The crisis and its impact on the economy of the Mediterranean space and on the deterioration of human and civil rights.
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In the short time given to me in order to develop this crucial issue, I will try to emphasize on the main points so we can initiate the needed discussion that will clarify and enrich the sides of this problem.
The Mediterranean Sea defines a critical geopolitical space of variant influences. In one part of it, there is the dramatic situation of everyday life of the people under war, military occupation and poverty. In the other part there is the unemployment and the misery of life. But the most critical effect of all is the lack of hope.
Different local images, all pieces of one puzzle arise from a situation in which new conflicts start without knowing why and how!  The crisis is different in every country changing faces with the local problems and reinforcing the divided spirit of the target population. And there is the big image of the puzzle that we don’t know -it is well covered, but we are trying to understand it! The economic system is stabilized with perpetual small or big crises. The big ones change the shape of the society. There are always winners: the ones who make profit out of it!
The Mediterranean space has exploitable energy resources, a unique geostrategic position and other profitable interests. In this moment the geopolitical situation is changing through the war, by using the arms of good client-states. We know from history how an economic crisis goes together with warfare. The good client of Russia, Assad, is the bad client for the others.
In the European borders of the Mediterranean Sea austerity measures have been imposed, which are so severe that even the national independence is in danger, like in Greece, however, the most important impact is the lack of hope for the future generations and the current emigration of the young with diplomas! We can come to the conclusion that the bigger image of that historical moment is that someone is the winner. Probably it is Germany, representing the American interests in the area. In the First World War Germany lost and caused a mess in Europe. In the Second World War Germany lost and caused a mess and a holocaust in Europe. The third World War is the preventive one, as the ex-American president Bush has said, or an economic one, with Germany being after 100 years the winner – and probably causing again a mess in the European entity!  And from the south-east Mediterranean to the Balkans, to Middle East to North Africa… who can see the future of those areas except for the ones who control it because they are the ones creating it? In this moment everything is changing in the Mediterranean space where a battle field is taking place in all sides, with largely differentiated problems ranging from physical threat to overconsumption.
 
The armed war on one side, the economic war on the other side! There are a lot of different regional conflicts that don’t show the real problem but cover it behind the curtain! The economy of that space, and not only that area, is the game of the global oligarchy which is organizing  the crisis that they structure, like in a casino game, in order to achieve new businesses and comfortable new contracts! The one, who was doing business before the crisis, is always doing business, even now with more profit.
 
But let’s face it, the main issue, the number one urgent and pressing problem is the humanitarian crisis! And even the problem of mobility between the two borders that continues to exist for the citizens of the other side – known us immigrants or refugees or illegal travelers – they find their way through the sea and they come to the borders of Europe! With no rights, they are thrown into a future with a predetermined purpose set by the new face of slavery in Europe. Obviously, the colonialist forces went to their countries to occupy them and take them for slaves! Now the refugees are coming to them, trying to organize their existence in a very hostile environment! The refugees have no rights, they are called illegal emigrants!
 
The citizens of Greece little by little have lost their rights and their dignity! The new political phenomenon inside the E.U. has probably started in Greece, as they remove from the local government the power the people gave to them! The labor legislation has been ripped, the impossibility of a “fair and decent” retirement after 35 years of work and so on. The complete demolition of all the rights has taken place in Greece, and even for those rights that have been instituted after years of struggle – now they are abolished. The new slavery for Greek people is a fact and so is the new slavery for the refugees at a different level. That’s the situation! The new monetary policy, under the financial casino regulations rules the world and in our specific area they are playing a very bad game against us! 
 
In the Sabir Meydan festival with its working groups we are trying to organize the discussion about the two borders and their relations, to exchange information about what’s going on in the different areas and set the goal to begin the search for a Mediterranean identity with democratic rights. This will allow us to deepen the research and the understanding of each one of us, become aware of the critical situation and try to change it by mutual dialogue and solidarity! The social values we shared in Piazza del sol in Madrid, in Syndagma square in Athens, in the Arab spring as in Tunis - that’s the specificity that unites us.
 In that discussion there is a unification of activists and grassroots organizations in order to achieve a united fight for our democratic citizenship. In that particular moment, when forces are trying to disorient and dissolve the African countries and do the same in a different scale in the south of Europe with the economic crisis, we must join our forces for a united fight! It is urgent!
 
The sea is a common wealth and we need to preserve it. Not transform it in a cemetery or in a dump of industrial or nuclear trashes! The immigration will continue increasing. The war, the poverty, the demographic pressure in those countries, the desertification of the ground, the lack of food, water and hope to live with dignity make their people flee to Europe. On the other hand, Europe exports the knowhow of war, the culture and the technique of how to make a dictatorship and the television life style in countries and people who cannot be sure about their own lives and their daily survival! If something concrete doesn’t change in Europe, the immigration will continue increasing.
Let's act together for a new plan based on European human values and not on Europe as the consumer of techno-development against the earth and the humans - for a new democratic European project.
 
 
                                                                                                                                                                          Costis Triandaphyllou
                                                                                                                                                                 13th October,2015, Campobasso, Italy.