EUROPE: THE WORLD FINANCIAL CRISIS AND THE DECLINE OF THE LEFT

By Mario Soares and - - Reprint | | Print |

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LISBON, Jan 1 2008 (IPS) - The neo-liberal system is broken. Capitalism must be moved past this phase of speculation and \”casino economy\” to a form of ethical capitalism that respects the environment and the concerns of society, writes Mario Soares, ex-president and ex-prime minister of Portugal. In this article, Soares calls for a reclaiming of the ethics which were always the hallmark of the left. Civic participation must be increased to counter the weakness of the state, bolster social justice, and oppose the commercialisation of society, corruption, and influence peddling. The activists must resume the fight for peace and the peaceful resolution of conflicts, for social integration, and against inequality and environmental degradation. Most clearly put, the present crisis, which has discredited politics as a whole, was caused by the dealings of economic pressure groups, the immorality of the banking and business elite, and influence peddling by political leaders -in short, by the promiscuous intermingling of politics and business. The conclusion to be drawn in inescapable: the system is corrupt and must be changed, This is the great task facing the European left.

In the face of this catastrophe, the same financiers who just a few months ago were calling for less state involvement and more privatisation are now shamelessly begging the government for a bailout with taxpayer funds. So it goes: profits are privatised and losses are socialised, without concern for the damage done to stock holders or the consequences for those who are less well off.

What is clear is that the neo-liberal system is broken. Capitalism has to be rethought. It must be moved past this phase of speculation, past the “casino economy”, to a form of ethical capitalism that respects the environment and the concerns of society.

Such a change is not only possible but necessary. As Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz wrote, “The political leaders of the West have to summon the courage to make a turn towards the left.”

In the United States, the left has never counted for much, with the brief exceptions of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal and President John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier. Yet the Democratic Party has always maintained clear differences from the ultraconservative Republican Party – though it is worth pointing out that the first warning about the “military industrial complex”, reborn with new vigour during the Bush presidency, was President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a Republican.

The thinking of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, though he is not a politician of the left, is very different from the religious-political ultraconservatism of his Republican rival John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin.

In Europe, the left was dominant in the 1970s and 80s led by high-calibre politicians like Willy Brandt, Francois Mitterrand, Helmut Schmidt, James Callaghan, Olaf Palme, Bruno Kreisky, Felipe Gonzalez, Pietro Nenni,and Bettino Craxi. Then after the fall of communism it began to lose ground and allowed itself to be “colonised” by the neo-liberal thought of Tony Blair and Gerhard Schroeder, who preached a so-called “Third Way”, now discredited. What are the causes of the current weakness of the left in Europe? What must be done to revive and update its thinking so that it can address the multiple crises the world now faces?

A glance at the situation of the left in the major countries of Europe -Germany’s Social Democratic Party, Labour Party in the United Kingdom, France’s Socialist Party, or Italy’s Democratic Party, to name the major players- reveals a decline commonly found among the parties that are of democratic socialist inspiration and belong to the Socialist International, now almost completely silent.

It is true there is another, minority left comprised of the remnants of the communist parties and the anti-globalisation groups. This left is largely a protest movement and has not found a way to win power.

On the other hand, we should not overlook the very important role played by the labour unions, which are undoubtedly powerful in their sphere, and by human rights and environmental organisations, which have considerable social influence but little effect on elections.

In this regard, the socialdemocratic left should consider two things: how to address the current economic crisis, and how to conceive of another social, political, economic model that could deepen democracy and bring about greater civic participation of citizens.

What is needed is a reclaiming of the ethics which were always the hallmark of the left. Civic participation must be increased to counter the weakness of the state, bolster social justice, and oppose the commercialisation of society, corruption, and influence peddling. The activists of the left must resume the fight for peace and the peaceful resolution of conflicts, for social integration, and against inequality and environmental degradation. Moreover, the men and women of the left who work in government or partisan politics have an obligation to avoid conflicts of interest and operate with transparency.

Most clearly put, the present crisis, which has discredited politics as a whole, was caused by the dealings of economic pressure groups, the immorality of the banking and business elite, and influence peddling by political leaders – in short, by the promiscuous intermingling of politics and business.

The conclusion to be drawn in inescapable: the system is corrupt and must be changed, This is the great task facing the European left.(END/COPYRIGHT IPS)