Published Friday, May 9, 2008 at 19:05
by
asa.westlund 
in European democracy & diversity (23 views and 1 comments)
Published Thursday, May 8, 2008 at 12:07
by
asa.westlund
in Save our planet (80 views and 2 comments)
Almost
daily we hear alarming news about one of the biggest challenges
of our time – the one about the global warming. As citizens and
consumers we have a responsibility to act. A responsibility not
always easy to handle. Scientific reports from governments,
companies and others are sometimes contradictory, and it’s easy
to lose hope and feel powerless. This is where the EU, as a big
actor on the world wide market has an important role to play. It
is here we see the necessity of political action rather than just
letting the free market decide.
But it is not enough- It must also be easier for all European
citizens to make environment friendly decisions and thereby
taking their own responsibility! The environmental crisis is to
enormous and complex to be solved on just one political level.
Its first when we act both individually, locally, in larger
regions and globally that we can make a change. It does not mean
that we can wait for someone else to take responsibility, rather
that we all must take action now. We have to act as a united
front. Many citizens are trying to take action. With everyday
actions, like leaving the car at home and travel by bus, or
buying locally produced and bio grown products, everyone can make
a difference.
At the same time it has to be easy to make the right choice,...
Published Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 10:56
by
asa.westlund
in New Social Europe (92 views and 1 comments)
Published Monday, May 5, 2008 at 12:22
by
asa.westlund
in Save our planet (217 views and 4 comments)
Sometimes I wonder if
we only can discuss one environmental topic at the time.Published Monday, May 5, 2008 at 11:35
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (54 views and 0 comments)
Thanks to Esteban Romero
and Spanish PES activists for blogging on Yourspace last
week!Published Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 11:30
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (115 views and 0 comments)
Here's another post from the Spanish PES
activists:
The expression of “the European knowledge society” has become
commonplace ever since the Lisbon and Barcelona Summits (held
respectively in 2000 and 2002). You hear it all the time and
almost in every context. But is it enough to talk about it to
make it a reality?
To reach this objective, we all have to take up our
responsibilities, not just the academic world or the companies.
Life-long learning in such areas as languages, information and
communication technologies, the environment or gender equality
will not only allow us to better know and use our civil rights
but it will also allow us to create the society we really want to
live in, beyond the limitations of a “knowledge-based
society”.
The PES should therefore fight for the goal of enhancing
life-long learning programmes, which lay special emphasis on
those groups of society that remain excluded for various reasons.
Our farmers, our elderly, our linguistic minorities, etc. ,
should be able to have access to this kind of training through
specific programmes. If we manage to reach this goal, the
European knowledge society will be a reality for all. And we
cannot be content with anything less than that.
A Spanish version is attached to this post.
Raul Canay is an economist, a PSOE activist and a
member of the
Tags: blogger of the week, education
File:
sociedad_ES.pdf
Published Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 15:52
by
eromerof
in European democracy & diversity (219 views and 2 comments)
Published Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 09:22
by
eromerof
in Save our planet (175 views and 0 comments)
Willy Brandt: “Democratic socialism has the ability to make new beginnings possible”.
Democratic socialism has been able to respond to new challenges and to a new a state of affairs through equality and social justice. Just as pacifism or feminism were integrated as new elements in the cluster of socialist values, the time has now come to include sustainable development as a central element of our socialist thinking and political practice.
The Left should take into account the consequences of environmental degradation for our planet and introduce solidarity as a fundamental principle in the implementation of a model of sustainable development that is fairer and more responsible. The challenge for the 21st century no longer is to achieve a better redistribution of wealth and fight for equal opportunities but also to respond to the more complex challenge of making the environment healthier both at local and global level. Ecosocialism should therefore be understood as a question of solidarity between and among generations, both in time and space.
A NEW MODEL OF DEVELOPMENT
Europe has paved the way for environmental policies aiming at
‘cleaning up’ the environment. However setting limits to
polluting emissions or working on water and waste management...
Published Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 17:00
by
eromerof
in European democracy & diversity (163 views and 0 comments)
Today, European Union is an economic reality but not a political one because the weight of European Institutions in the international scene is very frail. This situation is not very good for the people who believe that economic liberalism is too strong in the whole world thanks to the globalization phenomenon. Social globalization is not so strong as the economical one and this is a real problem for the “socialist family” since the values of socialism are based on a social way of thinking.
That is the reason because the European Socialists should work to build a very strong Party of European Socialists. We have to compensate for the excessive power of economic liberalism with a new model of social protection. European Union should take enough power to become one of the main international players (such as the United States, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, Japan, etc.) with real capacity of influence in the “international social agenda”. Today, decisions should be taken in a global way; socialists should bring together all their resources to push for a change in the European Institutions, and ways of acting of the European Union. Socialism must become global, as global as liberalism, otherwise our main institution (welfare state) will disappear.
Find a
read morePublished Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 13:52
by
eromerof
in European democracy & diversity (164 views and 1 comments)
But all this would be just another subjective comment if women were not constantly forced to prove themselves and if they were not there merely out of a simple strategy of political marketing. In addition, women must also prove their worth and show that they are not just puppets. In our society, in most cases, women must adjust...
read morePublished Monday, April 28, 2008 at 14:45
by
eromerof
in New Social Europe (229 views and 2 comments)
Nowadays, the panorama of the left in Europe does not seem to be very tempting. Only 7 out of 27 countries belonging to EU are ruled by socialist parties. These are: United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, Hungary, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Cyprus. We could argue that there is a lack of real political leadership, a leadership that in other decades was embodied by politicians such as Francois Mitterrand.
The political victory of Zapatero in Spain last march gives the Spanish socialism a great opportunity to implement and develop politics that can be seen as an example for other European countries. It generates a new opportunity to take the initiative in the European context. Whereas the majority of countries in South America are governed by left parties, sometimes with a strong and questionable populist sense, and whereas United States are given an opportunity to give the power again to the Democratic party, regardless of whether Clinton or Obama wins, the European left movement needs to reshape its political agenda, taking the initiative and dismantling the demagogic and populist discourse of conservative countries, too much focused on very sensitive and easy to be manipulated issues such as security, migration, taxes...
From a Spanish perspective, I would like to introduce some of the main points for a socialist agenda. An...
read morePublished Monday, April 28, 2008 at 10:27
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (161 views and 0 comments)
Thanks a lot to
Isabella Frenning for being last week's
blogger!
This week Esteban Romero from Spain will be blogging on
Yourspace. Esteban is 29 years old and lives in Granada where
works as an assistant professor at the local university. He
committed to the PES manifesto campaign last year while he has
doing a traineeship in the European Commission. Currently he is
coordinating a Spanish-language blog about the PES
manifesto.
Next to Esteban a number of other PES activists from the 'Manifiesto
2009' blog team will be sharing their ideas on Yourspace. So
this week you get the chance to experience several voices from
Spain!
Published Monday, April 28, 2008 at 09:30
by
Isabella_Frenning
in New Social Europe (112 views and 2 comments)
Published Friday, April 25, 2008 at 12:30
by
Isabella_Frenning
in Save our planet (287 views and 0 comments)
Published Thursday, April 24, 2008 at 11:33
by
Isabella_Frenning
in European democracy & diversity (236 views and 3 comments)
If you take a look at the home page of the Danish Parliament today, it will inform you that the items of the agenda today are local funding, cultural inequality and housing projects.
Only far down the text will it tell you about the main topic for discussion: Denmark is to adopt the Lisbon Treaty today. Though most parties has been trying to avoid any discussion about the treaty since the French and Dutch 'no', you will be able to follow the discussions live here.
Fingers crossed, we might have an agreement later on today...
read morePublished Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 09:30
by
Isabella_Frenning
in European democracy & diversity (168 views and 1 comments)
Published Monday, April 21, 2008 at 11:41
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (221 views and 0 comments)
Thanks to Brian
Booth for blogging on Yourspace last week!Published Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 10:13
by
brianfrombrussels
in New Social Europe (288 views and 3 comments)
For people who like to know
what their fellow earthmen think of the world's affairs, nothing
can match an elevator. Your local pub or the back seat of a cab
are close competitors for sure, but still they don't quite make
it in front of an elevator. Well, perhaps I'm biased, considering
that I happen to spend more time in elevators than in cabs or at
my local lately.
Anyway, every month around the 15th whatever elevator I take, the
conversation between commuters seems to roll over the same topic:
the rent is paid, electricity and heating bills are gone and
various other charges dealt with and... well, so is the month's
money. Gone, vanished, not a euro in front of them - not to
mention any to be put on the side in prevision of worth days to
come. It seems that the only power left to the working class in
our liberal society, that is the purchase power, is melting away
like wax under the sun. And the regulars of my elevator are
usually civil servants, mind you. I guess you'd hear less
pleasant stories from elevators with a very different attendance
- steel workers from Mr. Mittal's group, for instance.
Even from the most cynical point of view, this can't go on. The
driving force behind our western economies is consumption. If the
people don't have the money to consume, well, it's quite easy:
the system collapses. And it's...
Published Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 12:36
by
brianfrombrussels
in European democracy & diversity (293 views and 1 comments)
Hello comrades and
friends,Published Monday, April 14, 2008 at 17:56
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (214 views and 0 comments)
Thanks to Martina Preuss for being last week's blogger on Yourspace!
For the coming days Brian
Booth, Belgium, will give his input for the PES manifesto.
Brian is 29 years old and holds a MA in Medieval History from the
Université Libre de Bruxelles. Living in Brussels, where he works
as a political advisor to the deputy mayor in charge for public
properties, Brian is a long time member of the Mouvement des Jeunes
Socialistes and is currently ECOSY Vice-President with a portfolio for
equality, justice and solidarity.
Welcome to Yourspace!
Published Friday, April 11, 2008 at 16:35
by
martina
in New Social Europe (446 views and 6 comments)
According to Eurostat a woman in Europe earns, in average, 15
percent less than her male colleague. With 22 percent difference
Germany takes a sad lead when it comes to pay inequality – on the
management level it is even worse (33 percent). Only a few
countries have taken action against this inequity.
The purpose of the international action day for equal
opportunities and equal pay, which has already taken place in the
US and Belgium, is to create awareness of this problem – and soon
there will also be actions in Germany. The German Network of
Business and Professional Women has taken the initiative for the
Equal Pay
Day on 15 April 2008 where the network, together with many
other women’s organizations, will organize numerous actions.
One of the activities of the German Equal Pay Day will be
‘Red Bag’
– which was already put into practice last summer in connection
with the European year of equal opportunities. At that time the
initiative went rather unnoticed by the general public - I don’t
remember having heard about it before now.
Every woman can take part in the ‘Red Bag’ action...
Tags: blogger of the week, equality, women, workers
File:
Equal Pay Day_DE.pdf
Published Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 16:48
by
martina
in European democracy & diversity (371 views and 4 comments)
Many visions have
been given to her: international collaboration in times of
mistrust, the common hymn, the architecture. With the latter I’m
not only referring to the buildings in Strasburg and Brussels,
but also the intellectual architecture in Rome, Schengen, Den
Haag, Maastrict or Dublin. My compliments for the past. Visions
tied together with a strong symbol: stars on a sky-blue – the
colour of peace – background which sparkle so positive and yet
discreet.
In spite of this everyone still is primarily focusing on his own
affairs in the community building process. In the new EU member
states you can win elections with showing hostility towards the
EU! Why is that? Because the EU is not producing enough positive
action. To be a member of the Union is profitable in terms of the
granted subsidies, not in terms of visions. EU-friendly
politicians quickly run out of arguments. In Great Britain Maggie
Thatcher and John Major could win elections with EU-hostility.
Why? Because people over there were afraid that the EU could
bring too many developments! Does that make sense? Only when you
have no clue, which is because of a lack of professional
communication! So, can Europe then agree on a common head of
communications? Of course not.
Foreign policy, pensions, health, workers’ rights – all...
Tags: blogger of the week, democracy, diversity, EU
File:
Europa - die Frau hatte Weitsicht_DE.pdf
Published Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 10:25
by
martina
in Save our planet (497 views and 2 comments)
Climate neutrality, or, in scientific terms 'CO2 neutrality',
describes processes by which the global CO2 balance remains
constant (source: Wikipedia).
In my opinion this CO2 balance no longer exists – we need to
bring back this balance before we can actually maintain it. In a
time of increased environmental awareness, this worthy goal can
nevertheless produce unusual ideas.
Our lifestyles are often careless: jetting off to remote
countries, taking the car to go to the bakery around the corner,
using the tumble dryer and all the other small things which makes
life easy. These actions need no longer give us a guilty
conscience. By spending a bit of money you can compensate for
your polluting sins. For example, take a look at Atmosfair,
Greenmiles, The Climate Company or My Climate. There are probably
more such projects, especially outside Germany. Yet a study from
Tufts
University in Boston revealed that only three of thirteen
such ‘compensation agencies’, including Atmosfair and My Climate,
are actually recommended service providers.
When travelling by plane, Atmosfair can help you obtain a cleaner conscience.
You can pay when you book, but also calculate and compensate for
your CO2 emissions later. When typing...
Tags: blogger of the week, climate change, CO2, electricity, energy, environment
File:
IT_climate_DE.pdf
Published Monday, April 7, 2008 at 12:09
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (376 views and 0 comments)
Thanks to Ania
Skrzypek from ECOSY for being our blogger of
the week!
This week Yourspace welcomes Martina Preuss from Germany. She is
46 years old and has been a member of the SPD, the German Social
Democratic Party, for many years. Since the last elections for
the German Bundestag in 2005 she was blogging for and about the
SPD on her blog "Parteiblog". Martina is also moderating the forums
and blogs of the local Goettingen SPD in the recently launched an
SPD community.
Additionally, she is a member of the SPD internet administrator
team called "Websozis".
Martina Preuss lives in Goettingen in the South of Lower Saxony.
She works as an administrative officer in an engineering office
for wind tunnels and fluid mechanics. But there are even more
things that she does! Martina is also running an internet travel
agency together with a friend - and with two other collegues
she's just starting up an online social network community for
older employees and self-employed persons.
Now, Martina will also be 'blogger of the week' on...
Published Friday, March 28, 2008 at 15:30
by
ania_skrzypek
in EU in the world (562 views and 4 comments)
Today is the first
sunny day in Brussels, after a week of snow, rain, cold and
grey-dom. One wakes up – and U2 song ‘It’s a beautiful
day’ seem to be sung inside oneself just naturally….
This is how me and you wake up. Probably you open the sink listening to the water falling down into wash basin steadily…Sip of coffee with no thoughts of where it came from… Warm cotton t-shirt surrounds your neck… fair trade? What is fair trade during such a joyful morning? On TV the news presenter says something about some protests or riots in far away country, but no time for that – same tv claims it is already 8. Aha, you think with little anger, you will be late for work – why do people have to go to the office on such a beautiful Friday and sit there till 5 anyway? You think closing the door. The day begun – and within those two hours of pure enjoyment of yours – somewhere in Asia a kid went to factory instead of school, somewhere in Africa a poor family begun its walk to unknown, somewhere in Latin America a trade unionist get bullied again, somewhere in EU a jobless single mother goes for another job hunt. “Beautiful day”? Indeed!
You might think – I am crazy that I want you to bother everyday? Yes, I do! We must...
read morePublished Thursday, March 27, 2008 at 12:35
by
ania_skrzypek
in New Social Europe (373 views and 3 comments)
Thinking about the
next post of the blog – I was actually trying to remind myself what
is that people enjoy reading. Coming from the political school of
manifesto: ‘others want to see true intentions that inspired you at
the first place, to be also inspired’, I decided to use one of my
very peculiar interests while traveling;… women magazines. From
cover to cover – scanning all the pictures, trying to get empathy
for the authors of ‘letters to editor’, looking at some clothes
that are not only strange but absolutely unaffordable for a regular
employee… But above all the most exciting and the most interesting
is what the knowledge these colorful pages give; the portrait of a
woman of today. The last time I did that reading I discovered
something absolutely disturbing; women of my own age (around 30)
are the group with the highest risk of the heart attacks. Even more
terrible, most of us had already some mini-version ones without
noticing that even!Published Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 15:04
by
ania_skrzypek
in New Social Europe (324 views and 3 comments)
Not a long time ago,
by November 2007, ECOSY celebrated its 15 years anniversary. For that
occasion we asked our members why they joined the movement. Among
many answers the leading one was undoubtedly: because I wanted to
make a difference, because I wanted to change… Naïve? I would not
say so – I’d rather claim ‘refreshing to remember’, inspiring!
Now “New” usually stands for something that is different from
everything we know, that can give a potential hope – which is why
the "New Social Europe" seem to be the hope to
re-boost the discussion on what is the absolutely unique project
of Socialists and Social Democrats for Europe.
We know that the world has changed – we read that in every paper,
together with acknowledgements of all the threats that not only
hide in every corner, but even enter our houses; like
globalization that we voluntarily participate in each day when
switching the TV on. Everything is unstable, insecure,
questionable – and Superman or Spiderman seem up to date enough
to save us.
I am convinced that instead of a bunch of Armageddon tricks, we
need a vision that appeals to people, that...
Published Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at 16:30
by
ania_skrzypek
in New Social Europe (278 views and 1 comments)
I write rarely about Poland – as a Secretary General of a
European Organization. But as I have also never written a blog
before I have decided to make an exception. Especially that the
issue below remains at the heart of the manifesto debate on
New
Social Europe and “how to reach a New Social Europe for
everyone and everywhere?"
There are few Easter traditions Polish cultivated up till today.
One of them is the tradition of hand-painted Eggs, and another of
“Wet Monday” when Polish are sprinkling water on one another. The
wetter you get, the more popular you are – says ancient
tradition. Both customs seem to have reached a new political
dimension; just before Easter Polish got their very own “Kinder
Surprise” hand-made by the Kaczynski Brothers colored in national
white and red, indicating the popularity to wash away in a
Niagara Falls of words like ‘never’, ‘scandal’,
‘forever’ the Lisbon Treaty.
Polish representatives, negotiating the Lisbon Treaty, made a lot of promises in the media. As a nation, educated in school by romantic literature, we like symbols underlined by a little drama. This is why it is in our political DNA to tear our clothes apart and claim that ‘we will die if…’ as in the negotiations; ‘…the Ioannina...
read morePublished Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at 12:00
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (447 views and 0 comments)
Thanks a lot to our
last blogger of the week, Hanna
Isbom.
Ania Skrzypek is Secretary General of Young European Socialists – or ECOSY in short – and this week she’ll be blogging on Yourspace. ECOSY, which in November 2007 celebrated its 15th birthday, gathers Socialist and Social Democratic youth and students organizations from all over Europe who all together campaign since 2005 for “A Social Europe for Everyone” ECOSY is a member of European Youth Forum, one of the founding members of GPYF – Global Progressive Youth Forum and being an exciting space in which inspiring visions are constructed, politics happens and great friendships begin organizes debates, seminars, Winter Universities and Summer Camps (the upcoming one is taking place in France in July 2008 – don’t’ miss it).
In the fascinating PES Manifesto Consultations, ECOSY has been actively involved since June 2007, submitting already three contributions for the PES manifesto consultation and one more...
read morePublished Friday, March 14, 2008 at 14:56
by
heisbo
in Save our planet (493 views and 4 comments)
Even though discussion
paper 'Save our
planet' concentrates mostly on energy policy, I would like
discuss also about the influence of the traffic emissions.Published Thursday, March 13, 2008 at 16:08
by
heisbo
in New Social Europe (413 views and 5 comments)
On the 21st century
education has become an inevitable tool for a personal and national
success. European Union aims to be the most competitive
knowledge-based economy in the world. That requires investing in
education and training as well as in research and development.
Investing in education is investing in the future, both in personal
and in macro level.
loading...