DemLeft in SEE Archive

Neoliberalism has been implemented in our region since before the 1980s with dangerous effects: the rule of the market has weakened bargaining power of workers and citizens, driven down wages, rights and the power of the State to tax corporations. Our young people are fleeing the region. Our public institutions have been deliberately run down to promote privatization.

Neoliberalism is above all the doctrine that there is no alternative to ‘unrestrained’ free markets and competition, and that this arrangement creates wealth for everyone by ‘trickle down’.

But the elements of this doctrine are false: the markets only exist by state intervention and support; there are always political choices about what kind of society we want to live in; and the neoliberalisation of the economy has led to the concentration of wealth at the top, and very little trickling down.

Against the neoliberal vision of brutal competition between the weakest in society and profit for the 1% in control, the Left must defend an economic transformation which puts the economy at the service of people, enabling them to live richer, more interesting and decent lives. There is no blueprint for this alternative, but rather a series of principles to be followed in finding a new model of development.

Champion cooperative social and technological innovation!

The Democratic Left should work towards a socio-economic model which promotes mutual support and cooperation, rather than competition and exploitation. Cooperative business forms not only democratise work and promote better work-life balance, but also can improve creativity and innovation. The agricultural sector which is so important for our economies has a family and medium size structure which could provide an alternative to large-scale agribusiness and agrochemicals. The IT sector is strong in our countries and could lead with an alternative model to Silicon-valley style exploitation. We support copyleft and open-source models, and data-protection and privacy.

Promote non-commercial investment and banking!

Non-commercial banking is almost absent from South East Europe, and yet this form of banking is essential for long-term investments in social infrastructure, housing and the launching of social enterprises. The Democratic Left calls for the creation of social and environmental investment banks.

Ensuring everyone and every company pays their fair share of tax!

Tax-evasion is rife across the region, and the richest are the worst offenders. Fair progressive tax policies need to be accompanied by regional and international cooperation against tax avoidance and the digitisation of tax records to ensure compliance. Enforcement needs to start from the top down: starting with those who are avoiding the most tax and not paying their share.

A new conception of development focused on wellbeing!

We should have confidence to break with the economic consensus, particularly when the economic consensus has recently led to one of the biggest economic crisis that the most advanced countries ever experienced.

Regional cooperation frameworks, integration in multi-national markets and all forms of international collaboration are welcome, as long as they are working to increase salaries and rights, and invest in our countries in a sustainable manner, reducing the technological and productivity gap, and not being used to drive down standards, wages and extract resources at low prices.

Debt sovereignty!

Access to world currencies, whether the US dollar or Euro, is a key issue for developing countries, dictated by the imports of advanced technologies and servicing of the existing debts. Currently, many of our countries are locked into debt-prisons by these processes. Developing countries should work together to create another global system of sovereign debt, one which is fair and sustainable. The Democratic Left calls for a Global Debt Conference to make new rules, and allow for the writing-off of unjustified sovereign debt.

Progressive conditions on Foreign Direct Investment!

The investment of foreign capital in our countries should be welcome only when invenstors can demonstrate the plausibility of positive developmental effects of the investment. Through regional cooperation we should create rules which mean countries do not compete for investment by lowering either labour, environmental protections, or wages, or by offering low-to-no tax deals: instead we should welcome long term investment which improves our efficiency and productive output whilst upskilling our labour forces, investing in communities, infrastructure and other public goods. Our countries' resources and workers are not open to be exploited and then abandoned!

Growth is not the Purpose of Economy 

Growth in GDP has measured contributions to the economic welfare of the few. Measuring economic performance aside, we also must acknowledge that unlimited growth cannot continue unabated on a limited planet and that decoupling GDP from resource intensity has only resulted in the further expansion of resource extraction. We have to produce differently and more sustainably than with the consumer commodity half-life in mind, and to do this we must de-alienate workers from their work by winning them over to our cause (Barca 2017), democratize production, reduce working hours, create clean, stable and safe jobs, and direct production toward social needs.

*Full texts: Boriša Mraović: Cooperative structures – Structural reforms for the people?
Toni Prug - Developmental Narratives and Historical Evidence: the EU-Eurozone, their Myths and Alternatives 
Vitalie Sprinceana - Another Economy is Possible!
 

Archive

The vast majority of multinational companies reproduce themselves on the backs of low-waged Southern and peripheral labour. In recent years, a pan-Balkan austerity program of competition in lowering rights and wages has been installed, and the Democratic Left must fight back against this. Through collective initiatives in factories and businesses, through movements and unions linking workers, students and families, through public education in engaged media and public events, and through regional cooperation, we can fight for an increase of workers rights and a living wage without which there cannot be a stabilization of the economy.

The Democratic Left calls for measures to create shared prosperity!

Strengthen collective bargaining and workers rights!

Labour laws have in the past two decades been stripped of their social protections and have become detrimental to workers - particularly women, who have lost the social support and sometimes even the parental leave of the socialist era. Precarious work has been standardized through the flexibilization and informalization of labour. All labour - including that of the informal sector - must be regulated and organised in order to stop the rapid fall of wages across the region. The rights to organize, to strike and to bargain collectively must be ensured. The Democratic Left demands a living wage for the lowest sections of the labouring classes in the name of the dignity and fair pay of all workers.

Strengthen the unions and unionize precarious workers!

Governments and unions must do their part to promote labour rights and the collective organsiation of the public and private labour force: this is essential for a healthy and balanced economy. Unions should call for better wages and working conditions for employees, but also democratise their own internal structures. For unions to be effective agents of change, they must not only stand for workers' rights, but mobilize and create connections across the whole of society, including with political parties, movements and NGOs. They should reach out to workers in precarious employment and in the private sector and create the conditions for an all-encompassing labour unionization.

Invest in industrial development and compensation for unemployed workers!

High levels of State subsidies for foreign investors should be redirected towards State-level active domestic investment and industrial development policy, as well as welfare and retraining for workers who were laid off or lost their jobs in privatization processes.

For a sovereign democratic economy 

We recognize that „equal access to opportunity” requires income opportunities to be available for both young and old, students and precarious workers, and should be irrespective of one’s sexual orientation or gender.

Integration, not competition 

We recognize that in today’s society, class, race and gender impact one’s employability prospects. In order to change that, the demand for better and equal pay must be a unified struggle led by all citizens.

End labor degradation 

We recognize that a lack of proper social spending results in poor healthcare, education and the lived experiences of inequality. This is an outcome of the “race to the bottom”.

Shaping chances 

The social protection of labor must directly address its contemporary needs, which are international rather than national in character. Recognizing this enables the fight for equal access to opportunities worldwide to take place.

*Full text: : Besjan Pesha - Large Public Companies and Unionism

Archive

Education is essential for the emancipation of people.

Public investment has dramatically decreased in many of our countries over the past 20 years, and schools at every level are being closed. Education is increasingly turned into a commodity not a right, and schools and universities are pushed to promote the political interests and worldviews of the ruling parties.

In such economic and political environment, education becomes less of an emancipatory means, and more of an ideological apparatus: a vehicle of promoting dry discourses economic efficiency and militant nationalistic and patriarchal discourses.

To ensure education is a real fundamental right we must:

End austerity in education!

Everyone should have access to quality education from infancy until university or technical and vocational training. Education should be fully publicly financed, free at the point of use, accessible, and curricula should be progressive, including civic and sexual education, using modern learning and teaching methods.

Students should not be turned into a cheap and easily exploited workforce: dual education programs must ensure students are properly protected. Teachers should be paid properly, have adequate materials in classrooms and benefit from training.

In the medium to long-term, academic and practical education of the population is one of the best investments a society can make. Investing in universal education is demonstrably cheaper than having a population saddled by debt, or unskilled to enter the 21st-century economy.

Political education is essential for democracy!

In our schools students are often taught simply to listen and memorise. This is not emancipation: this is indoctrination. Critical thinking, learning about political institutions, and engaging in political debate and discussion are essential in creating democratic societies.

No linguistic nationalism!

We are opposed to all attempts to instrumentalize language as a way of dividing people, on national or other grounds. We are in favour of the circulation of books and knowledge inside the post-Yugoslav space, and more generally throughout the region and Europe: possibilities for borrowing books, for accessing research and databases should be maximised. We are for the teaching of foreign languages, learning about other countries, geography and history free from nationalism, bigotry, or racism.

Stop the brain drain!

Student mobility in the periphery of Europe is too often seen simply as a means of escape: those who can often flee the region to better educational opportunities elsewhere. We are in favour of student mobility which builds links between the region and elsewhere, which circulates knowledge and increases capacity in the sending countries. Programs for circular mobility, structured partnerships between universities, and mobility inside the region to make the most of its diversity of riches are all to be supported.

No, we do not want to catch up with anyone! 

The Martinican revolutionary Frantz Fanon wrote these words more than half a century ago recognizing the effects of internalized colonialism, which is inherent to the adoption of the logic of ‘catching up’ by populations whose historical trajectory of development lagged behind. It is necessary to refuse this framework in post-communist countries like Bulgaria, while vehemently rejecting any integrationist approach to history (one which would be about integrating Eastern Europe within European normalcy). Attempts by cultural and educational institutions like museums and schools should be made in order to narrate, analyse, and draw historical lessons from this past.

*Full text: Marija Jakovljevic -Transformation of Education

Archive

Democracy is in danger where there is no quality media reporting a diversity of opinions and seeking the truth. In our countries, the mediasphere has become dominated by an alliance between capitalists and regressive ideologues, conspiring to shut-out alternative views, to distort the facts and to mislead populations. Practising free journalism becomes impossible, because of either State or mafia intimidation or imprisonment. Global digital corporations have become the most powerful information gatekeepers, and advertisers are increasingly dominating content and editorial decisions.

In such an environment no democratic debate is possible and alternatives must be fought for: news has to remain a public good, and the public has the right to know facts and to discuss different opinions.

The Democratic Left call for:

Finance for independent media!

The Democratic Left calls for citizen-based models of contributing to quality independent media projects. In order to produce quality information, we aim at forming non-profit media organisations where the governance responsibility is shared with the citizens, while using participative methods such as crowdfunding. Good quality journalism requires independence, resources and the active contribution from the citizens as well. State support can also be considered where the ideological independence can be guaranteed and the whole financing process is transparent. Financing independent media should go hand in hand with the revitalization and editorial autonomy of public media services.

Challenging hate, false information, and conspiracies online!

The Democratic Left calls for a civic movement of challenging and calling-out hate, racism and false information online, particularly on digital media.

This includes active promotion of digital and media literacy programs and its integration into education system at all the levels, supporting and using all the mechanisms and techniques for fact-checking, critical thinking skills development and fighting against hate speech.

Upholding the right to free speech and expression for journalists!

The right of journalists to investigate and report must be protected. It is unacceptable that the powerful and the rich are able to escape scrutiny and accountability by silencing critics and practising censorship.

The right to express critical opinions in the media is essential to democracy. We must support journalists to practice ethical journalism in the public interest, without the infuence of political and advertising agendas.

Preventing media monopolies!

The State should intervene to ensure a diversity of media outlets in each country. Diversity in television, print media and online media is a public good, necessary for democracy.

We insist on transparent media funding and ownership in our countries in order to prevent media monopolies, conflicts of interest and to maintain plurality of opinion in society. Knowing who is paying for the news the public receives is essential for the public to evaluate the quality of this information.

*Full text: Ines Bulajic - Communicating the Left Movement

Archive

During the transition, culture lost its status as a public good in our societies. On the one hand, culture has been misused by the dominant national conservative ideologies which reduce it to a way of promoting a supposedly ‘pure’ national and ethnic esssence. On the other hand, culture is seen primarily in a commercial, market-driven way. Neither of these perspectives considers culture as the basis of an inclusive society.

In many countries of the region there has been a deliberate State attempts to control and censor cultural expression. At best, the cultural policy of the governments is chaotic, ineffective and ultimately destroys cultural commons.

Culture and the arts are essential components as well as tools of political and social progress. The Democratic Left must take culture as a major strategic area of contestation.

The Democratic Left says:

Open-up public cultural institutions!

Public cultural institutions are important spaces for citizens to experiment, imagine and engage in discussion, debate and criticism. State-owned and managed cultural institutions need to be opened-up to fulfill this role. The Democratic Left will both argue for State cultural institutions, and criticise their programs where appropriate, and see no contradiction in this: cultural institutions are spaces of debate. The Democratic Left also fully supports independent and autonomous cultural spaces.

Culture belongs to everyone and it needs public support!

Whilst there is a role for the market in promoting and financing cultural institutions, culture should not be totally subjected to the market. Culture requires public financing and requires expertise in managing, programming and communicating to the public. The governance of cultural institutions should be open to democratic involvement and transparent in order to create, produce, distribute and protect cultural values.

Radical culture and artistic protest create better societies!

Artists and creatives can find ways of expressing public discontent in politically effective ways, which avoid violence but bring real change. The colourful revolution is a prime example. Throughout history, where culture and the arts have been set free and received support to flourish, political, economic and social progress has been accelerated. The Left must recognise and support this process.

*Full text: Aida Kalender - ReCommoning Culture

Archive

The years of transition in our countries have led to some stability, and some degree of peace, but they have not yet led to democracies. In some countries, democracy is going backwards to authoritarian demagogy; in others 'democracy' was always a facade put on international control; in many, corrupt institutions undermine the democratic constitutional every day. Today, the lack of real political alternatives to the status quo, and a system which tends to shut-out newcomers rather than promote reform, there is a danger of political frustration either leading to explosive nationalism, or the total disengagement and cynicism of the population.

Against this democratic dystopia, the Democratic Left calls for solidarity, innovation, working across borders, civic empowerment and the political engagement of every part of society:

Promote real youth participation!

Young people in the region are the one section of society that has consistently shown political maturity, forward-thinking and progressive leadership. And yet young people in the region are either ignored or instrumentalised. When opportunities for participation are offered by institutions, it is usually just to give the impression they are listening. Instead of cheating young people out of democracy, we need to build political institutions, trade unions, movements and civil society which gives them a real say. Young people should participate and be initiators in all policy areas, but in particular they should participate in drafting and approving legislation which concerns them specifically, including in the domains of education, culture, sport, health, the economy and jobs and housing.

A strong, independent civil society ready to engage in politics! 

From fighting corruption or pushing for transparency, to leading responses to environmental disasters such a flooding, or providing welcome to migrants, civil society in recent years in the region has often led the way towards a more progressive and just society. We believe that civil society should be protected from all State, media and mafia harassment. Civil society should not become a poor substitute to 'correct' the failings of the State, but a space of civic engagement which enables citizens to take a lead in addressing problems, inventing new solutions, and conducting debate and critique.

Make Political Movements for Change!

Civic movements for change have essential roles in our history. Whether fighting for liberty, for peace, for equality or good government, movements and protests have again and again played a vital role. The civic movements of the Left should be open, democratic, favour women's and minority rights to political participation, and should welcome all sections of society which share their demands irrespective of background, of profession or education level. Civic movements of the Left must be present in both the cities and the countryside, amongst office workers, factory workers and farmers.

Promote Participative Democracy!

The Democratic Left embraces maximal democratic participation by promoting participative budgeting, workers councils, deliberative assembles and plenums, referenda and other forms of direct democracy. We call for governance decisions to be taken as closely to the citizens as possible, with transparency and accountability, and with the possibility for decisions to be reversed and revised through ongoing civic participation.

Build Real Political parties!

Well-structured political parties with diverse visions of the public good are important for representative democracy in our countries to function and to prevent a slide to authoritarianism. In some of our countries, political parties are being eradicated and replaced by powerful individuals; and in many of our countries the political parties that do exist are incoherent bad copies of Western models. We need new parties as well as reform as the existing ones.

Political parties need to be connected to civil society and movements, responsive to ideas and demands from society. They should apply democratic methods internally and have open memberships. Given that progressive political change in any one country will benefit from international coordination, political parties should be internationally connected.

Cities must take the lead!

The municipal level is proving to be a highly fertile level for progressive politics throughout Europe and in the rest of the world: cities are leading on fighting climate change, integrating minorities, providing affordable housing and creating solidarity and a sharing economy. The Democratic Left calls on progressive movements throughout the region to target cities, and for city governments to show autonomy, inclusiveness and invention and to network across borders.

Solidarity from A to Z 

Solidarity is not a part-time emotion and does not have an on and off switch. Apart from surges of support due to an influx of refugees, formal and informal solidarity networks need a strong infrastructure that enables an immediate and effective reaction to any future migration waves. Furthermore, different types of services should be provided by different organizations or solidarity networks: providing food to migrant and refugees, facilitating shelter, as well as urgent medical services, which should be dealt with by specialized civil society groups.

Opening the political opportunity structure (POS)

Many countries, including Hungary and Greece, have exhibited a relatively closed political opportunity structure as their respective governments continue to push strong anti-immigration discourse and policies. Democratic and left solidarity networks in Southeast Europe should counter this through action and pro-immigrant discourse. An even more constant presence of the democratic left is needed to take up public space and initiate concrete activities on the ground.

*Full texts: Filip Balunovic -Looking towards the grassroots The Left and Democratization

Democracy Cluster:

Ivan Stefanovski: Enhancing the Relationship between Leftist Political Parties and Political Movements from the Left

Ivan Stefanovski - Transnationalization of Social and Political Movements in SEE - Networking for Success

Social State Cluster-Marija Jakovljevic Social Entrepreneurship & Public-Civic Partnership

Archive

Now more than ever, any progressive solution to social problems has to be sought through collaboration across borders, thus building the capacities for articulating alternatives to neoliberalism.

“Economic nationalism” as a protectionist measure against the predatory character of global capitalism is just a cover for political nationalism, and only offers false solutions to addressing neoliberalism: it only promotes the competition between people and the race to the bottom for the majority, whilst the elite predators get richer.

Nationalism reveals itself again and again as the opposite of solidarity, resulting in war and hunger for the many. Instead of the false solidarity of the nation, the democratic left builds emancipatory potential through the solidarity of the oppressed. Our solidarity with migrants and asylum-seekers living or passing through our countries are our expression of our commitment to equality for all and human dignity. The Democratic Left condemns the militarization of the borders as both cruel and ineffective.

Many countries in our region have a proud tradition of internationalism through the Non-Aligned Movement and anti-fascism and other areas of political action. Today, the collaboration between movements and leftist political actors (including parties) can start regionally, and reach out to similar initiatives across the European continent to the Americas, across the Mediterranean and to the East.

These international connections were, are and will be preconditions for any alternative politics which may be devised. Interdependence is our present and our future.

East and West can both be Left 

An acknowledgment that leftist ideas and practices are as much a part ‘of’ Eastern as well as of Western European heritage and history is necessary. This does not mean to discard their differences, but rather to consider the ‘left’ as an international and global phenomenon, which is therefore multi-dimensional in its manifestations – theoretically, politically, organizationally, and historically.

‘Affinity, not identity!’ 

Political practice and alliances between left wing actors across the European continent should be based on shared concerns rather than depart from an insistence upon immutable, fixed identities. Again, this is not to discard the differences, inequalities, or varying contexts of the historical, social and political situations from which these actors operate. Rather, it is a recognition that the reality of integrated, globalised capitalism and other forms of oppression (based on gender, ethnicity, race, sexuality) necessitates a resistance that construct common fronts of struggle reaching across borders.