finance

Con Tsipras contra el absolutismo financiero

Written by Franco Berardi Bifo, 26.02.2014
Alexis Tsipras representa la resistencia de la sociedad griega contra la agresión financiera, y para mí este es suficiente motivo para apoyar públicamente y votar su candidatura  a las elecciones europeas. ¿Cuál es el objetivo de esta candidatura? Si en las elecciones solamente conseguimos un pronunciamiento de la minoría senil y tardo-gauchista (de la cual formo parte) a favor del único joven europeo que no es moralmente corrupto ni intelectualmente conformista, no será un gran resultado.

Es por eso que asumiendo el empeño en construir las condiciones culturales y políticas para una afirmación de esta candidatura, debemos pensar sobre los escenarios que puede abrir una campaña a favor de Tsipras, a la hora de una recomposición cultural y social.

   No tengo ninguna confianza en la democracia representativa. Es evidente la corrupción de las instituciones democráticas ante el capital financiero. Por otra parte, la Unión Europea es constitutivamente una autocracia financiera, desde el momento en que las decisiones del Banco Central Europeo se toman al margen del Parlamento. Entonces, ¿por qué movilizarse, por qué votar?

La sociedad europea está deprimida, desintegrada, irascible. La campaña a favor de Tsipras debe abrir la posibilidad de un proceso unitario de solidaridad y de revuelta, de insolvencia y de independencia de la vida cotidiana de la dictadura financiera o no servirá de nada.

Financial Obelisks: on the return of the monumental

Written by Federico Campagna, 21.03.2013
A new age of monument-making is on its way. In this short article I will try to explain the geo-political, social and symbolic reasons for the (coming) renaissance of monuments as a means for political domination.
 
 
Preface: Eiffel Towers
 
When the first design of the Eiffel Tower was produced in 1884, France had just emerged from one of its bleakest periods. After the defeat against Germany in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, and the wave of civil revolts that originated from the Paris Commune of 1871, the French Nation needed to prove itself again as a believable power in the eyes of the world. The times were fluid and dangerous, and the European balance of forces was being reassessed. France had to show itself as a reliable, stable, united political and economic entity – and the 1889 Exposition Universelle provided a perfect opportunity for such a display of solidity and power.
 
In October 2008, when the Mayor of London Boris Johnson and Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell agreed that ‘something extra’ was needed to celebrate the Olympics, the country had just begun to sink into the whirlpool of economic recession. When Anish Kapoor’s ArcelorMittal Orbit project was selected on 31st March 2010, the country had just admitted to the world to have entered its first double-dip recession since 1975, when Britain had to beg the IMF for rescue funding. The international credibility of the old Kingdom and of its Capital City-State was in peril, and immediate measures were required to show that stability, as well as power, was still part of the character of mighty Albion. What better way of achieving this, than investing on a monumental, non-functional artefact, such as Kapoor’s reinterpretation of the Eiffel Tower?
 

El derecho a la insolvencia

Written by Franco Berardi Bifo, 24.02.2012
Austeridad en Europa

Los fanáticos del fundamentalismo económico dicen que “el trabajador alemán no quiere pagar las facturas del pescador griego” y, mientras tanto, enfrentan a los trabajadores entre sí, llevando a Europa al borde de la guerra civil.

La entidad que es "Europa" fue concebida a raíz de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, como un proyecto para superar el nacionalismo moderno y crear una unión no identitaria basada en los principios del humanismo, la ilustración y la justicia social. ¿Qué queda de este proyecto original, después del reciente colapso financiero que ha asaltado la economía estadounidense y ha puesto en peligro a la zona euro? Desde el comienzo de la Unión Europea, el perfil constitucional de la entidad europea ha sido débilmente definido, de manera que el objetivo económico de prosperidad y las limitaciones del monetarismo financiero han tomado el lugar de una constitución. En la década de 1990, el Tratado de Maastricht marcó un punto de inflexión en este proceso. Sancionó la constitucionalización de la regla monetarista y sus implicaciones económicas: una disminución del gasto social, reducción de los costes laborales y un aumento de la competencia y la productividad. Los efectos de una aplicación intolerante de las reglas de Maastricht se hicieron evidentes en 2010: aplastando a Grecia e Irlanda y poniendo en peligro otros países, la crisis financiera mostró las contradicciones entre los deseos de crecimiento económico y estabilidad social, y la rigidez monetarista. En esta situación, las reglas de Maastricht han demostrado ser peligrosas, y la concepción global de la UE, basado en el protagonismo de la competencia económica, ha revelado su fragilidad.

 

I buoni sono buoni

Written by Franco Berardi Bifo, 16.12.2011
Il discorso sulla democrazia è concluso. Capitalismo finanziario e democrazia sono incompatibili. La democrazia è stata cancellata e qualsiasi scelta politica che si fondi sulla presupposizione dell’esistenza della democrazia va considerata da questo momento in avanti come collaborazione con la dittatura finanziaria. Viviamo ed agiamo nella sfera di una dittatura feroce, seppure impersonale, anzi tanto più feroce in quanto impersonale. L’azione deve quindi assumere il carattere dell’esodo, dell’abbandono dello spazio dominato dalla dittatura, e dell’appropriazione. Per questo l’occupazione è la forma generale dell’azione. Occupare significa al tempo stesso: compiere un gesto simbolico di denuncia, mettere in moto un processo di riattivazione della solidarietà e riappropriarsi di qualcosa che è necessario per la sopravvivenza.
 
Ma l’appropriazione deve diventare il paradigma della prossima fase di espansione del movimento, manifestazione specifica dell’insolvenza. Insolvenza significa costruzione delle strutture della sopravvivenza (ristoranti popolari, case collettive, strutture di autoformazione) che ci permetteranno di sottrarci al debito materiale della miseria e al debito simbolico della solitudine, insomma ci permetteranno di cominciare a vivere.
 

The Right to Insolvency and the Disentanglement of the General Intellect's Potency

Written by Franco Berardi Bifo, 05.12.2011
Austerity in Europe
 
"The German worker does not want to pay the Greek fisherman's bills," the fanatics of economic fundamentalism are saying, while pitting workers against workers and leading Europe to the brink of civil war.
 
The entity that is "Europe" was conceived in the aftermath of the Second World War as a project to overcome modern nationalism and create a non-identitarian union based on principles of humanism, enlightenment, and social justice. What is left of this original project, after the recent financial collapse that has stormed the American economy and jeopardized the Eurozone? Since the beginning of the European Union, the constitutional profile of the European entity has been weakly defined, such that economic goals of prosperity and monetarist financial constraints have taken the place of a constitution. In the 1990s, the Maastricht Treaty marked a turning point in this process. It sanctioned the constitutionalization of monetarist rule and its economic implications: a decrease in social spending, cuts in labor costs and an increase in competition and productivity. The effects of a narrow application of the Maastricht rules became evident in 2010: overwhelming Greece and Ireland and endangering other countries, the financial crisis exposed the contradictions between the desires for economic growth, social stability, and monetarist rigidity. In this situation, the Maastricht rules have been shown to be dangerous, and the overall conception of the EU, based on the centrality of economic competition, has revealed its frailty.
 
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