Tal av Gunilla Andersson, från Nätverket för Gemensam Välfärd, inför avmarschen av ESF-demonstrationen in Malmö
First of all I would like to say that I´m very, very happy that you all
have come to Malmö. To meet friends from all over the world who act
like global citizens instead of individual consumers.
We meet because we know that society changes all the time and we know
that it is neither the hazard nor destiny that decide our future. Our
future society is a result of what we do and not do today.
When my grandmother was young, only rich men in this country had the
possibility to vote and decide about how to shape the society.
Democracy was something thousands and thousands of people had to fight
for. Once we got democracy a big majority of people living in this
country voted for the vision of building an equal, solidarity based
society. We manged rather well. The extreme gap between rich and poor
disappeared, we built a decent society with decent living conditions
for all citizens.
Today most countries in the world are so called democracies. Fine. But
I wonder: Is it really the will of the majority of the citizens that
today decide how society shall be changed? What we can see, in Sweden
and in most European countries, is that more or less the same
neoliberal policies are shaping our societies, no matter what
government we vote for.
Recent opinion polls show that 90% of the Swedish population want
better health care, schools, old age and child care for everybody in
the society instead of tax cuts for some. Swedish citizens are even
ready to pay more taxes in order to get a good common welfare for all
citizens. A majority is also against the deregulations of el, post,
railway etc that have caused extreme raises of prices and a majority of
the citizens are against the selling out of the companies we citizens
own together. But, the neoliberal policies of privatisations,
deregulations, tax cuts and cuts in the public sector are still being
carried through step, by step. Is that democracy?
Today Sweden is no longer a society moving towards more equality and
more justice. Today Sweden is a country of winners and losers.
What is happening is that our democracies are being transformed into
private markets where we can act only as consumers, not as citizens.
And on the private market it is money and the big transnational
companies that get the power to decide and to form our societies.
Too many of our politicians have preferred listening to the corporate
lobbyists instead of listening to the citizens. The result is a Europe
and a world where the rights of the private companies consequently are
considered more important than human and labour rights.
The ultimate way of abolishing democracy is to make the neoliberal
politics part of the law. And that is exactly what is happening right
now. When human, labour and environmental aspects today clashes with
the will of the companies the politicians call for lawyers in the EU
and in the WTO to decide. Is that democracy?
The Irish citizens got a very unusual possibility to say their opinion
about the Lisbon treaty. But they voted wrong, so now they have to vote
again – until they vote yes. Is that democracy?
So. What to do?
To begin with we have to remind ourselves and others that democracy is something we need to conquer again and again.
What kind of society we will live in next year and the years to come
depends on what we and the citizens in the world choose to do or not to
do. If we give up and accept what is happening righ now, then we will
have to tell our grandchildren that we didn´t care about their future.
But if we manage to become really many reclaiming real democracy,
reclaiming another world - then the economic and military rulers of
today will not be able to keep their power.
I am very proud of that the Swedish Labour movement was born in Malmö a
little more than 100 years ago. Today I am proud of that so many
friends from the global justice movement are gahtering here in Malmö
today. Right now we are reinventing democracy, by acting like global
citizens, by looking for new ways fo organising our local and global
societies. It gives hope. And we need hope.
Finally I will tell you a secret: When the politicians and the
businessmen tell you that the meaning of life is increased economic
growth and increased competition, they are lying. The meaning of life
is increased joy. So now, let´s have great fun together!
Gunilla Andersson 20 september 2008
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Senast uppdaterad 2008-10-02 04:52 |
