DiEM25 one month on: utopian dream or a sign of real change?

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Just a few hundred metres from Alexanderplatz, in the centre of Berlin, the imposing Volksbühne building has been welcoming theatre lovers for over a century.

Through the huge entrance hall with its marble columns and staircases, the visitor is immediately transported back to the 1930s, to the days when this institution popularised art and made it accessible to all, whatever their social status.

Since its creation, the Volksbühne has stood out for being avant-garde and challenging.

So perhaps it was no accident that the former Greek Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis, chose this place to present DiEM25 (for Democracy in Europe Movement), with a manifesto available on its website in 16 languages.

It was exactly one month ago, on 9 February 2016.

But aside from the media-friendly event, the real importance and impact of DiEM25 is hard to evaluate, with so many other issues, from the refugee crisis to the ‘Brexit’ question, in the European spotlight.

The movement’s Facebook page has less than 10,000 likes and its Twitter account has barely 8,500 followers.

“If it’s about a mobilising around a utopian ideal, I think that the DiEM25 project could be promising,” says François Forêt, a researcher at the Institute of European Studies of the Free University of Brussels (Université Libre de Bruxelles ULB).

“There is a profound crisis of legitimacy surrounding the institutions in the eyes of the population. A lot of people are waiting for a political project that can combine a socio-economic agenda with the challenges created by the environmental crisis. A mobilising utopian dream could be useful.”

“But I am a little sceptical as to whether you can go from that to thinking that Varoufakis’ movement can bring these challenges together.”

 

Reappropriation vs. Disintegration

Whether by accident or not, the choice of country to launch the movement has strong symbolic value. In 2015, the former Greek Finance Minister found himself most at odds with Germany when trying to negotiate with the Troïka.

Germany, together with the other member states of the European Union, finally brought the Syriza government to heel, engendering Varoufakis’s deep dislike for EU institutions.

“The European decision-making process is in the hands of a technocratic cartel,” he explained at the launch conference.

“The decision-making process is being de-politicised. Today this process is bringing about the collapse of the European project. Either the people take it back democratically, or we let it fall apart.”

So, democracy versus technocratic authoritarianism is the battle Varoufakis wants to fight. To do so, he is appealing to all democrats, from across Europe and from across the political spectrum. The aim, he says, is to create a big popular movement with two key demands.

The first is to make the European decision-making process transparent again. “That is why we are going to launch a petition to ask for the debates in the European Council, Ecofin and the Eurogroup to be live-streamed,” Varoufakis announced.

The second is to rethink the whole European project in depth, to put democracy back at the heart of its identity. “We want to call a constituent assembly to discuss a draft constitution for Europe. The citizens must decide for themselves what kind of Europe they want to live in!”

The room was bursting at the seams as Varoufakis spoke – it was also bursting with enthusiasm. Most of the Berliners in attendance were won over by his plans, not to mention those who travelled there from abroad, and those following the live stream on the Volksbühne website.

Politicians, civil society representatives, ordinary citizens...everyone at the launch agreed that Europe is going downhill, crippled by austerity, inward looking, its problems further exacerbated by the migrant crisis.

After the Varoufakis speech, 20 different orators took to the stage. As well as Katja Kipping, co-president of Die Linke (Germany), Cécile Duflot – a former French Housing Minister – spoke, as did the British MEP Caroline Lucas, the Croatian philosopher Srecko Horvat and several Podemos MPs from Spain.

Then came Ada Colau, the ‘indignant’ Mayor of Barcelona who spoke via video conference. “I feel ashamed when I see hundreds of people dying on the beaches of Lesbos or near the border fences of Melilla,” she said.

“I feel ashamed to see the millions of empty homes piling up, as a result of financial power and speculation. I feel ashamed when we attack the welfare of our brothers and sisters, on the pretext of a coup d’état orchestrated in Brussels. Europe could become Europe again if it is given back to the people.”

The crowd burst into deafening applause. The clapping got even louder when, a little while later, Julian Assange appeared on-screen. Confined to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for the last four years, the Wikileaks founder launched into a diatribe against the failure of the European dream, which could have become something other than what it is today, he believes.

“We must do all we can to avoid the disintegration of Europe. Europe must no longer be reliant on its alliances with the United States, its wars and its trade agreements. Otherwise, the European night will last a very long time.”

As to whether this is just a utopian dream that is bound to fail, Varoufakis assures his audience that he is not promising the moon. “I don’t promise that I will succeed, but the Diem 25 project is no more unrealistic than that of the ruling cartel that claims to defend the general interest.”

The next step will be on social media. A Diem 25 app is due to be launched soon, to enable supporters to follow developments more easily.

 

This article has been translated from French.

This article has been translated from French.