The Battle for Europe

I have now accumulated a huge backlog of various bits and pieces I wanted to write about, and I shall do my best to try to get somewhat up to date and be as chronological as I can about it, although no doubt some synthesis will be necessary, and some things are not so fresh in my mind as they were.

First, here are my updated and slightly more thought out views on the question of the Lisbon Treaty and its little friend the Irish referendum. The ad hoc patched-together little piece below turned out to be only the first foray into a long process of searching, questioning and discovery on the subject of the Treaty and its real meaning and wider political implications. The regrets and the ensuing legitimacy crisis that it sparked in the aftermath of the Convention the Irish Greens held on the Treaty, although with a vengeance, were qualified in the end by my admission that that "speech", although containing elements of sincerity and earnest conviction, was an over-simplified parody and I was right to second-guess it (although perhaps not right enough to warrant full justification for my inaction, such as it was). Its considerations in no way do justice to those who've read the Treaty in its entirety, who've made efforts to uncover its full meaning, intentions and detail, against the odds, or who've agonised over which way to vote, due to conflicts of interest that touch the very core of their ideological convictions.

It's a debate that has rattled on and on, and will no doubt continue to do so up until the referendum, and probably well beyond. It's been inescapable. On television, in the papers, among the Greens, on the radio, in my university lecture halls and its debating chambers... and each time I've issued a "statement" on the matter, I've been determined to draw a line under it but that's just not been possible. So much debate and so many views heard has not left me indifferent. I've been through phases of euro-phoria, euro-scepticism, euro-phobia, and euro-indifference and I've emerged the other side with a far better understanding of why people might feel nthe way they do about Europe, and why people who I feel should be pro-Europe, might not be, for reasons that aren't just down to national pride and/or ignorance, as I always previously believed. And this hasn't just taught me more about people's attitudes to Europe, but also about where my own political loyalties lie, fundamentally. I am above all a Socialist and Green, I have definite extremist tendancies when it comes to the former, but I am also above all a Europhile. Although when I say I've been brainwashed by the Brussels Eurocratic establishment it's only half serious, I do feel very strongly that people's political beliefs are conditioned by their environment. When it comes to my immediate surroundings, I always suppsed we were pro-Europe because we came to Brussels, but perhaps we came to Brussels because we are pro-Europe. In any case, the fact remains. I am a passionate beleiver in the potential of Europe, its as yet under-exploited capacity to be a progressive force, politically, socially and ecologically. And I think that just because it hasn't lived up to the Left's expections on this account (although there is certainly much worth commending it for), doesn't mean it can't.

Many people I fervently admire would disagree with me on this point, and would argue that it's not good enough, that it's too much of a compromise, and a bitter pill. (That said, given how well the Greens have shown they can take pills of that kind when it comes to national government, one wonders at their incapacity to do the same when it comes to Europe, but this isn't the case for everybody.) But who I'm really thinking of here is my newfound ideological leader, the trotskyist postman Olivier Besancenot, leader of the Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire, a fledgling party with the audacity to flaunt its slogan "100% a gauche" and yet still managed to score almost 5% in the first round of the French Presidential elections (and if that sounds meagre, just remember that he regards himself as Communist revolutionnary - these aren't words we hear in politics anymore.)

I had the good fortune of hearing Mr Besancenot's views on the Treaty when I was home in Belgium earlier in the Spring. Of, course, it took a secnd viewing to let it all sink in. Besancenot is hardly like other politicians who speak slowly and in nice short words to hammer their message across (cf. Segolene's bathbook discoure or Le Pen's inflammatory demagogie), he talks about incredibly complex political things at a very high velocity and I find him very difficult to keep up with.

He's a wit too. When asked if he would be attending Sarkozy's wedding, he retorted: "Je ne serais ni a son marriage ni a l'enterrement de l'Europe sociale-democratique pour laquelle on se bat"
When it comes to his reasons for placing himself firmly in the no-camp, his assertions are fiery, forceful and biting. He explains the previous no-vote to the Constitution by the fact that Europe was back then and still is -
"L'Europe de plus en plus discreditée dans le quotidien de millions de personnes, parce qu'elle correspond a des licenciements, a la precarité, a du chomage et a des services publiques qui sont cassés."

By voting no, the extreme left can dissociate itself from the consequences of all the directives to come. So then at least, those who resist, "qui sont en bas", can say Not in Our Name, nor is it legitimate (but a fat lot of good that does them).

And make no mistake, those of us who are apologists for the EU as it currently stands are deluding ourselves. This Europe we see today is -
"L'europe du movement des services, de la monnaie unique, de Schengen, la forteresse, et l'Europe sociale elle vient jamais"

This disillusionment has long since been taken as a reality check for people like Besancenot. We have been waiting too long to see the kind of Europe we wish for to begin to take shape, and Besancenot like many has now been permeated by the sense that it will never arrive. As one of the deluded, I am of course willing to give the EU the benefit of the doubt, another chance, to wait a little longer. Those who are critical, unrelentingly so, who believe that we should make the eurocrats squirm at every opportunity - are led to be so by loyalties that I confess do not override my apologism. When the eurocrats squirm, I squirm along with them. And although it sounds ridiculous, I can't apologise for being an apologist for them and the whole European Project.

Sometimes he makes me angry, along with the other no-voting greens and lefties. Their intransigence, they do not feel the way to win is to compromise, the way to win is to stick to the hard & fast line and not give an inch - but since when is that politics? "Compromise" is essential and always has been, but for the extreme green/left, the prespect seems to be a fate worse than death.

But you don't have to listen to Besancenot for very long to realise that he isn't the kind of lefty who opens arms towards the centre, who panders to the right like the mainstream socialists in attempt to maximise voting score. "Je me bats pour que nos idees soient de plus en plus majoritaires" - OUR ideas. Essentially Besancenot is in politics to get more people to agree with him. Not to obtain power by satisfying as many people as possible, even if it means distorting his ideas out of shape. For this reason, he will no doubt always remain a marginal figure. Because let's face it, a lot of people are never going to vote Left, let alone extreme left.
Besancenot seems confident that a shift is taking place however. Largely because "La politique de sarkozy, elle exaspere." and this is provoking "un changement profond dans la societé", "une radicalisation" no less, and "un engagement nouveau".

He is completely open about this ideological immobility and his ambitions, "Moi mes idees j'ai envie qu'elles gouvernent" and yet he himself admits to not quite knowing what this non-capitalist, non-market economy society would look like exactly, but wants to bring as many people together in support of the prospect, to imagine it.

But returning to Lisbon from that little detour into the more general politics of Besancenot, what I am incresingly coming to understand is the sense from the people in these camps that we need to start completely over - that the Europe we want CANNOT be reached from this path, forged from this mold, that we need to trash the whole thing and start to build again on diferent foundations rather than chipping away it to make it more pallatable, more suited to our interests and values and convictions.

When it comes to deconstructing gut feelings and motivations, it goes without saying that we follow our convictions, and speak/vote/believe in ways that are in accordance with them, complex and multi-facetted as they may be (and sometimes in conflict - cases of cognitive dissonance I believe is the term in social psychology). Thus, Olivier Besancenot will vote no because he is extreeeeme left, many greens will vote no because they are foremost green, my own mixture of socialism/extreme leftism/green fervour is diluted by an overarching sense of faith and beleif in Europe (as an inherently positive phenomenon), in moving the European project forward even if we're not 100% sure it's the right direction because it's preferable to moving it backwards or paralysing it completely, which effectively come to the same thing.