TRANSLATION
Article from the French Socialist Youth Journal Unitˇ
Here a striking contribution from Unitˇ, a journal of the
leftwing of
French Socialist Youth, which I have translated and
reproduce with
permission of the author, Renaud Chenu.
Walter Held, Germany
-------------
From Unitˇ, journal of the Socialist Offensive (MJS)
June 2008
Editorial by Renaud Chenu
It began in Lisbon, it finished in Dublin, a
genuine ballad from Brussels
Europe, what magnificent progress, what a superb project,
what an
audacious plan! We on the continent were terribly wounded.
Our memory
is irrigated with rivers of blood, with the din of iron in
our ears
and with flashes of fire which descend like thunder and
lightning in
support of noble and terrible causes: the True Faith, the
King, the
Motherland, Liberty, the blue line of the Vosges river! We
offered our
bare chests as gentlemen, we sacrificed ourselves as
patriots, we
loved the Emperor and adored death. Nations trudged a
furrow, their
pride at the end of a rifle. Finally, we tired of the
massacres. The
Hundred or Thirty or Seven Years' war, the wars of
religion, Napoleon
and his conquests, the Great War, the Shoah ... we visited
all the
scenes of horror, exhausted all the resources in the art
of war. In
the middle of the twentieth century, Europeans declared
themselves to
be tired of dying. They made peace. They created Europe.
The people
raised in the prisons of nationalisms were educated into
friendship.
The war heroes were relegated to the cupboard and the
nations became
rational. The intelligence which had been used for mutual
killing was
now to be used for unifying ourselves. One flag, one
anthem, treaties,
one currency. The European hydra grew, beginning with six,
it
developed 27 heads. A joyful bazaar, growing ever more
extravagant. A
vaudeville of peoples searching for a common destiny. All
are summoned
to perform in the same play. But the plot is difficult,
the actors
have their egos, the script writing lags behind, the
direction is
often chaotic. It's a mess.
The Irish have just rejected the Lisbon Treaty The French,
followed by
the Dutch, had consigned the Treaty for a Constitution for
Europe
(TCE) to the dustbin of history. Europe has broken down,
is blocked,
trampled underfoot, in short it is in the merde. The
No-voters have
been labelled populists, nationalists, reactionaries. The
European
elites had decided to follow the example of the ostrich.
Out of the
TCE came forth the Lisbon Treaty. The same text,
differently
organised. The same causes produce the same effects, the
only people
invited to express an opinion in a referendum said No.
Ireland shall
vote again! She had already had that trick played on her
with the
Treaty of Nice. Or shall Ireland be permitted to offend
against the
common order? England profits by such measures from
Maastricht and
Schengen. A Europe of the Peoples, democratic yes, but
without the
opinion of the peoples is easier.
The glittering idea of Saint Just* (which was nothing but
glitter!)
that "Happiness is a new idea in Europe" is
still relevant today. But
we will not draw a prettifying veil over its face. The
battles which
we have to fight in the framework of Europe are the same
battles as ever.
The rapaciousness of the banks which impose their rule on
the whole
economy, the criminal bosses who push their employees into
ever
harsher conditions, the police and the courts which take
more and more
liberties with our liberties in the name of a struggle
against
terrorism and illegal immigration: this is the direction
which Europe
is taking when the Commission only exists in the form of
Decrees which
deregulate the economy, privatise public services and
lower an Iron
Curtain around the frontiers of the Union.
The Europe in which we live is out of date. Trying to
insist on the
construction of a great liberal technocratic machine is
senseless. To
continue along this path means assassinating Europe on the
altar of
those arrogantly obsessed with keeping the profits
flowing, who only
love Europe as long as it serves their purposes.
Europe which says No to Treaties is a Europe which loves
its quality
public services, which sees only virtue in social
protection, which
desires a harmonisation, an integration which is
synonomous with new
rights, with social progress, more liberty: in short -
happiness. The
French No was the best news to happen in Europe since its
inception.
The EU attempted to carry on without the peoples, the
Irish have
reacted for everyone. One for all, all for one, these are
the people
called to the referendum who have made themselves into
Musketeers for
democracy. Because the Gordian Knot for the future of
Europe is
there: in democracy. A Consititution - Yes! But no
constitution is
worthy of the name if it does not arise from aa
constituant process
born out of the people, and peoples, themselves. Let us be
audacious
and create the States General of Europe**, quarter by
quarter, suburb
by suburb, factory by factory, village by village. Let us
see what
beautiful thing is born from the genius of the peoples
assembled
around their table for their common future. This is a
full-blooded
socialist perspective. Will it be complicated, hugely
chaotic, will we
be taking risks with such a step, with a door opening on
an unknown
future? But it is the essence of democracy to be that open
door
towards the unknown, comrades !
*Leading French revolutionary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_de_Saint-Just
** French parliamentary assembly which transformed itself
into a lever
of the revolution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_States-General