i would ask, what is our neo liberal left making out of this? (may be we have to wait for 20 years to get an honest answer!!!)
On 9/17/08, damodar prasad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/17/recession.labour We've > heard the bankers' stories. The economists have had their say. But what do > the opponents of capitalism make of the global financial crisis? Is this the > moment they have been waiting for? Stephen Moss and Jon Henley ask > high-profile leftwingers for their views on the meltdown - and whether any > good can come of it' > Daniel Cohn-Bendit > > *Student leader in Paris, 1968* > > This financial crisis is for capitalist neo-liberals what Chernobyl was for > the nuclear lobby. It's a catastrophe. I hope we all learn lessons from it. > But am I optimistic that we will? That's another question. To think that the > biggest neo-liberal nation in the world would start nationalising banks ... > we're rubbing our eyes in disbelief. > > It's not the end of capitalism because capitalism has always had the > intelligence to reform itself. It will be the end of capitalism when it's > incapable of reforming. However, the belief that the market is god is over. > It must now be regulated. > > We fought for 20 years to bring attention to climate change. It took us a > while, but we were right. This crisis will help us in our arguments for > sustainable development - that we need a balance between the environment, > society and the economy - but I get no joy from it; it saddens me deeply. > Ordinary people lose everything, while the big bankers themselves walk away > with millions. > > *· *Daniel Cohn-Bendit was leader of the May 1968 student protests in > Paris, when he was known as 'Danny the Red'; he is now a green MP > Jarvis Cocker > > *Singer* > > It's really nice seeing capitalism getting its comeuppance. It had gone too > far: I think most people can understand capitalism when it's about companies > that make real products, but when it's about organisations that just make > money ... that's abstract capitalism, it's beyond most ordinary people - and > I include myself among them. I mean, you see the FTSE index, or whatever, > running along the bottom of the TV screen and generally it just doesn't > impinge at all on the way you live your life, and then suddenly you're told > your life is going to take a nosedive. Who understands that? > > The truly sad thing is that all this is taking place with a so-called > Labour government in power, a government that should have the interests of > the majority at heart, but has instead played the role of a pimp. > > Maybe a bit of a recession will do us some good. A lot of people have been > living beyond their means. We've all done it, I've done it: you feel a bit > depressed, you go and buy something. People might now actually talk to each > other a bit more, make their own entertainment, all those other great > northern cliches. The tragedy is that it will be the ordinary people who > will bear the brunt. The guys who are responsible may have to sell the > yacht. > Salma Yaqoob > > *Birmingham City councillor* > > This crisis opens up possibilities for alternative economic models as the > wheels come off this one, but I'm worried about the immediate social > consequences. A leaked report from the Home Office a couple of weeks ago > referred to a rise in racism and social tensions. My concern is that we'll > now see some ugly racist scapegoating as politicians try to pass the buck. > > When the markets were being treated as gods, we were always being promised > that there'd be a trickle-down of prosperity. But all that's trickled down > has been a greed-is-good philosophy. The consequence is a more unequal, > self-centred, crueller Britain. It's important that we should reflect on the > kind of society we've become, but also on the kind of society we want to be. > Recently, Unicef reported that Britain's children are the unhappiest in > Europe, and I think that is not unconnected to an economic climate that > forces parents to work longer and longer hours. We hear a lot of talk about > youth and gangs and guns; what we don't talk about are the economic policies > that would allow families to nurture each other and make young people feel > valued. > > The very people for whom it was a sacred othodoxy that there should be no > government intervention are now coming to the government on their hands and > knees begging for assistance. But what about the government intervening on > behalf of ordinary people? Why not do something literally concrete on the > ground and start building cheaper social housing? Why not put people at the > centre of things? > > *· *Salma Yaqoob is a Birmingham councillor and vice-chair of the Respect > party > Ken Livingstone > > *Former Mayor of London* > > Sadly, I don't think this will be the end of capitalism. But there is going > to have to be a return to a much, much more interventionist state. As a > system for the distribution and exchange of goods, you can't beat the > market. But the mistake a lot of politicians have made is to think that > because the market was good at that, it could be good at everything: it > could train workers, create infrastructure, protect the environment, > regulate itself. Quite obviously, it can't. > > So the real issue is, what sort of international structures do we need to > ensure this never happens again? Thatcher and Reagan deregulated massively > and let the financial markets do as they liked - and they've turned into one > bloody great big rip-off. The good news is, there'll now be a realisation - > even George Bush sees this now - that we need international regulatory > mechanisms that will ensure, for example, that these people and operations > actually pay tax. There'll be a realisation in Britain that while it's > certainly useful to host a world financial centre, it has to rest on a > solid, genuinely productive real economy. In China now they make things; > we've decided we're not interested in that. > Bob and Roberta Smith > > *Artist* > > Yesterday, at the same time as Lehman Brothers went belly up and Merrill > Lynch was bailed out, Damien Hirst made £70m. This tells us that capitalism > is not dead. The rich got richer, and the poor got poorer - and in the > evening, the rich went to an art sale and spent the small change in their > pockets. This crisis is kind of like the capitalist cat shifting on its > cushion. > > I don't buy the romanticism of the left: you can't kill capitalism, trade > is how people operate. But I do think the left's analysis has to be > coruscating and hard. The number-crunching, the smokescreens, that > particular flavour of snake oil has to be finished; this has to be about > real people now. There should be no self-congratulation, no, "Oh good, > they're getting their comeuppance," because behind every banker there are > ordinary people in bigger trouble. > > *· *Bob and Roberta Smith is the pseudonym of artist Patrick Brill > Caroline Lucas > > *Green MEP* > > This is a defining moment; the end of the kind of unbridled, deregulated > capitalism of the past few decades. We are going to have to return finance > to its role as servant rather than master of the global economy, and we're > going to have to break up financial institutions into smaller units: > mega-banks make mega-mistakes that affect us all. > > The way forward is the Green New Deal [co-formulated by, among others, > Caroline Lucas and Guardian economics editor Larry Elliott]. We have to > tackle a triple global crunch. In the face of a credit-fuelled financial > crisis, we're going to have to re-regulate finance and taxation, clamp down > on tax havens, split retail banking from merchant banking and securities > trading. In the face of accelerating climate change, we have to face up to > global warming. And in the face of an oil-price crisis, we're going to have > to find the solutions to encroaching peak oil. > > The situation we're in now is an opportunity, although it remains an > enormous threat also. It's the chance for us to move forward in a way that's > sustainable economically and environmentally. This is about real people and > real jobs, right now. I really wish we'd managed to get that message through > before it happened. > Ken Loach > > *Film director* > > This is further evidence, if any were needed, of the fact that the market > is not and never can be the answer. (The need to pursue illegal wars is > pretty strong evidence too, of course.) You look around the world and you > see massive need on the one hand, and massive wealth on the other, and the > two never connect. The market is massively inefficient, capitalism is > massively unstable and turbulent, and it's insane that we are all bound to > this terrible wheel of instability. > > The real left is making a lot of noise about this. There'll be a convention > of the left during the Labour party conference, all the shades of genuine > leftwing opinion, and we'll be hammering all these questions out from a > socialist perspective. But if the papers and the broadcasters fail to record > it, it's very difficult for these ideas to penetrate the public > consciousness. The media just turns a deaf ear; it chooses not to hear it. > It's a lot more interested in the careerism of whoever's after Gordon > Brown's job. > > Will this be a defining moment for the left? It should be, of course but > it's very difficult to be optimistic given our history of failure. The war > against Iraq was a massive opportunity to create a coherent anti-capitalist > movement, to find a real socialist alternative, and we let it slip through > our fingers. This is another such opportunity, and we must not let it go. > Michel Onfray > > *Philosopher* > > Is this the end of capitalism? Absolutely not. The key feature of > capitalism is that it's malleable. It has been through antiquity, feudalism, > the industrial era, it has worn the guise of fascism and now it's wedding > itself to the ecology cause. After this latest event, it will take on a new > form. It is indestructible and works like the Hydra of Lerne, cut off one > head and another grows in its place. Is this the end of society's obsession > with money and credit? Not at all. > Chris Harman > > *Socialist Workers Party* > > This is a very, very serious crisis of capitalism: it has been the build-up > of private borrowing that has kept the system going, and it's coming > unstuck. The whole system is unwinding; the other day we saw the biggest > nationalisation in the history of humanity and that still wasn't enough. > Governments don't know what to do, and it's the rest of us who have to live > with the consequences. The Labour party is offering no alternative, the Lib > Dems are offering no alternative, the Conservatives are offering no > alternative. > > This could be a big moment for the left. But we really need to stand up and > use the "c" word, say this is a crisis of capitalism and that people are > suffering. The thing is, all the media coverage yesterday was of the bankers > leaving Lehman Brothers with their boxes, but the people who will really be > hit are the cleaners, the secretaries - what did we see of them? We have to > build resistance. Because so far we've only seen the minor problems; people > stuck in foreign airports or having a bit of trouble getting a job. Things > are going to get much, much worse. > > *· *Chris Harman is the editor of International Socialism (SWP) > George Monbiot > > *Green campaigner* > > It's only in times of crisis that people are prepared to contemplate taking > to the streets. It was noticeable that there were a lot more protests - > against road developments, for instance, and against the Criminal Justice > Act and other infringements of civil rights - in the wake of the 1991 > recession than there were in the mid-90s, when people were feeling richer. > Some people, faced with recession, tend to hunker down, but others confront > the government and demand a better deal, and that gives the left hope. > > A Keynesian solution along the lines of Roosevelt's New Deal could deliver > many of the things that the left is calling for - more public spending, more > training and education. I'm particularly interested in the idea of a green > new deal, which would employ large numbers of people to insulate homes and > carry out major environmental works. Remember that the central plank in the > New Deal was the Civilian Conservation Corps, which employed three million > people. > > It is striking that the left has been slow to capitalise on the situation. > There is now a good opportunity to build a common front between trade > unions, disillusioned labour voters, greens and people who feel that their > economic position is slipping. > > *· *George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist > Max Keiser > > *Former broker* > > This is not a blip. It's extremely significant. We will see a shift in > power away from the US, and towards the developing world - to countries such > as Brazil and the Gulf states that have commodities to sell, and to China, > where the savings ratio is high. We are going to see a new world order. > America as a driver of the global economy is finished. > > The left has nothing to say about any of this. And because the left has no > economic programme, we will see the rise of social unrest. We are already > seeing it in the US. The left has no real response to that either. > > *· *Max Keiser is a former broker, and presenter of The Truth About > Markets on Resonance FM > Tony Benn > > *Former Labour minister* > > I remember the 1930s. What the Depression did then was to stimulate > antisemitism. I met Oswald Mosley in 1928 when he was a Labour MP. The next > time I met him he was wearing a blackshirt. Where there is fear, there is > scapegoating, and that is very dangerous. > > Blair and Brown based their politics on a belief in the market: the market > answered all your needs and the state had to be kept out. That confidence > has now collapsed and New Labour is seen for what it is. You can't, as New > Labour believed, nurse capitalism. > > I believe a new labour movement will emerge from this with a more realistic > sense of how capitalism works. There is a left convention at this year's > Labour conference, a sort of parallel conference. This year's Labour > conference is the first in my lifetime when you will not be allowed to vote, > so the left convention will get a lot of attention. At last, after a period > when we've been told to trust the gamblers, there are many relevant ideas > emerging on the left. > Lindsey German > > *Stop the War coalition* > > This growing crisis will mean misery for working people and shows that > everything we've been told about the free market has been false. At the same > time, it's a big opportunity. Millions of people will be questioning why > this has happened, what's wrong with the system, is it 1929 all over again? > The left needs to put forward answers. People have the right to work; we > have a housing crisis, so why not employ people to build more houses? We are > facing great challenges, but there is also a historic opportunity for the > left to remake itself. Capitalism has had its chance and failed; now it's > socialism's turn. > > *· *Lindsey German is Convenor of the Stop the War Coalition and Left List > candidate in this year's London Mayoral election > Sheila Rowbotham > > *Socialist feminist * > > In the late 19th century and also in the 1930s, the impact of depression > made people begin to question whether the free market and a completely > unfettered form of capitalism was the best form of organising society. In > both periods it encouraged on the left the idea of a complete social > transformation through revolution, and also encouraged people to devise > various schemes for social reform. The problem now - unlike in the 1880s, > when people discovered the ideas of socialism, and in the 1930s, when it > seemed that communism was the solution - is that the left doesn't have a > coherent alternative vision. > > The Labour party has always been ambiguous about whether it is trying to > make capitalism more efficient, or whether it is trying to soften its > harshness. Since the 1970s, the left has been much weakened, as neoliberal > ideas became totally ascendent. Under Blair, the idea that the Labour party > was committed to any redistribution was pushed to the sidelines. I would > like to see a new kind of left - a left that would relate to the present > predicament. There is a consensus forming that says an unregulated financial > system is a disaster, but whether that new left can be formed is > questionable. I'd be very glad to see it happen. > > *· *Sheila Rowbotham is professor of gender and labour history at > Manchester University > George Galloway > > *Respect MP* > > I think the end of capitalism will be a process, not a single event. But > each event we've seen so far has gone deeper than people have predicted, and > we don't know how deep this one will go. It could well be that it marks the > collapse of at least a major section of the capitalist economy: the > financialisation of the economy that has been powering ahead since the > deregulation and neo-liberalisation of the Thatcher-Reagan years. > > As far as the left is concerned, well, the Liberal Democrats have > effectively moved to the right in the face of this week's events, and New > Labour, with a few honourable exceptions, abandoned that territory a very > long time ago. Now I would have thought - in fact, I know - that among the > public in general there is a much bigger and a much wider audience for > progressive ideas than there has been for some time. But what the left still > has to overcome is its inability to speak in a language that ordinary people > can understand. And to stop arguing about dead Russians. > Hari Kunzru > > *Novelist* > > I'm in New York right now and the feeling here is quite visibly one of > panic. I've just met, quite randomly, three people who were helping their > friends clear their desks. Apparently, 12,000 jobs went, just like that, and > Wall Street represents 20% of the city's jobs and something like 90% its tax > base. So there's a definite sense here of systemic crisis. > > A great financial economist and historian called Michael Hudson talks about > how the US economy is basically fictitious, based on pretend earnings and > pretend values. This will only genuinely become a crisis of capitalism if > people generally become aware that much of the growth and prosperity > produced by capitalism is a fiction, and if the consensus about where the > real global value lies shifts radically. In other words, if people stop > believing that apparently wealthy countries actually are producing wealth. > > I don't immediately expect to be living in some kind of Mad Max world. But > this could be the death knell of the time when we were all singing the > beauties of free-market capitalism. > > *· *Additional interviews by Angelique Chrisafis > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. 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