the young people that want to join us, we will
bring proof that a Left-wing Europe can exist, and that it
can change society.
8
AFTER ACTA,
A NEW AGE FOR
DIGITAL RIGHTS
The rejection, by a vast majority of MEPs, of the AntiCounterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) on 4th July is
an encouraging sign for European democracy and a victory of European civil society movements. When ACTA
entered the public sphere and became a catchphrase
for a pan-European outcry, politicians realised, they had
pushed their powers to their limits. Negotiated behind
closed doors, intransparent for both the society and even
the European Parliament, ACTA was one of the most obvious symbols that interests of a few – especially of the
industry and big companies – are dominating politics.
But ACTA achieved to give civil society its voice back. It
brought especially young people together, made them
realise that it is important to fight for our interests and
change the world, according to our needs. Furthermore
it was an opportunity to make politicians aware that
there is a new agenda, which has been shielded for a
long time and made it possible for new movements and
internet activists to emerge and have a say in the discussions even if they were not consulted at first.
The treaty went further than threatening net neutrality, criminalising private file-sharing on the internet and
spreading European citizens’ private data. It also gave
further power to influential firms, rich to patent everything: seeds, medicines, which endangered access to
health and food, especially in poorer countries. Hence,
the main question a socialist movement has to ask: Who
is going to have access to these things in the future? And even more important: Who is going to regulate it?
ACTA and the connected protests were therefore an opjeunes-socialistes.fr - sjoe.at
9
tion to bring back basic discussions about distributional
justice and solidarity.
regulating the masses and supporting the few. – Our
uproar is consequently needed more than ever.
As socialist we also have to promote equal access to the
internet, for instance by implementing an enforceable
right to it. This should be completed by the constitutional obligations to respect digital rights such as anonymity. Internet governance including questions of copyright laws, data protection and privacy etc. are becoming
more important and need to be put in the centre of our
activities. We need to address the issue of net neutrality
and make sure it is effective. Our role as Young Socialists is to think the internet of tomorrow and the way it
entirely redefines access to information. We believe for
example that a progressive EU should legalise non commercial file-sharing on the internet. In addition to that a
revised copyright law is necessary.
The political sphere can no longer oppress the rebellion
of the civil society – and as young socialists we need to
stand on that side and fight for a more democratic and
legitimate Europe. The rejection of ACTA proves this attitude is the right one to have: for once the European Parliament heard the willingness of European citizens and
more specifically one generation to weigh in the public
debate. - It is our responsibility to make it happen again.
But all in all: ACTA is just a piece in a puzzle. Over the last
years, civil rights have been massively and continually
restricted. Beside this particular treaty there are several
other papers, which have the same goal: controlling and
SOCIALISTS,
SO
FEMINISTS
Feminism has brought us a lot of successes, but all those
achievements should in no way allow us to lay back.
There is yet much to do! As socialists we cannot accept
one part of the population being discriminated against in
all fields of social life. Today women are still paid much
lower then men (27% less in France). This gender gap
illustrates discriminations women face at work but also
more broadly all gender based inequalities which characterise our societies.
Firms which do not respect the principle and the law
regarding gender equality at work should be sanctio-
ned and the EU can play a major role on this issue by
inviting Member States to do so. For women to be able
to have and keep a job, European states must implement
and protect public day care facilities for young children.
It is also essential to work on career paths and ways to
change gender based stereotypes in this area, which also
foster pay inequality. Raising the salary of jobs majoritarian occupied by women will also help promoting wage
equality.
Gender based violence is also a major issue which persists. Thus for both genders to be and feel equal in the
public space, fighting against sexism in the public sphere
must be a priority. Young girls and women cannot hope
to build a healthy and solid identity if they are constantly
faced with images conveying the idea only their physical
appearance matters because of the “sex sells” strategy.
Gender inequalities are particularly visible in politics. It
is especially true in France, where only 26,9% of MPs are
women, which is even an improvement compared to the
former legislature’s situation. In Austria this figure barely
reaches 30%. Equal access to powerful positions in all
spheres of our society is a goal we as socialists have to
aim to and reach. All of us in our organizations must be
aware of this gender gap and work to tackle it.
jeunes-socialistes.fr - sjoe.at
A NEW EUROPE FOR NEW BATTLES
10
ETHNIC PROFILING:
HOW TO END WITH IT?
Racial discriminations during identity check are a common and repetitive discrimination in France, and have
kept increasing over the past years because of the absurdity of a sole result-orientated policy. Nowadays, a
young person is 11 times more likely than anyone else to
be asked to show its ID because of how the way he looks.
A young person supposedly of North African origin is 8
times more likely to be subjected to identity check than
any other young person, and it is 6 times more for young
black men. Consequences are significant for a generation which sees some of its members being pointed a
tand humiliated, having their freedom to come and go
on the national territory violated. A result-driven policy
only translates into policemen’s image being negative
especially among young people, preventing them complete their primary mission which is the security and the
protection of the population.
RIO,
20 YEARS AFTER:
MAKE STATES MOVE
For more than a year, the French Young Socialists have
advocated, alongside with action groups and associations, the implementation of an identity check certificate
in order to have a proof of every identity check made
and to measure their efficiency.
The principle is simple; during each identity check, the
police agent has to give to the “checked-person” a certificate with the latter’s personal, the service number of
the policeman, the time, date and place of the operation
and finally the reason of the identity check. Above all
this certificate should mention the result of the identity
check and all the possible appeals.
Experienced in Spain, this certificate enabled to reduce
by three the number of identity checks and in the same
time made them three times as efficient. Above all it
enabled to improve the relationship between young
people and police agents by guaranteeing an efficient
and transparent public service for security and protection which respects principles and laws of the State.
As F. Hollande and the left wing government in France
launched a new debate on the relationship between
citizens and police agents in France, we have the responsibility to push this idea forward and aggregate the
civil society in order to create the public debate needed
to set up this measure in favour of equality, justice and
police efficiency, which if also implemented in France
could become an example for other European countries.
Since Kyoto in 1997, no restrictive agreement has been
adopted by States while the Earth devastation is in the
full swing. The compulsory aspect of the reduction of
greenhouse gas emissions should be maintained as our
generation will be the one to pay the highest tribute of
climate change. We cannot accept to question some
principles: the precautionary principle, polluter pays, or
the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, which take into consideration the historical role
played by rich countries in the launching and the expansion of the climate crisis.
The recent debate about the environment is hidden by
the public indebtedness problems without ecological
measures being successfully considered as part of the
solutions to the crisis.
The capitalist pattern, constantly arousing new needs, is
the origin of the environmental chaos, exploiting in the
jeunes-socialistes.fr - sjoe.at
11
same time Humans and Nature, creating an environmental and social crisis which affects head-on the poorest as
much in developed countries as in developing countries.
Precarious people are the most affected by the overconsumption of cheap products, the cost of the transportations, energy or asthma, allergies and other consequences of environmental instability. The biosphere is
the new privileged playground of transnational firms,
protected by the “green economy” which is the new disguise of the Earth merchandizing.
Instead of free-trade we want fair trade. The complete
reconsideration of the neoliberal pattern, apostle of the
free and non-distorted competition is the precondition
for any new development model based on a low level
of greenhouse gas emissions, and with a high level of
employment, ceasing the pollution outsourcing that capitalism imposes today to developing countries.
FACING FAR RIGHT,
BE THE ALTERNATIVE
Last elections in Europe, both in member states and at
the EU-level, have seen the preoccupying rise of far right
and neo-fascist parties. In some states they have participated in governments with « moderate » right wing
parties and have gained seats everywhere in Europe over
the past 20 years. In Hungary the current government
is taking worrying measures against freedoms and triggering tensions between different ethnic communities.
In Greece the violent neo-fascist party “Golden sunrise”
significantly rose in the elections and there was an upsurge of racist violence occurrences.
We cannot and should not believe this is an accident or
a temporary trend due to the difficult economic climate.
Of course, the sudden feeling markets control everything and politicians are unable to have a grasp on the
situation translate into a vote to the extreme right. But
socialists and social democrats should not hide behind
this partial explanation. The truth is, far right parties have
kept going up while economic redistribution has stopped or gone down. Middle class and working class European citizens have started to feel everywhere in Europe
that politicians in government attach more importance
to tax reduction for the richest than to raising the poorest’s income and redistribution, for a so-called com-
The absence of economic and political choices is at the
heart of a major democratic crisis. We will have to reintroduce citizens’ primacy by guaranteeing access to
common goods, like a right to sane nutrition and water. The energetic transition, based on the ecological
conversion of our production apparatus by investing in
renewable energies, is a significant source of non “outsourcable” and an efficient territorial meshing. The environmental protection needs again the establishment of
common tariff borders to move production sites closer
to consumption places. These changes will also work
through the mutation from the farming model to a sustainable and peasant agriculture.
The last Rio summit did not in any way respond to those
crises. Our generation has to deal with this problem,
because the cost of inaction will be much high than the
one of the transition that we need to engage towards a
new development model.
petitiveness objective as they were only implementing a
neoliberal agenda.
At the European level, the observation is even worse
since the European Union has not managed to convey
another image than that of a vast market implementing
competition among workers at the European level, instead of protecting them collectively and promoting the
European welfare model. Furthermore, the tendency of
European institutions to lack democratic accountability
and to think technocrats should decide instead of elected representatives also strengthened this feeling of suspicion against politicians.
Left wing parties have now realised they cannot compromise themselves and their values in a so called « third
way » which blurred the borders between the Left and
the Right. In the contrary, we as socialists must offer a
true alternative which aims to improve the living conditions of the majority of citizens. It is our role to develop
jeunes-socialistes.fr - sjoe.at
A NEW EUROPE FOR NEW BATTLES
this new alternative with our European partners and to
promote it collectively during European elections. Only
this way we will be able to win elections at the EU-level and to make Europe a protection instead of a threat
for financially disadvantaged people, by showing politics
can weigh more than markets if the peoples decide it.
Similarly, the Left cannot allow itself to legitimise the
right and the extreme right in its speeches and stances.
MOUVEMENT DES
JEUNES SOCIALISTES
jeunes-socialistes.fr
facebook.com/lesjeunessocialistes
@jeunessocialist
12
It is especially true concerning immigration, which our
countries need and we cannot keep repressing. We have
to denounce the deliberate confusion extreme right parties fuel and the right’s attempt to take advantage from
it by adopting the same discourse. It is a cultural battle
we have to fight in order to win against the extreme right
and its ideas spreading in our society, especially through
the media.
SOZIALISTISCHE
JUGEND ÖSTERREICHS
sjoe.at
facebook.com/sjoe.at
@wmoitzi
jeunes-socialistes.fr - sjoe.at