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The West Votes For A Better Yesterday
By Roberto Savio
Source: Other News
November 2, 2015
The last elections of Switzerland and Poland, are good indicators of what will happen elsewhere in Europe, with an irresistible growing wave of refugees.
.........The first, is that the present system of international relations and national governance is not functioning any longer. We are in a period of transition, but nobody knows to where. The left is without a manifesto, and the right is just riding the status quo.
The second, is that we are in a “ new economy”, based on the supremacy of finance over man’s production. Unelected officials, like governors of central banks, have increasingly more power than before.
This “new economy” considers precarious jobs as natural, social inequality as a legitimate reality, the market as the sole basis for societal development, and the state as inefficient and a brake to the private sector.
The second, is that we are in a “ new economy”, based on the supremacy of finance over man’s production. Unelected officials, like governors of central banks, have increasingly more power than before.
This “new economy” considers precarious jobs as natural, social inequality as a legitimate reality, the market as the sole basis for societal development, and the state as inefficient and a brake to the private sector.
It is worth of remembering that until the financial crisis of 2007, xenophobic and rightwing parties were marginal political entities in almost all of Europe.
In a short time, they have become important players all over Europe, even in countries known for their civic sense and tolerance, like Nederland and the Nordic Countries.
It is puzzling to see workers and low income people voting for the National Front in France, in Cinquestelle in Italy, or UKIP in Great Britain, and now Peace and Justice in Poland.
What bring them to a xenophobic, right wing and antieurope party, is the dream to go back to a secure and orderly past. They do not want to vote for an uncertain future: they find more reassuring to vote for a time in which politics were national, there was not a faceless bureaucracy in Bruxelles dictating how to pack tomatoes , and a super national currency, the euro, maneuvered by unelected powerful bankers in the BCE in Frankfurt, with an hegemonic Germany dictating other countries.
It is also worth remembering that a large part of European citizens has yet to recover the quality of life it has before 2007. And that young people pay a disproportionate cost for a crisis originated by the finance, which has received for rescue much more money that any policy for employment, or for social recovery.
In a short time, they have become important players all over Europe, even in countries known for their civic sense and tolerance, like Nederland and the Nordic Countries.
It is puzzling to see workers and low income people voting for the National Front in France, in Cinquestelle in Italy, or UKIP in Great Britain, and now Peace and Justice in Poland.
What bring them to a xenophobic, right wing and antieurope party, is the dream to go back to a secure and orderly past. They do not want to vote for an uncertain future: they find more reassuring to vote for a time in which politics were national, there was not a faceless bureaucracy in Bruxelles dictating how to pack tomatoes , and a super national currency, the euro, maneuvered by unelected powerful bankers in the BCE in Frankfurt, with an hegemonic Germany dictating other countries.
It is also worth remembering that a large part of European citizens has yet to recover the quality of life it has before 2007. And that young people pay a disproportionate cost for a crisis originated by the finance, which has received for rescue much more money that any policy for employment, or for social recovery.
Full article: https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/the-west-votes-for-a-better-yesterday/
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