DiEM25 calls for overthrowing the European oligarchy in first renewal of its manifesto since 2016
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Europe will be democratised, once the oligarchy is overthrown!
On Europe Day, in which we recall Robert Schuman’s 1950 speech that opened the path for the continent’s integration, the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25) unveils a new manifesto for only the second time since the transnational movement’s founding in 2016. Its chosen slogan – Europe will be democratised, once the oligarchy is overthrown! – highlights the fact that rule by the few is not exclusive to Russia or to the Global South. That we, Europeans, are also the subjects of oligarchs.
The movement’s original manifesto correctly predicted the disintegration of Europe with Brexit, the new East-West divide, the inhuman treatment of refugees, the abandonment of young and old, the suppression of women’s and LGBTQIA+ rights and the greenwashing of the fossil fuel industry’s practices. That is the legacy of democracy’s defeat across Europe.
This new manifesto now sets its sights on identifying the root cause of these crucial issues of our times: the fact that Europe is ruled by oligarchies and not by its citizens, with our democratic participation limited to elections that are easily overruled by economic and financial powers. As in its first manifesto, DiEM25 urges Europeans to unite across borders and fight for a way out of this system through realistic but radical solutions that will change our politics, our economy and our societies. Starting now.
This vision is already being brought to life. DiEM25 has founded two political parties in the past three years under its umbrella – one which has been in parliament in Greece since 2019, and one started in Germany in November 2021. It was also instrumental in bringing the Progressive International to life. And it has been campaigning all over the continent – in defence of the UK’s National Health Service, for labour rights in Italy and against the EU’s greenwashing of fossil fuels, among many other actions.
Yanis Varoufakis, DiEM25 co-founder and leader of MeRA25 in Greece, said:
“DiEM25’s 2016 inaugural manifesto broke new ground with its analysis of Europe’s gravitation to a twin authoritarianism of the establishment and of the ultra-right, and our transnationalist call for progressives to unite across Europe in a pan-European, common program to democratise Europe. Now, six years later, our manifesto has been re-written. With its original radical humanism preserved intact, DiEM25’s new manifesto has taken into account hard lessons we learned since the European Parliament elections of 2019: the failure to unite Europe’s left and green movements, the inability of anti-systemic liberals to turn against the establishment, the stubborn determination of EU institutions to sustain the unsustainable social and environmental status quo and, last but not least, the pressing need to create a vision for a postcapitalism worth fighting for.”
Julijana Zita, co-founder of MERA25 in Germany stated:
“While the answers to important questions of our time around care, environmental protection and social justice have recently been provided in our program for MERA25 Germany, DiEM25’s new manifesto reaffirms this basic attitude and vision. That way, it’s unmistakably clear what a DiEM25 or MERA25 member fights for and against, whether as an activist or an elected representative.”
Please visit our website to know more about our Manifesto at https://diem25.org/new-manifesto
Erik Edman, DiEM25’s Political Director, is available for interviews.
Note to editors:
About Erik Edman
Erik is the Political Director of DiEM25 and is based in Brussels. He has been a grassroots activist for the movement since it was formed in 2016 and a member of its Coordinating Collective since 2018. A Greek-Swedish Athenian who left Greece in 2010 and has lived in the UK and Belgium since, he has been involved in various civil society struggles through the years and has worked in various NGOs and institutions in Brussels since 2015, before joining DiEM25 full-time in 2018 as the Campaign Director for MeRA25’s (DiEM25’s political party in Greece) European election campaign. Erik holds a BA History and Politics from the University of Exeter and an MSc Political Sociology from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
About DiEM25
DiEM25 is a pan-European movement of democrats, united under the conviction that the European Union will only survive if it is radically transformed. The environmental, economic and coronavirus crisis have shown what real solutions for the majority and not the minority can only come about if we join forces across borders. This is the mission of DiEM25: through a coordinated effort, across Europe, to unite citizens and create enough energy to save the EU from itself. The EU will unite or disappear. We must act quickly, before it is too late: that is why we are the Democracy in Europe 2025 (DiEM25) movement.
For press inquiries please contact:
Nadia Sales Grade >> DiEM25 Press and media relations - European coordination Mobile + 351966404444 | E-mail nadia.grade@diem25.org