The Reinvigorated Left?
By Hamza Ali Shah
‘It’s time for the progressives of the world to unite’
That is the goal of Progressive International, the grassroots movement for global justice. Founded by American politician Bernie Sanders, and former Greek Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis, they are on a quest to thwart the meteoric rise of the right and revive the fragmented global landscape.
From Viktor Orbán in the north to Jair Bolsonaro in the south, Rodrigo Duterte in the east to Donald Trump in the west, a coalition of nationalist strongmen are cracking down on civil rights, fuelling divisions, scapegoating minorities, inflaming inequality and facilitating widespread corruption.
All achieved unopposed.
In Germany, the race to replace Angela Merkel as leader of the Christian Democratic Union is gathering pace. In France, Macron’s quest to reform the country, and indeed the continent, is facing a monumental setback, as anti-government sentiments and protests expedite. Macron and Merkel were the ones who were supposed to provide answers to the right wing, nationalist and populist surge that has flourished in recent years.
However, dreams of a Franco-German collaboration and a new European army to strengthen and re-form the foundation of Europe are evaporating promptly (https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-eu-doomsday-end-of-world-angela-merkel-emmanuel-macron-yellow-jackets/ ). Yet again, the right prevail and overcome any logistical barriers. But for how much longer will the right maintain such austere control?
Captivatingly, there seems to be a steady but robust sense of solidarity emerging from the left. This was reinforced with Corbyn’s attendance at the left wing Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s inauguration.
Correspondingly, Sanders has rallied to ‘unite people all over the world’ in a bid to impede the authoritarian rule that has become rampant.
That topic took precedence from November 29th to December 1st at the Sanders Institute inaugural conference in Burlington Vermont.
Left-leaning and progressive politicians, academicians, trade union leaders and activists from across the world attended the conference. The purpose of the gathering was to discuss solutions for global problems, such as lack of accessible healthcare, homelessness and environmental degradation. The gathering also discussed the way forward in the fight against racist and xenophobic far-right forces that are triumphing unchecked.
Importantly, it was more than just lip service that was paid. The formation of Progressive International illustrates that. The grassroots movement is a product of a marriage of convenience between Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DIEM25) and the Sanders Institute (https://diem25.org/diem25-teams-up-with-the-sanders-institute-to-launch-the-progressive-international/ ), and may provide the impetus for the left to transform the international system.
Indeed, the international system is currently one that a substantial number of the people feel disillusioned by.
In 1929, the worst economic downturn in history occurred as the stock markets crashed and sent Wall Street into panic mode, thus giving birth to the Great Depression. What followed was a decrease in consumer spending and investment, causing steep declines in industrial output and employment as failing companies laid off workers.
As a result, government revenues fell and expenditure increased, which became detrimental to the economy. In order to cure such events, the aftermath involved cutting the deficit by cutting welfare in a government bid ‘put its accounts in order’, known as austerity (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/12/crash-2008-financial-crisis-austerity-inequality ). This was the chain of events following the plight in 1929.
Oddly, history always finds a way to repeat itself. This generation’s 1929 was in 2008. Following the financial crisis, radical responses became dominant, as stringent austerity policies were imposed on ordinary people around the world. However, while simple people suffered, the banks, and bankers, were bailed out.
Therefore, whilst those who plunge the world into chaos get a free hand, those lower down feel the full brunt of their actions. Such events consolidate the sentiments that the establishment and its institutions no longer serve the ordinary people.
Resultantly, people feel betrayed by institutions that were supposed to protect them. Livelihoods and qualities of life are being threatened because institutions like The International Monetary Fund (IMF), created to help struggling governments stay solvent, morphed into the enforcer of harsh austerity upon those most vulnerable.
By the end of the century, for the people of Africa, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, the acronym IMF had become synonymous with ruinous cuts in public education, public health and social security.
Likewise, the European Union. The unsatisfactory tendencies held by citizens and leaders alike regarding the bloc derive from positive ideas that have been badly executed, such as freedom of movement, or relentless divisions regarding issues that require solving which affect the lives of many, such as the migrant crisis or the Greek crisis. This coupled with the augmenting attitude that the bloc has become a vanity exercise for politicians and their ambitions has instigated adverse attitudes.
Then there is the International Labour Organization (ILO). Established in the aftermath of the First World War, the agency brought 44 nations together in a shared commitment to improve working conditions around the world. A century later, at a time when labour is exposed to motivated precariousness and wholesale Uberisation, the ILO is more absent than ever.
Essentially, international institutions started serving the interests of the financial elite against those of the countries they were designed to represent, and have not looked back since. Such developments are a lamentable symptom of the financial capitalism currently in place, which economists suggest, serves to benefit the financial sector and the 1%, but does nothing to promote stable economic growth. (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/03/our-financial-system-only-works-for-the-1-it-will-take-another-crash-to-fix-it)
Consequently, the world order is cracking under the weight of global discontent, and the left are on a mission to cater to the general needs and provide an overhaul.
What are the proposed solutions?
Cue Progressive International’s proposals. They make a case for an IMF that would oversee an international monetary clearing union that rebalances the current gross capital and trade imbalances.
Likewise, they propose The World Bank oversee a Green New Deal in collaboration with Europe and China’s public investment banks, aided by coordinated interventions in the bond markets by our central banks.
Additionally, the ILO, in their new system, would possess the power not only to investigate countries like the United States and corporations like Amazon, but also to sanction them for suppressing unionization efforts and failing to comply with international labour standards.
Notwithstanding, the notion of an International Monetary Clearing Union is also nominated, including well-designed restrictions on capital movements. By rebalancing wages, trade and finance at a global scale, both involuntary migration and involuntary unemployment will recede, thus ending the moral panic over the human right to move freely about the world.
Furthermore, a reinvigorated United Nations, with a security council elected from a UN assembly comprising not just government appointees but also citizens from around the world, would forge binding commitments to swift ecological transition.
These proposals as part of an Internationalist New Deal would provide scope for the upending of the existing world order and introduce a system of global governance that favours neutrality and justice, as opposed to a concentration of power (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/03/our-financial-system-only-works-for-the-1-it-will-take-another-crash-to-fix-it ). Such an agenda brings working people together around a vision of shared prosperity, security and dignity for all people, as opposed to the exploiting of economic anxieties which pit groups against each other and triggers friction.
Indeed, many political commentators stipulate that the support that the right wing amassed in recent years is because at a time when faith in the establishment has waned, only the right wing populists provided alternatives.
That could all change now. With Sander’s political revolution in the US gathering pace and tangible action being taken, as Progressive International illustrates, and a Corbyn led Labour party constantly blossoming, the international arena may well be in the process of benefiting the many, and no longer just the few as wholesale changes become feasible.
