A state that protects—and a bulwark for democracy and modernity. Is this, Robert Misik asks, the new paradigm of the democratic left?
SPÖ: how not to run a leadership contest
The messy struggle for leadership of Austria’s social democrats, Robert Misik writes, nevertheless has echoes for others.
The good man from Traiskirchen
The Austrian social democrats are heading into a leadership contest, Robert Misik writes. For the SPÖ it could get bumpy.
The left and freedom
Democratic socialists must take back the concept of freedom from the libertarians, Robert Misik writes.
Today’s far right and the echoes from history
Robert Misik argues today’s extreme right is sponsoring a brutalisation comparable to historical fascism.
Reasonable left, irresponsible right
Amid burgeoning crises, Robert Misik writes, the left finds itself assuming the mantle of responsibility.
A social-democratic decade ahead?
Now Austria’s SPÖ too has left its competitors far behind, Robert Misik asks: is the Zeitgeist moving to the left?
A new era of containment?
The security architecture of the past 50 years is in ruins. Robert Misik maps a policy for the new cold war.
Beyond dystopia
To change the pessimistic Zeitgeist, left-wing politics and radical art must renew their alliance, Robert Misik writes.
The revolt against reason
Many have lost all trust in politics, Robert Misik writes. The protests against vaccination and anti-virus rules however turn this into madness.
The improbable victory: lessons of the SPD’s election win
In his first Social Europe column, Robert Misik explains how the SPD prevailed in the Bundestag elections—and what follows.
Austrian Democrats Must Unite To Stop The Far Right
The resistible rise of the Far Right in Austria. The presidential election is on a knife-edge before the deciding round of at the end of May. It did indeed come as a shock that moment when the blue bar on the TV screen last Sunday at 5 pm shot upwards: 35 per cent of the […]
Caputalism: Will Capitalism Die?
The fact that western capitalism is in a severe crisis is now so commonplace that it’s become almost a cliché. In 2008 the global financial system stood on the brink of collapse and the rescue measures undertaken by panic-stricken governments will burden their economies for years to come. Economists and analysts of a neo-conservative, economically […]
A Nail-biting Exercise For Alexis Tsipras
We’re sitting on the roof terrace of a restaurant at the foot of the Acropolis, with the brightly lit temple above us. But the mood among the company this evening is far from good. “I’ll never forgive those Syriza guys to the point that, thanks to them, I almost want the Conservatives to win the […]
The Unsettled Greek Revolution
While Syriza slowly recovers from the shock of the last few weeks, prime minister Alexis Tsipras is searching for a role. Greece after the referendum, closure of banks and the Brussels diktat. An investigation. It’s already past eight in the evening and my feet feel like they’re slowly being cooked in my heavy, leather boots. Admittedly […]
My Greece. The Journey Inside Syriza
Days of Decision. While the Greek drama moved towards a decision, I travelled into the interior of the new Greece. Meetings with Alexis Tsipras, his closest aids, local activists, young businessmen, working-class militants and people, who just manage to survive. “To our government,” Nikos shouts, slightly sarcastically. While we are lifting our beers, Katerina adds with […]
Show Solidarity And Stop Bashing Greece!
It was a paragraph hidden away in a Der Spiegel story about European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker. During the European election campaign, one read, “the word ‘solidarity’ stood out on Juncker’s posters.” And further down: “Merkel’s CDU was so incensed about Juncker’s slogan that they almost thought about banning him from appearing in Berlin.” So, […]