Left out

The socio-political systems in both the UK and the US are in quite an interesting position at the moment. I am writing this at a time where the Reform Party has recently enjoyed success at local elections in the UK and where Trump and the MAGA republicans are dominating US and to some extent world politics, not least because of their recent bombing of nuclear targets in Iran. In addition, by suggesting that they were leaving NATO, the US administration seems to have forced European NATO members to commit to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, in response to an increased perception of the threat to nation state autonomy by Furthermore, in popular culture, the world famous Glastonbury music festival has just finished, after a moment of controversy where the musical duo Bob Vylan made anti-Israeli statements which British Prime Minister Kier Starmer characterised as hate speech. This comes in the month following the end Gary Lineker's employment with the BBC https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0dYIm5AsDxA following a tweet he seemed to endorse which had an anti-semitic emoji.

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All of these themes have a common denominator which is authentically speaking up and speaking out. If we begin with left of centre politics, Ash Sarker in her book Minority Rule makes the case that, by establishing control of social media channels of communication, those on the political right have been able to mobilise opposition against what it is referred to as 'woke' politics. She argues that they do this by promoting the irrational fear that minorities are trying to overturn and oppress majority populations. Additionally, she argues that those on the left of the political spectrum then feel compelled to advocate for their particular social identity e.g. trans-rights, black people's rights, anti-islamophobia, anti-Semitism and call for others to recognise the oppression that they endure from other groups. Sarker argues, however, that this is a distraction from the material, economic oppression that most of these groups suffer from, who are oppressed by the rich minority in societies such as the UK and the US who own the means of production. Essentially, she argues that the rich minority have successfully executed a plan of 'divide and conquer' by ironically playing to the fears of the white majority that they are being displaced by immigrants who are taking their wealth and jobs when the evidence shows that it is in fact the rich minority who are reaping the rewards of excess wealth created by everyone else. Switching the focus back to contemporary events, one reading of Donald Trump's actions in his 2nd term so far is that he is trying essentially to marshal similar arguments to the ones outlined above. There has been a clear targeting of what he describes as woke politics, with government rhetoric challenging any public anti-discrimination training or positive action in relation to LGPTQ+ policy development. There have also been threats of mass deportations and numerous tariffs imposed on imports. Kier Starmer, in the UK, in response to the perceived political threat posed by Reform, made a speech on immigration which, for some, had associations with Enoch Powell's notorious rivers of blood speech. Whilst Starmer has, arguably not gone as far as Trump, there has clearly been a shift in tone and rhetoric which seems to be aimed at would-be Reform voters. In both cases, there is a sense in which a focus on international policy and rhetoric, such as a requirement to increase spending on national defence, is a welcome distraction from a more difficult picture domestically and economically. In both countries, cost of living is relatively high and there are question marks about what successive governments are doing/ have done to make things better for the majority. What is conspicuous by its relative absence is any coherent calling out/questioning of these policies or approaches by those on the political left. Despite Israel's incursions into Gaza, beginning on 7th October 2023, it is only relatively recently that either Starmer or Trump have challenged the Israeli policy, despite reports of mass starvation and more than 55,000 deaths over that period of time. Gary Lineker's critique of the BBC's reporting and pointed neutrality in relation to Gaza and, prior to that, in relation the immigration policy of the previous Government was arguably the root course of his de facto dismissal from the BBC. The BBC, with its commitment to neutrality has also been questioned as suggested above with its decision to broadcast Bob Vylan and pre-emptively avoided criticism of broadcasting the set of Kneecap, an Irish rap group with Irish republican sympathies, by saying that they would not broadcast this.

For me, this lack of calling out/ drawing attention to perceived injustices is symptomatic of the crisis in left leaning politics and in collectivism/ socialism in general. There has been much criticism of the Labour government for seeking to make savings to public spending by selectively cutting benefits and allowances in order to cover a £20bn deficit left by the previous government. However, there seems to be a fear of presenting an argument for, say, raising taxes to cover the deficit. My feeling is that this is an additional symptom of the minority rule argument made by Sarker above. Rather than having the courage to provide leadership by explaining the need for progressive taxation to fund public services in our collective and mutual interest because this goes against pledges made pre-election, the UK government is trying to manage their way through the problem rather than leading by conviction and persuading the electorate of the necessity for collective action. Similarly, in the United States, the much heralded DOGE project has not yielded the savings promised by Trump and Musk and they have yet to tackle the real feeling of alienation and rising costs of living experienced by many in the country. However, the Democratic Party has yet to come up with a convincing line of argument and appropriate Presidential candidate to deliver such a message. This absence of voice has left a vacuum which the right has been happy to fill - so far.