I think that Robert Reich made an essential point in his daily email on Friday. He was discussing the Trump regime's abandonment of the idea that climate change causes environmental harm, which is, of course, a threat to us all worldwide. What he said was this:
We cannot deal with the climate crisis unless our democracy is strengthened to reflect the will of the people rather than the profits of giant corporations.
Democracy and the environment are not two separate issues, of which we must choose one. They are in many respects the same. But democracy is the foundation for all else. If we lose it — as we are in the process of doing — we can't do anything, because there's no “we.”
His point was to say that tackling the climate crisis is not more important than preserving democracy. That is wrong because unless we have a voice, we have no way of influencing debate, and what we undoubtedly know is that, amongst the many heinous things that Trump is doing, threatening democracy is high on the list.
My inclination is to agree with Robert Reich on this issue. I can think of many things that are of great importance to me, with the environment being one of particular significance. However, unless we preserve our right to influence the future, we have no chance of tackling that issue.
At present, Labour is going to put forward a plan for electoral reform in the UK which will make almost no reference to the need for proportional representation in this country, which is something that is absolutely essential if we are to keep fascists out of office in Westminster.
Nonetheless, we have to work in the hope that we can stop the destruction of democracy, saying which, the fact that Labour is not doing its utmost to achieve that is, in my opinion, one of the greatest of its sins.
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Even if PR opens up a straight Left v Right choice for everyone, look at Brexit and Trump lol…also on environment/climate change stuff – this is where the money creation side of things is really important – most of these annual COP meetings (since 1995!) are bickering about finances
Debate about PR in parliament in January.
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2025-01-30/debates/9F04313C-988A-49F6-92A2-D56225466C08/ProportionalRepresentationGeneralElections
Rushanara Ali said that the government has no thought of changing the system in a speech at 2.44pm.
In fact Labour will indeed sin against democracy – its effort to create ‘combined authorities’ is nothing more than keeping old dead Nicholas Ridley alive and kicking.
This means that these ‘mega-councils’ will assume responsibility for larger areas – essentially looking after more people – and are already over stretched as they are. The logic of making these authorities bigger and some how getting some economies of scale is pure bull and management dogma.
How are local authorities being managed now – by Westminster and locally? Like the generals in the first world war managed – as far away from the frontline as possible with no idea about the conditions they preside over and using AI to control demand. That is happening right now I bet in your town and local area. I can get up to three calls a week from CT payers wanting a service and whom are trying to talk to a real person and getting around AI meet and greet functions.
Laissez-faire is back.
I haven’t read the article but ‘the will of the people’ always sends a shudder down my spine. Yes I do think that ultimately people are generous and altruistic but I think the population at large has been so manipulated that the ‘we’ are incapable of making informed, rational and non biased decisions. To be honest, I fear where democracy as is had lead us and will lead us if not revisited. PR would at least temper the extremes that are inherent within our current system but I worry and personally cannot see how the ‘we’, ‘can take back control’ of a democracy that has been stolen by the big tech, big oil etc and the owners of the media. I do however still have hope!
Except, I meet so many decent people. Not always, but often. So, I have hope. Oddly, I note Robert Reich is on the same theme today.
Thank you. An inspiring read and I’ve signed up to his daily newsletter. Like him, some days I do despair but as he so rightly points out “there are sources of hope all around us. Find them. Cling to them. Never give up”.
Correct. I pay to get his weekly podcast.
George Monbiot and Peter Hutchinson in the Invisible Doctrine make a strong case that democracy is essential to tackle neoliberal doctrine if we are going to address climate change (and create a fairer society that doesn’t drive-up (as opposed to trickle down) wealth to the already wealthy. They emphasise the conspiracy fictions that support and drive neoliberalism, the need for a counter narrative and touch on effectively citizens assemblies / councils, etc.
Depressingly, I decided to look at the current list of petitions raised for consideration by the government. Proportional Representation hardly featured, stopping MPs / political parties from receiving donations likewise and preventing Wes Streeting from destroying the NHS (what most people in the UK consider to be one of our greatest assets) didn’t really feature. However, there were many – fortunately disjointed – petitions about stopping immigrants and similar diatribes. Maybe we should promote an organised petition?
It is clear democracy is massively under threat in the US. The UK is following. Labour have no interest in PR – presumably because they are so disconnected from the people that they think they have a chance of retaining power in the next general election or because they expect to ‘cash-in’ then. It is clear Labour have no interest in any reform to voting. We need to counter the neoliberal narrative. We need to increase citizen assemblies. We need to create and promote a narrative that puts the many ahead of the few. Because Labour are not doing so and clearly – despite their claim to be looking after workers – they have no intention of doing so.
The only way I can see representative democracy working as advertised is if we place MPs in a panopticon for the duration of their term, but perhaps I am being pessimistic.
Placing MPs under the same restrictions as civil servants in respect of personal donations is clearly essential and combined with a ban on private funding of political parties and a switch to PR might actually serve to get this broken train back on the rails.
Yes indeed. And the under reported tax-haven Freeports/SEZ’s straddling large parts of the country – where the rule of law seems to be explicitly ruled out – undermining democracy still further.
This man, European Powell has been following the shameful stories behind and reporting on free zones for some time. Sorry if this link doesn’t work directly, check him out on Substack. My fear is that the hidden agenda is that they will ultimately replace local government, strengthening dictatorships at local and National level. It’s not something talked about enough in the public domain. Richard, any thoughts on this topic?
Substacktimehttps://open.substack.com/pub/europeanpowell/p/uk-free-zones-the-most-under-reported?r=55gebs&utm_medium=ios
I feel this dramatically overstates things. There is no evidence of this as yet, and in the past they have fizzled out in the U.K.
Teesside is such a muddle. Nobody knows which parts of it are the freeport or Teesworks or the Tees Valley Association. All have been run by Ben Houchen, tory MP now Lord Houchen. When he had to give up being chair of three associations, he chose the people replacing him, so there is now an inquiry into that. So many inquiries I would be surprised if he turned up with the right papers at any of them.
Gove thought the freeport was going really well, but Houchen is a friend of his, and he doesn’t live there.
https://northeastbylines.co.uk/business/economy/teesside-tops-freeports-investment-and-jobs-tables/
A central tenet of Class War is to destroy democracy. By instinct Keir Starmer identifies with the elite hence his £107,000 worth of Freebies! Farage is no different.
I fear that the slow motion train wreck we are witnessing in the UK and around the world has so much invested in it, and the politicians and msm and gatekeepers of many kinds are bought and paid for are singing the same tune, that the powers-that-be would prefer to bring us to various calamities and disasters and to the very door of full scale war than step back. I’ve noticed in the press a few token things ‘free TV licences for all over 60’ and a few other largely inconsequential things that are just tiny tweaks. It’s not enough!
I think so many people are sick and tired of the blatant greed and corruption of all those with wealth and power that we want root and branch reform. Now if those people im charge, who I know very well watch this site and all these sites like hawks, double down, the suffering, the grief, the pain and the deaths will continue and multiply. They or some of them have a choice and a chance to repent of the grossly unfair and immoral political, social and economic system and make it much fairer. Sooner or later things will change now. But the longer Starmer, the political system in general and those that back it refuse to undo the maliciousness behind it all and the rampant economic injustice underpinning it all, the worse I think it will be when it comes to a head.
My hopes are truly that things will get noticeably better, my gut instinct tells me the whole bunch of them will continue to not read the room and the writing on the wall and drag millions into even more austerity, suffering and possibly war.
A great example of how our government have abandoned democracy is the online safety act. No public consultation, no parliamentary involvement. The legislation is completely designed and implemented by the Carnegie institute. It is harmful, unwanted, and useless, and Labour refuse to listen to the public’s objections. Their discourse on the subject is beyond hamfisted, saying Farage is on Jimmy Saville’s side for objecting to it. I’m sure someone in Labour thought that was clever, but it’s pathetic, and doesn’t even address the matter in hand. They are doomed, and so is our political system. It’s just a matter of waiting to see if the revolution will come from the Left or the Right, and my money is on the Right, as that is where the wealthy will funnel their money.
I’ll suggest two other possible scenarios:
1) Ecofascism: continued democratic deficit leading to fascist government, which then does react (finally) as the impacts of climate change and ecological overshoot start to take effect (extreme weather events, droughts/floods, food supply issues and rationing…). But implemented, of course, for the benefit of elites and corporations. Too late for mitigation, it’s simply about adaptation and survival.
2) Restored democracy, but with an uneducated (indeed, miseducated, deceived…) electorate: which therefore leads to continued inaction on our disastrous climate and ecological trajectory, since “the will of the people” holds sway and continues kicking the can(s) down the road onto future generations.
I recall, I think, J K Galbraith (Snr) saying that the electorate votes for minimum pain. So until and unless their perception of the pain they’ll imminently suffer, or their children will soon suffer, is raised above the level of the short-term pains of transition, this could be the democratic outcome.
I hope I’m wrong, but the level of general ignorance or willful inattention and inaction on personal lifestyles and consumption that I observe, even amongst ‘liberal’ or ‘socially concerned’ friends and neighbours, does not encourage me.
Thank you.
A fair contribution.
Democracy for many on the right if it means the mass of people deciding matters feels to them like dictatorship.
What the Labour elite offered in 1945 was a power sharing arrangement with the working classes and its institutions.
The old cohesive mostly white working classes have gone along with many of their institutions.
The new mass of working classes are fractured in various ways and there is simply no need to offer any new power sharing deal.
So the elites can battle for power amongst themselves. Those who want more power for working people will have to forge more cohesion first through new institutions that look like they have real leverage with most ordinary people.
Then the elites will sit up take notice and offer a deal for eg PR.
Any deal offered will be the minimum they can get away with.
The new working classes led by new institutions will constantly need to ensure they have the right protections in place to safeguard themselves.
The Thatcher/Blair experiences show you can’t afford to trust MPs or indeed democratic institutions.
Those new institutions are not trade unions. And they are not Methodist congregations. So what are they? Social media communities?
The ‘Assemble’ activists would say they’ll be local people’s assemblies, perhaps.
But as you’ve pointed out, they’re problematic and many participatory organisations or events tend to have ‘entryists’ or those who have the time (leisure) and inclination to get regularly involved.
That was equally an issue with unions, of course: factions dragging out meetings until many attendees were fed up and left; and then bringing forward the real issues or motions they wanted passed.
Maybe more (robust, hacking-proof, id-verifying…) online forums and debates and decision-making?
Richard,
I wish I knew. Community groups are many as we know but rarely political in the sense we would understand if the comparator is something like a citizen assembly or local labour party meeting.
Perhaps social media groups, influencers are part of the answer to new institutions. This blog group is a possible example.
It is creating leverage locally and then nationally or perhaps the other way round that needs a new Left political organisation one where the economic views are for the many alongside the socially conservative outlook that older people often embrace but with a more liberal outlook younger people often have.
No easy task but I can’t see any of the major parties becoming this new Left to coin a phrase.
Tomorrow night at 8pm Crispin Flintoff is running a webinar about the meeting he is at tonight in Rotherham to discuss Your Party. Perhaps we will find out then what it is about.
Catchment Stewardship ‘plus’ . . . . beyond Cunliffe (neoliberalism)
‘revolutionary goals in evolutionary steps’.
We have a proposal on the Tyne River to pilot (river) Catchment Stewardship ‘plus’ with the CWSO Model (Prof. Dieter Helm) & The Preston Model – community wealth building for people and nature, liberating climate adaptation https://tinyurl.com/4wn6vzp8
This will provide a template for your catchment 🙂