I am the eternally disappointed optimist. I try to follow Gramsci's
dictum - pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will - at times I
find this goes into reverse. Four elections come along - France, Egypt,
Mexico, Greece. All matter for different reasons. The first was a
victory for the left, although the stakes were not quite as high as the
others. Still, I am happy for the French, which is rare for an Englishman.
The second marked a tragic reversal of the high hopes of the revolution of early 2011. The Egyptians who occupied Tahrir and died in their hundreds were faced with a choice of candidates that 70% did not want. Barely 20% voted. Muslim Brotherhood vs Mubarak henchman was not what the young generation who took on and defeated a dictator had in mind for the future of their country. The best candidate was knocked out in the first round.
Meanwhile, in Mexico, the election is still 10 days away but the candidate of the party that ruled for 70 years has a safe lead over his rivals. AMLO - Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador - candidate of the leftwing PRD movement, has fallen back from the high point of electoral and popular hopes in 2006, then dashed by electoral fraud. This time, his performance in debates has - according to reports - not given him the momentum he requires to beat the establishment candidates. After six years of extreme violence, Mexicans are opting for a safe pair of hands. Cynics might wonder whether launching a militaristic war on drug gangs was part of a deeper strategy to instill fear into the population so that they never again flirt with the idea of radical social change. If that was the strategy, which has been practised worldwide since 9/11, it has worked.
Then Greece. The new leftwing bloc Syriza were being held up as the party who could destroy the euro. Again, the message to the Greeks was clear, if you vote for this party, you can kiss your future goodbye. The fear tactics worked, even though nearly 28% voted for an exciting new political formation, which was something of a revolution anyway. It was born of the extremity of the punishment imposed on Greece for its debt crisis. Now it has a government that will continue a policy that has been disastrous.
So, in the end, we are in a morass, a financial crisis, one step forward (France) and probably three steps back (Greece, Egypt, Mexico). How can ordinary people make political choices within the so-called democratic system that will actually bring concrete improvements to their situation? This is the trap that has been set - vote however you want as long as it is for what we, the global elite, tell you. If you don't there will be hell to pay. One day people will stop listening to this message of fear. There are always new unexpected turns in the road that raise new possibilities. Whenever my pessimism takes hold, something usually comes along to cheer me up. As poor Syria burns, the news that a ship full of Russian helicopter gunships was turned back gave me that rare feeling that Britain could, just occasionally, do something that was unequivocally good. I hope the story does not turn out to be a piece of PR.
The second marked a tragic reversal of the high hopes of the revolution of early 2011. The Egyptians who occupied Tahrir and died in their hundreds were faced with a choice of candidates that 70% did not want. Barely 20% voted. Muslim Brotherhood vs Mubarak henchman was not what the young generation who took on and defeated a dictator had in mind for the future of their country. The best candidate was knocked out in the first round.
Meanwhile, in Mexico, the election is still 10 days away but the candidate of the party that ruled for 70 years has a safe lead over his rivals. AMLO - Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador - candidate of the leftwing PRD movement, has fallen back from the high point of electoral and popular hopes in 2006, then dashed by electoral fraud. This time, his performance in debates has - according to reports - not given him the momentum he requires to beat the establishment candidates. After six years of extreme violence, Mexicans are opting for a safe pair of hands. Cynics might wonder whether launching a militaristic war on drug gangs was part of a deeper strategy to instill fear into the population so that they never again flirt with the idea of radical social change. If that was the strategy, which has been practised worldwide since 9/11, it has worked.
Then Greece. The new leftwing bloc Syriza were being held up as the party who could destroy the euro. Again, the message to the Greeks was clear, if you vote for this party, you can kiss your future goodbye. The fear tactics worked, even though nearly 28% voted for an exciting new political formation, which was something of a revolution anyway. It was born of the extremity of the punishment imposed on Greece for its debt crisis. Now it has a government that will continue a policy that has been disastrous.
So, in the end, we are in a morass, a financial crisis, one step forward (France) and probably three steps back (Greece, Egypt, Mexico). How can ordinary people make political choices within the so-called democratic system that will actually bring concrete improvements to their situation? This is the trap that has been set - vote however you want as long as it is for what we, the global elite, tell you. If you don't there will be hell to pay. One day people will stop listening to this message of fear. There are always new unexpected turns in the road that raise new possibilities. Whenever my pessimism takes hold, something usually comes along to cheer me up. As poor Syria burns, the news that a ship full of Russian helicopter gunships was turned back gave me that rare feeling that Britain could, just occasionally, do something that was unequivocally good. I hope the story does not turn out to be a piece of PR.
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