This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/25/gilets-jaunes-struggle-to-hold-power-to-account-an-ever-harder-task-in-the-west
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| The ‘gilets jaunes’ struggle to hold power to account, an ever harder task in the west | The ‘gilets jaunes’ struggle to hold power to account, an ever harder task in the west |
| (6 days later) | |
| For eight days, France has been convulsed by targeted blockades of streets and motorways causing huge traffic jams, but not from the usual suspects: lorry drivers, farmers or students. | For eight days, France has been convulsed by targeted blockades of streets and motorways causing huge traffic jams, but not from the usual suspects: lorry drivers, farmers or students. |
| This is a spontaneous movement of “gilets jaunes” (named after the hi-vis vests they wear) who use social media to co-ordinate themselves as popup protesters of all ages and classes, wanting to stop the impending sharp hike in fuel duties. It is an assertion of power from below, an insistence that the “imperial” President Emmanuel Macron should listen. Macron is on the defensive. | This is a spontaneous movement of “gilets jaunes” (named after the hi-vis vests they wear) who use social media to co-ordinate themselves as popup protesters of all ages and classes, wanting to stop the impending sharp hike in fuel duties. It is an assertion of power from below, an insistence that the “imperial” President Emmanuel Macron should listen. Macron is on the defensive. |
| Six thousand miles away, the former chair of Nissan Renault, Carlos Ghosn, is spending his seventh night in a tiny cell in the Tokyo detention centre. One of the most important, ruthless and, it now seems, greedy executives in the global car business was arrested on Monday on charges of embezzlement, mis-statement of company accounts and personal use of company money. It was the Nissan part of the alliance that deposed him after a near 20-year reign at the top. This, too, is an assertion of power, a long overdue check to a man who for too long had played the system to become a corrupt corporate monarch. | Six thousand miles away, the former chair of Nissan Renault, Carlos Ghosn, is spending his seventh night in a tiny cell in the Tokyo detention centre. One of the most important, ruthless and, it now seems, greedy executives in the global car business was arrested on Monday on charges of embezzlement, mis-statement of company accounts and personal use of company money. It was the Nissan part of the alliance that deposed him after a near 20-year reign at the top. This, too, is an assertion of power, a long overdue check to a man who for too long had played the system to become a corrupt corporate monarch. |
| 'Gilets jaunes' protest against Macron policies in Paris and across France – in pictures | |
| Two days earlier, Facebook had to acknowledge, after some days of denial, that the New York Times report that it had hired a muckraking firm – Definers Public Affairs – to spread lies about its detractors, including antisemitic smears about George Soros, was correct. Facebook, carrier of too much fake news and tax avoider-in-chief, has abused its financial muscle and been found out. This, too, was an assertion of power – an old-fashioned press investigation exposing misdeeds in high places. | Two days earlier, Facebook had to acknowledge, after some days of denial, that the New York Times report that it had hired a muckraking firm – Definers Public Affairs – to spread lies about its detractors, including antisemitic smears about George Soros, was correct. Facebook, carrier of too much fake news and tax avoider-in-chief, has abused its financial muscle and been found out. This, too, was an assertion of power – an old-fashioned press investigation exposing misdeeds in high places. |
| The cases speak to the deformation of our times, the weakening of what the great economist John Kenneth Galbraith called countervailing power. It should not take massive protests to make the French government recognise that its fuel duties are misconceived, but then France lacks an effective parliamentary opposition. | The cases speak to the deformation of our times, the weakening of what the great economist John Kenneth Galbraith called countervailing power. It should not take massive protests to make the French government recognise that its fuel duties are misconceived, but then France lacks an effective parliamentary opposition. |
| Nor should it take imprisonment to check the greed of a too-long-serving leader of Nissan Renault or his alleged ambition to merge the companies at the behest of the French government. The Times was doing what great newspapers have always done in exposing a rotten culture at Facebook, but too few papers now have the firepower or confidence to mount such investigations. | Nor should it take imprisonment to check the greed of a too-long-serving leader of Nissan Renault or his alleged ambition to merge the companies at the behest of the French government. The Times was doing what great newspapers have always done in exposing a rotten culture at Facebook, but too few papers now have the firepower or confidence to mount such investigations. |
| In every case, the actors felt they could get away with bad acts without effective challenge; be sure much more of the same is going on undiscovered. | In every case, the actors felt they could get away with bad acts without effective challenge; be sure much more of the same is going on undiscovered. |
| Galbraith anticipated the evolution of today’s capitalism. Rather than conceive of it as operating on the same “ market-force” principles as a medieval fair or Middle Eastern souk, where buyers and sellers interact to find prices that reflect preferences and scarcities, he thought of markets as cockpits for the interplay of concentrations of private corporate power. Prices would, of course, be manipulated; consumers and governments would be hoodwinked; employees could expect a raw deal. | Galbraith anticipated the evolution of today’s capitalism. Rather than conceive of it as operating on the same “ market-force” principles as a medieval fair or Middle Eastern souk, where buyers and sellers interact to find prices that reflect preferences and scarcities, he thought of markets as cockpits for the interplay of concentrations of private corporate power. Prices would, of course, be manipulated; consumers and governments would be hoodwinked; employees could expect a raw deal. |
| What keeps executives, owners and politicians honest are embedded and strong institutions representing other forces – unions, strong consumer groups, independent regulators, checks and balances within companies and effective political parties as alternative governments-in-waiting. | What keeps executives, owners and politicians honest are embedded and strong institutions representing other forces – unions, strong consumer groups, independent regulators, checks and balances within companies and effective political parties as alternative governments-in-waiting. |
| Galbraith would not have been surprised at the degeneration of corporate culture worldwide: too much indulgence of greed as a market “incentive” and too much indulgence of market power dressed up as “wealth generation”. Investment banking (witness the latest fraud allegations against Goldman Sachs) is a particular cesspit. The institutions of countervailing power have been dismantled to allow “market forces” better to operate. | Galbraith would not have been surprised at the degeneration of corporate culture worldwide: too much indulgence of greed as a market “incentive” and too much indulgence of market power dressed up as “wealth generation”. Investment banking (witness the latest fraud allegations against Goldman Sachs) is a particular cesspit. The institutions of countervailing power have been dismantled to allow “market forces” better to operate. |
| Carlos Ghosn: Nissan scandal slams brakes on cost killer's career | |
| And while the gilets jaunes are effective now, they are ephemeral, rather like the Occupy movement of a decade ago. Effective countervailing power has to be institutionally embedded and well-resourced. The French political system, conferring so much power on the presidency, necessitates non-parliamentary protest, though its irregularity and short lifespan make it ultimately ineffective. | And while the gilets jaunes are effective now, they are ephemeral, rather like the Occupy movement of a decade ago. Effective countervailing power has to be institutionally embedded and well-resourced. The French political system, conferring so much power on the presidency, necessitates non-parliamentary protest, though its irregularity and short lifespan make it ultimately ineffective. |
| In Britain, the dismantling of institutionally based countervailing power has gone as far, if not further, than anywhere – witness executive pay or the dynamics of Brexit. It is difficult for newspapers to mount expensive investigations, especially when the law is so loaded against them. Unions are weak to nonexistent. Regulators are constituted to be “light touch” and poorly resourced. | In Britain, the dismantling of institutionally based countervailing power has gone as far, if not further, than anywhere – witness executive pay or the dynamics of Brexit. It is difficult for newspapers to mount expensive investigations, especially when the law is so loaded against them. Unions are weak to nonexistent. Regulators are constituted to be “light touch” and poorly resourced. |
| London vies with Dubai to be the global centre of tax avoidance. Grotesquely high executive pay is all too usual. Politically control of the Commons via a first-past-the-post electoral system supported by an overwhelming rightwing media means the government of the day experiences little push-back unless the opposition is both effective and riding high in the opinion polls. Neither is true at the moment. | London vies with Dubai to be the global centre of tax avoidance. Grotesquely high executive pay is all too usual. Politically control of the Commons via a first-past-the-post electoral system supported by an overwhelming rightwing media means the government of the day experiences little push-back unless the opposition is both effective and riding high in the opinion polls. Neither is true at the moment. |
| Thus our system was wide open to a group of zealots driving through Brexit. First, they gained disproportionate influence in a hollowed-out Conservative party. And once the referendum was in play, light-touch regulation allowed campaign spending limits to be easily disregarded. Subsequently, the renegotiation of Britain’s single most important network of treaties has been left to a weak government in thrall to those same zealots and capable of insulating itself from the interests of unions, business, universities, regional cities, Scotland and Wales. The interests of unionist Northern Ireland are more important than everyone else’s. Labour’s parliamentary opposition has been feeble. Thus to the end game when the resulting lowest common denominator deal may end our EU membership. | Thus our system was wide open to a group of zealots driving through Brexit. First, they gained disproportionate influence in a hollowed-out Conservative party. And once the referendum was in play, light-touch regulation allowed campaign spending limits to be easily disregarded. Subsequently, the renegotiation of Britain’s single most important network of treaties has been left to a weak government in thrall to those same zealots and capable of insulating itself from the interests of unions, business, universities, regional cities, Scotland and Wales. The interests of unionist Northern Ireland are more important than everyone else’s. Labour’s parliamentary opposition has been feeble. Thus to the end game when the resulting lowest common denominator deal may end our EU membership. |
| Britain – and much of the west – has spent the past 40 years eliminating checks and balances in the name of market flexibilities. It was always misconceived. Can the resulting whirlwind be tamed? It is in the balance. The first step back will be understanding the importance of – and restoring – those countervailing forces. | Britain – and much of the west – has spent the past 40 years eliminating checks and balances in the name of market flexibilities. It was always misconceived. Can the resulting whirlwind be tamed? It is in the balance. The first step back will be understanding the importance of – and restoring – those countervailing forces. |
| • Will Hutton is an Observer columnist | • Will Hutton is an Observer columnist |
| Protest | Protest |
| Opinion | Opinion |
| Emmanuel Macron | Emmanuel Macron |
| Carlos Ghosn | Carlos Ghosn |
| France | France |
| Nissan | Nissan |
| Europe | Europe |
| Automotive industry | Automotive industry |
| comment | comment |
| Share on Facebook | Share on Facebook |
| Share on Twitter | Share on Twitter |
| Share via Email | Share via Email |
| Share on LinkedIn | Share on LinkedIn |
| Share on Pinterest | Share on Pinterest |
| Share on Google+ | Share on Google+ |
| Share on WhatsApp | Share on WhatsApp |
| Share on Messenger | Share on Messenger |
| Reuse this content | Reuse this content |