The meaning of Macron (short answer: Tocqueville in France)
Dear Dante Yes, and I believe Emmanuel Macron himself would agree to "being a socioliberal" which in Nettime parlour would be "neoliberal" indeed. You don't need to wait for that. It will be his victory speech soon. But of devils presented to us, I prefer a liberal like Macron to a neo-fascist like Marine Le Pen (I'm not an accelerationist). Until the Left regroups into a responsible but straight-forward welfare-state-defending basic-income-promoting, budget-keeping democratic Marxism that is the best we can have (Trotskyist populists like Melenchon and Corbyn must therefore be strongly resisted; they are the least thing we need right now). And as for dear Sebastian's bitter but welcome comments on this thread: Yes, of course politics is political theatre. It always has been, as thinkers from Machiavelli to Guy Debord have always been quick to point out. Jan Söderqvist and I even predicted in "The Netocrats" in 2000 that soon the U.S. would likely elect a game-show host as president as a result of politics going ironic and increasingly powerless (therefore tyurning into a "celebrity democracy"). In 2016 we were proven right. So you could easily regard our comments in this thread as "nothing more than football babble", if it was not for the fact that politics still controls, deals with and directs trillions of dollars worth in jobs and wealth between the world's nations and populations. Your nihilism consequently adds nothing to address these complex issues. So what do you want to say besides attacking fellow Nettime debaters for the apparent fun of it? Or was that all? For hundreds of thousands of Afghan and Somali migrants in Sweden and Germany at the moment, it makes a hell of a difference if these countries are run by social democrats or right-wing populists. And that is just the start. Best intentions Alexander Bard 2017-04-26 1:50 GMT+02:00 Dante-Gabryell Monson : Emmanuel Macron can also be understood as a ( status-quo ? ) Neo-Liberal public relations guy, ex-Rothschild investment banker, creating a new packaging for the same neo-liberal politicians. Let's see, if and when he gets elected, whom he brings into his government. <...> # distributed via : no commercial use without permission #is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject:
Re: the meaning of Macron (short answer: Tocqueville in France)
Emmanuel Macron can also be understood as a ( status-quo ? ) Neo-Liberal public relations guy, ex-Rothschild investment banker, creating a new packaging for the same neo-liberal politicians. Let's see, if and when he gets elected, whom he brings into his government. On Mon, Apr 24, 2017 at 11:17 AM, Alexander Bard wrote: Excellent analysis, Alex! But Emmanuel Macron should best be compared with Canada's Justin Trudeau rather than any current American politician (though as a pragmatist liberal he is ideologically in line with the Obamas, both previous president Barack and possible forthcoming Michelle). <...> # distributed via : no commercial use without permission #is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject:
The meaning of Macron (short answer: Tocqueville in France)
The Nordic countries' and Germany's social democratic parties have interestingly enough often been accused of "selling out to the neoliberal world order" but were the only ones in Europe to withhold the populist storm of the past 20 years while even often remaining or having gained in power and influence. I would rather acknowledged their success to an orderly pragmatism and a willingness to compromise with socialliberalism when needed during this period of strength for liberal capitalism due to ultra-fast globalisation and digitalisation. This is evident in their refusal to bow for extreme nationalism and other forms of really non-leftist populism. And in the utter lack of corruption scandals among these parties. Their main argument besides the socialist call for "justice" has been their excellent capacity to govern responsibly. Something I see utterly lacking both with France's Socialist Party and Britain's Labour after Blair and Brown. You don't win elections unless you come across as capable of governing. Which is why I regard any "leftist party" which can not balance the state check books as a fraud. Tax the rich if you like, and then spend more on the poorest and on infrastructure which all citizens gain from. But govern with responsibility. Politics is worthless unless it is sustainable. Especially for The Left. Best intentions Alexander Bard 2017-04-24 18:34 GMT+02:00 Alex Foti : Dear Alexander and All, your spot-on remarks (!) make me wonder about the future of social democracy, something Castells pondered in a recent editorial: <...> # distributed via : no commercial use without permission #is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject:
Re: the meaning of Macron (short answer: Tocqueville in France)
Dear Alexander and All, your spot-on remarks (!) make me wonder about the future of social democracy, something Castells pondered in a recent editorial: mediterranean socialist parties seem on the verge of disappearing (e.g. France, Greece, Spain), but what about SPD and other Northern European social democracies? labor party in holland floundered, but in Sweden, Denmark and elsewhere, wherever social-democracy didn't sell out to neoliberalism and essentially defended collective bargaining and an equalizing welfare state, social democratic parties could still have political consensus, no? I guess the real litmus test will be the German election and how the mother of all social democracies the SPD will fare at the ballot with Schulz (hope he wins). partisan ciaos! lx ps sorry for not writing mouvance right On Mon, Apr 24, 2017 at 11:17 AM, Alexander Bard wrote: Excellent analysis, Alex! But Emmanuel Macron should best be compared with Canada's Justin Trudeau rather than any current American politician (though as a pragmatist liberal he is ideologically in line with the Obamas, both previous president Barack and possible forthcoming Michelle). Pete Buttigieg is a name I would look out for as a possible American equivalent to Trudeau in Canada and Macron in France. Let's see if Buttigieg stays with the Democrats or goes independent in the next election= . This is my stance: The Left will not regain power and win elections unless it gets rid of its populist trash with faces like Corbyn in the UK, Sanders in the U.S. and Malenchon in France. Charming and clever Malenchon did lose to both Le Pen and Macron in the most leftist-friendly country in Europe. And I understand why. <...> # distributed via : no commercial use without permission #is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject:
Re: the meaning of Macron (short answer: Tocqueville in France)
Excellent analysis, Alex! But Emmanuel Macron should best be compared with Canada's Justin Trudeau rather than any current American politician (though as a pragmatist liberal he is ideologically in line with the Obamas, both previous president Barack and possible forthcoming Michelle). Pete Buttigieg is a name I would look out for as a possible American equivalent to Trudeau in Canada and Macron in France. Let's see if Buttigieg stays with the Democrats or goes independent in the next election= . This is my stance: The Left will not regain power and win elections unless it gets rid of its populist trash with faces like Corbyn in the UK, Sanders in the U.S. and Malenchon in France. Charming and clever Malenchon did lose to both Le Pen and Macron in the most leftist-friendly country in Europe. And I understand why. His crazy and completely unrealistic economic model was just as silly as Sanders's was in the US and Corbyn's is in the UK. It was pure populist nonsense, not Marxism for sure, and not even decent Social Democracy (which I happen to like a rather lot). We need a pragmatist realist left. We have one in Sweden that does win elections. Not any more of this populist non-Marxist nonsense thrown at conservatives like Theresa May and Donald Trump which they can then thrash to pieces. Until that happens, liberals are very strong as the only reasonable alternative to the populist right. The French Left will vote for Macron too on May 7. Simply because they won the last election with a deservedly deeply unpopular lying populist named Francoise Hollande. In hindsight, people will regard Barack Obama as one of the greatest president the U.S. ever had. And Theresa May will thrash Corbyn to pieces in June in the UK. Not because she has a heart or people like her. But for the simple reason that she knows how to run and keep a damn budget. Best intentions Alexander Bard (a very non-Trotskyist Marxist, as you can probably tell) # distributed via : no commercial use without permission #is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject:
the meaning of Macron (short answer: Tocqueville in France)
the French have chosen a liberal to ward off the fascist threat (patriotism vs nationalism this is how the youthful ex banker ex economic minister puts it). it is a paradoxical outcome a year after Nuit Debout protests, which have propelled mélenchon to a great score (and socialist hamon to a pitiful score), but can't escape the fact that the vote rewarded the candidate who is most in favor of labor flexibility and Loi Travail. In Bastille and elsewhere barricades were raised by those youth who feel unrepresented by the political process and subscribe to an insurgent view of politics (mouvence tarnac) that cgt, trotskyists and communists behind his candidacy will never make their own, no matter the rhetoric and great social media campaign of the sovereignist 68er who believes in the value of work and the value of putin and has yet to announce who to vote for at second round. what is the meaning of macron? in a way it's a victory of non-party politics. it's also fortuitous: in Paris somebody left in the ballot box a fifty-euro note with the handwritten note "pour Penelope" - without the scandal hitting Fillon (who ended up with 7 million votes as mélenchon) the outcome of first round could have been different. No matter, Macron's meteoric rise has few comparisons in contemporary politics: a year ago he was barely on the political map. Yet, as now failed Renzi before him in Italy, he has managed to embody a thirst for dynamism and renewal dressed in patriotic awakening, thus giving a progressive and popular outlook to liberalism and entrepreneurialism. Is he the president of the 1%? In a sense yes, because there is nothing less populist than electing a banker for president of the republic. But he's also the French Obama with the looks of an actor in a Truffaut movie. More crucially, he campaigned strongly on a pro-EU position, promising he will persuade Germany to come to terms with its economic responsibility for Europe's crisis and accept a new political governance of the eurozone. Like Tocqueville in America, he's a revolutionary liberal who has become comfortable with democracy (whose egalitarian instincts should always be feared and neutered) and knows you should try to give to the people what they want without endangering the property structure. Macron's program is vague at best (so much he had to collate 400 pages of last-minute proposals) but the main direction is clear: public investment, a leaner government, less employment taxes, more overtime, workfare. Basically a different version of the same. But his rupture is generational and cultural: he said the Algerian war was tantamount to genocide - something that attracted the sympathy of many beurs (young french of arab descent). Just as on Europe, he could could not have been more diametrically opposed to LePen, in her emphasis on white and christian identity and french sovereignty. So is European liberalism still alive while American liberalism has taken a beating? The populist threat seems to be receding on the Continent after the high mark reached with Brexit and Trump, not matter how much money Putin pumps into the League and other assorted racists of Europe. It also gives a new spell of life to European integration, especially within the eurozone. I think we underestimated the positive feelings that Europe evokes in millions, especially the younger and more educated sections of the population. reds have always hated Europe, greens have always embraced it. Maybe it's time for the populist left (Podemos' Iglesias backed Mélenchon) to stop hating the EU and bury plans to ditch the euro rather than reform it. Finally, a pleading for the unity of reformist and radical left in the face of adversaries and enemies: mel+ham's votes would have been enough to take the left to the second round instead of macron.. # distributed via : no commercial use without permission #is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject:
