THE NEW RULE: TABOO BREAKING!

23 September 2016

Is it the result or the accelerator of populism? Taboo breaking and provocation seems to have become the new game in public discourse. When President Duarte replied to the European Parliament’s motion on the killing of nearly 3000 people, he used the F-word. When Trump warms to his theme during his campaign speeches he is provocative and insulting. The latest example was the question over whether an injured presumed terrorist should be given medical treatment or be killed! We have witnessed the lies of the BREXIT-campaign, and now there are more lies in Hungary and around the referendum. Populists like to light a fire, provoke, break taboos and democratic rules. This particular Pandora’s Box has been opened and it seems as if nobody knows how to contain it.

The consensus that has grown up both in Europe and around the world thanks to Aufklärung, Les Lumières and the Enlightenment, and the experience of fascism and dictatorship, is about to be destroyed or at least ignored. When we discuss the fundamental rule of law in democracy, we should also consider the need to have some limits on the freedom of speech, because it is not a freedom to spread hate speech, killing by words and then by weapons. The growth of new media accelerates the spread of and access to information, but how can we contain false information?* This is more than a theoretical question, it is a matter of defending LA RAISON in our new post-factual era. Radicalisation of discourse, believing only what one wants to believe, makes public political dialogue more complicated. Mobilising against the so-called establishment and so-called elites, defamation of the press and media is the modern poison undermining our societal glue and the democratic consensus.

This consensus will, in any case, only work if policy delivers inclusion and not exclusion in a credible manner. And we do not need the likes of Neelie Kroes and José Manuel Barroso weakening the credibility of our European institutions by giving ammunition to the union’s enemies! These kinds of revolving doors are also taboo breaking!

We need a Kant, Hegel and Rousseau 2.0. Civil society has a responsibility to mobilise, to engage and to unite citizens around the freedom of speech, the freedom of association and against our shrinking civic space. And Politics has an obligation to deliver credible policies in the general interest.

*) The European Ombudsman is organising a conference on Disrupting Europe – Truth, Facts and Social Media on the ‘post-truth’ world where Social Media has disrupted multiple political, media and other norms on 18th October in Brussels. More information can be found here.

SOLIDAR NEWS

SOLIDAR Study visit in Tartu, Estonia 

SOLIDAR and our Estonian member Johannes Mihkelson Centre (JMC) organised a study visit in Tartu. The study visit was an opportunity for SOLIDAR members and partners from all over Europe to learn about the situation of refugees and long-term unemployed people in Estonia and the activities run by JMC to support the integration of resettled people and asylum seekers, long-term unemployed people and ex-prisoners. Read more

Egypt’s independent human rights community at risk of complete eradiction

Today (23 September 2016) a joint statement about the threat to Egypt’s independent human rights community was published, co-signed by SOLIDAR, our member Arci, and partners active in fighting for Human Rights. They condemn unreservedly the ruling on Saturday 17 September by the Cairo Criminal Court in Zeinhom freezing the assets of prominent human rights organisations and defenders in Egypt, as part of case no. 173/2011, known as the “foreign funding case”. Read more

SOLIDAR Mobilising for economic and social rights in Tunisia

Last week, SOLIDAR organised a visit to Tunisia to attend a high-level conference organised by the Global Progressive Forum and Solidar Tunisia, on the EU-Tunisia Free Trade Agreement. The conference brought together EU officials, including MEPs Antonio Panzeri and Gilles Pargneaux, as well as PES Women President Zita Gurmai, and Tunisian government officials. I n parallel, SOLIDAR organised a meeting with the EU delegation and its members and partners in Tunisia to discuss the 2015 social protection monitoring report, and to present the 2016 action plan. Read more

Scarring effects of being young and unemployed – The short- and long-term consequences of early job insecurity

This week SOLIDAR Foundation met with its partners of the NEGOTIATE project in Poznan, Poland for the third progress meeting. In the conjunction to the meeting, a conference on Early Job insecurities was organised at the Poznan University of Economics gathering leading researchers in this field. Research shows that being unemployed when young leads to many negative outcomes – scarring effects – in later life stages in terms of well-being, health, subsequent lower pay, higher unemployment and reduced life chances. Therefore it is important to find appropriate policy responses to youth unemployment and early-job insecurities. Read more

UPCOMING EVENTS

Europe and the Mediterranean. Places of peace and rights: for all or for the few?
8-9 October 2016 | Perugia, Italy
International Conference organised by SOLIDAR and CGIL in the framework of the Peace March Perugia-Assisi
Programme

Book launch event ‘From Europe to Local: Migrating solidarity’
10 October 2016 | Brussels, Belgium
Public event
Registration