Het Neoliberale Geloof 421

A new path for Europe
* Jon Cruddas and Andrea Nahles
* The Guardian, Wednesday 8 April 2009

Society led by markets and profits has failed. We are offering an
alternative for the democratic left

The economic wreckage of market failure is spreading across Europe. The G20
summit has begun a global effort to repair the system, but there must be no
going back to business as usual. Neoliberal capitalism is destructive and
unsustainable - we must create a new economy that is secure, green and
fair. To this end, we are launching our declaration for a social Europe:
Building the Good Society: The Project of the Democratic Left.

Ten years ago, Tony Blair and Gerhard Schröder, the then German
chancellor, published their declaration for a European Third Way. Social
democrats were in government in almost all the EU countries. Economies were
booming, and neoliberal capitalism was uncritically embraced. Today, social
democrats are out of government almost everywhere and the neoliberal model
is in crisis. The era of the Third Way is over, and class inequality
remains the defining structure of society.

People have lost confidence in politicians and political parties. Many are
pessimistic about our future. For 30 years our democracies have offered
only one vision: a society governed by markets and profit. We are making a
new politics of the democratic left in Europe.

This politics is democratic because only the active interest and
participation of individuals can guarantee liberty and progress. It is
grounded in the interdependency of individuals and the need for a just
society, free of class, race and gender inequalities. It is ecologically
sustainable and pursues economic development within the constraints placed
on us by the earth. And it is pluralist, because we need a diverse range of
political institutions, and a variety of forms of economic ownership and
cultural identities, to create a good society.
Lees verder: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/08/g20-capitalism-john-cruddas-andrea-nahles