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Salma Yaqoob
© Salma Yaqoob 2008
The tide has certainly turned. For decades, ideas that were once were a reference point for social progress have been derided and marginalised. Now the neo-liberal consensus, that was certain of its own invincibility, has been swept aside by what could well be the greatest financial crisis in history. Millions can now see with their own eyes that the emperor has no clothes.
It is an opportunity, certainly, for the left to reassert a vision of a new world. Already, practical and common-sense arguments of the left are being rehabilitated: that we should be the masters of the economy rather than its servants, that the state should direct investment to meet the needs of society, and that those who are most able to pay should make the greatest contribution through their taxes.
Ironically in its own way the scale and swiftness of the bank bailout has vindicated the slogan of the global justice movement that ‘another world is possible’. It would only cost £2.7 billion to save the lives of 6 million children who die due to poverty. Yet in one week governments have come up with more than £400 billion to shore up a failing financial system. Clearly the demands of campaigners and aspirations of whole swathes of humanity are utterly achievable - if the political will is there.
The challenge ‘after New labour’ is to hold on to this truth as a sea of dangers will also need to be navigated. The casualties of the coming recession will be counted in their millions. Jobs will be lost, homes will be repossessed, poverty will grow.
Martin Luther King said that, ‘An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.’ His words remain as powerful now as they ever were. For the collapse of the old orthodoxy by no means guarantees the emergence of a new human solidarity. A wave of racism and xenophobia could easily engulf a fearful and insecure society.
Already disillusionment with the establishment has lead to an alarming rise in the far right. A critical factor in their growth has been the way large sections of the white working class have been taken for granted, their needs effectively ignored by cynical politicians fixated with ‘triangulation’. The ‘First Past the Post System’ means that all the mainstream parties compete to woo the middle class voters of a few marginal seats. The sense of abandonment and anger is easily exploited by extremists who wish to ferment racial tension. The answer is not for parties to pander to such simplistic scapegoating by competing to be the ‘toughest’ on immigration and multiculturalism, but to highlight the need for a more just re-distribution of wealth and resources.
Other significant sections of the voting population also feel the political system has failed them. It is simply too unresponsive to popular will. I regularly come across young people disillusioned with any concept of engagement in the democratic process because their experience is one in which they have seen millions participate in anti-war protests, yet be ignored by government.
Just as our financial system needs an overhaul, so too does our political system. A vigorous campaign for proportional representation could well be one platform around which the diverse groups committed to peace and social justice could unite. Time after time the British public has shown itself to be more progressive than its supposed representatives - whether on foreign policy, climate change or public services. The democratic deficit between the British public and their political institutions demands urgent attention.
Part of the Comment is free Soundings debate, first appeared 29October
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