 Political Corrections
with Margo Kingston
Wall Street Loses Foundations after S11
After two planes destroyed the World Trade Centre, Christopher Selth, a former head of international equities at Bankers Trust, predicted the death of "naive global capitalism".
It's taken less than a year for the symbolism of the destruction of America's monument to its global economic dominance to become concrete with the ongoing collapse on Wall Street.
Selth was travelling in Europe on September 11, and wrote "Marx is very relevant here, and I do not come from a background that would be seen as traditionally Marxist. I was a senior fund manager, a primary witness to global capitalism.
"Speaking with some of my associates here in London there is a perception, which I strongly share, that this terrorism reflects the end of imperialism, of naive global capitalism. That is what financial markets are trying to digest, Tony Blair refers to the end of an era."
The combination of the United States' war on terrorism and the bleeding on Wall Street - the threats from without and within - creates the perfect opportunity not only for the far right to pounce, but for liberals and lefties to hold a winning hand.
Webdiarist Tim Dunlop argues persuasively that the essence of Australia's post-Tampa militancy on 'border control' is not racism, but the meeting of a desperate need to regain control over our destiny.
"For nearly 30 years the public have been told that due to the 'forces of globalisation' we've had to privatise government services, sell off public assets, deregulate banking and every other industry, reduce worker entitlements in order to remain 'competitive' and integrate ourselves into international institutions like the WTO - which by their nature undermine our own control over economic and social policy."
Of course the next step is to wind-back economic globalisation itself, the other half of the far-right agenda. Global capitalism's political frontmen cannot forever cover-up economic disempowerment through social intolerance. The system itself is under threat.
There is great opportunity here for progressives in Australia to get on the front foot. To do so, they must unleash the latent egalitarianism in our psyche, a quality in danger of being consumed by rampant American individualism.
The chief executive of the ANZ Bank, John McFarlane, reminded us this month that we are still different, and that our difference has, in the light of Wall Street's meltdown, done us proud.
"Speaking as a foreigner here," he said, "I think there is a natural balance to Australia that doesn't exist in the United States. The society tends to value things differently: there is more of a push towards the community, customers, staff and stakeholders in the business and not just shareholders."
Played the right way, this community spirit can be expanded to the advantage of our society, including its depressed and frightened minorities, and our economy.
The old certainties of globalisation have gone. As Selth says, the Hanson phenomenon here and its counterparts across the developed world marked "the death of the unifying story, the meta-narrative".
"Religion was replaced by the new materialism, consumerism in the 60s and 70s. The idea of working for the company for life, and in exchange being able to buy with your pay packet an ever-proliferating range of new products, as the source of happiness and the basis of life, is over.
"The feeling that quality of life is declining is endemic. And we will see the disenfranchised taking ever more radical responses. Politicians are left without slogans to push. They have lost their currency. We are left with reactionary, self-serving populism. The ideological landscape is desolate. We are searching for a new road map to guide us through.
"It is very reminiscent of the dangerous void that the Great Depression precipitated, a void that was filled by fascism, Stalinism, and Macarthyism.
Progressives must urgently create a new meta-narrative and sell it quickly. As Selth says:
"Economic policy needs to balance the dynamic drive of capitalism, with appropriate measures to reduce the shock waves and to humanise the process, a new opposition movement is needed. It needs to do more than just say bigotry is wrong. It must address the philosophical and political roots of this problem. It must be a broad movement. It must be self critical to avoid the accusation of elitism. This must be more than just the liberal humanist intelligentsia saying how awful everyone else is."
The moral vacuum at the heart of the economic and social imperatives of the winners in the last quarter century is now exposed.
The time is right for a new way. Which way? The war of ideas between the far right and the progressives will help decide.
Email: mkingston@mail.fairfax.com.au
Margo's web diary - www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/webdiary/
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