THE DAY AFTER – FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS!

The day after the result of the 2016 US elections we find ourselves asking a myriad of questions, rather like after the vote for BREXIT: will the President elect change the office or will the office change him? Who will be appointed to the new administration? Where will the hawks and where will the doves be? Listening to the speeches there seems to be an attempt at some kind of reconciliation between the two opposing camps and parties. But Making America Great Again will be revealed as a promise only for those who believed in it. The structural problems remain and in particular the country will remain divided between a white middle and working class exposed to the risk of losing what they have and fearing transition and the black and Latino communities who have woken up too late and did not mobilise to prevent the elections result. Hopefully in France and in the Netherlands this phenomena will not be repeated and will not leave us in a situation where only after the election of Le Pen and/or Wilders people take to the streets and demonstrate in protest, like they did yesterday in several American cities and like others did the day after the BREXIT vote.

Many question marks remain and indeed there is a chance for Europe to show an alternative model of a tamed capitalism and a socially and economically cohesive society. The Americans can always refer rather emotionally/ nostalgically to the American dream. And we Europeans? We dreamed about a Europe without borders, which we only partially have at the moment. We refereed to a social market economy, to new deals for economic growth and a protecting welfare system. The reality is slightly different in and among Member States who have been pushed into competition for the sake of competitiveness and forced by blind austerity policies. Rebuilding trust and confidence in the European model, in a European way, needs more than institutional change. It needs policy change. At the time of the wall we had competing systems, and capitalism pretended to be economically and morally superior. And now? We no longer have competing systems and the social dimension has always played second fiddle to the so called economic imperative of unleashing growth potential. This cannot be our model.

With the elections in the US we seem to have entered a new era of policy making where the pressure on democratic rights, freedoms, public and media space is increasing. Turkey appears to be developing into a dictatorship and the objective of joining the EU is further away than ever. Orban continues and other authoritarian tendencies develop in other countries.

The Left, the Progressives in parties, unions and civil society should not repeat the historical mistake of division, but wake up and set another progressive agenda of real social and economic progress showing that we have in Europe another model and alternatives! Another Europe in the world is possible! It’s time we made that happen, together!

SOLIDAR NEWS

Acting for youth – defining policies to support youths’ position
Young people have been disproportionally affected by job insecurity as shown by unemployment, inactivity, job precariousness and fragmented careers during and after the outbreak of the economic crisis of 2008. This may be crucial for their ability to maintain a living income and to live a decent life now and in the future. The increasing polarisation of the labour market may have an impact on changing employment structures and the flexibilisation of labour.
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SOLIDAR at DG NEAR’s Framework partnership agreements closing event
Today SOLIDAR is taking part in DG NEAR’s Framework partnership agreements (FPAs) closing event in Skopje (Macedonia). The event aims at taking stock of the progress registered so far by the projects granted by the FPA.
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Morocco: Social unrest and call for social justice
Our organisations denounce the systematic use of travel bans by the Egyptian government against human rights defenders and civil society in Egypt as a tool to crackdown against independent civil society. Malek Adly’s case is not isolated, and the list of human rights defenders prevented from travelling abroad is worryingly long.
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THE BEST DEMOCRACY MONEY CAN BUY?
The result is clear: Trump has been elected as the 45th President of the United States. A democratic vote. Nonetheless many seem to be rather surprised and are trying to understand the results. How could the polling institutes not see this one coming? Perhaps because many voters were keeping their cards close to their chest and polls don’t replace actual elections! How could this happen? It might have something to do with the fact that in the US like in many European countries the underestimation or even denial of the delicate balance between economic and social policies in times of crisis and increasing inequalities creates fertile ground for populists. They manage through constant provocation to always be in the headlines, facilitated by high speed communication through new media. Read more

UPCOMING EVENTS

Lunch time discussion on the ‘Impact of the economic crisis on youth – the Youth Guarantee a new approach to tackling youth unemployment’
Organised by SOLIDAR Foundation and NOVA-Norwegian Social Research in the framework of the NEGOTIATE research project
16 November 2016 | Brussels, Belgium
Registration

European pillar of social rights – Achieving upward social convergence with a rights-based approach?
Organised by SOLIDAR
06 December 2016 | Brussels, Belgium
Registration

Perspectives for decent future of today’s youth – Final conference of world of work for youth project
Organised by SOLIDAR and FIC
07 December 2016 | Brussels, Belgium
Registration