Near Futures Online, 1: Europe at a Crossroads (2016)

“Europe at a Crossroads, the pilot issue of Near Futures Online, examines the recent history and potential fate of the two faces of “crisis” in today’s Europe, namely: the resistance and eventual surrender of the Greek government to the dictates of its creditors, and the growing tensions regarding the reception of asylum seekers and the place of immigrants in the EU.”

“Near Futures Online, the online companion of Zone Books’ Near Futures series, is a forum dedicated to the analysis of the challenges borne out of national governments’ and international institutions’ responses to some critical events – the financial crisis of 2008, the “Arab Springs” of 2011 – as well as ongoing developments such as climate change and soaring inequalities. Organized around a specific question, each issue of NFO brings together scholars, journalists, political activists, and artists, and includes contributions belonging to different genres and using a variety of media – essays and reportages, interviews and dialogues, photo essays and videos. Contributors are invited to address questions raised by NFO through an engagement with particular debates, histories, policies, and actors as well as to examine their possible trajectories in the near future.”

Edited by Michel Feher, William Callison, Milad Odabaei, and Aurélie Windels
Publisher Zone Books, Mar 2016
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Christian Engström MEP, Rick Falkvinge: The Case for Copyright Reform (2012)

Legalized file sharing, shorter protection times for the commercial copyright monopoly, free sampling and a ban on DRM.

These are the main points of the proposal for copyright reform that the Pirate Party is advocating and which the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament adopted as its group position in September 2011.
This is a constructive alternative to the controversial ACTA agreement and to the criminalization of the entire generation of youths. This booklet explains why such a reform is both necessary and sustainable and will benefit both citizens and artists.

Published by Pirate MEP Christian Engström with support from the Greens/EFA-group in the European Parliament, 17 April 2012
Creative Commons CC0 license
ISBN 9781471671784
108 pages

commentary (Ernesto, TorrentFreak.com)
discussion (Slashdot.org)

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RMF Report: Breaking Up? A Route Out of the Eurozone Crisis (2011)

“Debtor-led default and exit are fraught with risk, and have costs attached to them. But the alternative is economic and social decline within the EMU that could still end up in chaotic and even costlier exit. In contrast, if default and exit were planned and executed by a decisive government, they could put the country on the path to recovery. For that it would be necessary to adopt a broad economic and social programme including capital controls, redistribution, industrial policy, and thorough restructuring of the state. The aim would be to change the balance of power in favour of labour, simultaneously putting the country on the path of sustainable growth and high employment. Not least, national independence would also be protected.” (from Executive summary)

Authors: C. Lapavitsas, A. Kaltenbrunner, D. Lindo, J. Meadway, J. Michell, J.P. Painceira, E. Pires, J. Powell, A. Stenfors, N. Teles, L. Vatikiotis
Published by Research on Money and Finance, November 2011
RMF Occassional Report 3
92 pages

Media Coverage of the Report: The Miami Herald (by Joanna Kakissis, 17 November 2011), Prin (in Greek, by Petros Kosmas, 13 November 2011), El Pais (in Spanish, by Amanda Mars, 13 November 2011), Guardian (by Heather Stewart, 13 November 2011), Eleftherotypia (in Greek, by Leonidas Vatikiotis, 12 November, 2011), CNN (by Costas Lapavitsas, 10 November 2011).

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