BY PROFESSOR RAFIG ALIYEV, Ph.D.
AZERI OBSERVER CONTRIBUTOR
Capitalism has depleted all of Europe’s resources for development. Capitalism must cede its place to a social-political system where a socially-oriented political state must dominate in a viable form of statehood.
The time for “Europe without Capitalism” (the title of my 2011 book written and translated into English) has come. French President Emmanuel Macron’s and other leaders of present-day Europe’s efforts to cram the current situation into the Procrustean bed of old political and state frames are in vain. The very system of capitalism, with its excessively high taxes, its rise in prices, and its decline in the living standards for the majority of the population must be a part of history. They should instead be replaced by a more viable system, without the present methods of banking, exchanging and capitalist billionaires’ predatory practices. I suggest sharing their wealth with people, for, otherwise, the people themselves will take away everything they have and the billionaires’ destiny will appear in the infuriated workers’ and peasants’ hands. History has seen this in the world and Europe many times before.
The European political elite, hoping that everything is “alright” in their own homes, have been busy scheming against China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran under pressure from the United States for the past seven to eight years. They fail to notice that the majority of their populations live in poverty and their standard of living drops every year. Everything though has a beginning and an end, and certain futures are out of the view of the politicians of that beautiful continent called Europe. But alas, it culminates to nothing. One should not only admire history but also study and learn its lessons!
Present events in France are just the beginning of greater shocks in Europe. It is not about the rise in oil prices or other goods. It is not even about Macron or his calls to create a European army, which is what the United States, particularly, Donald Trump, does not like. Macron fell into a whirl of events, which were starting even without his ill-considered steps.
A protester wearing yellow vest, a symbol of a French drivers’ protest against higher fuel prices, stands on the red light on the Champs-Elysee in Paris, France, November 24, 2018. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
It is time for this system of government to be replaced, and the so-called socially-oriented state to be created.
Present-day Europe, with its current party system of government, must finish its epoch and let the trade unions, every member of which desires the fruits of their labor and a fair distribution of earned wealth, occupy the leading position.
If that does not happen, present-day Europe will not be able to avoid revolutionary shocks, the results of which are already known – devastation and the ruination of our creations, programs, and welfare. The European people will then have to invest costly time and labor towards rebuilding everything. Europe must avoid new revolutions for its own sake and the sake of other countries. It still has time, though time stops for no one. The creators of these systems, who lingered at the top of power, are too late to be able to reform the financial and political systems. Their time is over!
They should have taken care of their own people instead of organizing revolutions in other countries and creating nationalistic units in countries neighboring with Russia. I will repeat for the sake of clarity: time flies and soon it will be too late to change anything. Saving Europe and its peoples would be the noblest action those in power have ever done!
This is the call of the times, and it must be followed at any price. However, it can be done without bloodshed, devastating revolutions, and destroying history.
Our business is to express our opinion, and the rest is for the Europeans to decide. We, as always, want to deal with an educated Europe. One which reigns justice and truth, and can occupy a worthy space in the life of its countries and peoples.
About the Author
Rafig Aliyev is a doctor of philosophy, professor, and the founder of IRSHAD Center on Islamic Studies since 1990. He worked as the deputy director on foreign relations at the Institute of Oriental Studies and as the director of the Center for Islamic Researches in the Caucasus of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences. From 2001-2006 he headed the State Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan for the Work with Religious Associations. Since 2006, Aliyev has worked as the director of the Center on Islamic Studies. He is a member of the World Peace Academy of Professors, international interreligious committee. Aliyev is the author of 16 books and more than 350 scientific articles.
