NEOLIBERAL GLOBALIZATION AND ALTERNATIVES OF THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT

By Sven Giegold

[This address from the demonstration on the SPD-Party day in Bochum on 11/17/2003 is translated from the German on the World Wide Web, www.free.de/FREE/projects/sofodo/sozialer-widerstand/perspektiven/sven-giegold-2003-11-17/view. Sven Giegold is a member of the Attac coordinating circle.]


Dear Friends,

I come directly from Paris where more than 100,000 persons at the European Social Forum demonstrated for a Europe of social rights and against war and discussed these themes in over 600 events. What a marvelous success for our movement!

What we are now experiencing in Germany is a general attack on the social foundations in our country. Everywhere there are cuts and slashes: in the health system, pensions, labor market, unemployment insurance, the closing of social institutions and a wave of privatizations in the communes. In a few months, all this will be whipped through the Bundestag.

These so-called “reforms” agree: the weakest have to bear the burdens while gifts are showered above. This is very clear in the tax system. The top tax rates are lowered, a property tax is rejected and big business pays no taxes any more thanks to the Eichelian tax reform.

The purpose of our social state is being redefined. Citizens no longer have social rights in the state. Instead receivers of social benefits are parasites toward the general public with duties to the state. The social state principle is turned upside down.

In the Bundestag and Bundesrat, a great coalition of all parties governs. In their core, they all agree. The distinctions are essentially tactical political differences. The SPD now pursues the policy urged by the FDP in 1996. Hardly any differences exist between the parties in the issue of social cuts.

How could it happen that social cuts have a practical consensus among all the parties and in large parts of the media?

There are at least two important reasons: the widespread economic lies and the changed balance of power in the impetus of economic globalization.

THE ECONOMIC LIES

1ST LIE: No money exists. Yes, the public treasuries are empty, that is true. However our society has not become poorer as a whole. Per capita income has tripled since the 1960s. What was introduced at that time is now cancelled. How could this happen? No normal thinking person can understand this. Eichel’s treasury is empty. However it is also a fact that the missing 50 billion Euros is the same amount previously remitted the mammoth corporations and wealthy in the course of the tax reform. This is a misery of our own making! There is enough for everyone!

2ND LIE: Demography forces social cuts. Since our society is becoming ever older and more and more old persons must be financed by fewer young persons, we supposedly cannot afford social security. That the Rurup commission expects a further increase of per capita gross domestic product amounting to 1.8% per year is only comical. If pensions rise less than 1.8%, someone will receive more. Thus we face a question of distribution.

In 1925 there were twelve employed persons to one pensioner. Today 4 employed persons work for one pensioner. In 2040 there will be 2. Nevertheless everyone – old and young persons – could constantly increase their income. A generation war was not necessary. A practical necessity to dismantle the social systems does not exist today. We younger persons must give a growing share of our value creation to older persons. Still we younger persons on the average can expect years with growing incomes. The increased productivity strikes the aging. We must reflect on harmonizing growth with the ecological limits. This is technically and politically possible. Only the readiness to change our lifestyle must grow faster than the economy.

3rd LIE: Lower taxes are good for the economy. There is no evidence that the economy functions better when the state is small. Countries with very different and extensive public systems can be economically successful or unsuccessful. One thing is clear: there is no money for schools, kindergartens, universities, public institutions and redistribution with lower taxes and fees.

4th LIE: The labor market improves when wages fall. It seems so obvious: When labor is made cheaper, more work will be sought. However labor costs are simultaneously the supports of domestic demand. Whoever wants to generally lower labor costs ruins the economy. Custom-made solutions must be found without wage dumping for the areas of the economy in which only low profits can be realized on the market with meaningful social work. Publicly promoted service agencies and expansion of publicly financed employment are vital.

5th LIE: State debts are lowered by saving in crisis. Whoever like Eichel and Schroeder pursues an austerity policy in economic crisis will harvest an even deeper crisis and higher debts. Debts can only be paid off in good times. Our politicians here and now are only making everything worse.

The problem is that many politicians believe all these lies along with journalists and large parts of the population. We don’t have any chance if we don’t expel these false misguided economic ideas from our heads.

Even if it is laborious, we need a great enlightenment campaign about the economy. Therefore Attac understands itself as a “popular education movement.” We may not leave economic- and financial policy to politicians and spokespersons of the economy! We must be clever and immunize ourselves against these lies.

This whole nonsense would ne3ver have prevailed if the hierarchies of power had not fundamentally changed. With that, I come to the second theme:

CHANGES IN THE COURSE OF NEOLIBERAL GLOBALIZATION

Through economic globalization, the interests of owners of capital and business have become global. Capital goes where it can gain the highest profits, the smallest social state, the most insecure working conditions, the lowest taxes and the highest subsidies. In comparison, public welfare interests like social justice, ecology and democracy are immobile. These interests inhere in the population that can hardly be threatened with migration or transfer. As a result, the interests of owners of capital become increasingly powerful in political conflicts.

This changed hierarchy of power is the real reason why social dismantling is pursued against economic reason or pressure. Globalization is the decisive cause. That is the truth!

In this situation, politicians claim: this was inevitable. There are no alternatives.

Yes, it is true. Globalization has increased the competitive pressure. Everyone who works in industrial enterprises in Germany knows this. However the governments still have great possibilities. Compare Denmark and Sweden with Great Britain. All are in the European Union (EU). Unemployment is low in all of these countries. But in the first two states, there is still a well-developed welfare state, excellent education, little criminality and higher taxes than in Germany. In Great Britain, in contrast, there is enormous inequality, rotten public institutions and miserable housing.

Thus considerable possibilities exist despite globalization. There are countries that invest more in the social area than Germany. What we now witness is that the government executes the globalization pressure around social cuts without being forced economically. The government is afraid of confrontation with the social groups that have become politically stronger under globalization conditions.

If different possibilities exist for social policy, what do our alternatives look like?

While possibilities exist for social policy, this policy shrivels through the increasingly intense international competition. Therefore pressure on social, democratic and ecological rights must be reduced. Politicians do the exact opposite. Our politicians urge more economic liberalizations in the European negotiations in Brussels and in the World Trade Organization in Cancun. As a result, our first goal must be: No more liberalizations before enforcing social and ecological rights on the international plane. We must globalize and Europeanize social justice!

The social security systems can only be financed if they are fundamentally changed. All national income must be included to finance health care, nursing and pensions. Everyone – including independent persons and freelancers – must be liable with their entire income. Work incomes cannot be the only resource for financing social security. A solidarian citizen insurance could solve our problems in the area of social security.

For this to succeed, the tax loopholes and tax shelters for capital must be closed. The tax liability of capital must be restored under globalization conditions. Politics must act decisively here. In partial areas, the U.S. shows how this can happen.

The European Union is the decisive plane for enforcing social rights. It is large enough to resist the pressure of globalization. However what we presently experience is the exact opposite, namely massive economic liberalization. We have to fight for a social and ecological Europe.

Finally, our social state always had serious weaknesses. Many women and immigrants were excluded from the advances. In many parts of the world, there is extreme misery and no social security at all. As a result, championing a basic principle in a wealthy society is vital: Every person has a right to share in the cultural advances because he or she exists. This means creating fair conditions for developing countries and ending exploitation. For us in the rich industrial country Germany, this means the right to an unconditional basic income.

We should have no illusions. The next disappointment will only set back every advance. A dignified social policy will be even harder to attain given the poor initial situation. We will not be able to prevent Agenda 2010.

Nevertheless the enlightenment work and the protests against social dismantling must continue. Tomorrow a “Day of Refusal” will take place with the support of the DGB (large German union) in Hessen. More demonstrations and local protests are announced in many places. We must publicize our alternatives.

A Europe-wide Day of Action against social cuts and for social rights in Europe was resolved at the European Social Forum in Paris. This day should be carried out together with the European union movement. Then several hundred thousand will come to Berlin, not only the 100,000 as on November 1!

We must prepare for a long social conflict. False hopes for great success would only produce disappointments and discourage movement. The enclosure and civilizing of globalization is an Herculean historical task. This will take a longtime and will not be simple. Social movements have already accomplished many things in the past: the working class movement, the women’s movement and the environmental movement. They all did what in the past was regarded as impossible.

Today we need a social movement that covers globalization. This movement must be international and pluralist, covering all who don’t want to simply leave the world to the globalized economic interests. Unions, Christian groups, social organizations, global justice alliances and many others are part of this movement.

Together we could give a social face to globalization and fight for the internationalization of social rights. Everything depends on our will.