OPEN CITIZENSHIP VERSUS THE NEOLIBERAL WALL

In connection to the Göteborg top summit, a part of the European white overall movement will participate in Massaktion-coalition, which will surround the meeting place on June 15th 2001 and which will aim to break the barriers surrounding it by the methods of non-violent civil disobedience, defying the demonstration ban that will prevail on that date. We will act this way in order to bring into the meeting halls our demands concerning open Europe: the recognition of citizenship and citizenship rights for everyone who lives in Europe (regardless of their origin or their current legal status) and the opening of the EU decision making for the European civil society.

In this writing we will bring forth our perspectives concerning our action in Göteborg, but this writing also works in context to our other projects, such as the counteractions in Barcelona (where the meeting of World Bank will be held), in Salzburg (WEF) or in Genova (G8).

The relationship of our demands and the European Union

We regard the European Union as one of the central subjects of neoliberal power, even if we understand that there are contradictional interests between Europe and for example the United States. Firstly, it is characteristic for the neoliberal power to diminish the public space, in other words the privatization as an economic and a practical strategy. Secondly, it is characteristic for the neoliberal power to reduce citizenship to "customership", in other words to measure influence by buying power. Thirdly, it is characteristic for it to dedicate people's lives for wage work, in other words a constant obligation of flexibility measured by what is the most productive concerning the goals of the international financial institutions. An obvious evidence for this is for example how more than a half of the new (wage)work contracts are non-typical, more and more usually flexible, poorly payed and uncertain short-time jobs, how mobbing is a problem in the work places, and how work-caused exhaustion has increased remarkably.

On the other hand, for the "non-welcome" people the neoliberal power means in practise exclusion from the wealth and from the social rights - in other words, the freedom of movement has been defined by interests of the capital. On the other hand, movement may be allowed if the immigrants can be used in poorly payed jobs. At this very moment, in Europe about 3 to 4,5 million people are without citizenship or citizenship rights. Hundreds of people die every year in the borders of the European Union because of its inhuman refugee policy.

The European Union is a part of the new global order, which we call the Empire, and which shapes the future of our world in institutions like the WTO or the IMF. Therefore the policies of the European Union do not only concern us Europeans, but also the poor regions of the world, regions where because of neoliberal policies which work according to the interests of western large corporations, millions of children die because of malnutrition, millions are without proper education or healthcare, and over 1,3 billion are living with under one dollar per day. These conditions are getting worse and worse. A large quantity of the European wealth is still derived from the natural resources and the human labour in the poor provinces of the Empire, but the people from these countries are prevented from entering into the European Union - and if they are allowed to enter, the sign of uncertainty is attached to them (poor working and living conditions, possibly illegal status, the position of a second class citizen etc.).

Neoliberalism is legitimating these characteristics by saying that there are "no alternatives" or that we are facing "the end of history", but these kind of discourses are covering up the actual diversity of alternatives and possibilities of the people to decide about their own matters.

The national states - or what remains of their sovereignty - are protectors of the oligarchical neoliberal structure, and we are not interested in the contrast between the European Union and the national states: we want to move beyond the national states. Even if federalism has been mostly defined by those who legitimate the neoliberal power, to us European federalism and Europe as a common political space have a positive meaning - on the conditions that there is a context of free movement, social rights, the open concept of citizenship and participatory, built from below federalism. In these meanings there is the central content of our demands. We are citizens of the European Union and we demand citizenship rights which belong to us - in other words, the power of decision making, income and other social rights. These rights belong to everyone who lives in Europe, regardless of their current legal status.

The goals of our civil disobedience

We want to bring our demands to the public discourses and to the political agendas. Therefore we try to symbolically and truly break the barriers surrounding the EU top meeting, barriers which have been set up against the European citizens - especially minorities. We will try to open a road for the representatives of the European minorities and the European civil society, in order to make possible a real conversation about the construction of a democratic Europe.

We are using power within the common limits agreed by the demonstrators. As our objects we have our bodies, our intellect and the equipments of our non-violent civil disobedience. By "non-violence" me mean that we are aiming to not hurt anyone: we try break through the walls that "protect" the meeting place by using different kinds of protection such as shields, and we will protect also ourselves with cushions. By breaking through police fronts, we do not act explicitly against the police, and we are not aiming to hurt them, but we seek to indicate the power structures of the European Union and to break these structures.

In the vicinity of the top summit place there will a demonstration ban on June 15th 2001. We will not obey this ban. Our active civil disobedience is a proof of our determination and our conviction. We are aiming not only to prevent and to react, but also to influence and to participate. It is likely that the police will prevent us from entering the congress center - this way the borders of the fortress Europe will become visible; they are located in Göteborg around the meeting place!

If we succeed in going inside the congress center, we will occupy space for discussions about which could be the solution models of the European civil society for example to the expansion of social rights and the other demands on our agenda. We want conversations which are alternatives to the current European "co-operation" which is governed from above and which is based on the interests of the large corporations. Our precondition for the discussion with the representatives of neoliberal power is that citizenship must opened to everyone who lives in Europe and that also those whose rights have not been recognized (such as the immigrants without documents) can participate into this discussion. Without the fulfilling of this condition, no discussion is possible.

Freedom of opinion and expression are central human rights and any offences against them are against democracy. In Nizza, in Davos and also for example in Malmö the rights of completely non-violent demonstrators have been offended in an outrageous way - in Göteborg we will not tolerate anything like this. Therefore we are demanding the fulfilling of three conditions: 1. a demilitarized zone with no police presence surrounding the meeting place and our organization place; 2. a free passage to the meeting place on June 15th; 3. a free passage to Sweden, in Sweden and in Göteborg, without raids or checkings of documents.

Our effort to get inside the congress center is not only about meters, but also about who has the right to define places in the order of our society: the riot police and its background institutions who protect neoliberal power or the social movements that want to globalize rights and to produce democratization. Even if it is remarkably real that we are defying the demonstration ban with our actions, it is also about the symbolical level: to produce countermeanings and to achieve visibility in the current society it is necessary to act in the public space.

The white overall movement as a part of the multitude of groups and methods

We are only a part of the events on June 15th and only a part of Massaktion-coalition. We support the diversity of actions. We act in solidarity and in a co-ordinated way with everyone who deconstructs the imperial, neoliberal power. Even if we dress similarly for tactical reasons, this does not mean that we are a one-faced group. There are hundreds of faces under our covers - like the covers of the zapatistas, and we not a party or an organization which is right everywhere and all the time.

For us, the white overalls are a symbol of invisibility and disobedience, not an ideological sign. We are a movement based on open and direct participation. We are not a national movement, we are a European and on the other hand a global movement. Before this the white overalls have participated in surrounding the meetings of the global elite (e.g. Prague 2000, Quebec City 2001), in stopping the deportations of immigrants and in closing the inhuman arresting centers set up for them, in bringing forth the demands of guaranteed income and freedom of movement as alternatives to neoliberalism (e.g. Nizza 2000). We do not strive for political power, we want to act for a social change here and now. We are an active part of the civil society which the political system has been trying to passify by every means.

We want to become visible from the invisibility, where the power has placed for example immigrants, non-typical workers and the unemployed (or those who do wageless work). We fight to disappear, to make our fight unnecessary. The white overalls also symbolize how the industrial society has become an information and service centered society. The blue overalls become white. The productive action and resistance are not limited inside the walls of the factory, but they extend to the social fabric in its entirety.

Our civil disobedience is not passive. It is protected, collective and organized, because in our opinion direct action should not be vanguard action of small groups. With our tactics we also want indicate how the imperial violence is always located between the power and the multitude. The uniform clothing and the organizationality are also choices, which tell to the outsiders, also to the police, what we are going to do. This way we try to minimize the chances of becoming the object of the arbitrary methods of the police. We have told openly about our goals and our methods to everyone beforehand, also to the officials.

Down the walls of neoliberalism - towards a real Europe of rights!

White overalls of Northern Europe