If you think back on the major international events of 2014, chances are you’ll remember the negatives first; the brutality of ISIS, the continuing war in Syria, mass kidnappings by Boko Haram, the Ebola epidemic, and Putin’s proxy war in Ukraine.
At a national level too you might remember 2014 as having been dominated by political turmoil – the Scottish referendum and the possible breakup of the U.K., the rise of UKIP, and the prospect of the UK’s exit from the EU.
2014 also, sadly, saw the death of one of Britain’s most respected politicians, someone who felt strongly that politics was definitely not making things better for people – Tony Benn.
Speaking to New Internationalist in 2010, Benn said, ‘We don’t really have democracy any more. The gap between rich and poor is wider than when I came into parliament [in 1950]… All the power is being sucked upwards.’
Over the past three decades, as power was being sucked upwards, it wasn’t just politics that was being damaged. The foundations of our democracy were also being undermined.
Our liberal democracy is made up of a system of institutions, norms and values. The main pillars of the system are the rule of law that applies equally to all regardless of wealth or power; institutions of electoral and social democracy that act in the common interest rather than in the interests of powerful elites; an economic system that generates wealth for the common good; and a culture of tolerance that protects individuals from marginalisation and discrimination.
In the current crisis, each of these pillars of liberal democracy has been undermined. Worse still, they have been undermined by elected politicians whose job it is to defend democracy.
In recent decades, politicians, both left and right, have acquiesced in rewriting laws to ensure that the reckless behaviour that led to the financial collapse was beyond the reach of the law.
Politicians, left and right, colluded with financial elites in constructing an economic system that promoted financial capitalism to the detriment of the real economy, a system designed to make the rich richer at the expense of the majority.
And politicians, left and right, constructed a political system in which marketing, spin and deceit play a greater role than either political principle or the effective delivery of public goods.
The active participation of parties of the left in dismantling the foundations of liberal democracy explains why the left is not benefiting from the widespread anger at economic inequality and austerity.
Tony Blair was the prime mover in importing techniques from the United States to replace principle with spin. Blair and Brown were both enthusiastic cheerleaders for the establishment of London as one of the leading centres in the new global financial capitalism.
The result of is that more and more people feel fearful because the foundations of our democracy have been wilfully dismantled. They are angry at, and contemptuous of, the political elites who led the destruction.
In this void, populism threatens to destroy our final defence against anarchy – the culture of tolerance that keeps the worst of our demons at bay.
Tim Wigmore, writing in a recent edition of New Statesman, describes how populist parties are reshaping the political system across Europe, from UKIP in the UK, to Podermos in Spain, the Five Star Movement in Italy, and Golden Dawn in Greece.
As Wigmore points out, there is little in terms of policy or ideology that links these disparate groups together. What does unite them is the fact that they are all tapping into the mood of powerlessness and anxiety that the crisis has created. Powerlessness and anxiety, in fact, that the traditional political elites have created. In putting a cross in the ballot box for populism, Wigmore writes, people are voting against a system they believe has betrayed them.
The correct response to this is not – as David Cameron is doing – to join the populists by ratcheting up paranoia for political gain. The correct response is to re-establish the foundations of liberal democracy and, in so doing, restore people’s sense of safety and security.
What is needed is the development of a comprehensive programme aimed at undoing much of the damage that has been done to our systems of law, politics and economics over the last thirty years.
Doing so would require a new generation of politicians with both the conviction that it must be done and the courage and ability to do it.
It is a manifesto that Tony Benn would have recognised. He warned that in the struggle against those who would exploit us, every generation has to take up the fight anew. But he also urged us to believe that the fight could be won.
‘There are two things that motivate all of us in the fight from generation to generation’ he said, ‘the flame of anger against injustice, and the flame of hope to build a better world.’
Given how far our politicians have taken us from a politics that makes societies better for people, nothing less than a radical manifesto to restore the foundations of our democracy can now prevent anger from overpowering hope.
