Struggle of couriers and yellow vests: neoliberal hegemony in danger

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The year 2018 is coming to an end and with it the transition that saw the Alter Summit secretariat integrated into the Gresea team. Today our network enjoys relative stability and better opportunities for collaboration.

This collaboration was implemented during our recent activity, the courier assembly (25&26 October). Initiated by our Network, this first assembly brought together more than 60 couriers from 12 European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, Norway, Finland). This meeting was a great success and saw the birth of the Transnational Federation of Couriers, a promising initiative to fight against meal delivery platforms (Deliveroo, UberEats, Foodora, Glovo, Stuart,...).

This event demonstrated Alter Summit’s ability to be a practical tool for social struggles. By connecting the actors, we are able to concretely improve the internationalization of struggles. Thus, Alter Summit can be both a forum where European issues are debated and an organisational space for the transnationalisation of struggles. Two important roles in developing social struggles in today’s Europe.

Find articles and resources on the meeting on our website

The year 2019 is a year of European elections (May) and Alter Summit will be present in the debate. We will discuss how best to showcase our work and express our proposals at the next meeting of our Network, which will be held on 8&9 February in Brussels.

Beyond these elections, the coming years will be important for progressive forces in Europe. Indeed, the social contradictions sharpened by years of austerity and neoliberal policies open up new perspectives for action and reflection. As such, the movement of yellow vests questions our certainties. This protean movement, which we will have the opportunity to discuss in depth, in any case enshrines the emergence of the popular masses in the political sphere. And that’s good news!

Understanding the historical moment that Europe and our various countries are experiencing, knowing how to act in the gaps that crack neoliberal hegemony and supporting and connecting the forces that are moving forward are concrete tasks to which we will contribute with our modest resources!

A great end of 2018 and a strong year ahead!
The Alter Summit team