Letters from the Editors

In the following weeks the four editors of BRAVE NEW EUROPE will be writing a short piece concerning why you should donate to support the website

Let’s Do This For Generation Z



As we all saw during COP26 there were two realities: inside the meeting and outside. Inside represented the interests of corporations willing to destroy our planet to protect their sanctified profits. Outside we saw the youth of today trying to secure their survival. If you followed our coverage, you know whose side we were on.



One thing we hope the fanfare of Cop26 has taught us is that there are voices not yet at the table which must be listened to. These are the voices of our children or grandchildren. Greta Thunberg is only one of many. Extinction Rebellion and Fridays for Future are kept on the fringes of the debate when they should surely be centre-stage. Generation Z after all will inherit the earth that earlier generations are shaping or mis-shaping. If the spirit of Cop26 fails, Gen Z will be paying the bill.



We want BRAVE NEW EUROPE to be there to support Generation Z with a platform to share their thoughts and arguments. We invite them to send us comments on their reactions to what they have seen during the past fortnight. If they haven’t yet heard of BRAVE NEW EUROPE we hope that you as parents and grandparents will encourage them to write in. One of the goals of our website is to function as an interface between various groups. We would welcome a new one. As we saw at COP26, Generation Z “outsiders” are often more articulate than many of those inside.



Send your comments to [email protected], headlined Generation Z



Meanwhile, please remember that Brave New Europe is determined to stay independent of corporate and political sponsors. We rely on donations from people like you. On behalf of Generation Z, and indeed all of us, we ask you to dip into your pocket and donate generously.

Many thanks in advance for your donation.

David Shirreff



[email protected]



The most read articles in the past month

Richard D. Wolff – Why the Troubled U.S. Empire Could Quickly Fall Apart

Steve Keen – Vale Janos Kornai, one of the very few truly original and incisive thinkers in economics

The New Economics – A Manifesto by Steve Keen

Branko Milanović – Can Xi Jinping defeat three stubborn modern inequalities?

Wolfgang Knorr: If you still want 1.5 – think twice and think deeply

Slavoj Žižek, Yanis Varoufakis – Public Use of Reason

Wolfgang Streeck – Rusty Charley and the Rule of Law

Shutdown – How Covid Shook the World Economy by Adam Tooze

Branko Milanović – On the role of economics and global inequality

Editor’s Choice for the past week

Before COP26 began, Wolfgang Knorr, Senior Research Scientist for Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science at Lund University,wrote a powerful piece If you still want 1.5 – think twice and think deeply raising the question of why people are repressing the reality of climate change and our own complicity



Wolfgang Streeck provided still another of his insightful and humorous analyses of the many shortcomings of the European Union. In this article, Rusty Charley and the Rule of Law , Streeck examines the power grab by the EU being highlighted in the current conflict with Poland and Hungary concerning national sovereignty and the EU’s moral high-ground claim to be defending the rule of law.



In Employers must provide riders with a bike and mobile phone, German court finds , the Gig Economy Project highlights a new judgement by the highest labour court in Germany that adequate bicycle and smart-phone are necessary work equipment for food delivery couriers, and thus must be provided by the employer. After one judgement after the other by European national courts against corporations exploiting platform workers, the EU Commission is coming under increased pressure to overthrow these and create a directive to undermine the labour rights of platform workers.



Michael Roberts raises the question if a socialist plan economy can work or capitalism is the only game in town in Kornai on capitalism and socialism.



It may have taken four years to get here, but this week we posted our first article concerning Slovenia, Marko Hočevar – Slovenia: the crisis of a parliamentary republic in the swamp of neoliberalism . The conclusion is that after joining the EU it has be forced into the iron corset of neo-liberalism. There Is No Alternative.



We had so many outstanding pieces daily debunking the mainstream media reporting on COP26 it is difficult to decides. Here are some of the highlights:



Rupert Read – The Can Stops Now



David Whyte – Cop26: The day the net zero carnival came to town



Robin McAlpine – Obama Blames Nationalism



Bill McGuire – COP26 is a Circus and the Clowns are in Charge



Yanis Varoufakis – COP26 is doomed, and the hollow promise of ‘net zero’ is to blame

Upcoming Zoomcasts hosted by BRAVE NEW EUROPE

Julia Steinberger on 24 November 2021 at 8pm CET
“Living well within planetary limits: is it possible? And what will it take? “