user preferences

Europe, Africa and the neo-liberal strategy of co-optation

category international | imperialism / war | opinion / analysis author Sunday November 04, 2007 06:31author by Manuel Baptistaauthor email manuelbap at yahoo dot com Report this post to the editors

The overall strategy, at governmental level, for the EU-Africa summit on the 7th and 8th December in Lisbon, presents itself in a very clear form. It consists of co-opting the NGO’s, be they international ones or from European and African countries, in order to pursue a series of strategic partnerships.


Europe, Africa and the neo-liberal strategy of co-optation


The overall strategy, at governmental level, for the EU-Africa summit on the 7th and 8th December in Lisbon, presents itself in a very clear form. It consists of co-opting the NGO’s, be they international ones or from European and African countries, in order to pursue a series of strategic partnerships.

What is being pursued, after all, is a development model for aid to Africa, a policy which forgets the EU states' promises concerning aid to Africa voiced at countless summits, the barriers abolishing promises for African agricultural goods in European markets, the promises to cancel debt, and the achieving of the so-called "millennium goals".

It is a strategy that seeks to ensure that some countries (mainly ex-colonial powers) can continue to benefit, in what is practically a monopoly, in some market sectors. Even the weak Portuguese capitalism has important economic interests and groups that invest in strategic partnerships, for instance in Angola, in the public engineering sector, the oil sector and most recently, in the banking and finance sector.

Such a strategy allows NGO structures to be the visible image of African countries' increased dependency on EU capitalism. After the dismantling of the health, education and public sectors in general by the criminal policies of the IMF and World Bank as part of the infamous "structural adjustment plans" in the '90s, this is now taking place with the full agreement of the European powers.

It is also aimed at getting the institutions of civil society to submit to the logic of the State, and the goals that their governments "generously" assigning them.

One must stress the importance in the EU-Africa Summit preparations of the trade-union meeting held in Lisbon behind closed doors on 26th and 27th October. The meeting was jointly hosted by the ETUC (European Trade Union Confederation) and the EU Presidency (the Portuguese government) together with the CIS (International Trade Unions Confederation) and African Unions.

The ETUC unions (the Portuguese UGT and CGTP confederations are full members*) habitually make "recommendations" to such Summits. But, on the other hand and given the political dependency of such unions, these unions will be even more dependent on the governmental and inter-regional institutions' goals.

In practice, the same can be said about the "officially sponsored" NGO meeting in late November, again in Lisbon.

These proposals and recommendations, made by either the NGOs or the unions, will only be taken into consideration at the December Summit to the extent that the governments want. But, by contrast, they themselves will be requested to or co-opted into carrying out the programmes that the governments approve and find interesting.

Neither at the informal forums or meetings or the official Summit will there be any real compromise in order to achieve things, either at an economic level or at a social or humanitarian level.

Some will show "concern" about constant Human Rights violations in some African countries or even in "Fortress Europe", where immigrants are expelled, persecuted, humiliated and exploited by every means. It is well known that most migrants to Europe are mostly from African countries. Nevertheless, efficient means to put pressure on the States to fulfil their obligations will not be deployed.

It will be just another stage for the institutional actors to perform on: they will make out that they are doing something and there will be no shortage of those who come solely in order to promote their personal image and policies.

These summits are ceremonies, with little concrete effect at the level of what is actually talked about, as the relevant questions are negotiated months ahead, before the protocols are signed. They are important only on the level of "political marketing", to perpetuate the illusion that something is being achieved to "eradicate hunger in Afric". These oft-repeated lies do convince the people, after all, in spite of the evidence that nothing meaningful is done!

But beyond denouncing this "circus", it is time to strengthen the ties of cooperation between social militants from both continents.

Recently, in April-May, the I-07 Conference was held in Paris, with the participation of alternative trade unions and collectives from various continents, not to mention a conspicuous representation of African bodies. From 16-18 September, there was a meeting in Malaga of trade unions and collectives from both shores of the Mediterranean, with representatives from Algeria and Morocco in Africa and Spain, France, Italy and Portugal from Europe.

In open and fraternal cooperation with all those collectives and social struggle groups that are willing, to continue what has already been achieved, it would be of great interest to have a conference or meeting to coordinate our strategies against the neo-liberal and neo-colonialist attacks in our countries and to promote the respect of the rights of immigrants and their families. A meeting that will havea certain continuity and which can achieve, be it for Portuguese organisations or those in the other countries participating, the following goals:

  • assessment and monitoring of the policies of the EU and its member States, denouncing all obvious Human Rights violations either on European soil, or in Africa;
  • periodical meetings with social militants from our countries. This would require a frequent exhange of information and a permanent coordination network between our organisations;
  • the creation of support structures for African immigrants wherever there are none, and strengthening those that exist already.
The organisations (trade unions, associations, collectives, etc.) who are active in the social field, those supporting immigrant struggles or other precarious situations, would do better to unite their efforts, while remaining outside the influence of neo-liberal political hegemony. If they allow themselves to be "bought", they will soon be neutralised, bureaucratized and will lose all purpose for their existence.


Manuel Baptista

Note:
* As are the TUC in Britain and the ICTU in Ireland

author by Luta Socialpublication date Sat Dec 15, 2007 01:49author address author phone Report this post to the editors

We, Luta Social Collective, would be grateful to any Comrade or collective wishing to give hir approach to the African Europe relations nowadays.
We would thank the sending of articles, with analysis on such subject.

We plan to dedicate part of «Luta Social Review», number 1 (January 2008) to such thema.

Please, contact us: iniciativalutasocial@gmail.com

http://www.luta-social.org

 
This page can be viewed in
English Italiano Deutsch
© 2005-2024 Anarkismo.net. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Anarkismo.net. [ Disclaimer | Privacy ]