fantastic and carefully laid out. The struggle for the left behind Brexit is welcome given the depth of delusionary thinking at the time, and even since despite the rapid ongoing collapse of the EU into an autocratic institution, vassalised to US interests. Let's hope the attempt to refashion left/socialist perspectives can free itself from the weaponised binary slogans of present identity politics as well as the ugly solutions of the right.
MAGA communism has a nice ring to it: no to mass migration, no to WHO but also nationalize Big Pharma. Pfizer gave both Biden and Trump 1.0 a million dollar for their inauguration. Pfizer sponsors large media outlets. Multinationals are undermining our democracy.
I wholly agree that for the Left to have any chance of restoring the balance we need to reinstate the independence of democratic nation states. The drift towards neoliberalism in the EU and its increasing interference in every aspect of national government has made non-compliance from members virtually impossible. Thus we have leaders who defer to intergovernmental authority and corporate power (Keir Starmer stating how he is looking forward to partnering with BlackRock being a particularly shameful example). Even though we in the U.K. supposedly quit the EU, we seem desperate to curry favour with its elite rulers, and the Left in the U.K. has essentially been eradicated. Anyone looking to vote for socialist policies in support of working people has nowhere to go. On the positive side I am delighted to see fault lines appearing everywhere as the EU appears to be fracturing and imploding. In Central and Eastern Europe especially, it looks like the people have had enough and they are going rogue. Yes, it’s a conservative reactionary upheaval- but what matters most is that they are rejecting supranational government from Brussels.
Excellent points and really spot on! I live in Hungary and talk to a lot of people about politics, the EU etc..The feeling I get is that there is a natural suspicion of anything ideologically imposed (such as identity politics) which probably has a lot to do with their past. In fact, my husband told me that what we see happening in the U.K (the recent NCHI cases and cancel culture) very much reminds him of growing up during communism. I think this memory insulates of a lot of people (at least those who grew up during communism) from ideological capture. Even younger people, those who never experienced it, are skeptical. I think the general feeling here is that they fought hard for their freedom and independence and don't want to lose it.
I don't know whether you are responding to my comment or the one before but it makes no sense to me, in relation to my comment. Did you mean decline of the left in the U.K or Eastern Europe or the world in general? I never said otherwise (to your points) I was referring only to Hungary, where yes, there was (and still is) a strong anti-communist feeling, for obvious reasons. My point was that this is why the whole woke/NCHI/cancel culture/identity politics thing doesn't appeal to many Hungarians. It reminds them of the previous regime, where a careless comment could see the police at your door.
fantastic and carefully laid out. The struggle for the left behind Brexit is welcome given the depth of delusionary thinking at the time, and even since despite the rapid ongoing collapse of the EU into an autocratic institution, vassalised to US interests. Let's hope the attempt to refashion left/socialist perspectives can free itself from the weaponised binary slogans of present identity politics as well as the ugly solutions of the right.
MAGA communism has a nice ring to it: no to mass migration, no to WHO but also nationalize Big Pharma. Pfizer gave both Biden and Trump 1.0 a million dollar for their inauguration. Pfizer sponsors large media outlets. Multinationals are undermining our democracy.
I wholly agree that for the Left to have any chance of restoring the balance we need to reinstate the independence of democratic nation states. The drift towards neoliberalism in the EU and its increasing interference in every aspect of national government has made non-compliance from members virtually impossible. Thus we have leaders who defer to intergovernmental authority and corporate power (Keir Starmer stating how he is looking forward to partnering with BlackRock being a particularly shameful example). Even though we in the U.K. supposedly quit the EU, we seem desperate to curry favour with its elite rulers, and the Left in the U.K. has essentially been eradicated. Anyone looking to vote for socialist policies in support of working people has nowhere to go. On the positive side I am delighted to see fault lines appearing everywhere as the EU appears to be fracturing and imploding. In Central and Eastern Europe especially, it looks like the people have had enough and they are going rogue. Yes, it’s a conservative reactionary upheaval- but what matters most is that they are rejecting supranational government from Brussels.
Excellent points and really spot on! I live in Hungary and talk to a lot of people about politics, the EU etc..The feeling I get is that there is a natural suspicion of anything ideologically imposed (such as identity politics) which probably has a lot to do with their past. In fact, my husband told me that what we see happening in the U.K (the recent NCHI cases and cancel culture) very much reminds him of growing up during communism. I think this memory insulates of a lot of people (at least those who grew up during communism) from ideological capture. Even younger people, those who never experienced it, are skeptical. I think the general feeling here is that they fought hard for their freedom and independence and don't want to lose it.
I find your comparison highly ironic given that the decay of the left in the 1980s and 1990s is intimately linked with a rise in anti-communism.
I don't know whether you are responding to my comment or the one before but it makes no sense to me, in relation to my comment. Did you mean decline of the left in the U.K or Eastern Europe or the world in general? I never said otherwise (to your points) I was referring only to Hungary, where yes, there was (and still is) a strong anti-communist feeling, for obvious reasons. My point was that this is why the whole woke/NCHI/cancel culture/identity politics thing doesn't appeal to many Hungarians. It reminds them of the previous regime, where a careless comment could see the police at your door.
Thomas, I found your talk courageous. I'd ask you to consider the thesis of this recent article of mine: https://www.prometheanaction.com/from-the-land-of-second-chances-a-second-chance-for-civilization/
You have a pommie accent mate