Portugal appears to be saying goodbye to an implacable crisis. Beyond its shaky economic recovery, the political and social relevance of the current ongoing debate on austerity should be acknowledged. Português Español
Cultural politics
Portugal parece estar dejando atrás una crisis implacable. Más allá de una recuperación económica inestable, es importante fijarse en la relevancia política y social del actual debate sobre la austeridad. English Português
Still, the boats come. Detention, as a solution to this, would have to be on a scale hitherto unimaginable in the EU. We need alternatives, and migrants need to be part of them.
DiEM25, the movement to democratize the European Union, is urged to rethink its approach, taking events of the last two years properly into account. Interview.
We do need borders – but these needn’t be barricades. Español
Europe
Necesitamos fronteras, pero éstas no tienen por qué ser barricadas. English
The 1951 Geneva Convention on Political Asylum was a typical creation of the Cold War: the system cannot deal with the huge population flows now permanently characteristic of our world.
The term ‘economic migrant’ has been a key weapon in the authorities’ war against refugees, yet it hides much more than it reveals.
SYRIZA did what the traditional way of doing politics dictates: supported social movements, built alliances, won a majority in the parliament, formed a government. We all know the results.
Refugee welfare infrastructures are run thanks to self-organised, spontaneous social activists: not by the receivers of EU aid packages.
The former Speaker of the Greek Parliament discusses her time in Syriza, the importance of a Plan B for Europe, and Grexit vs Brexit. Interview.
The transformation of Victoria Square in Athens is emblematic of the new model of top-down control of populations that Europe is moving towards.