Collapse of Anglo-US model highlight of 2016
- By Heiko Khoo
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E-mail China.org.cn, January 5, 2017
It was a dramatic year in world politics. After a long period of slowly-accumulating social and economic contradictions, a new and tumultuous era has opened up, heralding a time of sudden transformations, social and cultural upheavals, and ideological flux.
In June 2016, the British people voted to leave the European Union, thus reversing the trend towards globalization. Similarly, the election of Donald Trump as U.S. President signals the end of American-backed multilateralism. In consequence, the Anglo-U.S. model of Neoliberal Capitalism is dead.
Such developments hide a broader and deeper malaise affecting world capitalism. In order to balance the books and restore "economic credibility" many countries adopted draconian austerity measures following the Great Recession of 2008-9.
In the advanced capitalist countries of Europe and the United States, overall living standards have fallen. Many poor and middle-income countries experienced catastrophic social consequences.
This is leading to a revolt at the ballot box, against what is often called "the political class" or "the establishment."
It also exposes the falseness in four long-promoted "commonsense" myths: that enriching the few eventually benefits the many; that countries will increasingly integrate and collaborate; that wealthy capitalist democracies assist poor countries to develop; and that these same wealthy countries are international guarantors of peace, justice and human rights.
Firstly, even in the wealthiest countries economic inequality has assumed grotesque proportions.
Secondly, the BREXIT vote, the EU migration crisis, and Donald Trump's anti-migrant rhetoric all reveal that the four-decade process of global integration is ending and a process of disintegration is taking hold.
The third myth is negated by the fact that global development over the last 65 years, has seen only 13 countries grew fast enough to make it into the high-income club of nations.
And the fourth myth has been shattered by the wars in the Middle East and North Africa, and the growth of the surveillance state.
Best-case scenarios for the world's leading economies predict sluggish growth in 2017. Therefore, the anger and discontent witnessed in 2016 will continue to exert social pressure on the existing order.
In the capitalist democracies, challenges to the ruling class is opening the way for all manner of peculiar creatures to have their moment in the spotlight.
For now, it is the right-wing that is on the ascendancy. With its nationalist appeal, it reawakens nostalgia for "tradition" and defending national, racial and religious identity as prevailed in the "good old days." The right-wing psychologically emboldened many of those who lost their bearings when economic prospects worsened.
Middle class grievances, a feeling of being cheated by the rich and powerful, coagulates into potent ideological concoctions combining prejudice and ignorance with arrogant assertions of power.
Around this core support base, a wider public is won over by conservative slogans and buzzwords. They function as if they are specifically designed to excite nationalist, xenophobic, racial, religious or sexual conflicts.
One thing is certain, none of the central problems in society will be resolved by the solutions proposed by the present rulers of Europe or the U.S. And this is because of the structural foundations of the system.
Politics is like a theatrical performance whose function, at root, is to help the biggest companies maximize their profits. Control over the political script and the performance on stage is normally guaranteed.
Deeply entrenched economic interests dominate politics. In this system - no matter what shade of government is in power - the interests of the largest privately-owned profit-seeking companies, shape the contours of the world's economy.
Private profit is the central driving force of this type of society. Indeed, despite popular perceptions, Donald Trump did not win the U.S. Presidency by means of astute buffoonery, or because of his rhetoric against migrants and the political and economic establishment. He won because billions (in dollar terms) stand behind him!
Now, his chosen cabinet of billionaire courtiers suggests a period of direct capitalist control of the government. This is a dangerous game to play. It risks exposing the assiduously concealed reality of the symbiotic relationship between political power and big business. Consequently, challenges to the system as a whole are more likely.
The present wave of reactionary politics, which aims to restore tradition, contain migration, revive national pride, and promote religious morality and sexual conservatism, will continue to make advances.
However, the working classes are not simply passive observers. Their interests are not aligned with "traditional values" but are universal and international and comprise a real alternative to the present reactionary political tide.
A hundred years after the Russian revolution established the first Marxist government in 1917, the ideas of socialism are finding a receptive audience in the U.S. This explains why Senator Bernie Sanders' socialist slogans in the U.S. presidential campaign found such an echo among the poor, the workers and the youth.
The current turn to mystical and reactionary politics will fail to deliver prosperity; so more concrete visions of socialist change will emerge out of popular discontent and generate mass support for much deeper revolutionary change.
Heiko Khoo is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:
http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/heikokhoo.htm
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
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