We are living an era of intertwined of crises. The world has entered a new period of extraordinary insecurity. Neoliberal globalisation is revealing its true face – it is a disaster for hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
The challenges are huge, but another world is possible!
Powerful social movements have risen all around the world, carrying hope for change. People are standing up and fighting back. Our mobilisation against TTIP and CETA has seen millions of EU citizens take action against corporate power, with TTIP virtually abandoned as a result. In several Mediterranean countries opposition to austerity has gained mass support. Grassroots movements are experimenting with alternative ways of running our economy and society, creating solidarity and paving the way to a sustainable and democratic world. Yes, we can take our destiny in our hands.
The Toulouse summer university is part of these endeavours. Of course, there are no simple answers and quick fixes. But together we are stronger. Join us to study, to learn from each other, to develop alternatives and to prepare our next moves together on crucial issues:
- Finance capitalism has not been disarmed after the 2008 crash. Behind the façade of calm, the casino system has re-emerged, fuelled by desperate experiments of central banks to stabilise markets through quantitative easing and zero interest rates. While the banking system is under threat in several EU countries, rising debt levels remain a time bomb.
- Neoliberal trade are still being pursued, undermining democracy, social equity and eroding our public services. After TTIP and CETA the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) threatens to be a blueprint for global privatisation.
- Inequality is rising as the rich become richer, leaving the vast majority behind. Harsh austerity, attacks on social rights, cuts in public services and tax exemptions for the rich and multinationals threaten our societies and economies. Precarious work is becoming the norm. Unemployment, in particular youth unemployment, is at unbearable levels in several EU countries.
- Refugees and migrants are dying in their thousands in the Mediterranean as European countries impose the exclusion of people fleeing war and extreme poverty. Right wing populists are fuelling racism by blaming migrants for the problems caused by the neoliberal crisis, raising the question of how we build a countermovement towards a welcoming and multicultural society.
- Democracy is threatened by authoritarianism, xenophobia, racism and the rise of hard right forces. Social democracy is in dramatic decline as a consequence of its accommodation to neoliberal reforms. In many cases, right wing parties are filling the vacuum.
- Climate change and the destruction of nature are uncurbed. The modest progress of the Paris agreement is fragile and completely insufficient. The loss of biodiversity and the pollution of soil, water and oceans are even accelerating.
- War and terror are back. The repression of popular pro-democracy uprisings by their regimes in the Middle East and unlawful military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria are back-firing in form of massive violations of human rights, destabilisation of the entire region, jihadist terror and a huge influx of refugees. After the NATO war in Yugoslavia had paved the way for war on European soil, there is now a new armed conflict in Ukraine. Rising militarisation and the spectre of a new cold war are haunting the continent. At the same time 500 years of US and European dominance is coming to an end. We are entering the unknown terrain of a multi-polar world.
- The European Union is stuck in an existential crisis. Business as usual is not possible any more. If a chaotic and explosive disruption is to be avoided, new strategies and concepts for the future of the entire continent have to be designed.
Despite this dark context, the struggles and resistance of millions of people all over Europe building fairer societies give us a good reason to keep working for another world.
Let’s come together in Toulouse this August!
The Attac European Summer University will be an activist space that is at the same time friendly and festive. Through debates, concerts, cultural activities, tours, and meetings with activists from Europe and the world, we will share and learn from each other. This summer university will include workshops, seminars and spaces for direct experimentation — and even concrete action — and of course for partying too.
