Solidarity and emancipation

in edited volume “The Crisis and Future of Democracy”Background & objectives (edited volume) Democracy is in jeopardy. The rise and rise of authoritarian populism as well as the accompanying polarisation of politics and sustained attacks on the fundamental norms and foundations of liberal democracy in Europe and elsewhere have made that clear. Yet these symptoms are also reflective of a much longer decline of institutions in contemporary liberal representative democracies. Low levels of ...
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Unlocked in lockdown

María Paramés and María Peñalosa
The closure of migrant detencion centres in SpainTHE COVID-19 PANDEMIC EMPTIES SPAIN´S MIGRANT DETENTION CENTRES FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE COUNTRY´S HISTORY   Despite the high risk of contagion, Spain continued its attempts to carry out deportations, although these were rejected by the destination countries. The release of all detainees took place more than 50 days after the state of alarm was announced and borders were closed. The future of the people released remains a mystery.
Italy's farmworkers are organising successfully in the USB unionAn interview with Patrick Segal Konde Italy is one of the countries hardest hit by coronavirus. What impact is this having on farmworkers? It's not that easy to say. The plight of workers has always been precarious; that didn't start with coronavirus. However, the risk that just one person could infect many others is one we're taking very seriously. Many farmworkers in Italy don't have residence permits and are totally defenceless in the face of the pandemic....
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The brutal side of the French Riviera

Anna Dotti & Serena Chiodo
Rights violations, detentions and pushbacks: a daily reality for migrants’ at the French-Italian border, where Europe’s weaknesses weigh heavily on people’s lives***Full text available for download below*** The reportage “The brutal side of the Côte d’Azur” is online now! The on-the-ground research was carried out on the Southern Italian-French border, a militarized area inside the European Union where France still pushes back thousands of migrants, in violation of human rights and international agreements. "If you oppose no resistance, ...
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When, if not today?It was only a matter of time, epidemiologists warned, referring to the explosion of pandemics. And now we are in eye of the storm. Half of humanity is in lockdown, trying to contain the contagion and reduce the numbers of severe cases and death rates. COVID-19’s arrival in the West has exposed the fragility and deterioration of our healthcare systems, but the pandemic merely accelerated and exacerbated a situation caused by the ongoing attempt to commodify the health care sector pushed by neoliberal ruling classes worldwide. Now, ...
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Solidarity in the corona crisis and afterSix weeks after the first corona virus case was reported in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel opened herself up to questions from the public for the first time. In an urgent appeal to the population, she called for solidarity: “Our reason, our heart for one another” were being put to the test, she said, and she hoped we would pass the test. But how solidary can a society be when its social relations of which are based on competition, the credo of which is “every man for himself, every man for his own”? ...
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Interview with Sofie Merckx

Florian Horn, RLS Brussels
Medics for the people (Médecine pour le people, MPLP) BelgiumSofie Merckx, 45, is a general practitioner and works at the Medics for the people (Médecine pour le people, MPLP) health center in Charleroi, Belgium. From 2012 to 2019 she has been member of the city council of Charleroi for the Workers' Party of Belgium (PTB-PVDA). In 2019 she has been elected member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives. Medics for the people is a network of 11 first line health centers in Belgium. At the moment, 65 doctors and a total of 250 (doctors, nurses, other paramedical...
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Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Italian government has adopted a new decree practically every day of the last twenty. These legislative texts introduce “urgent measures to prevent infection across the entire country”. To begin with, the decree of 5 March declared that the region of Lombardy and 14 other northern Italian provinces were henceforth a “red zone” whose inhabitants – numbering over 16 million – could only leave their homes to go to work or shop. On 9 March, a nationwide state of emergency was declared and the lockdown ...
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Coca-Cola in Struggle

Federico Tomasone
Report of the international conference in ParisThe struggle of workers and social movements for international solidarity against transnational corporations. Analysis and background Now more than ever the power of corporate capital is accumulating profits thanks to a new geographical organization of the production and circulation of commodities and services. So, extracting enormous surplus, value they realize great profit which dialectically provide the base for a further expansion in the realization of capital on the finance markets. Transnational corporations have ...
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Malmö 13-15 November 2019By Ada Regelmann, with additional materials by Staffan Dahllöf and Michael Lauritsen The Brussels Office of Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung partnered with the Democracy in Europe Organisation (DEO) from Copenhagen to host a workshop to better understand and compare the causes of the rise of the far right across countries and to discuss strategies on how the left should respond. The workshop gave participants the opportunity to exchange viewpoints on analysis and strategy, learn from each other and connect. ...
read more "Impact workshop: The rise of the far right and how to confront it"