Welfare and Social Issues

Success or failure? That is the question supporters in Germany of an Unconditional Basic Income have to ask themselves following the end, on 14 January, of the European Citizens’ Initiative, which for technical reasons did not quite run for a full year.

Popular protest may have saved Gezi Park, but elsewhere in Turkey the destruction on the environment in pursuit of private profit continues. The Green Though Foundation organised a conference to discuss the challenges posed by these developments and what they say about politics in modern Turkey.

Nelson Mandela personified the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and became a worldwide symbol of hope in the face of discrimination. Although apartheid was ended, racism and discrimination still remain present in our society, and that needs to be remembered.

Both multicultural and assimilationist models of integration have difficulties, but the intercultural approach could offer a way to move beyond concepts of majority and minority, host society and newcomers, and become a new model for Europe.

Now that Merkel has triumphed in the German elections, one of the opposition’s main aims – the establishment of a national minimum wage – is likely to miss the boat and be left behind. Prospects are bleak for the growing numbers of working poor.

The Bologna process was a step towards creating a “Europe of Knowledge” where ideas and people could travel freely throughout Europe. Yet, this goal is threatened by changes to the structure of the higher education sector and perhaps by the nature of academia itself.

The welfare state is no longer affordable, we are told from all sides – neither in the Netherlands, nor in Europe as a whole. Cuts must be made in the social services, the argument runs, to rescue the economy. But it doesn’t have to be like that. Here is a green vision.

Using examples from her own home, Corfu, Vera Koronaki describes the reasons why we need solidarity, both in Europe as well as beyond, and the steps that we can take to achieve it.

The social unrest in the Swedish suburbs is the result of increasing social cleavages.

The economic crisis has been used as a cover to weaken labour laws across Europe.