politics for the 99%

Published on ZNet (first in Jacobin Magazine), by Luke Stobart, Dec 20, 2015.

At the time of writing, Podemos is making an inspiring late comeback in the Spanish general-election campaign, but few expect that 2015 will be the “year of change” that Pablo Iglesias promised when Podemos was leading in the polls last year. Mass participation in the new party and a lightning rise in popular support in its first year gave way to limited grassroots activity and an electoral slide until this October … //

… The Window Is Cracked:

The difficulties that emerged in 2015 must be analyzed all the same. These cannot be explained by changes in the Spanish economic and political situation. Although some growth and job creation has finally occurred, it has been accompanied by squeezed and stagnant wages, widespread use of insecure work contracts, the removal of bargaining rights, and slashed welfare provisions.

The continuing drive for Catalan independence and the growth of Ciudadanos — aided by its populist denunciation of the existing “partidocracy” — suggest that the “regime crisis” of recent years continues. The two parties that have dominated Spanish politics for decades have lost more than half their support in the last seven years … //

… People vs. the Caste:

To understand the evolution of Podemos it is necessary to examine the ideologies and analyses that have molded the party. Much of the commentary on its rise (for example by party strategist Iñigo Errejón and international supporter Owen Jones) centered on its “theoretical-communicative practice,” which Errejón has identified as an effort to translate “complex analysis and diagnostics into discursive narratives and direct stories.” Particularly celebrated is the replacement of the traditional political dichotomy of “left vs. right” with “people vs. the caste,” supposedly appealing to a “transversal constituency” beyond that of the traditional left.

Unusually for progressives, Podemos regularly uses traditional bourgeois-liberal conceptualizations while defending social-democratic demands: “sovereignty” against the troika, “legality” to chase tax fraud, “progressive patriotism” to defend a pluri-national (but unified) Spanish state … //

… Progressive-Populism in Practice: … //
… Failing on Its Own Terms: … //
… The Two Souls of Podemos: … //
… We Still Can: … //

… Confronted by a range of extra-parliamentary forces before and after reaching office, the need to gain and retain popularity can act as a lever to reverse the democratic revolution, and so far left-wing city halls appear to have delivered limited change beyond symbolic acts. The PAH has publicy criticized its old comrades now running Barcelona for not doing enough to stop evictions.

The radical left has also failed to adequately theorize institutional politics and the difficulties of participating in it. Anticapitalistas MPs have sometimes acted as a much-needed echo chamber for social struggle within the institutions, but over time they have often adapted to the ways and means of Podemos reformism: for example performing backroom negotiations over candidates and excusing Iglesias’s handpicking of a pro-NATO field marshal as future defense secretary. This has led to splits and expulsions of revolutionaries from the Trotskyist grouping.

Another weakness at all levels of the new parties has been a tendency to neglect debate over policy. Anticapitalistas’ Josep Maria Antentas has written of the urgent need to develop an alternative program to the failed hope of “concessions from the troika” practiced by Syriza and defended by Podemos, calling for the development of a strategy that is (paraphrasing Lenin) “as radical as reality itself.” Yet there is little evidence that the Podemos grassroots is having this discussion.

Whatever the result of the elections, the progressive turn that began in May 2011 will likely continue. But as Emmanuel Rodríguez has pointed out, there is still a need to develop the kind of mass social movement that helped end the dictatorship in the 1970s. Activists inside and outside the new left should consider how to help raise the uneven level of protest in workplaces, a shift that may require developing new strategies to outflank the paralyzing union bureaucracies.

The Spanish movement has already has shown its capacity to mutate. However its future script must be written collectively through mass self-organization; not by Laclau, Mouffe, or any other enlightened individual.

(full long text, hyperlinks).

Links:

Suisse: Le revenu de base peine à convaincre les Etats, dans ArcInfo.ch, par LAURA DROMPT, le 18 déc 2015;

Suisse: Le revenu de base inconditionnel sera soumis en votation populaire, dans L’AGEFI, le 18 déc 2015: le Conseil des Etats a suivi le Conseil National en s’opposant à l’initiative pour une allocation sans travail en retour;

SI ON VEUT BIEN L’ÉCOUTER … le Corps Électoral [le Peuple, jusqu'à preuve du contraire] A DIT: dans Mediapart.fr, par Jean-Louis Bacqué, le 18 déc 2015;

FINLAND: The world’s first country with truly experimental governance, on BIEN, by Will Wachtmeister, Dec 18, 2015;

Using a company to avoid paying income tax? Not for much longer you won’t be, on Money Week, by Merryn Somerset Webb, Dec 17, 2015;

Helsinki réfléchit à un revenu universel de base, dans La Croix, le 17 déc 2015: Le gouvernement finlandais mène une étude sur l’efficacité d’un salaire qui serait garanti à chacun sans conditions;

25% des Européens risquent de franchir le seuil de pauvreté en 2016, dans Sputnik News.fr, le 16 déc 2015;

Finlande: Allocation universelle, dans arte TV, le 16 déc 2015: le pays pourrait bientôt verser 800 euros par mois à chacun de ses habitants, sans distinction, quels que soient leurs revenus;

Military won’t stop terror – Boldrini, on ANSA en Politics, Dec 16, 2015;

THE ISSUE: Remote possibility in light of present economic state, on Nation news, by Shawn Cumberbatch, Dec 16, 2015;

Putin and the Russians crushing the U.S., as the West destroys Itself – Paul Craig Roberts, 22.49 min, upoaded by Tyranny Unmasked, Nov 30, 2015 … on the heels of the Chinese stock market plunging 5.5 percent, continued turmoil in the Middle East and the price of gold hitting 5 year lows, today former U.S. Treasury official, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts told King World News that Putin and the Russians are now dominating in Syria and the Middle East as the West destroys itself;

America Was Founded On A Revolt Of Corporate Power – Thom Hartmann, 177.57 min, uploaded by CSPANJUNKIEd0tORG’s channel, Oct 5, 2015;

Princes of the Yen: Central Bank Truth Documentary, 92.39 min, uploaded by QueuePolitely, Nov 4, 2014 … Princes of the Yen: Central Banks and the Transformation of the Economy reveals how Japanese society was transformed to suit the agenda and desire of powerful interest groups, and how citizens were kept entirely in the dark about this …;

How to Dismantle the Corporate State – Ralph Nader, 12.41 min, uploaded by The Big Picture RT, May 9, 2014;

Why The Crash of 2016 Will Happen, 7.33 min, uploaded by The Big Picture RT, Nov 14, 2013 … book: the crash of 2016, by Thomas Carl ‘Thom’ Hartmann.