Does anyone really believe the European Union has anything to
do with real internationalism?
Europeanism is based upon the notion that
Europeans have a common heritage which sets them apart from ‘others’. It is
this which gives them rights in the EU – most importantly, the right of
residence. For EU proponents, a shared European identity and the imagined benefits
it brings, is seen as vital for successful political integration. In truth the
EU looks more and more like a gilded cage. They hope to increase popular
identification with the EU and to induce consent to decisions taken through the
bodies such as the European Commission. But this notion rests upon the idea of
fundamental differences between ‘Europeans’ and ‘non-Europeans’, and upon the
proposition that the latter have no rights in the EU. It is on this basis that
people who wish to enter EU states are excluded. Poor and vulnerable people,
notably refugees, are depicted as opportunists seeking to exploit the benefits
of life within the Union. The effect is to weaken solidarities between workers
of Europe and others worldwide.
The EU has nothing to do with internationalism.
‘Fortress Europe’ has encouraged xenophobia in general and helped to provide
rationales for the right-wing with the idea of securing Europe against
‘threats’ from without. EU states have recently been focused upon removing
migrants deemed ‘bogus’, ‘clandestine’ or ‘illegal’. Although not a
nation state, the EU is already mimicking one and we can speak of a ‘European
policy’ despite the problems faced by local capitalisms, and despite the
resentments, rivalries and chaos associated with economic, commercial and
financial strategy. Euro-politicians warn of the need to secure the EU against
new global threats such as the drive northwards of tens of millions of
desperate people from wars and climate change. Eastern Europe joined the EU to
receive benefits, not obligations and is veering toward nationalism and
xenophobia. First we had
the Hungarian government declaring its opposition to the democratic values of
Europe. Then we had Poland voting for an anti-European and authoritarian party that is against homosexual and 'anti-christian values' of Europe. And all over Eastern
Europe, we have a clear tide of revolt against the values of solidarity, democracy, participation, social inclusion. In every single
election in the last few years, the right wing parties have been consolidating. A pro-Nazi party obtained 14 seats in the Slovak elections. There is
no single European country where nationalist and xenophobic parties
have not grown and they are now often the tipping point in
national parliaments. With coming elections, a shift will happen all over
Europe. The shift will be to the right, even in countries that have a reputation of tolerance and inclusion, like the Nordic countries. The winning argument is about a better yesteryears. “Let us go back
to the time when we were powerful and rich…let us eliminate all those treaties
which have reduced my power as a nation, and made me dependent on external
banks, bureaucrats and values”…Donald Trump? Not at all but the Prime Minister
of Poland
Europe appears to be now just a collection of 28 countries,
each one with its own national agenda as a priority. Individually, they have
resorted to a number of illegal measures, like building walls and barbed wire
containment, without any European agreement. Some countries, like Hungary
and the Czech Republic, have announced a referendum on the issue of accepting
refugees. Clearly an illegal move, as the decisions of the Council of
Ministers, once democratically taken, are binding for all members. Austria has
gone so far as to see if it can resurrect the old Austro-Hungarian empire,
calling for an alliance between its old member countries, and the Balkans, with
the exception of Greece, this last being currently and de facto the most
involved in the subject of migration. The sad episode of refugees trying to
cross the border with Macedonia border, only to be repelled by a volley of tear
gas grenades, was viewed with relief in Austria. And while individually every
country tried to duck the issue of refugees, collectively they have made a deal
with Turkey which has itself been condemned by the United Nations and legal experts. This deal occurred just a few days after Prime
Minister Erdogan, sensing that Europe would have as priority her own comfort,
would ignore his last attempt to take full control of Turkey, by taking over
the largest daily newspaper, Zeman. He already controls the judiciary, the
legislature, and the central bank, in an economy that is clearly run by his
cronies. Yet Europe has accepted to reopen the process of admission of Turkey
to the EU, a country which was formerly considered too removed from European
values, and that was before Erdogan’s rise to authoritarianism.
The EU is a capitalist economic bloc, displaying all the
vices and irrationalities of capitalism. We are against it. We are equally
against the alternative of ‘independent’ capitalist nation-states. Our
alternative to both is the fight for world socialism and for international working
class unity and solidarity. British
workers either stay in the EU as wage slaves or they exit the EU, still as wage
slaves. Profits know no nationality, no borders. British capital goes where it
can, joins whom it may. The existence of the EU is proof that European capital
recognises the need for co-operation between themselves. There are contradictions
within the capitalist class, itself, the resolution of which can have
far-reaching repercussions such as the consequences of staying within the EU or
leaving. Europe has bent its rules to accommodate the UK’s David Cameron’s
request to be an exception, in order to convince British citizens to remain in
Europe. It is far from clear if that manoeuvre will succeed. And Cameron has
declared that he will no longer recognise the European Court of Justice. He does
not recognise either Europe as competent to assign refugees to the UK. The
concessions to Great Britain would open a massive precedent that other members
might be tempted to follow.
Socialists maintain that workers must free themselves of
patriotism and national superiority in their own interests, for without
discarding these aspects of the prevailing ruling class ideas they will never
themselves be free. Fortress Europe has class walls. The vast majority of those
denied entry are poor and vulnerable; those with wealth and privilege are
invariably welcomed. Crisis plays into the hands of the right, as history tells
us. Nationalism and xenophobia are returning.
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