Abstract
This chapter begins with the details of the deal between European Powers and Greece over debt restructuring, analyses the neoliberal programme of reshaping the Greek state through the deal, and then proceeds to unravel the phenomenon of Europe as the eternal illusion—the Europa to be rescued eternally from her abductors. In this context, the chapter engages in a discussion on the ideology of Europeanism which had put Greece in the first place in the service of euro, the common currency of a large chunk of the continent and the main instrument of a monetarist union, through which Europe had transformed itself into a neoliberal land. The chapter argues that at the heart of the illusion lay a self-created and self-held belief that the nation question in Europe was over, that Europe had a special history of being a continental self, and the destiny of Greece lay with this special history of Europe, and that a radical transformation of Greece would come only through a continent wide transformation. In this context, the chapter examines the illusions of the European Left and the New Left, the illusion of Europe, and the false hope on the capacity of social mobilisation to work as a substitute of political mobilisation towards revolutionary transformation of consciousness.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
This section is prepared from: “The Greek Reform Proposals”, 10 July 2015, http://www.naftemporiki.gr/finance/story/976680/the-greek-reform-proposals (accessed on 1 August 2015); see also—“Full Text: 1. Greece Reform Proposals”, Financial Market News, MNI—Deutsche Borsce Group, 9 July 2015, https://www.marketnews.com/content/full-text-1-greece-reform-proposals (accessed on 26 July 2015) for the euro summit statement containing the principles of all these measures and adopted on 12 July 2015; Vandoorne (2015); Reuters (2015); also Christie (2015).
- 2.
http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2015/07/27/for-an-alliance-of-national-liberation-fronts-by-stefano-fassina-mp/ (accessed on 3 August 2015).
- 3.
Heterogeneity implies that while the European Left thought of Europe as a three-dimensional space (dimensions of member state, the European Union, and the people), Europe became more and more a highly interconnected network, and in the form of a network Europe emerged as a space. The European Left failed not because its Marxism was of old variety, but because it could not appreciate the way Europe had emerged as a distinct space.
- 4.
The Emergency EU summit ten-point proposal (21 April 2015) on the Mediterranean refugee crisis includes steps like: “Reinforce the Joint Operations in the Mediterranean, namely Triton and Poseidon, by increasing the financial resources and the number of assets. We will also extend their operational area, allowing us to intervene further, within the mandate of Frontex; A systematic effort to capture and destroy vessels used by the smugglers. The positive results obtained with the Atalanta operation should inspire us to similar operations against smugglers in the Mediterranean; EUROPOL, FRONTEX, EASO and EUROJUST will meet regularly and work closely to gather information on smugglers modus operandi, to trace their funds and to assist in their investigation; EASO to deploy teams in Italy and Greece for joint processing of asylum applications; Member States to ensure fingerprinting of all migrants; Consider options for an emergency relocation mechanism; A EU wide voluntary pilot project on resettlement, offering a number of places to persons in need of protection; Establish a new return programme for rapid return of irregular migrants coordinated by Frontex from frontline Member States” (Migrants’ Rights Network 2015).
- 5.
- 6.
On this, see Jargow (2013).
- 7.
http://www.the-utopian.org/post/53360513384/the-thirteen-commandments-of-neoliberalism (accessed on 4 April 2014), “The Thirteen Commandments of Neo-Liberalism”, is an excerpt from Mirowski (Mirowski 2013).
- 8.
For a comparative history of the idea of post-Second World War Asianism, see Samaddar (1996).
- 9.
This common assumption among Left intellectuals about the nationalist virus (“spectre of nationalism”) partly lies in Cold War history, followed by the history of the Balkan (Yugoslav) Wars of the 1990s. The Left intellectuals partly internalised the geopolitical discourse of division of Europe, on the basis of which the ideology of new Europeanism from the 1980s symbolised by the construction of the European Union sprouted. Brzezinski had characterised the eastern part of the Europe marked by Balkan nationalism as dynamic, radical, and dangerously irrational. To stop this, a united Europe was needed, and the European Union was the response, direly needed by the West. See Brzezinski (1989: 16); see also for a comprehensive review of the geopolitical history, Luoma-Aho (2002). Brzezinski’s concern also possibly stemmed from the fact that up to the Leninist period most of the Marxist intellectuals (except the ambiguous positions of the founders Marx and Engels)—if we go by the table provided by Anderson (1979: 7–8)—originated in the Eastern side of Europe and none of them was enamoured by the European idea.
- 10.
On this, see Shrader (1999).
- 11.
Perry Anderson offers here a broader explanation of the fate of the European Left intellectuals of the post-war time.
- 12.
Figure provided by Karitzis (2016).
- 13.
This failure of the mainstream Left thought of Europe has a strange similarity with the fate of the traditional post-colonial theory, which too like its Euro-American mainstream Leftist counterpart originated in universities and the academia, was disconnected from mass movements of the peasantry and the working people in the post-colonial world, and sought refuge in cultural, literary, and quasi-philosophical explanations of the developing world. The traditional post-colonial theory therefore has failed in the face of neoliberal transformation of the economy, and the neo-colonial assault on the erstwhile colonies. While there are important differences in the two academic discourses, the similarity is striking.
References
Abbas, S. (2015). Neoliberal Moralism and the fiction of Europe: A post-colonial perspective. Greek Left Review, Special issue, July 16, https://greekleftreview.wordpress.com/2015/07/17/neoliberal-moralism-and-the-fiction-of-europe-a-postcolonial-perspective/. Accessed on 20 August 2015.
Anderson, B. (2006). Under three flags: Anarchism and the anti-colonial imagination. London: Verso.
Anderson, B. (1983). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London: Verso.
Anderson, P. (1979). Considerations on western marxism. London: Verso.
Anti-imperialist Camp. (2015a). Syriza’s “Austrity no, Euro yes” based on deception from very beginning, July 20, http://www.antiimperialista.org/alavanos. Accessed on 8 August 2015.
Anti-imperialist Camp. (2015b). German MP Höger: No to austerity even if it means break with euro, July 22, http://www.antiimperialista.org/inge_hoeger. Accessed on 8 August 2015.
Anti-imperialist Camp. (2015c). EU has shown real face: Statement of the International anti-EU Forum of Left and Popular Forces, July 25, http://www.antiimperialista.org/antiEu_forum_tsipras_surrender. Accessed on 3 August 2015.
Baltas, A., & Panitch, L. (2015). Party and Ministry. Interview given by Aristides Baltas to Leo Panitch, May 14, https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/08/panitch-greece-baltas-syriza-leadership-tsipras/. Accessed on 17 August 2015.
Bird, M. (2014). A Plain-English explanation of ‘QE’ and why it’s the most important thing on the planet right now, November 14, https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/546e2599dd0895006c8b45eb-960/money-printing-2.jpg?_ga=1.16066805.212095890.1439183599. Accessed on 15 July 2015.
Brzezinski, J. (1989). Post-communist nationalism. Foreign Affairs, 68(5), 1–25.
Burgess, J. P. (2003). The Abduction of the Abduction of Europa. In J. P. Burgess (Ed.), Museum Europa: The European cultural heritage between economics and politics (pp. 93–99). Kristiansand: Norwegian Academic Press.
Burke, E. (1790). Reflections on revolution in France. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Chenal, O., & Snelders, B. (Eds.). (2012). Remappings: The making of European narratives. Amsterdam: European Cultural Foundation.
Christie, R. (2015). EU Offers Greek Voters 10 Point Plan on June 26 Bailout Offer, Report. Bloomberg Business, June 28, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-28/eu-offers-greek-voters-10-point-plan-on-june-26-bailout-offer. Accessed on 11 August 2015.
Dahrendorf, R. (1990/2005). Reflections on the revolution in Europe, “Introduction to the New Edition”. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Fitzgerald, R. A. (2011). Post-colonialism and the Gospel of Mark: An assessment, May, http://www.academia.edu/576281/Postcolonialism_and_the_Gospel_of_Mark_An_Assessment. Accessed on 26 August 2015.
Foucault, M. (1978) Birth of Biopolitics.
Gourgouris, S. (2015). The Syriza problem: Radical democracy and left governmentality in Greece. The Bullet, E-bulletin 1157, August 9, http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/1152.php#continue. Accessed on 9 August 2015.
Habermas, J. (2008). Notes on a Post-secular Society. Lecture on March 15, 2007, Nexus Institute of the University of Tilberg, Netherlands; English version, June 18, 2008, http://www.signandsight.com/features/1714.html. Accessed on 16 December 2012.
Hudis, P. (2000). The dialectical structure of Marx’s concept of ‘Revolution in Permanence’. Capital and Class, 24(1), 127–143. Accessed on 2 August 2015.
Jargow, L. (2013). Greece: The New Euro Zone Colony, dissident voice, November 9, http://dissidentvoice.org/. Accessed on 13 August 2015.
Kant, I. (1793). Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone (M. T. Greene & H. H. Hudson, Trans.). http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/ethics/kant/religion/religion-within-reason.htm. Accessed on 25 December 2012.
Karides, M. (2010). Vacation, migration and protest: The post-colonial status of Greece. Paper presented at the American Sociological Association annual meeting, Atlanta, August 14. http://citation.allacademic.com/meta/p411172_index.html. Accessed on 5 August 2015.
Karitzis, A. (2016). The ‘SYRIZA Experience’: Lessons and adaptations. The Bullet, Socialist Project E Bulletin, 1236, March 22. http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/1236.php#continue. Accessed on 25 March 2016.
Lenin, V. I. (1915). On the Slogan for a United States of Europe. Lenin collected works (Vol. 21). Moscow: Progress Publishers (1974). https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1915/aug/23.htm. Accessed on 1 July 2015.
Lenin, V. I. (1916). The Junius Pamphlet. Lenin collected works (Vol. 22). Moscow: Progress Publishers (1974). https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/jul/junius-pamphlet.htm. Accessed on 1 July 2015.
Luoma-Aho, M. (2002). Body of Europe and Malignant Nationalism: A pathology of the Balkans in European security discourse. Geopolitics, 7(3), 117–142.
Luxemburg, R. (1915). The Junius pamphlet, Chap. 1. https://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1915/junius/ch01.htm. Accessed on 1 July 2015.
Malkin, I. (2004). Postcolonial concepts and ancient Greek colonisation. Modern Language Quarterly, 65(3), 341–364.
May, A. (Ed.). (2013). The Dwarfing of Europe? Perspectives from the Balkans, Belarus, the Middle East, and Asia (Vol. 1). Amsterdam: European Cultural Foundation.
Meszaros, I. (1995). Beyond capital: Towards a theory of transition. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Migrants’ Rights Network. (2015). Emergency EU summit proposes ‘ten point plan’ to deal with Mediterranean refugee crisis, April 21, http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/news/2015/emergency-eu-summit-proposes-ten-point-plan-deal-mediterranean-refugee-crisis. Accessed on 17 August 2015.
Mirowski, P. (2013). Never let a serious crisis go to waste: How Neo liberalism survived the financial meltdown. London: Verso.
Nicholas, L. (1994). The rape of Europa: The fate of Europe’s treasures in the third Reich and the Second World War. New York: Vintage.
Petras, J. (2015). Greek Elections: January and September 2015—from hope to fear and despair. Dissident voice, August 26, http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/08/greek-elections-january-and-september-2015/#more-59586. Accessed on 27 August 2015.
Reuters. (2015). Reforms Greece must make for its Bailout, August 11, http://finance.yahoo.com/news/factbox-reforms-greece-must-bailout-095824097–business.html;_ylt=A2oKmMxlUdNVzyQAWIrnHgx.;_ylu=X3oDMTByMjZkZ2prBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDNgRjb2xvA3NnMwR2dGlkAw. Accessed on 11 August 2015.
Samaddar, R. (1996). Whose Asia is it anyway? Region and the nation in South Asia. Kolkata: Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies.
Shrader, C. R. (1999). The Withered Vine: Logistics and the Communist Insurgency in Greece, 1945–1949. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Toynbee, A. (1948). Civilization on trial. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Toynbee, A. (1953). The world and the west. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Tzanelli, R. (2010). Islamophobia and Hellenophilia: Greek myths of post-colonial Europe. In S. Sayyid & A. Vakil (Eds.), Thinking through Islamophobia—Global perspectives (pp. 1–20). London: Hurst and Co.
Vandoorne, S. (2015). Greek deal: The full document, July 13, http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/13/news/economy/greece-deal-full-text/. Accessed on 1 August 2015.
Varoufakis, Y. (2011). The global Minotaur: America, the true origins of the financial crisis and the future of the world economy. London: Zed Books.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Samaddar, R. (2016). Europeanism: The Repressed Anxiety of a Transnational Intellectual Class. In: A Post-Colonial Enquiry into Europe’s Debt and Migration Crisis. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2212-8_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2212-8_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-2211-1
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-2212-8
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)