Even a democratically elected president of the European Commission, or the elimination of the circus that is a European Parliament based in two cities, will not make citizens fall in love with the Union. What’s required, says Jan Zielonka, is a form of European integration able to meet the needs of societies put under pressure by current geopolitical tensions and the digital revolution.
In this excerpt from Anthony Barnett’s book project Blimey – it could be BREXIT!, the founder of openDemocracy (UK) argues in favour of the United Kingdom remaining a European Union member state. In the process, he reflects on the changing prospects for a genuinely democratic Europe, and on the role of digital and other new platforms in shaping European debate.
Russia’s democratic movement needs to develop a cultural and political strategy based on the following premise, writes Sergey Lebedev: that a systemic failure to deal properly with Soviet-era crimes has engendered the present-day authoritarian Russian state. This is the only way to end the damaging series of half remedies that has so far sustained the illusion of justice being restored.
Once considered a force of stability after the Yeltsin years, Vladimir Putin now depends on exporting instability and escalating international tensions in order to retain his grip on power at home. In the face of which, Garry Kasparov warns against complacency – at the same time as insisting that it is merely a question of time before Putin’s apparent show of strength gives way to dramatic change in Russia itself. Kasparov speaks to Luka Lisjak Gabrijelcic of Razpotja (Slovenia).
Once again, Turkey finds itself at the centre of a storm of conflicting international interests. As neither the deadly chaos in the Middle East nor the refugee crisis show any sign of letting up, the issue of Cyprus rumbles on. Meanwhile, the country’s domestic politics remain something of a minefield. Jim Blackburn of New Eastern Europe (Poland) speaks to Adam Szymanski.
As privatization displaces a sense of civic responsibility on both sides of the Atlantic, care-workers become ever more isolated. Martha Albertson Fineman insists that, rather than the gender of the person doing the care work, it is actually the care work itself that simply isn’t valued in today’s society.
Human emancipation was always a more complex issue than it might at first seem, and never more so than in today’s France. Historian Camille Robcis discusses the evolution of French Republicanism since the 1980s in relation to controversies over same-sex marriage, integration and racism.
Izolyatsia is a platform that promotes artistic and cultural initiatives. Its headquarters were in Donbas before war broke out, now they are in Kyiv. However, Izolyatsia’s values remain the same: to guarantee freedom of expression. Matteo Tacconi reports.
The conflict over YUKOS, between Russia’s two most powerful men at the time, became a turning point in post-Soviet Russian history, writes Tatiana Zhurzhenko. The expropriation of YUKOS opened the way to the annexation of Crimea a decade later; meanwhile, a new Russian masculinity was born.
After 100 days in power, Poland’s nationalist right-wing government expressed its desire to completely transform Polish culture. As the anticipated assault on the country’s national culture gets underway, journalist and activist Igor Stokfiszewski of Krytyka Polityczna considers the threat that this blinkered approach poses to the vibrancy and diversity of grassroots cultural initiatives.
Recent urban development in Moldova’s capital city Chişinău is in many ways typical of other post-Soviet cities where aggressive privatization and the de-industrialization of urban economies have prompted the rise of social inequality. Sociologist and urban activist Vitalie Sprinceana describes how Chişinău’s citizens and activists are rehabilitating urban space by forging new urban networks and creative communities.
Following the election of the city’s new mayor Ada Colau in June 2015, Barcelona has reinvented itself amid a hive of social, cultural and political activism. Ann Marie Utratel explains how the city’s transformation resonates with inspired efforts to realign collaborative economies with the commons paradigm.
Just because something can’t work or doesn’t work, doesn’t mean people aren’t going to try it, says US journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Applebaum: just because it’s a bad idea to break up Europe doesn’t mean people won’t want to try that too.
War in Ukraine has caused about 1.5 million people to become internally displaced. Living conditions are often very difficult for those who flee the war zone in eastern Ukraine, writes Matteo Tacconi; however an informal network of NGOs does what it can to provide support.