Our position on world affairs

This is a reply to a questionnaire from Reading Quakers about our views in the context of the Euro-elections. 

Peace

1. Do you think the European Union remains relevant as a peace project? No. The EU is a capitalist trading bloc in competition with other states and blocs for markets, raw material sources, trade routes, and strategic points to protect these; a competition which from time to time leads to wars, at the moment proxy wars fought by local puppets of the major powers.

2. How will you respond to the current EU budget proposals to significantly increase spending on the EU’s military capability? Oppose as to all such spending by national states; such spending only occurs because of the competition that is built-in to capitalism where, even in diplomatic negotiations, might is right, meaning that states have to spend as much as they can afford on weapons of war. This is unavoidable under capitalism.

Migration and asylum

3. How important do you think it is to counter hate speech against migrants and refugees in Europe? Very, but not by banning its expression; rather by opposing and refuting the ideas in open, public debate.

Reference: https://www.chooserespect.eu/

4. If elected, how will you respond to current EU proposals to implement stricter border controls, with a more restrictive migration and asylum policy? Denounce and speak against them on the grounds that all working people throughout the world have a common interest in getting rid of capitalism and nation-states and their frontiers. In a frontierless post-capitalist society based on the common ownership and democratic control of the world’s resources, i.e. socialism properly understood, we will all be “citizens of the world”..

Environment 

5. Given the current climate crisis, what new measures should the EU take to play it’s part in keeping global warming to less than 1.5 degrees (as set out in the in the latest IPCC report? More, but what they will be able to do is severely restricted because of the risk of undermining competitiveness vis-à-vis other capitalist trading blocs like the USA and China.

Reference: https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/

6. Given the current ecological crisis, what EU measures are needed to counter the mass species extinction and environmental degradation caused by human activity (aside from global warming)? No effective and lasting measures will be able to be implemented until the Earth’s natural and industrial resources have become the common heritage of all humanity. Then we can tackle this problem in a rational way without profit considerations or vested interests.

Reference: https://www.ipbes.net/news/ipbes-global-assessment-preview

Economic/social justice

7. What policies should the European Union adopt to counter the power of the giant tech and fossil fuel companies? It’s not just certain capitalist corporations that are, or cause, the problem; it’s the whole capitalist system of production for profit.

8. What policies should the EU adopt to shift from pursuit of GDP growth to a more sustainable economy? It can’t adopt any policies to do this because that would be to go against the nature of capitalism as a system of unending capital accumulation out of profits, as reflected by rising GDP. A sustainable system of production will only be possible in a world socialist system when there will no longer be the economic pressure to make and accumulate profits as more and more capital.