European Left Alliance political declaration: Transform, resist, rise, hope

We, members of the European Left Alliance, are joining our forces to open a new chapter for the cooperation of left, green and feminist parties of Europe. As the social and environmental crisis deepens, as our political adversaries organise, we believe European left forces urgently need more efficient and ambitious cooperation. We form an alliance capable of resisting the far right and authoritarian neoliberalism, of organising and rising with social movements, and of reviving a real hope that left forces will enter governments and exercise power for the people and the planet. We believe that through political mobilisation, we can make a brighter future possible.

Every passing day, the brutality of capitalism increases. It strives on and reinforces structural sexism and racism. This system enables the greed of the wealthiest, allowing the ever intensifying exploitation of people, of workers, and of the environment. In Europe, the consequences of this system of exploitation are manyfold. It drives inflation and asphyxiating costs of living. It leads to massive layoffs of workers, degraded wages and working conditions.

Capitalism cannot be challenged without confronting patriarchy. The system depends on women’s unpaid care work and on the control of their bodies and lives through violence. Feminism must be at the core of our struggle for transformation.

At the same time, the European Union and its Member States pursue policies that allow the exploitation of people and the planet, while undermining solidarity. The European Union signs countless unsustainable free trade agreements that are inducing a race to the bottom in terms of employment, workers’ rights and environmental protection. Austerity and tax injustice are devastating public services and undermining the redistribution of wealth from the wealthiest few to the many. For millions across our continent, merely accessing food, water, housing, energy, transportation, healthcare, basic public services and decent jobs is becoming harder every year.

We believe that a brighter future is possible, where our societies are based on principles of social justice and solidarity, and guarantee good living and working conditions for all.

Hand in hand with the social crisis, global capitalism deepens the environmental crisis which hits the most vulnerable first. It continues to drive climate change and deprives our societies from protections against its deadly consequences – floods, droughts, heatwaves, mega-fires, cyclones, etc. The mass exploitation of resources has breached seven out of the nine planetary boundaries identified by scientists as limits beyond which the ability of our planet to sustain human life is compromised. Instead of slowing the catastrophe, the European Union is amplifying it by rolling back its own meagre environmental regulations.

We believe that a brighter future is possible, where humanity respects the limits of its environment and future generations are able to live in harmony with nature.

Far right and authoritarian political forces are fast emerging as an option for the wealthiest and most powerful to maintain privileges and an economic system that exacerbates inequalities and ravages the planet. By kindling racism, sexism and hatred of minorities, they stir divisions within the people and shift attention away from the true causes of their hardship, and away from the wealthiest and most powerful who profit from it.

This enterprise of hate produces atrocious violence and discrimination towards millions of people. These leaders and their supporters are dehumanising minorities for their supposed origin or religion, generating  violence and discriminatory policies. They organise a systematic backlash against women’s rights, including the right to abortion, and against LGBTQI+ peoples’ freedom. They criminalise environmental defenders, activists and trade unions to neutralise all opposition to the exploitation of workers and the planet.

We believe that a brighter future is possible, where equality prevails between all human beings, and each and everyone is free to live, believe and love without fear.

The far-right’s use of violence in the pursuit of domination does not stop at borders. Since February 2022, the Russian Federation of Vladimir Putin has been waging a war of aggression against Ukraine and, to this day, refuses to engage in any meaningful negotiations for a just and lasting peace. In Gaza, at Benjamin Netanyahu’s command, Israel has been carrying out a genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people for months, with the military support of the United States and the silent complicity of the European Union. War is disseminating across the globe, from Sudan and Congo, to the border of India and Pakistan. The right to self-determination is denied to peoples around the world. The European Union fails to apply international law consistently, allowing the erosion of fundamental principles of international security and the weakening of multilateral institutions. The European Union itself is allocating hundreds of billions euros to rearmament but refuses to invest in social and environmental justice, and also fails to sufficiently work towards just peace through diplomacy.

We believe that a brighter future is possible, where international law, international cooperation and diplomacy guarantee just and lasting peace.

A brighter future is possible, because countless people continue to resist, every day and everywhere.

Workers mobilise against factory closures and for better working conditions. Collectives and tenants’ associations demand better housing. Activists protest against climate inaction and environmental destruction. Associations organise to welcome refugees, support the elderly, and provide food and medication for the most vulnerable. Feminist and antiracist movements act against discrimination and for equality.

A brighter future is possible, because while the European Union and its Member States stand complicit and silent, millions of people march across Europe to demand an end to the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

We are part of this resistance.

While other political forces give in to the growing pressure of the far-right, the European Left Alliance will remain true to its values. We will always stand with those that the far-right targets because of their origin, religion, gender, or sexuality. We will continue to stand for migrants’ and refugees’ rights and provide solidarity to those who fled their countries. We will keep fighting against the militarisation of borders against asylum seekers and the criminalisation of migration, which reflect a broader logic of repression and exclusion. We will continue to demand just peace in the face of imperialism and military escalation.

Furthermore, the European Left Alliance commits to a radical agenda of social justice. Wherever political forces from the left lean towards neoliberal policies, they have paved the way for its own demise and for the far-right to progress. On the contrary, we commit to demanding systemic change for social justice and against capitalism.

The European Left Alliance stands for just peace and strongly refuses plans to finance militarisation at the expense of social and environmental protection. States should not be imposed security alliances, nor arbitrary levels of defense spending such as Trump’s 5% GDP demand for NATO members. Decision regarding defense spending should rather be based on realistic defence needs and must be subject to national-level approval. European countries must ensure their security independence from the United States while proposing credible alternatives to reorganise their security, particularly at the European Union’s Eastern border, in a spirit of solidarity. We aspire to build a Europe that applies international law fully and consistently, and actively promotes just peace and diplomacy.

From resistance, we must rise to mobilisation and achieve change.

To that end, members of the European Left Alliance are working together to share strategies and tools for mobilisation, better cooperate across borders, and help each other to grow in its respective country and context.

The European Left Alliance will create a European political foundation to support the Alliance and its members in developing ideas, analyses and mobilisation. This work will improve the mutual understanding of left forces across Europe, reinforce their relationships, and strengthen political cooperation.

We want the European Left Alliance to be a political organisation in tune with today’s society. We will pull together their experiences of translating the aspirations of people into collective political action, both online and offline. The European Left Alliance will be a network aiming to strengthen the European left’s capacity to put social and environmental emergencies where they belong: at the top of the European political agendas.

The European Left Alliance will take concrete solidarity initiatives across Europe and cooperate with allies, including other political parties or civil society organisations, and support mobilisations aligned with our values. Through targeted direct campaigns, our concerted efforts can make a difference in peoples’ lives, and restore trust in political organisations.