Editorial issue 2

Title: European Alternatives

It does not escape us that the name of Europe is today far from representing a sincere guiding light on which to focus the desires for change of a generation of Europeans. But if this does not escape us, the possibility of things being otherwise also refuses to abandon us, just as it refuses to abandon the name of Europe. The belief that it is through engagement, and not indifference, that change will only come to be. For this belief used to be characteristic of we ‘adventurous’ Europeans.

European Alternatives

Editorial, Europa, November 2007

It does not escape us that the name of Europe is today far from representing a sincere guiding light on which to focus the desires for change of a generation of Europeans. The name seems to bore, no longer to resonate. We are also conscious that the actions conducted until now under the name of “Europe” do not even distantly recall a truly alternative form of political organisation or conduct. Despite some recent and encouraging activity over climate change, there is no “European effect” over global politics to speak of, nor much enlightening in the recent political dialectic around the integration of the continent. We recognise that little in the “spirit of the age” suggests the unfolding of a significant progression in the European political project.

But if all of this does not escape us, the possibility of things being otherwise also refuses to abandon us, just as it refuses to abandon the name of Europe. The belief that it is through engagement, and not indifference, that change will only come to be. For this belief used to be characteristic of we ‘adventurous’ Europeans. There has been much talk of the “holiday period” from history for Europe; under the tutelage of the United States, for too long have we remained content with merely witnessing, commenting, at best analysing and criticising the evolution of this planet. To the whitened hands of the sculptor, we have preferred the expressive but ineffectual gestures of the spectator. Europe must become the name of a new political maturity, and a new youthful energy.

Possibility and engagement are the two pivotal words, intertwined and inspiring each other. If it is the vision of possibility that motivates the act and the desire for alternatives that draws political participation, it is only through the process of public political engagement itself that new possibilities, both in their ideal and real form, are made to arise. Possibilities will not appear to us unless we search for them, make ready, take interest and responsibility.

This is nowhere more the case than in the reality of contemporary Europe, at once beacon of possibility and object of disinterest. But there is much that could be drawn from the potential of this continent, if only we began seeking and demanding it.

It is now apparent to many that a significantly novel planetary arrangement is coming to be, or rather, attempting to mature. There are many negative signs; the endless American crusades, Iranian hubris, Russia’s muscular opportunism, China’s dreams of wealth but dire social reality. There are also signs that may at first be greeted with felicitation, such as the much-hyped coming of a “multipolar” world order, but upon reflection these turn into rather stale ideas. If the conflict of interest now raging amongst the global powers is a preview of the multi-polarity to come, to us it looks strikingly similar to the multipolar Europe of the nineteenth century already marching towards catastrophe.

And if these planetary events to come have already been played out in the European crucible, then perhaps Europe contains the seeds of alternatives, despite present appearances. And indeed, could not Europe become a means of surpassing just this antagonistic division between national tribes? This continent that will always refuse to be a bordered, self-referential, delineated whole; after having invented nationalism, could it not show us the way out of its most savage outcomes?

“Europe” is probably the only possibility held by a citizen of a European country to militate for a different unfolding of our common future. In times when the scope of action of individual nation states leave us blushing, how can any hope for a serious transformation of global relations be entertained if not through the creation of a some sort of post-national political subject, one that would surpass the tight limitations of movement imposed by the current global economic order upon increasingly impotent national states? And if this be so, would not the reclaiming-back of decision power to the polis in the name of Europe be a fundamentally democratic act? Far fom accusations of “distance” and “democratic deficit”, should we not see in Europe the prime possibility of regaining control over our future?

Europe establishes itself in the names of justice, peace and equality. Although Europe is actually far from achieving any of these, the rich intellectual tradition of humanism which is our common European heritage associates these names together. If Europe does not respect this living heritage and its demands, then it has no reason to be at all, and is indeed an empty shell of a name in which monsters will hide. And the great danger is that not only Europeans will be compromised, but also the ideals, which have global scope and importance. So the task and its urgency are clear: to insist that Europe lives up to itself. Perhaps its ideals are so high that this is an infinitely demanding task: but that is just to say there is no scope for escaping the responsibility.

We agree, it may be difficult to see the fruits of change in the contemporary European panorama. But this is where it is up to engagement to open up the field of possibility. Have we really been numbed to the point of waiting for an alternative future to be served on a silvery plate?

Against the current trend of handing purely a-political, financial tasks to the European Union, what is called for is a powerful re-politicisation of the continent at all levels. It is ludicrous ball-throwing that the European Union is accused of avoiding pronouncements in the most crucial areas of interest to its citizens – international relations, global warming, social rights – when these are precisely the powers our avid states most tenaciously hold on to. It would be foolish to believe a mere transition of powers to the supranational level might bring in itself a truly innovate political practice. We must stop talking of ‘Europe’ as if it meant only a supranational organisation. It is the whole of Europe that must be re-politicised; it is the peoples of Europe who must begin to take an active and collegial interest in the unfolding of their destinies. And, who knows? The vision of a possible Europe to be might just grow to stimulate the political awakening of the European peoples.

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