Countrywide assembly of all open assemblies of The Netherlands

When: Sunday, 2nd of October from 14'00 to 17'00.
Where: Social Center “De Valreep”. Polderweg 620, Amsterdam (http://valreep.wordpress.com/)

The last 3 years, no matter where we live, our lives are strongly influenced by the crisis. This crisis broke out in 2008 and transformed itself to a sovereign-debt crisis particularly in the EU-periphery. This crisis was not created by the people. The bankers and the financial institutions with the support of the governments are responsible for it.

Today the people are asked to pay this crisis by European-wide austerity measures. This recipe has been implemented repeatedly in the past by the IMF and always resulted in increasing the inequalities, the unemployment and the poverty among the people.

In this background, in the last 5 months, an alternative movement in the squares of many countries has emerged. This movement was the genuine reaction of the people against the way that the governments have chosen to deal with the crisis. People have started to gather in public spaces and occupy the squares to protest against the policies of the governments. The most optimistic element of this movement was that people stopped being passive and began to discuss about their lives and their problems making efforts to define a better society. This better society can only materialize with the collective struggle of the people. The ‘Take the Square’ movement that was based on the principles of real democracy, contributed at this.

Particularly in the Netherlands, since last May, open assemblies are taking place in several cities. These assemblies, are part of the ‘Take the Square’ movement and have organized actions of various scale with a twofold aim: firstly, the aim is to show their solidarity to the Spanish and Greek people that initiated this movement in Europe but are also the primary victims of austerity measures that are coordinated by the EU. Secondly, the aim is to react against the unjustified budget cuts that are implemented in the Netherlands that is a rich country that has been mildly affected by the crisis.

Since the beginning of the assemblies in the Netherlands, the necessity of coordination and communications among the assemblies in the Netherlands was more than obvious. Following the worldwide or pan-European actions for occupying the squares every Sunday is clearly not enough. A deeper and permanent coordination is necessary in order to increase the political awareness of the movement in the Netherlands and to achieve our goals.
For all these reasons we call for a countrywide assembly of all the local assemblies in the Netherlands on October 2nd in Amsterdam. It will be the first general and countrywide assembly and as such, we think that this is a very important event. The presence of all of us, the ‘everyday’ man and woman who participated in the ‘Take the Square’ movement, is more than necessary! For this reason, we invite everybody to join and participate in the ‘Assembly of Assemblies’.

Safeguarding the rule that the “agenda” of this assembly is open to be completed with topics that every participant may suggest, we propose some initial issues that we would like discuss and decide upon in this assembly:

1. Review and evaluation of local assemblies.
2. Ways of improving the coordination of our struggle mainly at the country level.
3. Organizing the protest in 15th October in Brussels
4. Other future actions and events.
5. Creating a new pan-Dutch countrywide website of all the open assemblies.

We invite you all in Amsterdam, 2nd of October 2011, 14.00, at the newly created social center “De Valreep” for the “Assembly of the Open Assemblies”

Plaza protest: Thusday, July 14, 19.00, Heuvel, Tilburg.Against cuts and austerity - for solidarity

Thursday, July 14, from 19.00 hour, there will be a plaza protest in Tilburg, at the Heuvel, Tilburg

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Against cuts and austerity - for solidarity

Plaza protest: Thusday, July 14, 19.00, Heuvel, Tilburg

The government cuts, the government destroys what we need for our existence. Those austerity policies themselves have to be destroyed. It is time for protest.

The PGB for many people will be stopped. People have to make bigger financial contributions for mental healthcare. Chronically sick, need help? Bad luck, see how you can manage. Need mental healthcare through GGZ? Just pay a lot extra. Fitting education, for children who need axtra attention, will be low-quality because of cuts. Orchestra's, theater companies, other art institutions will be cut back or will even have to close. VAT for tickets will rise, concerts etcetera wil be even more expensive. Jobs will be lost, choice in events wil be diminished.

Again and again, the most vulnerable people wil be hurt. Rich people will keep their tax subsidies for houses, capitalists continue to profit of tax advantages – at our expense. Money that is not availibla for care and public transport, suddenly appears for an expensive JSF fighter plane. We want this harsh austerity policies to be stopped. That is why we take action

The Netherlands does not stand alone. In Spain, there is mass unemployment, and severe cuts are imposed. In Greece, austority measures are pushing many people into deep poverty. It is blackmail: if Greece does not cut, the EU will not extend credits. Those credits don't benefit the poor Greek: they flow right back to pay back earlier debts. People in Spain and greece protest in large numbers against austerity and against their government. They give a good example, they deserve solidarity. For tht reason, too, we take action.

Therefore: come together at the Heuvelin Tiburg, on July 14, on 19.00! There will be some music, slogans will be made visible – but by all means brong your own banners, placards and other means of expression to contribute creatively to the protest. See and hear you. On the 14th of July – and please help spread this call!

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=112911648801877

Against cuts and austerity - for solidarity

Revolution in Groningen

What is really going on in the in the EU periphery?

Modern national economies are characterized by the accumulation of public debts and state deficits. These policies have two main pillars: Firstly, the low taxation of large enterprises, while the taxation rates are quite high for the majority of the society. Secondly, the states were borrowing (and still borrow) huge loans in order to support the big companies, the banks, to pay their public obligations (wages, pensions) and to increase the level of their imports. The “financial games” play a major role in this field. This situation was deteriorated by the reoccurrence of the crisis, an intrinsic characteristic of the nowadays dominant socioeconomic system. The ground principles of the system inevitably lead to the appearance of crises in several phases of history. The current crisis started in 2006 in the housing sector of the USA (due to the unfeasible payment of loans), and spread all over the world influencing mainly the developed states. The consequences of the crisis and mainly the consequences of the policies implemented to overcome it were stronger mainly in the developed states of the EU and USA.

While the world was watching the US economy and its financial institutions stumble under the crisis, they knew little about what was coming towards Europe. What the European public did not know was the amount of US mortgages purchased by the European banks. These loans created the current conditions, centering the economies around these debts. The fall of the housing bubble pushed the banks and the insurance companies into bankruptcy, forcing many states in the EU (Hungary, Greece, Ireland) to get loans from the IMF and the EU (and not from the market) to save their financial institutions (banks and insurance companies). In exchange, IMF chiefs control these states’ economic and social policies.

The situation in the periphery of EU is much worse than the core states of the union. Particularly in Spain, the housing bubble has led the economy of the state in relatively bad situation: the percentage of the debt during the crisis increased by 20%, reaching a total of 60% in 2010. At the same time, the situation in Greece is characterized through the years by high levels of illegal tax evasion and legal tax exemption and reductions for the firms: if that was avoided during the 2000-2008 period, the Greek state would have earned 95 billion euros. In addition, the 2004 Olympic Games resulted in an extra deficit of 5 billion euro. This situation was worsened by the crisis: in 2008 the debt was 110% of national GDP whereas in 2010 it reached 142% of national GDP. The Greek state was able to borrow from the market until the spring of 2010, when the interest rate reached almost 8%, while the average interest level is 3-4%. So, the Greek government decided to put the state under the supportive mechanism structured by both IMF and EU resulting in a debt of 110 billion euro. In exchange, the IMF and European Central Bank decide for all the political and economic aspects in Greece.

The governments decided to face the crisis and its consequences by imposing austerity measures and cuts, obligating the workers and the youth to pay for it, despite the fact that they were not responsible for the crisis. Particularly in Spain the measures of the government had as a result the increase of the unemployment rates from 8% (2007) to 20% in 2010, and especially the youth unemployment rates rocketed to 45% in May 2011. In addition to that, they forced short-term contracts, substituting full-time with part-time jobs which influenced also the salaries: the mean wage now in Spain is 25% lower than EU average.

Similarly, the Greek government measures focused on declining the debt through dismissals in public sector, cuts in education, healthcare and social security (wages and pensions) and increasing labor elasticity. What were the results of these policies? The unemployment increased from 8% in 2007 to 16% in March 2011, the minimum wage declined from 700 to 560 euro. However these measures aiming at declining at least the debt totally failed: the debt increased by 9% in one year. So, currently a new packet of measures for another 60 billion euro loan is being discussed, which will privatize the majority of public sector, decline even more the wages and increase the cuts.

But what happens in reality? According to data from the OECD and Eurostat (2011) Southern European annual working hours are longer than the Northern ones (in Greece it is 2119 hours, while in Germany it is 1390). While long working hours in Northern states would imply greater financial benefits, in the South these hours are going towards paying the debt and the financial aid to banks (in Greece, in the last two years 58 billion euro were given to banks). Given this background, we are in front of a new trend in Southern Europe: youth deprived of future in their own countries.

In this context the Dutch media present the southern countries as being in an entirely different situation as the northern countries. Yet the Dutch situation is, for reasons similar to the southern ones, getting more precarious. The austerity measures of the right-wing government are beginning to have an impact on public transportation, which in some places will be suspended by 40%. Moreover, the educational system, through the introduction of higher financial obligations for the students and lower public funding will be less available to the average youngster. The measures prepared for the Health care system, the Social security system and other public sectors are going to have even bigger consequences. A good example of this is the rising of the retirement age from the normal Dutchmen from 65 to 67, while the people responsible for the crisis are again getting big bonuses.

And what is the reaction of the people in front of all these? What are they doing in order to face this situation? Somebody could say that they were sleeping and not reacting until this May. However, the demonstrations of 1st May in all Europe and the movement of May 15 in Spain show something different. People started react, to go to the streets and occupy the squares across all Europe. Spanish “Democracia Real” which began on the 15th of May sparked the “Alithini Dimokratia” movement in Greece ten days later. This period efforts are made to have the “Echte Democracie” in the Netherlands as part of the general rise of a European “Real Democracy”. People are in the streets, react, discuss the situation and decide in a real democratic way for their future. They speak against the situation of “others deciding for their future without them”.

We are expecting you!
Real Democracy – Open Assembly of Groningen
http://realdemocracygroningen.wordpress.com