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The night of July 13th will be remembered in history as the night of the European shame.

The neoliberal oligarchy ruling Europe with no democratic legitimacy has shown its real nature to the whole world. This oligarchy insists that no one in Europe has the right to propose credible alternatives to the religion of austerity, even when these proposals are backed by a very large democratic consensus.

In order to teach Greece a lesson and to warn anyone seeking to follow the same path, they did not hesitate a single moment to place an entire country in grave danger, and to threaten the health, indeed the life, of its people. To this end, they are prepared to risk the whole process of European integration.

Europe does not have a Greek problem. Europe has, rather, a serious political problem:the neoliberal choice for austerity. The German elite – together with the other governments, the ECB and the IMF is pushing Europe towards the abyss.

It’s not a war between Germany and Greece: it is between oligarchy and democracy.

European and global oligarchies have shown their determination as well as their divisions.

The revolt of a small country against neoliberal power has provoked a brutal reaction. The fight against such strong powers cannot be won by one country alone. Since the beginning, we have mobilized all over Europe and stated that this fight is ” not about Greece, it’s about all of us!”

Now we have built a permanent mobilization and forged European links between social, political and intellectual actors. But despite our best efforts, we were unable to build the strength needed in this past month.

The week preceding the Greek referendum and, in particular, the final Eurogroup meeting witnessed a strong reaction throughout Europe and the world. Trade unions, social and political movements, democratic civil society organizations, individuals have expressed in various ways their support for democracy and for the Greek people and their opposition to austerity and neoliberal doctrine.

This is a new, positive and important element in Europe which can counter the brutal attack on Greece, and provide all of Europe with the necessary strength in the struggle to come, in Greece and everywhere. The coming months in the period before the Spanish elections on 15 November will be crucial.

We don’t want austerity : not in Greece, and not in Europe. We need another Europe, based on democracy, rights, dignity and peace. We must fight for it together. This is an historic responsibility for all of us.

Susan George (TNI-Attac) | Eduardo Chagas (ETF – Eurpopean Transportworkers’ Federation) | Raffaella Bolini (ARCI) | Walter Baier (Transform!Europe) | Felipe Van Keirsbilck (Alter Summit) | Elisabeth Gauthier (Transform!) | Corinna Genschel (Blockupy) | Roberto Musacchio & Roberto Morea (Transform! It) | Giuseppe De Marzo (Libera) | Marco Bersani (Attac It) | Claudio Riccio (ACT – Agire Costruire Trasformare) | Lorenzo Zamponi (Il Corsaro.info) | Hugo Braun (Attac Germany) | Kenneth Haar (CEO) | Attac Wallonie-Bxl | Thomas Coutrot (Attac Fr) | Eric Goeman (Attac Vlanderen) | Dominique Plihon (Attac Fr) | Piotr Kawiorski (Attac Pl) | Pierre Khalfa (Fondation Copernic) | Sebastian Franco (European Network for the right to Health) | Frédérique Rolet (SNES FSU)