On 2011-02-03, at 11:44 AM, Somebody Somebody wrote:
>
> I think it's easy to dismiss the historical significance of the European Union. From a world historical standpoint, despite the problems of monetary union and continued albeit much attenuated national rivalries, it's already a success.
Perhaps. Europeans are no longer killing each other, but its survival is not assured. In large part, this is because the creation of the EU and eurozone has largely been a top-down exercise of the European ruling classes rather than the result of an internationalist impulse to overcome national divisions based on language at the base of European society. In this respect, it does not resemble the popular 19th century movements for national unification. Many Europeans from the beginning viewed the common market and currency union as serving the interests of the European bourgeoisie at their expense, a view which has gained much wider currency (no pun intended) since the onset of the financial crisis.