There are three basic freedoms: freedom to say NO; freedom to move away; and freedom to change what does not work. Individual freedom requires social support. To say NO, you need others to respect your choice and not force you to obey. To move freely, you need others to support your movement and not erect walls and roadblocks. To change what does not work, you need others who are affected… …
Mauricio Macri came into office promising to stem corruption and bring down inflation. But his austerity policies have left Argentina’s economy in shambles. Mauricio Macri– the businessman-turned-politician about to complete his first term as Argentina’s president, is up for reelection later this year. But the economy is in shambles.The austerity policies his administration has implemented have given the lie to his coalition Cambiemos’s 2015 campaign promise to reach “poverty zero.”… …
A new study finds an alarming rise in a novel form of psychological distress. Call it “neoliberal perfectionism.” A new study by Thomas Curran and Andrew Hill in the journal Psychological Bulletin finds perfectionism is on the rise. The authors, both psychologists, conclude that “recent generations of young people perceive that others are more demanding of them, are more demanding of others, and are more demanding of themselves.” When identifying the root cause of… …
«Στον κόσμο που ζούμε […] τα τείχη δεν είναι στέρεα και σίγουρα δεν διαρκούν για πάντα· είναι ιδιαίτερα κινητικά και θυμίζουν στον ταξιδιώτη της ζωής χάρτινα διαχωριστικά ή καλύμματα, που σκοπός τους είναι να αλλάζουν συνεχώς θέση σύμφωνα με τις διαδοχικές αλλαγές των αναγκών και των γούστων» (Zygmunt Bauman) [1] Από τη δεκαετία του ’70 έως και σήμερα, κεντρική πολιτιστική επιταγή είναι η σχετικοποίηση των πάντων και μια τάση ριζικής… …
** [text: Eng./ Ελλ.] Η ομιλία θα είναι στα αγγλικά με ομιλητές από την Ισπανία και την Κένυα και μετάφραση στα ελληνικά. ΤΕΤΑΡΤΗ 21/6 ώρα 21.00 Ελεύθερο Αυτοδιαχειριζόμενο Θέατρο ΕΜΠΡΟΣ (Ρ.Παλαμήδη 2 – Ψυρρή) Τhe talk will be in English with activists from Spain and Kenya at Occupied Self Organized Free Theater EMBROS (Riga Palamidi 2- Psiris Area Athens Το Grassroots Economics Foundation (Ίδρυμα Οικονομικών Από Τα Κάτω) είναι μία… …
Climate change, a crippled welfare state, the financial crisis, skyrocketing income inequality, political disappointments reaching back decades, terrible superhero movies grossing billions of dollars, Facebook and Tinder—these are just a few of the sins attributed to neoliberalism. But what exactly is neoliberalism? An economic doctrine? The revenge of capitalism’s ruling class? Or something even more insidious? Booked is a monthly series of Q&As with authors by Dissent contributing editor Timothy Shenk. For this… …
Today in three major cities of Belarus – Minsk, Mogilev and Grodno – people took the streets protesting against government attempts to collect tax off the unemployed (details of the story HERE). In Minsk, demonstrations managed to gather more that 1 500 people, in Mogilev and Grodno 1 000 each. These are the biggest protests those cities have seen in decades. It is worth mentioning that most of the protesters… …
[English+Ελληνικά] Imagine if the people of the Soviet Union had never heard of communism. The ideology that dominates our lives has, for most of us, no name. Mention it in conversation and you’ll be rewarded with a shrug. Even if your listeners have heard the term before, they will struggle to define it. Neoliberalism: do you know what it is? Its anonymity is both a symptom and cause of its… …
Language: English / Ελληνικά The basic income — paid to all, and for life — is now a fashionable idea across Europe. But would it supplement welfare or replace it? Olli Kangas, a director at Finland’s social insurance body, Kela (1), says: ‘To talk about a basic income without being specific is like talking about getting a kitten without saying whether you mean a cat or a tiger.’ Over the last… …
The current economic crisis may be another bump on capitalism’s always dizzying terrain, or it may signal epochal changes. The crisis of the financial markets has taken on gargantuan proportions. This spring saw the emergency sale of Bear Stearns, the fifth largest financial institution on Wall Street, to JP Morgan for a paltry sum by “Master of the Universe” standards, including its flashy corporate headquarters and thousands of employees.… …
“You can use the 600 Euros that you will find on me to pay our health insurance. I paid the rent yesterday. I am sorry, my daughter, I could not take more suffering just to put a warm plate on the table – a bloody plate. Make sure that our daughter goes to college and never leave her alone. She should get the house that we have in the village.”… …
Sociologist Zaire Zenit Dinzey-Flores discusses how the concentration of class and racial privilege in gated communities takes place alongside the spatial concentration and confinement of the poor. She argues that gates help sort and segregate people, physically and symbolically distinguish communities, and cement inequality. “You drive to the gate. The community is in the shape of a U. You come in one gate and leave through the other. When… …
As the far-right government in Greece is preparing a new law that allows the destruction of Greek coast-line by private interests and all kinds of capitalist’s investments we publish here a serial of photos from Spain where anyone can see clear the destructive effects of capitalistic development in Mediterranean environment. We are asking all people of Europe to fight for the defense of Greek coast-line and the paradesiac Greek beaches… …
Reuters photographer Yannis Behrakis, based in Athens, spent several weeks documenting the unemployed and homeless in Greece as the continued economic downturn has impacted the numbers of homeless. Since the debt crisis erupted in 2009, hundreds of thousands of Greeks have lost their jobs — the unemployment rate in the country reached 26.8 percent, as the economy contracted by another 5.6 percent in the first quarter of 2013, and even… …
In Worldwatch Institute Europe’s second article examining the current situation in Greece we explore the particularities behind the current social situation, the ongoing changes taking place within Greek society and the notion of sustainable prosperity as viewed from a Greek standpoint. Worldwatch researcher Eirini Glyki [ http://www.worldwatch-europe.org/node/52 ] interviews Michalis Theodoropoulos [ http://www.linkedin.com/in/michalistheodoropoulos ], European Parliament assistant for the Greek Green Ecologists and responsible for environmental, food safety and health… …