The last post conveyed the World View (WV) I had developed by 2014 – but warned that I was becoming more radical in my old age. Almost a decade later, this is a better (and more detailed) outline of my WV. The “mixed economy” which existed from 1950-1990 was a healthy and effective system for us in the West
It worked because power was diffused. Each type of power – economic
(companies/banks etc), political (citizens and workers) and legal/admin/military
(the state) – balanced the other. None was dominant.Deindustrialisation and economic globalisation have undermined the power
Privatisation has been a disaster – inflicting costs on the public and transferring
wealth to the few
Neo-liberalism has supplied a thought system which justifies corporate greed
and the privileging (through tax breaks and favourable legislation) of the large
international companyAll political parties and most media have been captured by that thought
system which now rules the world
People have, as a result, become cynical and apathetic
Two elements of the “balanced system” (Political and legal power) are therefore
now supine before the third (corporate and media power). The balance is broken
and the dominant power ruthless in its exploitation of its new freedomIt is very difficult to see a “countervailing power” which would make
these corporate elites pull back from the disasters they are inflicting on us
Social protest is marginalised
Not least by the combination of the media and an Orwellian “security state”
ready to act against “dissidence”
But the beliefs which lie at the dark heart of the neo-liberal project do
need more detailed exposure
as well as its continued efforts to undermine what little is left of state power
We need to be willing to express more vehemently the arguments against
privatisation - existing and proposed
to feel less ashamed about arguing for “the commons” and for things like
cooperatives and social enterprise (inasmuch as such endeavours are allowed)
In summer 2021 – with the Covid pandemic still raging – I made an attempt
to update that statement by adding that we have consistently underestimated the significance of global warming and what is now called the anthropogenic era – indeed there is now open talk of “facing extinction”Globalisation is in shreds
Societies are polarised
Thrust into narrow and selfish “bubbles”
Artificial intelligence threatens what we used to refer to as “employment
prospects”
How, in such conditions, might social forces come together with a programme
which stands a good chance of reforming the political and state systems of power
- so that the wings of corporate power can be properly clipped?? And make no mistake – power is the central issue here. At the heart of our
collective malaise is the imbalance of power. We quantify everything these days
– talking for example of the 8 men who control half the planet’s wealth. But
somehow this fails to galvanise any sort of collective action – reference to
gini-coefficients leaves glazed eyes. The manifestos of political parties are
characterised by total irrelevance. Totally missing are the commitments to
change the power structure eg
Break up monopolies
Tax the rich – who currently hide in tax havens
Reinstate media balance (including a requirement for interviewees to
reveal their sources of income)
Develop Citizen juries
Stop money talking
Ensure that civil service advice is neutral
And why are such commitments missing? Because those in charge of political
parties know they would then be the subject of highly aggressive attacks by
journalists and academics in the pay of corporate power. We can no longer rely
on political parties to be agents of change - we seem to be on our own I’ve been trying to gather together some key books to skim for my conclusion
and felt that Jeremy Gilbert’s Common Ground – democracy and collectivity in
an age of individualism (2013) was one of the important texts whose very title
recognises the basic problem we face.
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