It hardly need be said that we live in extraordinary times. It is readily apparent that we do. But, that does not mean that we do not need to talk about them.
In both the UK and the USA there are, at present, governments dedicated to the destruction of democracy. Both are seeking to undermine the right to vote. Both are seeking to use executive powers to limit the rights of elected representatives to scrutinise their actions. Neither has much regard for international law and holds other countries in contempt. Both are using patterns of political preferment to appoint inappropriate and under-qualified people to critical public positions. In the UK, at least, patterns of public procurement are appearing to be corrupted because due process does not seem to be being followed. Divisions in society are being both created and exploited. And, thankfully, there is a massive disquiet about all these things.
There is no doubt in my mind that the governments of Trump and Johnson wish to follow the pathways laid by Poland, Hungary and others by dismantling the checks and balances inherent within the proper mechanisms of a state. That is what populism seeks to do. Both are populist leaders. It is indisputable that populism is a path away from democracy, at the very least. And it is apparent that despite the conditioning of a great many people that has been part of this process, aided and abetted by media that is either sympathetic to it, or is cowed into compliance, there is considerable reluctance to accept the actions of these governments.
There is no doubt that in the US the coming election is a test of democracy itself. There can also be no doubt that yesterday's Supreme Court Appointment undermines the chances of US Democracy surviving. Capture of the legal system is, of course, a key part of the populist programme, which has progressed far too rapidly under Trump. One does just have to hope that the forecast 10% lead for Biden will turn into reality, and make any rejection of the ballot impossible to construct, because such objection would seemingly appear to be inevitable in any other circumstance.
Here, we have no chance to vote as yet. But the mechanisms for protest have to be made ready. Plates on Tory MPs office doorsteps are powerful metaphors. Preparations for elections for mayors, local councils and devolved governments next May must be made - and ways to encourage turnout thought about. These elections may provide a vital chance to express dissent, and to reinforce the demand for real change - including breaking the Union if need be.
But most of all, day in and day out there must be active expression of opposition. I would always urge that it be peaceful. It needs to respect Covid. But it also has to be heard.
Social media has fed populism, without a doubt. It us why I use it to oppose it. That makes sense. The amplification of opposition is an essential part of this process of refusing to accept what is happening.
Constructing alternative narratives is key. We live by the stories that we tell ourselves and each other.
A refusal to watch what we value be undermined seems to me to be absolutely essential right now.
And it can be done. There is no one without some sort of platform now. I suggest we use them, each in our own way. Without a fight for what we value the priorities of the populists will dominate our society, at cost to the most vulnerable at first, but with ever growing threats to others as time goes on.
If we want to live in world of our choosing we have to fight for it now. Because the populists are not going to give up, however much hardship they impose.
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No doubt you saw the report on the research by the group at Gothenburg university (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/26/republican-party-autocratic-hungary-turkey-study-trump) that unambiguosly demonstrates that the US Republican Party has moved fairly rapidly over the past ten years (and particularly since 2014) down the path to authoritarianism previously taken by populist parties in Hungary, Turkey and India.
The research also shows the UK Tory party on the same trajectory, but currently some way behind, although I’d expect that to change dramatically over the term of this parliament.
Chris Hayes on his MSNBC show last night gave a passionate summary of the state of US democracy after Amy Coney Barret was confirmed to the US Supreme Court yesterday. It’s a study in controlled anger of the type that many of us in this country will feel before long – if we don’t already. What a great pity – and grave disservice to our democracy – that we’ve no current affairs presenters on TV in this country that ever muster such anger. Then again. look at the fate of C4 News: blacklisted by Cummings and Co for having the temerity to ask even half searching questions of government (on a par with Trumps meltdown at being asked ‘tough’ questions by Lesley Stahl in her 60 minutes interview. Spoiler: they were’t tough at all).
Anyway, here’s the Chris Hayes segment. Watch it and weep:
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-corrupt-bargain-chris-hayes-says-gop-traded-100-000-lives-for-supreme-court-justice-94721605595
Thanks Ivan
And agreed – good clip
I believe this goes deeper than populism, what we have is elitism. Division in society is vertical not horizontal. I don’t see a left or right anymore. I just see a ruling elite. You are either part of that elite or you or not. Most of us are not. You are either high enough to be an “above the liner “or else you are a “below the liner”. Whoever is in power nothing seems to change.
I read Yanis Varoufakis’ book “Adults In The Room: My Battle With Europe’s Deep Establishment” which gives a good insight into exactly this issue. Before he took the position as finance minister in Greece he had a private meeting with Democrat financial advisor, World Bank chief economist and and once US Secretary of the Treasury . Someone you would definitely put in the “above the line” bracket. Varoufakis wanted some advice before he took on the role as Greek finance minister and this is the advice he got.
Whilst personally sympathetic to Greece’s plight and in agreement with the kind of solutions Varoufakis had proposed Summers had a warning. He explained that when you become a member of this elite club their are certain unwritten rules to observe. Most importantly you have to decide which type of actor you want to be within this elite club. One can either join the established order and “not rock the boat” or you can attempt to be an independent actor and try to rock the boat, but that will come at the cost of being excluded or rounded upon. Not rocking the boat meant never criticising other members of the elite openly, even of you disagreed with them. Varoufakis says he instantly knew which type of actor he was going to be.
This proved to be the running theme in his book, as he took on the powers that run the EU,though it could equally well apply to any current global power. The theme generally was that in one to one meetings with senior national financial ministers and senior EU officials ,he usually had a sympathetic hearing and agreement with what he was trying to do. However when in any official meeting, like the the Council ministers or EU Eurogroup meetings these same faces would universally reverse opinions and turn against his ideas. There was strong whipping of views from certain sources,…usually led by the hawks in the EU….led overall by the German finance minister Shauble. Who seemed to spread fear wherever he appeared.
The end result was inevitable. Greece’s leader surrendered all resistance and sacked the very man he looked to for clear financial advice. So the “rocker of boats” Varoufakis was removed at the behest of the EU and returned to his old day job as a lecturer in economics.
How do we break this culture?
I agree that localism/devolution is the only way to do it. To break up this centralised, powerful elite that rule over us. To the point most have given up on believing they can change anything, and the generally held view that whoever you vote, for nothing really changes. As Winston Churchill once said if voting changed anything they would stop you doing it. It certainly did not help the Greeks.
A study in 2014 by Gilens & Page (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B) concluded that there is strong evidence “that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. The results provide substantial support for theories of Economic-Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism.”
When we look at some of the “influencers”, such as well known think-tanks, and read a list of their funders (or wonder why they don’t list them) it’s clear that big money, such as Koch, is calling the shots. Some of them are little more than propaganda organs for corporate and oligarchic interests.
Our voting system is designed to maintain government by elites and little will change until that is changed. But even PR doesn’t mean we will get decent elected politicians working for the benefit of all citizens, as the way the baleful Schauble demonstrated by insisting on disastrous budget cuts for the indebted nations in the Eurozone.
Until citizens demand a say through ideas like participative democracy and a reduction in the power of the clique of “professional politicians” things will carry on much as at present where the “needs” of the rich are satisfied at the expense of everyone else.
Agreed,
There is a website called Corporate Europe Observatory
https://corporateeurope.org/en/2020/05/corona-lobby-watch
One of their past revelations was FOI request on corporate lobbying of EU Commissioners and regulators. The Commissioner for financial stability had his diary examined and revealed 80 % of his meetings were with banks. Only 20 % with consumer groups and other civil society organisations. It is no surprise that the regulations then are thus made overwhelmingly in favour of the banks.
The bank lobby sector employs about 1700 lobbyists in Brussels outnumbering at the EU’s regulator staff by 4 to 1.
https://corporateeurope.org/en/pressreleases/2014/04/financial-industry-employs-1700-lobbyists-and-spends-120-million-year
I have no doubt the same can be said in the UK, with the City being very powerful lobbyists here as well as Wall St in the USA..
There is also the revolving door circuit where bankers get jobs in the government and vice versa. Sometimes switching back and forth several times. All of our last Chancellors have worked or are currently working for finance companies. I even read about a pocket of Goldman Sachs employees working at the Treasury so the two sides could get “to better understand ” one another.
There is one constituent in Totnes who in writing this open letter, demonstrates that he is on the case:
https://westcountrybylines.co.uk/brexit-and-fascism-heed-the-warning-signs-while-you-still-can-mr-mangnall-a-constituent-writes-to-his-mp/
Both the UK and US are in the category of “Deficient Democracies” because the reasons for democracy and the necessary monetary system to support it are not taught in schools. Both countries have fallen asleep and allowed corrupt and/or ignorant politicians to infiltrate their democracies.
Apologies for the ommission,I would like to add that the individual Varoufakis met was none other than Larry Summers…
I’m speaking as a long-time and very committed member of the SNP–so this argument doesn’t touch me as much as it might others. But what I think England needs is a sudden, radical revamp of the Labour Party.
Right now, its teeth are pretty much blunted. The notion that reform or change of any significant size will happen when voters only have a choice between Tories and ToryLites, or third parties with hardly any clout or hope of winning seats, needs to be abandoned. The quickest way to effect reform within the next four years, I reckon, is for change-minded people to flock to joining the Labour Party. Don’t just vote Labour, JOIN Labour. Do it now. Vote within the party for reform of policies. Get selected as candidates. Then dig in and get the ship turned around.
Forget about starting up third parties, and taking the time to get a new party off the ground, etc. Until you get proportional representation, this is only a way to split anti-Tory votes.
Instead, swell the existing Labour Party’s ranks with people who are NOT neo-liberals. People who recognise that ‘working people’ are not working the same way they did back in Labour’s heyday, and that a huge proportion of England’s people are falling through the widening economic cracks. People who recognise that public services are being sold off to the private sector, and want to either retain them or regain them back into public hands. People who recognise that it’s going to take more than a few sad crumbs to get England back on its feet again, and working for everybody–not just the so-called 1%. People who understand that Modern Monetary Theory is actually a reality, not a theory at all. It’s a reality that will work to boost people out of unemployment and poverty if it’s used to benefit ordinary citizens, not the upper crust–as it’s being used now.
Take a leaf out of David Lammy’s book. Put fire back into the belly of the Labour Party. Stand for something positive, not just ‘well, we’re not quite as bad as the Tories, are we.’ And stop rubber-stamping Tory policies by either directly voting for them, abstaining from voting when things get controversial, or shilly shallying and hair splitting when an issue comes up for debate.
Take a leaf out of Bernie Sanders’s book. He’s been directing energy toward what are now called Berniecrats. These are Democratic Party members who support Bernie’s point of view and are already taking seats from traditional Dem candidates. He’s encouraging people to join up, to run for office at all levels of government. He’s correct, in that real change won’t come from the top down, especially if the opponents of change are also at the top. It will come from below, as citizens reclaim their party and their government by sheer numbers, will power, and talent. However, this has to start happening NOW, or it’s not going to work.
Imagine if the Labour Party’s membership doubled or tripled overnight (which it could do, if people simply joined up today.) A disgruntled and very vocal new membership would put the frighteners not only on the Tories, but also on the Labour leadership which has sadly been lacking in efficient punch over the past wee while. It would signal change. And change is certainly what England needs.
We tried that. We voted in Corbyn, and look what happened. Everyone turned against him. It was a massacre.
I salute Jan’s brilliantly cynical sense of humour….or perhaps Jan has only just woken from 5 years asleep?