At European summit
Workers, anti-capitalists stage large protests
By John Catalinotto
Fifteen European prime ministers met at a castle in the
Laeken neighborhood of Brussels Dec. 14-16. They were
determined to unite Europe on the basis of strengthening
capitalism and reducing social services, while establishing a
common police force and a Reaction Force" for military
interventions.
In response, some 80,000 workers demonstrated for social
justice on Dec. 13. The next day another 20,000 people, saying
"another Europe is possible," called for an end to the war on
Afghanistan.
Many in the media, including the Dec. 14 Wall Street
Journal, took note that these actions showed the
anti-globalization movement in Europe is still very much alive.
It had been quiet for a few months after Sept. 11, but was now
taking up where it left off after the Genoa summit in July.
The coming World Economic Forum protests on Feb. 2 in New
York will show if this spirit of struggle has also reached the
U.S. movement.
On Dec. 13, labor unions led the protests, bringing upwards
of 80,000 workers and supporters into the streets. According to
reporter Herwig Lerouge in the Belgian weekly newspaper
Solidaire, there was a strong difference between what the union
leadership asked for and what the rank-and-file workers
demanded.
The official slogans were, "More Europe: We are Europe" and
"For a more social Europe," which means accepting a capitalist
Europe but asking for a few more social benefits. The slogan
carried by most workers said, "We don't want that Europe," that
is, they reject a European Union ruled by the capitalists.
Tens of thousands of French, Portuguese, German, Greek,
Swedish, Italian, Spanish, Luxemburg, Irish, Turkish and
British workers, as well as unionists from Poland, Slovakia,
the Czech Republic and Slovenia in Eastern Europe, showed they
had a common enemy in Brussels--the headquarters of the
European Union.
The move by the European capitalist governments to unite
does not simply mean removing borders among peoples and easing
economic and social contacts. It aims at strengthening the
capitalist corporations relative to the workers. It aims at
reducing social benefits to the lowest common denominator.
It means increased unemployment as nationalized industries
are sold off, as recently happened with Sabena Airlines in
Belgium. It means a more U.S.-type social system, with fewer
benefits and guarantees for workers and a greater gap between
rich and poor.
That's why the move to strengthen the European Union has
aroused such anger and opposition among the European working
class, from Turkey to Portugal.
Anti-capitalist content
European communists and anti-imperialists had chosen the
following day, Dec. 14, to target a Europe dominated by
capitalists. The Workers Party of Belgium, a leading communist
organization in the country, had formed an international
coalition to build for what it called the D14 protest.
This protest had a strong anti-capitalist character and
included many banners protesting the aggression against
Afghanistan led by the U.S. and Britain.
According to Lerouge, the majority of the demonstrators
gathered behind the platform of D14. This included a large
contingent from the Workers Party of Belgium. Many youths wore
sweatshirts with the slogan "Chénge-the-World,"
incorporating the name of the late revolutionary Che Guevara.
The Brussels newspaper De Morgen said this sweatshirt is slowly
becoming the symbol of the anti-globalization movement.
Many communist parties from abroad were represented,
including the two most active communist groups from Turkey, the
New Communist Party of the Netherlands, and Greek, Italian,
German and Spanish communists, notes Lerouge. The Socialist
Workers Party of Britain, which has recently been active in the
anti-war movement, had a contingent. The anti-globalization
group ATTAC-Europe also was part of the demonstration.
Using some attacks on property by elements within the march
as justification, police assaulted a large section of the
marchers. The cops trapped about 1,000 people, fired an icy
blast from a water cannon at them and arrested dozens of
protesters.
The main significance of the march, however, was political.
The slogans were even noted by Louis Michel, a Belgian foreign
minister who is currently president of the European Union. "It
is astonishing," said Michel, "to see that so many young people
are wearing Ché and Marx during the demonstrations. It
is not good that they see communism as an alternative to the
democratic EU. But it is understandable because they have no
experience of what communism was. More education must be done
to reverse their wrong ideas."
This capitalist minister's worst nightmare is a sign of hope
for the working class of Europe and the world.
Reprinted from the Dec. 27, 2001, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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