Maria João RODRIGUES

FEPS President

We are living in a strange world. Humankind lacks the global governance capacity to cope with current global challenges — notably climate change, military conflicts, hunger, poverty, health risks and digital transformation. And a rampant political movement claims that global governance or international cooperation are not needed any longer. This movement advocates disengagement from the multilateral system and other cooperation forums, such as the G20 and even the G7. Key components of the United Nations system, such as its basic functioning budget or development aid, are being depleted, and recent developments, such as the UN Pact for the Future to update the UN system, are just being ignored. Consensual agendas, like that for the sustainable development goals, are simply just despised.

This new political movement, ‘to make nations great again’ and to neglect international cooperation, has steadily been spreading across the world and reached a qualitative leap when it started leading the United States. The US has been able to keep its global role due to its unparalleled military and financial power in spite of the visible difficulties regarding its competitiveness in traditional manufacturing sectors – as witnessed by the current trade war. Let us be clear, however, that the current American leadership in digital transformation and AI can enable the US to prolong its dominant role in reorganising the global order, not only in its technological and economic dimensions, but also in its cultural and political ones. 

This new political movement is also bringing a big shift on the domestic front through a plutocracy-undermined democracy. Beyond a populist recipe to protect traditional working-class jobs with higher tariffs and harsh migration controls, what is really happening is the liberalisation of the labour market with regard to collective bargaining and free AI algorithmic labour management. Furthermore, universal access to healthcare and to social protection is being reduced, and corporate social responsibility – meaning environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards, and diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) standards – is being actively undermined.

This new radical conservatism, as the movement is called, also reveals worrying ideological foundations. Its leading voices openly attack the cultural and political tradition of the Enlightenment, which is still well rooted in modern societies, not only in Europe but across different civilisations. These leading voices put Social Democrats, traditional conservatives, liberals and neoliberals all into the same bag, which the radical conservatives call the ‘party of destruction’. By contrast, the new radical conservatives announce themselves as the ‘party of creation’ that will radically transform our societies on the basis of certain fundamental principles: god, nation, family and unrestricted ownership. All these principles are used with a very conservative, in fact reactionary, interpretation. Among the movement’s main objectives are the goals to recreate white male supremacy under the inspiration of a god who is very far away from the original christian message, and to carry out a full-fledged attack on European civilisation and the best of its outcomes, including the European integration projects.

How can this be happening in the 21st century? If we look back at the long-term historical trends, it is helpful to recall the ‘great transformation’ – well-analysed by Karl Polanyi – when the violence of primitive capital accumulation destroyed the social bonds provided by the feudal society. This generated three main and contrasting historical developments: firstly, the communist-soviet kind of revolution; secondly, the deepening of a free market agenda, which led to a financial and social collapse followed by the rise of fascism and the second world war; and thirdly, Roosevelt’s New Deal as well as the Social Democratic agenda, which was invented in the European Nordic countries and which then expanded to Western Europe after the second world war.

We should draw a historical parallel with another great transformation – the transformation generated by the recent phase of globalisation, spanning the turn of the 20th century towards the 21st, when a systemic neoliberal agenda imposed financial deregulation, free trade without standards, harsh fiscal consolidation, social cuts and political regime change whenever there was democratic resistance. This is the root of the current far-right movements, and we are again at a crossroads where the real alternative can and should be provided by progressives and Social Democrats. They have a highly challenging task on their hands.

Their first task is to update the way of regulating labour markets, product and service markets and financial markets, while also supporting the right kind of innovations for sustainable development. The second task is to build up a welfare system 2.0 that can respond to the new needs of populations in deep re-composition: young people with new aspirations, women’s emancipation, trends of accelerating population ageing, and migration flows. The third task is to revamp public budgets – the big investment which is necessary for a fair green and digital transformation requires a reshuffling of the taxation system to slash the current blatant inequity. The fourth task is to reset democracy as a political system where political decisions must be based on sound debate and regular discussion between citizens and their elected representatives. And the fifth task for progressives and Social Democrats is to reform global governance so that it fosters international cooperation and strives for a New Global Deal.

But progressives and Social Democrats can only pursue these tasks successfully if they develop new political competences – otherwise, they will remain stuck in the past, and they will decline in their influence.

One of these new political competencies is to master the ongoing digital and AI transformation. This is without a doubt the most significant transformation of our lives, and we are still only at the beginning. Its implications are across the board, affecting everyday life, living conditions, working conditions, job trends, access to public services, business operating models, value chains and platforms in all sectors, the functioning of our institutions and, most important of all, the shaping of our mindsets via media, science, culture and education.

Another crucial political competence is to develop multilevel policy solutions. Let us not be under any illusion: just as local political action is more effective if it is combined with more decisive political action at the national level, so it is also more effective if it can be combined with more decisive political action at the European and international levels. This is particularly apparent when dealing with issues such as climate change or pandemics. The need for multilevel policy solutions became especially evident after the painful financial and eurozone crisis. It should also be evident for areas such as the cost of living, the housing crisis, managing migration, and countering digital social dumping.

When it comes to the European project, we have reached a pivotal moment. Without stronger European sovereignty, national democratic sovereignty will erode. Furthermore, this also means that the progressive agenda is only feasible at the national level with much stronger European democratic sovereignty. Over recent years, European progressives have been decisive in reshaping the European project with the European Pillar of Social Rights, the European Green Deal, and a reformed Economic and Monetary Union. Yet these are tasks that must be completed alongside the launch of much needed new ones: a European Digital Union, a stronger European voice in the world, and a real political union with the competence to decide and to invest in the future. The citizens’ aspirations that were expressed during the Conference on the Future of Europe should not be forgotten. 

Finally, there is also a third political competence that should be highlighted: a new approach to doing politics, with stronger means to listen to citizens, explore new ideas, promote open internal debate, and develop multimedia communication which can then be focused on the delivery of real solutions. People’s mindsets and opinions are changing rapidly, and we are at a crossroads between either a deeper form of alienation and nihilism or a new form of enlightenment. Progressives and Social Democrats need to strive for the second road, if they want to build and lead a large coalition of forces to counter the influence of the current far right. This should be the basis of a new democratic revolution, empowering citizens by providing access to the truth and an honest debate, rather than fake news and manipulation.

Just as this new far-right movement is organising itself at the international level with strong financial, political and media instruments, so our progressive forces need to be promoting the same qualitative leap. Our motivation should be made very clear: we have a beautiful planet, and our world should not be led by autocrats, but by democracies that take care of our people and planet.

On a personal note, I was born during a democratic revolution in my own country, Portugal, and I saw firsthand how powerful such a revolution can be. I would like this same opportunity to be given to many other citizens, men and women, across Europe and the world. This is indeed a beautiful task for progressives over the coming years.

As this is my last contribution for the Progressive Post as FEPS President, I would like to express my gratitude for this remarkable publication that is produced by European progressives for progressives worldwide.

Photo credits: Shutterstock.com/Artistdesign.13