General Discussion
Showing Original Post only (View all)How the European Union Turned Into a Neoliberal Nightmare [View all]
This is why the issue cannot be dumbed down to simplistic, ignorant, hateful xenophobia. It's a typical hallmark of neoliberalism, to divide social and economic issues, and keep the focus on social issues while keeping the economy in the hands of the 1%. It's dismaying, and, unfortunately not surprising, to see so many Americans from the supposed left supporting the neoliberal EU.
Some of us support a political revolution in the U.S. One major target of that revolution is the eradication of neoliberalism. To truly accomplish that, it's going to have to be a global effort. I don't know if leaving the EU is an effective step or not, but I know that it's not just about immigrants.
In the U.S., we've seen a season of great discontent. That's what's fueling the rise of Trump. Masses are angry. From the right, the rise of hate, the rise of fascism, is happening. From the left, it's a rise against neoliberalism. And neoliberalism is a cause of the anger from both sides.
For those who oppose Brexit...what alternative methods for abolishing neoliberalism are you suggesting? It seems like that might be a more productive conversation, rather than suddenly becoming a big supporter of the neoliberal EU.
Against the lefts strategic case for exit is relentless blither and blather from the elitist liberal commentariat: the EU is a social-democratic haven that protects us from the nasty Tories is their litany and verse. This is an absurd fantasy: by design the EU is a corporatist, pro-capitalist establishment. Therefore, it strains credulity that the bulk of the Parliamentary Labour Party and a rump of the trade union movement believe in the myth of Social Europe. The late Bob Crow was bang on the money when he said: social EU legislation, which supposedly leads to better working conditions, has not saved one job and is riddled with opt-outs for employers to largely ignore any perceived benefits they may bring to workers. But it is making zero-hour contracts and agency-working the norm while undermining collective bargaining and full-time, secure employment.
The only thing that should remain is the truth: a social Europe was never part of the European Union super-state project. How could it be? The EU has always travelled on the free trade train alongside free movement of capital, business-austerity, flexible labour markets, low pay, privatisation of public services and the eradication of welfare states. These were not just random policy proscriptions, but specifically designed by free-market fanatics. It was the deepening and integration of the EU project that allowed unelected policy makers, driven by the powerful EU corporate lobby, to circumvent and eradicate the social rights that were won by workers in the aftermath of World-War-Two. Creating democratic deficits in all the EU institutions and policy-making by unaccountable technocrats enabled and accelerated this process of dismantling rights. This arrangement ensured the neoliberal Holy Trinity of public spending cuts, privatisation and the removal of trade union rights could be enforced with little contestation.
http://www.alternet.org/world/eu-neoliberal-nightmare