Who said there’d be scribblings of mine up this blog every single day of every single week, huh? I don’t remember signing any contract with my blood, so all expectations or expostulations will have to be reported to your mirror, or to the moon, the stars or the clouds.
I guess I’m rather tired at this moment--all right, more like exhausted and in dire need of holidays far, far away from work. That, and the one subject that’s currently being given my undivided attention is the vote in France next Sunday. Yeah, the vote.
Eu-ro-pe-an Cons-ti-tu-tion, remember?
The French will vote yes or no on Sunday. In Germany, Shroder announces early elections for next Fall, elections in which the social-democrats look like they might have to yield power over to the christian-democrats. And THAT is yet another sign that screams at me there will NOT be a way to renegociate a better compromise for the constitution.
Or…
Well, let me be honest : of course if the result of the polls is a no, and if enough countries reject the text, there will be new talks, and new negociations. And, yes, a new compromise will emerge. A better one.
But a better one for whom?
Facts: the current compromise was reached when the EU was made of 15 countries, most of those with social-democrats in power. If a new compromise must be reached, it will have to be done between 25 countries, 10 of whom belong to the newly integrated countries. Countries governed by people who believe in the lawless rule of ultra-liberal economy. And, to crown it all, in all likelihood, in case of new negociations, the Germany that would sit down at the negociations table would then be a CDU Germany, not a SPD-Grune Germany.
So, be honest. Use your brain, and tell me: what are the odds of getting these countries to agree on a text with a much more social flavor? Zero, or close to zero.
So move your asses, people, and go vote yes. You don’t have to like it, you don’t have to start raving over how great it is, or over the fact that it’s so easy to read and understand. It’s not. It’s far from perfect, it’s far from containing all the essential social principles and defenses that we need as a European people. It’s far from going far enough in uniting the policies of all our countries, but it contains steps in the right direction, however small.
Precious glimmers of hope.
Small, but primeval steps. We must have them if Europe is to survive, if Europe is to be given if only the beginnings of a chance to stand for what its people believe in, to stand for our rights, for everything our parents and grandparents fought for--then we must have this text. Now, before it’s too late. Before there’s nothing left to save.
Come on, comrades (yes, I get to say that, I'm a union representative, so I get to say it :P), a constitution where there's not a single mention of God or Christianity? We MUST have it! You can be sure that with Poland now an active member, and with our dear Panzer Pope fuming at the lack of G word in the constitution, any new text would include the G word. I don't know about you, but I know I don't want to see the smallest mention of a god or a religion in the European Constitution. Europe must remain a secular zone.
A God-free zone.
We're not the US where they use the G word at every opportunity they get, and are about to bar evolution from their biology courses in school. No. No obscurantism here, no religious zealots and religious dogma. No, thank you very much. We want to be miscreants, sinners, unbelievers, heathens, you name it. We want to remain god-free.
The Constitution’s text can be perfected. It can be reviewed, and the odds of managing that are way higher than the odds of managing to renegociate a more social text. I think that what enfuriates me the most when I listen to the people who support the “no of the left”, is their argument according to which it will be easy to renegociate a much more social text on the morrow of the victory of the “no”. It’s self-delusion at best, bullshit at worst. I can only hope the people who go around claiming that renegociations will do the trick are just sincere fools, and not lying bastards.
The French people will give their verdict on Sunday. I can only hope they will think long and hard before going to the polls. I can only hope they will focus on the actual question they’re being asked, and not on all the domestic issues that rightfully anger them.
We’ll see.
… Okay, I said I was tired, and here I wrote this long post on the European Constitution. Hm. Well, I’m still tired. I think I'm going to fling myself in the arms of Morpheus for a time. So, enjoy the silence.
Enjoy it while it lasts. :P
