*** ETIENNE BALIBAR: Europe, crise et fin? Le bord de l'eau (118 rue des Gravières, F-33310 Lormont. Tel: (33-5) 56201921 - Fax: (33-9) 71702741 - Email: contact@editionsbdl.com - Internet: http://www.editionsbdl.com ). 'Diagnostics' series. 2016, 326 pp, €21. ISBN 978-2-35687-094-0.
This book brings together documents written between May 2010 and October 2015, selected by the author because they marked the emergence of new dimensions in the crisis that has now become existential and is still hitting the European Union. He explains that they reflect the 'intensification of the problem of European solidarity at the level of populations,' and demonstrate 'ever more clearly the impossibility of resolving it by applying the recipes recommended by Europe's current leading elites, not to mention the rules inscribed in the founding treaties or added to them since.' Who is Etienne Balibar to make such judgements? Not a 'specialist on Europe': he confesses that he is in not an expert 'to any extent,' describing himself only as a 'European citizen of French nationality,' who has become a 'political philosopher by profession.' He is, however, also a recognised left-wing intellectual whose excessive freedom of thought led him to be thrown out of the French communist party.
It is this same freedom of thought that leads him in these pages to sound the alarm, in the spirit of this extract from the back cover: 'The question has now been raise: either European nations will find an expression of democratic unity that they failed to find in 2005 and have never come close to since, or they will move in the direction of rising nationalism, institutionalised xenophobia, submission to the fluctuations of the new financial economy, dominated by private players, new geopolitical powers and the proliferation of security policies.' Given the current ambiance, it is difficult to ignore this statement. A number of questions raised by events of recent years led him to this diagnosis. First, there is the question of the 'negative symptom or the critical revealer' of the way the Troika forced Greece to be treated 'to interpret trends in the political regime' established after the single currency and big bang enlargement entered the fray, a regime that the author considers to be a 'revolution from above.' There is also the question that is difficult to sweep aside today of a 'correlation between the degeneration of democratic practices in the European area (…) and the general rise of a so-called populist far right (with avant-garde surges, as in Hungary, the Netherlands and probably France).' There is the question of 'the historical link between the freezing of the European construction and the decomposition of the national and social State,' as it is a fact that the institutionalisation of the dogma of free and fair competition between member states is, as the French philosopher puts it, a kind of inverted sovietisation' that could lead to the dismantling of the Union. Then finally, there is the question of 'the superimposition of intra-European nationalisms and xenophobia against refugees and migrants, particularly those coming from the Arab or Muslim world,' 'which crystallises into mass racism' and leads in fine to questions being asked of the 'geopolitical function of Europe.'
Should one therefore give up and resign oneself to the irreparable arriving? No, on the contrary, Etienne Balibar traces out paths for a healthy burst of energy, 'betting, without exaggerated optimism, that a European democratic alternative exists to the crisis in the European construction.' Combining the idea of an alternative position in globalisation - 'associating strategies for protection and regulation in the interest of a concerted development project for European territories' with that of a 'radical democratisation of political life' from the local to the supranational, via the national level, he said it is possible to end up 'truly constituting a European people.' In an attendant manner, from below,' irrespective of what the political leaders and elites might desire, 'the party of the new democratic Europe' might arise, viz. 'a movement for refounding the European project, based on enlightened, majority awareness of our collective destiny, itself constituted of a multiplicity of movements of different bases but capable of converging and mutually supporting each other in the long-term.' A utopian vision? Some will no doubt think so, and the author doesn't necessarily disagree with them. But surely this utopia is preferable to the one that has too many European citizens giving way to the charms of 'European neo-fascism,' which prospers due to the 'impact of social despair and moral nihilism engendered by austerity policies aimed at favouring the competitiveness of some sectors and some countries,' these policies that are the focus today refuse to 'really deal with mass unemployment (or its substitute, generalised precariousness, particularly among young people)'? Asking the question answers it, much as it may no doubt displease the craftsmen of the 'conservative revolution' that dominates today. It is nevertheless a fact that many of the ideas put forward in this book to enrich the crucial EU-scale public debate are valuable for getting the EU out of the increasing desamour of its citizens. Is the author wrong, for example, when in points out that the 'ordo-liberal euro is destroying Europe by by dismantling its social solidarity and ripping its territories to shreds,' but that the 'destruction of the euro would also destroy it just as surely by accentuating the competitive relationships among its nations and regions within the deregulated global and commercial market, of which Europe would be no more than one of many free-trade zones'?
The 'renovation of the euro' that Etienne Balibar calls for can 'only result from radical, revolutionary political changes,' which makes it highly unlikely; but surely it's worth thinking about? Likewise, shouldn't one get past one of these days, one of these days, surely we should outstrip a 'an essentially authoritarianism and bureaucratic pseudo-federalism, which permanently generates effects of Statism without a State (and therefore without citizenship),' seeking to most urgently find 'a constitutional formula that gives more democracy at European level (…) on condition of reactivating democracy in the national area and vice versa'? Summing up, can the European construction for much longer hinder the arrival of a 'European people'? Clearly, many of the ideas contained in this book will be challenged by some, but can one really consider that the questions themselves are not pertinent? Michel Theys
*** DIMITRIS DIMOULIS, SORAYA LUNARDI ( Eds.), Les Etats contre les travailleurs. Les interventions dans la 'crise grecque' (June 2011 - June 2015). Editions Taxideftis (10 rue Valtetsiou, GR-10680 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3638616 - Fax: 3637617 - Email: info@taxideftis.gr - Internet: http://www.taxideftis.gr ). 2016, 138 pp, €10,60. ISBN 978-960-579-052-3.
The authors of this book provide analyses of the different ingredients of the 'Greek crisis' (the 'debt crisis,' the Memorandums period, etc) based on the theory of the State, which have a clear political significance. Dimitris Dimoulis, professor of constitutional and public law at Bandeirante University in Sao Paulo, and Soraya Lunardi, professor of public law and director of scientific studies at Instituicao Toledo de Ensino in Bauru, Brazil, think that the Greek crisis is no more than an attack of capital against the world of labour. As they see it, this attack is organised and carried out in a coordinated manner by the European Union and the nation states belonging to it, to the delight and with the cooperation even of the Greek state, where the bourgeoisie is strongly represented. Hence the book's title, which translates as 'States against workers.' This analysis makes a radical break from the more usual interpretations of the Greek crisis and emerges from the observation by the authors of an anti-Greek policy they see being led by the 'colonial' powers of Germany, the International Monetary Fund and 'foreign capital.' The crisis also emerged from waste and bad management, which can be put down to a paternalistic, clientelist Greek State, a bureaucratic chaos for which households now have to pay the price. The Greek crisis is a consecration of the overwhelming defeat of the working classes, who are seeing their gains in terms of property, income, welfare benefits and working conditions evaporating before their eyes. Their exploitation is constantly getting worse, the authors discerning a scenario leading to the destruction of less productive capital and, above all, a deterioration in living conditions for the majority. They explain that there is a reason why suicides went up by 30% during the years of the first Memorandum. Dimoulis and Lunardi thus reach the conclusion that the 'people are unable' to make themselves heard due to a lack of structures and procedures to enable them to fight back effectively against the attack by States. The landslide victory of 'no' vote on 5 July 2015 and the mobilisation of the people which preceded it have confirmed this weakness because the clear opposition expressed by the people to the pursuit of the policy of Memorandums has been ignored by the left-wing government. For the authors, this is the proof that political decisions follow the diktats of the bourgeoisie, no matter what ordinary people think. Even though the game has not reached a definitive conclusion, it is noticeable that the popular forces, despite their at times historic résistance, are the big losers of the Memorandums period. (AKa)
*** CHRISTOS LASKOS, DIMOSTHENIS PAPADATOS-ANAGNOSTOPOULOS (Ed.): Le non qui est devenu oui. Editions Kapsimi (55-57 rue Zoodochou Pigis, GR-10681 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3813838 - Fax: 3839713 - Email: info@kapsimi.gr - Internet: http://www.kapsimi.gr ). 2016, 296 pp, €14. ISBN 978-618-5156-15-2.
Some fringes of international public opinion describe the way the victory of the 'no' vote in the 5 July 2015 referendum has been turned into a 'yes' by the Syriza-Anel government headed by Alexis Tsipras as a coup d'état. Basically, he forced on his party a radical ideological U-turn, making a complete break with his original approach. In this book, edited by Christos Laskos, economist and editorialist for the 'Avgi' newspaper, and economist Dimosthenis Papadatos-Anagnostopoulos, twenty or so analysts explain why they disagree with the signing of the third Memorandum and seek to understand what led Syriza to adopt this attitude after a seven-month long battle. Is the reason to be found in the weaknesses specific to this party? Or is it rather due to capitulation to international pressure that is as insistent as it is negative, a simple defeat after 'tough negotiations'? Or would it be more appropriate to simply describe the decision as 'betrayal'? The answers are given in the light of the fact that Syriza came to power against the backdrop of an intensification of the crisis of capitalism, presenting itself as the only way out. But the Tsipras government is no longer a solution, although the crisis is continuing. The authors draw the conclusion that the aggressiveness of the European institutions demonstrated that a 'historic compromise' is no longer on the cards although, as they point out, no defeat is ever definitive. (AKa)
*** EVIN OVENDEN: Syriza: dans le labyrinthe. Editions Oxy (80 Themistokleous, GR-10681 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 5226609 - Fax: 5227768 Email: info@oxy.gr - Internet: http://www.brainfood.gr ). 2016, 256 pp, €16. ISBN 978-960-436-425-1.
What exactly is Syriza, the political party of prime minister Alexis Tsipras ? What needs and aspirations led to its birth? How did it manage to win the elections in Greece in 2016? Has there been a failure in the attempt to manage Greece 'on the left for the first time,' and if so, why? The answers to these questions and many others are provided in this book by a British journalist who in a number of reports and coverage from Greece, goes back to the roots of the Greek radical left, working through time until the dramatic dilemmas of the summer of last year, at the heart of the most testing episode in the history of European politics against the backdrop of the global economic crisis. The author describes and analyses in detail key turning points in Greece over the past two years, before making comparisons with other European countries that have also been affected by the crisis, namely Ireland, Portugal and Spain. (AKa)
*** MIKIS THEODORAKIS: Dialogues dans le crépuscule. 90 interviews. Editions Ianos (7 rue Aristotelous, GR-54624 Thessalonica. Tel: (30-231) 0277004 - Fax: 0284832 - Email: info@ianos.gr - Internet: http://www.ianos.gr ). 2016, 680 pp, €18.90. ISBN 978-618-5141-21-9.
Mikis Theodorakis has probably been the best-known Greek in the world for decades. A great composer (his music has sold more than 50 million records and discs over the past fifty years), a revolutionary for 80 years (he's 92 now and joined the Greek Community Party at the age of 15, becoming the head of a small group in 1944 in the battle of Athens during the civil war), condemned to death, imprisoned for years here and there in Greece, escaped abroad where he remained for a number of years, organising concerts and resistance against the dictatorship of the colonels (1967-1974). He then became a politician and even entered parliament and is a reference figure for all Greeks. Mikis Theodorakis still has a very clear spirit and continues to cherish progressive, innovative ideas. This book edited by Despina Zoulfidou includes 90 interviews he gave between 2003 and 2015. The selection was made by the composer himself, who also chose the titles. By way of an epilogue, he picked a letter to himself from a young man, which is enlightening in a human way. The interviews are published in their original format, with no 'tidying up' by journalists. Several of them were originally in foreign publications, are extracts of doctoral theses or subjects of research. (AKa)