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Your opinions: the perils of globalisation and the future of the Tory left Your opinions: the perils of globalisation and the future of the Tory left
(35 minutes later)
Welcome to our space – open every Wednesday from 10am – for discussing the day’s Opinion articles. This week we’d like to begin by discussion two articles, both political. Welcome to our space – open every Wednesday from 10am – for discussing the day’s Opinion articles. This week we’d like to discuss three articles, all of a political nature.
First is Aditya Chakrabortty on globalisation and the impact this is having on the poorest. He says globalisation is about protecting big business – as can be seen from the TTIP and Ceta deals – against the public. No wonder voters in the US and Europe are turning to populists, Aditya argues.First is Aditya Chakrabortty on globalisation and the impact this is having on the poorest. He says globalisation is about protecting big business – as can be seen from the TTIP and Ceta deals – against the public. No wonder voters in the US and Europe are turning to populists, Aditya argues.
I heartily agree that Nigel Farage and Trump are grotesques. But the free-traders peddle their own untruths. They have insisted that black is white, even as the voters beg to differ. In their seminar rooms, their TV studios and their Geneva offices, they have perpetrated the ideological sleight of hand that equates internationalism with free trade, and globalisation with untrammelled corporate power. The result has been misery for workers from Bolton to Baltimore to Bangladesh. But it has also left the six-figure technocrats who supervise our economic system pushing a zombie idea. Because that is what free trade has become: an idea leached of life and meaning but stumbling on for want of any replacement. We have a globalisation for bankers, but not for children fleeing the bombs of Syria. Security for investors but not for workers.I heartily agree that Nigel Farage and Trump are grotesques. But the free-traders peddle their own untruths. They have insisted that black is white, even as the voters beg to differ. In their seminar rooms, their TV studios and their Geneva offices, they have perpetrated the ideological sleight of hand that equates internationalism with free trade, and globalisation with untrammelled corporate power. The result has been misery for workers from Bolton to Baltimore to Bangladesh. But it has also left the six-figure technocrats who supervise our economic system pushing a zombie idea. Because that is what free trade has become: an idea leached of life and meaning but stumbling on for want of any replacement. We have a globalisation for bankers, but not for children fleeing the bombs of Syria. Security for investors but not for workers.
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What do you think? Is globalisation about protecting big businesses? Do we need an alternative? What is it?What do you think? Is globalisation about protecting big businesses? Do we need an alternative? What is it?
In terms of the impact of globalisation, we also have an interesting look at Brexit – with immigration a main factor in how people voted – and what the demise of Ukip means for the Conservative party. Rafael Behr asks: with the party seemingly moving to the right what will happen to the Tories on the left? Is there an opportunity for Labour to grasp some of this contingent?In terms of the impact of globalisation, we also have an interesting look at Brexit – with immigration a main factor in how people voted – and what the demise of Ukip means for the Conservative party. Rafael Behr asks: with the party seemingly moving to the right what will happen to the Tories on the left? Is there an opportunity for Labour to grasp some of this contingent?
It cannot be said that the Conservative remainers are entirely vanquished, but they are disoriented and leaderless. So it is not surprising that they are finding a degree of fellowship with refugee MPs of a New Labour disposition who are benighted in a haze of their own. They were not strangers. Some hatchets were buried on the campaign trail in pursuit of a remain vote. But now there is an emerging sympathy in shared alienation, as each side sees its party captured by an agenda hatched on their respective fringes.It cannot be said that the Conservative remainers are entirely vanquished, but they are disoriented and leaderless. So it is not surprising that they are finding a degree of fellowship with refugee MPs of a New Labour disposition who are benighted in a haze of their own. They were not strangers. Some hatchets were buried on the campaign trail in pursuit of a remain vote. But now there is an emerging sympathy in shared alienation, as each side sees its party captured by an agenda hatched on their respective fringes.
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What do you think? What will remainers do now? With the demise of Ukip, will the Tories become more rightwing?What do you think? What will remainers do now? With the demise of Ukip, will the Tories become more rightwing?
The final article today is on self-employment with a recent study finding that the average self-employed contractor is now paid less than in 1995. Peter Fleming responds to this news, saying:
The so-called “gig economy” sounds glamorous and fun, like trendy graphic designers working from a laptop in a Shoreditch cafe. Sadly it’s turned out to be something of a bad gig for many struggling to make ends meet. The conflict between workers and capitalism hasn’t disappeared. It might have got even worse.
What do you think? Is it becoming harder to be self-employed? Why?