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Great points and I think the essential conceit of centrism is unravelling visibly in so many countries - it is not the failures of the obvious right, but of the moderate centre in the developed west that is driving the current populist backlash. There's an unfortunate growing pain, though, that needs to be addressed for the left to really include and galvanise the voter base responsible for these populist insurgencies. Right now, unions are unwittingly creating another power concentration (although a wider one than the narrow oligarchical/capitalist power holders in liberal centrist economies). Anyone who isn't in a union is massively disadvantaged and disempowered - the days of worker organisation pulling up standards for everyone are long gone. In Canada, for example, you can work as a dishwasher in a restaurant with terrible conditions and no power for minimum wage, or if you happen to be in the CUPE union and work as a dishwasher in a hospital, you make more than double that and have huge protections. Because unions are difficult to enter, they exert no pressure on employers outside, even in the same industry. And now the government hires primarily contract workers because they can, so they don't need to hire more difficult-to-fire unionised workers. Looking at France's 25% youth unemployment rate, the problems of uneven labour market regulations and the divisions they create among potentially allied working factions are clear. Whatever new left emerges to challenge the current status quo needs to be able to structurally include everyone, and not create localised pockets of power based on in-group membership.
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Dec 12, 2016 14:36
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 01:08 |
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