Tonia Katerini of Syriza describes the social solidarity movement rising as Greeks struggle for survival. The first problem is that in Greece now we have 25 per cent unemployment, with youth unemployment reaching 58 per cent and unemployment in areas that used to be highly industrialised sometimes reaching 70-80 per cent. Many industries either close because we have very low consumption or, as in the case o ...

We are currently witnessing the collapse of the neoliberal project and yet, in the absence of a serious, purposeful democratic movement, it looks very much as if the combined forces of neoliberal capitalism are consolidating their hold on Western society. The last crisis, in the mid-seventies, was resolved only with Thatcher's election in 1979 and Ronald Reagan's a year later, and the launch of the neoliber ...

On Saturday December 8th the event "The rise of fascism in Greece and Europe" organised by Reinform took place at "De Brakke Grond" in Amsterdam. It included presentations and a discussion looking at how and why fascist ideas and movements develop in society, with a focus on recent developments in Greece where a neo-nazi party (Golden Dawn) has suddenly gained electoral support and has entered the parliamen ...

To my students, to their parents and to my colleagues, to my comrades at work and in fight. As a teacher, a thinking man, as much as a politically active citizen for more than 30 years I would like to address you those few words. ...

Spain: Fernando Lezcano: 'The sacrifice is not being shared'   The European Trade Union Confederation has called a day of action and solidarity throughout Europe on 14 November to fight against the austerity policies being deployed throughout Europe. This day of action will mean a general strike in this country, which, for the first time in recent history, will also be simultaneously held in other Euro ...

Greece’s Parliament did what it had to do on Thursday. Despite some defections from the ruling centrist coalition, lawmakers narrowly approved a $23 billion package of new austerity measures, including further spending cuts to social services, pensions and public salaries, as well as tax increases demanded by Greece’s European lenders. ...

Workers in Greece are staging a 48-hour general strike across the public and private sectors in protest at a proposed new wave of austerity. Public transport has been shut down, but fewer people have demonstrated than during previous stoppages. MPs are due to vote on the package of salary and pension cuts, and labour market reforms today. ...

Of all the operas written during Germany's Weimar Republic (1919-33), probably the most haunting is the last. Kurt Weill's The Silver Lake, written with playwright Georg Kaiser, tells the story of two losers - a good-hearted provincial cop and the thief he has shot and wounded - as they make their way through a society ruined by unemployment, corruption and vice. After spending a week again in Greece - amid ...

Eric Hobsbawm, one of Britain’s greatest historians, died on 1 October aged 95, leaving behind him a considerable and varied body of writing. He was a lifelong communist but one whose views were trenchant, critical and never formulaic. His life in many ways mirrored the great events of the 20th century about which he wrote so well: the rise of imperialism, fascism and communism was as much part of his life ...

In November, European social movements will meet in Florence to plan continent-wide responses to austerity and the European crisis of democracy. Tommaso Fattori calls for us to make ‘Firenze 10+10’ a priority. In Europe we are living in particularly dramatic times. Democracy is in death-agony and we are witnessing post-democratic processes taking over at the national and supranational level. EU leaders have ...