Blockupy Frankfurt: European mobilization on May 16-19

Ready, Steady, Go!

Come to Frankfurt. Join the action days from 16th to 19th May 2012: 

Fight the dictate of Troika, EU Commission, European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Under the slogan Rien ne va plus! we will block one of Europe’s most important financial centers. In thousands we will send a visible signal of global solidarity – against crisis, war and capitalism.

We place our actions and protests in the context of the progressing struggles for self-determination, freedom and dignity all over the world — such as the uprisings and revolutions of the Arab Spring, the social struggles and general strikes in Greece, the indignados movement in Spain and the worldwide protests of the Occupy movement. We are not alone and our voices can be heard all over the world.

During the past few years, capitalism has been through one of its toughest crisis ever and the mother of all questions is back on the agenda: how much longer will the world be able and willing to pay for this system? Even here in Germany, it is time for rebellious movements: loud, resolute, challenging and anti-capitalistic:

“There is no such thing as society”

Currently, the EU has to accept the end of its ideology of unlimited growth and competition. In response to the rampaging instability of the EU system, the IMF, ECB and European Commission have simply declared war on any kind of social security. Margaret Thatcher, the dinosaur among neoliberals, once said that “there is no such thing as society”. A strategy that runs like a red thread through recent history, the negation of society was the ideological basis for the military coup in Chile in the early 1970s, and it is a crucial element of the current EU dictates against Greece.

From the point of view of the ruling system, such an approach is only logical: the European project has always been an imperial project — integrative and at the same time authoritarian in terms of domestic policies, and aggressive on a global level in its attempts to reduce trade barriers and to enhance the military effectiveness of the EU as a global player. The EU confers the freedom of movement only to its own citizens. External borders, however, have long been sealed off and restrictive, while brutalizing refugee policies have always been integral part of the European apartheid.

Under these circumstances, people in Greece have never had and will never have a chance. Even the ruling class knows that, eventually, all technocratic attempts to overcome the crisis will fail. Only opposition movements will be able to develop new social and political solutions. Society has to re-invent for itself. The solution, not only for Greece, is the insurgent community.

 The euro crisis is also a lesson about Germany’s dominance within the EU. That is why we want to put the focus of the action days on defying the principles of national competitiveness and national consensus. Not only is Germany imposing  harsh austerity and restructuring programs on countries on the periphery of Europe, but it also benefits from these programs. The massive armament activities of Greece, with Germany being an important business partner, are among the principal reasons for the national bankruptcy of the country, and one condition for the “EU assistance” is for Greece to settle its debts arising from weapon deals. Not even one cent of these billions of euros will reach the Greek people.

Furthermore, Germany is the economic superpower at the heart of Europe and the informal boss of the EU. It makes all the other EU countries feel its dominant position. This arrogance has triggered the ongoing Greek-bashing campaign mainly pushed forward by the BILD-Zeitung, Germany’s least serious tabloid, but not only by the tabloid: in February 2010, the CEO of Bosch (a multinational corporation) and other German managers called for the exclusion of Greece from the EU because the country is “run-down and an unbearable burden for the supportive society.”

Global Crisis – Global Solidarity 

What we are facing is not just the euro crisis and galloping national debts — what we are dealing with is a severe crisis that has been going on for decades and is responsible for the devastating living conditions of an ever-growing number of people, particularly in the Southern hemisphere. People starve to death, die of curable diseases, live on the streets or on garbage dumps. It is more than obvious that capitalism neither satisfies the basic needs of the majority of the world’s population, nor respects their right to live in dignity.

This major problem, however, has never been a crucial aspect in global politics. On the contrary, the focus of institutions such as the IMF, World Bank, G8 and NATO lies on “crisis management” and security policy because the global crisis has always been a crisis of imperial dominance and hegemony. From this point of view, the euro crisis, like the war on terror, is only about preserving the current system and making sure that everything works smoothly at whatever price.

In this context, we have to consider the entire picture: the war on Afghanistan and the European process, Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo and the war on refugees in the Mediterranean Sea, the centers of well-being and the regions that live in precarity and lawlessness, capitalist waste economy and the destruction of social and political values through the omnipresent power of the market. Everybody can see that this system is heading straight into a dead end.

However, if we search the reasons for the crisis in misguided economic policies, the greed of speculators or the criminal activities of American rating agencies we do not only kid ourselves but also produce pseudo-criticism of capitalism and enhance the idea that there is such thing as “good capitalism”. Taking refuge in the comforting theory that what we are facing is one of the “normal” crises of the capitalist system does not help either, as this has been used to back up a considerable number of recent political decisions on war or imperial expansion. Consequently, if we want radical changes, we have to radically review all explanations that seem too simple, incorrect or even full of anti-Semitic stereotypes.

To talk capitalism means to think globally

Capitalism in the Western industrialized nations means the synthesis of the whole territory, including industrialized agriculture, highways, soulless housing estates, job agencies, commercialized wild-life parks and event management, the human being as an entrepreneur without relationships. The same capitalism in global terms still means: distribution wars, repression, disempowering the population, putting entire regions under a permanent state of emergency.

Thus it is obligatory for everyone who claims the right to individual and social self-determination to question the system as a whole. “Real democracy” will work only without capitalism; there is no longer an alternative. After a long absence, the concept of revolution has been put back on the agenda by the Arab Spring. Not only the political conditions in Tunisia and in Egypt have been turned upside-down, but the society itself. People have learned that basic social changes are possible; they got back the freedom and the dignity to decide on their own futures. And this is only the beginning.

We hope to see you in Frankfurt and are looking forward to it as a next step in international mobilizations after the G8 in Heiligendamm 2007 and the NATO summit in Strasbourg 2009. We all need such events that pool our forces into efficient action because mass civil disobedience promotes emancipatory processes and collective opposition.

The imperial power already retreats from public places as possible spaces for protest and riots. After the announcement that protests will take place against the summits of G8 and Nato on 18th – 21st May , Obama has declared to move the meeting from Chicago to Camp David.

Let’s go. Take the square!