Anybody presenting themselves for election as President of Ireland need to be prepared to break protocol and be radical.
At least, anybody not from the Fine Gael/Fianna Fail camp. We expect them to wallow in the pomp of it all and keep out of the grubby business of what really matters to people at this time. And this is a dangerous time, folks.
The contest for the Irish Presidency has to be used as an opportunity by progressive activists to do two things.
1. To clearly define what a citizen is. To understand that it is about society - the collection of people. The responsibility that we all have to each other. Of course, that puts plenty outside of all of that. Most politicians have disavowed the concept of society - a la Thatcher. The actions of many private companies towards their workers, the environment or to pay their way in the collective raising of public finance - ie Taxation. These people are failing the citizenship test and any presidential candidate worth a damn has to use the attention generated by such a high profile campaign to play a part in stopping the erosion of gains made by ordinary people.
2. Obviously. To promote a 21st century progressive agenda not only to defend the best of what has been secured for ordinary people during the past few decades, but to play a vociferous part in showing that we want to disavow the barbarism of neo-liberalism.
There is no room for the luxury of keeping out of politics here. It is far too dangerous a situation for that. The current crisis in capital has been turned around to attack the gains made. This is much more serious than even the Thatcher period. Political parties of the progressive left cannot afford the luxury of presenting themselves as 'responsible', working within the paradigm laid out by the same reactionary forces that are supposed to be our enemies.
It's time to get thrown ut the Dail chamber once in a while. Put up with media jibes and ridicule about unworkable policies.
We don't need safe presidential candidates who look nice for the camera's. We need a rebel.
Commentary on politics, current affairs, art, music and all that makes up SOCIETY
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Rioting!
I have just come back from three weeks in England, most of which spent in London. I watched events unfold and how the media covered it all from the initial understanding of the Police shooting a man who may or may not have had a gun through to the more rabid hang em and flog em chorus that is still playing out.
What is really striking though is the complete and total divide within the ordinary working people. I spoke to quite a few people over the period and while a riot could be happening in Hackney - or more accurately, a part of Hackney - the cleintel of a pub in nearby Stratford were shouting at the TV in an echo of the tabloid commentary. Working people are divided. They are not mixing with each other let alone sharing their anger.
When stepping even slightly outside of working class London, the gulf widens further. I spoke to people living on the more affluent suberbs - decent, Liberal types - who obviously inhabit a different country.
Was all of this any different from the riots of the early eighties? That's an interesting discussion. I remember those riots too. I remember white working class pub goers 'tooling up' in case black rioters came into the area. There was division then too. The us and them, encouraged and fostered by Thatcherism, manifested itself in these divisions within the working class - the white pub goers, soon to depart the East End for the sanctuary of Basildon and Billericky, to aspire to Middle Class, leaving 'others' behind.
All of this is a manifestation of the success of Thatcher and her successors to debunk the idea of Society and have us compete against each other - a competition that has to have winners and losers, us and them, whites and blacks and not cooperation, solidarity and shared understandings. Alas, it also underlines the failure of the lef to move beyond sectarianism and navel gazing and work in a broad project to defend Society and offer a vision for the 21st century. Its an open goal. Shoot!
What is really striking though is the complete and total divide within the ordinary working people. I spoke to quite a few people over the period and while a riot could be happening in Hackney - or more accurately, a part of Hackney - the cleintel of a pub in nearby Stratford were shouting at the TV in an echo of the tabloid commentary. Working people are divided. They are not mixing with each other let alone sharing their anger.
When stepping even slightly outside of working class London, the gulf widens further. I spoke to people living on the more affluent suberbs - decent, Liberal types - who obviously inhabit a different country.
Was all of this any different from the riots of the early eighties? That's an interesting discussion. I remember those riots too. I remember white working class pub goers 'tooling up' in case black rioters came into the area. There was division then too. The us and them, encouraged and fostered by Thatcherism, manifested itself in these divisions within the working class - the white pub goers, soon to depart the East End for the sanctuary of Basildon and Billericky, to aspire to Middle Class, leaving 'others' behind.
All of this is a manifestation of the success of Thatcher and her successors to debunk the idea of Society and have us compete against each other - a competition that has to have winners and losers, us and them, whites and blacks and not cooperation, solidarity and shared understandings. Alas, it also underlines the failure of the lef to move beyond sectarianism and navel gazing and work in a broad project to defend Society and offer a vision for the 21st century. Its an open goal. Shoot!
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Don't (Just) Shoot the Messager
Remember the banking crisis? You would have thought that was the end of the good times for those financial institutions. Er, not really. Its not that the banks themselves had to try hard to change what seemed inevitable. They are laying low alright, but will play a long game. Here in Ireland, a change of government was sufficient to move the focus away from the banking crisis. That change has moved us even further away from the root of the crisis - the ideology that smooths the way for a deregulated and privatised economy.
The banks were never the real problem, per se. The banks did carry the can though. Fianna Fail and the Greens paid the party political penalty, but that is a minor side show. The political and economic system remain.
So, lets not get too exited about the erosion in influence of one media mogul. Even one as powerful and influential as Rupert Murdoch.
News International did indeed play a central role in conditioning the public on both sides of the Atlantic. Together with the Thatcher/Regan axis, it encouraged the working class to believe it was a middle class and that anybody who didn't or couldn't was a 'scrounger'. Progressive politicians and Trade Union leaders were 'Red this' or 'Red that'. All Union leaders were 'Barons'. There was simply no alternative. There was no such thing as society. The end of history was to be championed.
Was News International unique in the media? Of course not. With few notable exceptions, the media were on message. What is important, however, is that legislation was smoothed through enabling the control of large swathes of the media to the favoured press 'Baron'. In return, said Baron would tweak the conditioning in favour of politicians and/or political parties who not only fitted in to the ideological thrust, but as a bonus to the baron would ensure his business dominated and his shareholders reaped the dividend.
I am enjoying putting the boot into Murdoch as much as anyone else, but he must not just be a scapegoat here. There are other Barons. The media, like the banks may ride this out and slide their way back to the job at hand. The political ideology remains.
Unfortunately, there are far too few parliamentarians in positions of influence who could drive control of the media and the banks properly into a position where the interests of the greater number of people are served. I hope that those who are in the political institutions and in the progressive media ensure that this current manifestation of the crisis in capitalism doesn't die like the News of the World.
The banks were never the real problem, per se. The banks did carry the can though. Fianna Fail and the Greens paid the party political penalty, but that is a minor side show. The political and economic system remain.
So, lets not get too exited about the erosion in influence of one media mogul. Even one as powerful and influential as Rupert Murdoch.
News International did indeed play a central role in conditioning the public on both sides of the Atlantic. Together with the Thatcher/Regan axis, it encouraged the working class to believe it was a middle class and that anybody who didn't or couldn't was a 'scrounger'. Progressive politicians and Trade Union leaders were 'Red this' or 'Red that'. All Union leaders were 'Barons'. There was simply no alternative. There was no such thing as society. The end of history was to be championed.
Was News International unique in the media? Of course not. With few notable exceptions, the media were on message. What is important, however, is that legislation was smoothed through enabling the control of large swathes of the media to the favoured press 'Baron'. In return, said Baron would tweak the conditioning in favour of politicians and/or political parties who not only fitted in to the ideological thrust, but as a bonus to the baron would ensure his business dominated and his shareholders reaped the dividend.
I am enjoying putting the boot into Murdoch as much as anyone else, but he must not just be a scapegoat here. There are other Barons. The media, like the banks may ride this out and slide their way back to the job at hand. The political ideology remains.
Unfortunately, there are far too few parliamentarians in positions of influence who could drive control of the media and the banks properly into a position where the interests of the greater number of people are served. I hope that those who are in the political institutions and in the progressive media ensure that this current manifestation of the crisis in capitalism doesn't die like the News of the World.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
We still need to shift the paradigm.
I am coming to the conclusion that even the most progressive of political parties are stalling.
I know that there are very sound people working away at policy positions and that the left still manage to oppose the worst excesses of the continuing neo-liberal onslaught, but it seems to mean that the problem remains that we are using the current political and economic paradigm as the model to pass our deliberations on.
But that's just Realpolitik right? People out there expect us to present policy that is familiar, even if they
fundamentally disagree with it. We have to do with the reality as we find it. We didn't create it, what can we do? We can analyse using Marx or gramsci of course and that's ok, but none of this moves us away from having to deal with the socio-economic-political landscape that has come to dominate the USA and Europe.
Wrong.
It would be much more interesting and, I believe, necessary to start introducing more creativity into policy. I
have said before that if policy positions are put out there, it is not beyond the wit and wisdom of all progressive economists to figure out how to finance it.
My dad and people in his generation (the 1940's-70's) believed that the future would hold less physical work and more leisure time for the working class - for everyone. When do we ever hear anybody on the left seriously advocate less working hours. Not just a few hours here and there, but a three day week, for example. What about moving arts and leisure up as political priorities. The value of time and space - real quality of life issues. The process of offering a vision that takes us away from wage slavery, ill health, an education system focused on point scoring and not rounded learning and universally available flexible childcare and special needs support requires more than a rebuttal of current policy. It is a fundamentally a much wider project that must be advanced here if we are to avoid a continued slide into misery for the greater number of us.
None of this is in the political agenda in any serious way in my view and it needs to be introduced. A serious
debate must begin. It takes brave people to do this in the face of ridicule from some on the left as well as the
usual suspects and it is a longer term project for progressives to embark on, but the fact remains that we are not winning on the battlefield - the paradigm - that exists. We have to shift the paradigm.
I know that there are very sound people working away at policy positions and that the left still manage to oppose the worst excesses of the continuing neo-liberal onslaught, but it seems to mean that the problem remains that we are using the current political and economic paradigm as the model to pass our deliberations on.
But that's just Realpolitik right? People out there expect us to present policy that is familiar, even if they
fundamentally disagree with it. We have to do with the reality as we find it. We didn't create it, what can we do? We can analyse using Marx or gramsci of course and that's ok, but none of this moves us away from having to deal with the socio-economic-political landscape that has come to dominate the USA and Europe.
Wrong.
It would be much more interesting and, I believe, necessary to start introducing more creativity into policy. I
have said before that if policy positions are put out there, it is not beyond the wit and wisdom of all progressive economists to figure out how to finance it.
My dad and people in his generation (the 1940's-70's) believed that the future would hold less physical work and more leisure time for the working class - for everyone. When do we ever hear anybody on the left seriously advocate less working hours. Not just a few hours here and there, but a three day week, for example. What about moving arts and leisure up as political priorities. The value of time and space - real quality of life issues. The process of offering a vision that takes us away from wage slavery, ill health, an education system focused on point scoring and not rounded learning and universally available flexible childcare and special needs support requires more than a rebuttal of current policy. It is a fundamentally a much wider project that must be advanced here if we are to avoid a continued slide into misery for the greater number of us.
None of this is in the political agenda in any serious way in my view and it needs to be introduced. A serious
debate must begin. It takes brave people to do this in the face of ridicule from some on the left as well as the
usual suspects and it is a longer term project for progressives to embark on, but the fact remains that we are not winning on the battlefield - the paradigm - that exists. We have to shift the paradigm.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Society: Now There's an Idea!
Society: Now There's an Idea!: "A (friendly) challenge to progressive economists. What if an easily accessible paper was drawn up illustrating the following: What may hav..."
Now There's an Idea!
A (friendly) challenge to progressive economists.
What if an easily accessible paper was drawn up illustrating the following:
Better still if all of this can be summarised on an A4 sheet!
What do you think? Up for it?
What if an easily accessible paper was drawn up illustrating the following:
- What may have been earned for the people if the banks were nationalised when they were profitable.
- What effective and efficient public utilities could have delivered for us (in money terms) if kept in state control
- The benefits (again, in financial as well as the obvious human) that well regulated worker friendly employment regime would deliver.
- What the fallout from the pursuit of Thatcherism has cost us over the last decade or so.
- It can be done. These arguements have been well made, but as is a common fault of the left, are often over complicated and verbose.
- People must still be confused - they voted in a government pursuing the same ideological policies.
- We all need the ammunition provided in clear - dare I say simple - terms, but backed up with empirical data.
Better still if all of this can be summarised on an A4 sheet!
What do you think? Up for it?
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