[TLDR (too long didn’t read): If you are reading this, chances are you care about HR. This Reader is about what politics is all about in all governance currently serving the interests of the rich. For a quick overview, just read the bolded text]. Note: You can easily translate the Readers to many languages. Use the app deepl.com and it is done instantaneously. It takes seconds to download the app into your computer or phone and translations are of high quality.
1. Take a couple of examples in the form of some more of my iron laws:
- The ideological dependence of judges has become a norm and is accepted; they can be (and are) ‘conservative’ or ‘progressive’. Both are completely unacceptable especially when it comes to human rights (HR) issues. (Federico Mayor Z.).
- There is a lot of politicking and lust for power disguised as patriotism. (Joaquin Edwards).
- There indeed is right-wing violence against those who are identified as anti-patriotic, anti-family, anti-religion and anti-property. (Federico Fasano).
- There is such a thing as an oligarchic populism; it serves the interests of the super rich while claiming to represent ordinary people. (Hans Dembowski)
- Apart from the traditional Left/Right political divide, the demand for centrism and moderation (‘the extreme center’) only equally serves to hide the real power relations.
- That the right wing is corrupt does not attract anyone’s attention; it is like a dog biting a man; it is not news. If a leftist is corrupt, the neuronal mold is broken, the egalitarian DNA is broken and the utopia vanishes. (F. Fasano)
To govern is to make people believe, to convince
2. The marketing used by the political Right aims to shape consciences heavily using the economic and media power they wield. The marketing of the political Left does not listen enough to the people in order to offer answers to their needs.* For them, the challenge is, first, to listen to people to then persuade them. (Voltaire already warned: “If the poor do not begin to reason, all is lost“). The second thing is not to underestimate the adversary. It is necessary to reread Sun Tzu: “To defeat your adversary, you must first know him” —only then can the extreme-right political movement be neutralized.
*: The left-wing parties have been left without a clear horizon of the society they want, and have established a continuity with neoliberal policies. (Primera Piedra)
3. With things thus posed, there are two options: Either one calls for the mobilization of the masses in the streets to implement the program that the Left has always promised (but not always kept), or one returns to the pragmatic project of obtaining as much as possible for the cause of the people “doing just what one can where one is” (Francois Mitterrand). If one opts for the former, the Left runs the risk of not finishing its mandate, runs the risk of falling into verbal radicalism that leads to nothing, discarding a more moderate political action –that with persuasion and cultural penetration, supported by certain allies and mobilized masses– can carry out certain proposals, in order to, at least, obtain some key reforms. However, if we appeal to the latter pragmatic and reformist option, the conflicts that exist and the confrontations will continue to hunt us. Yes, the great reforms are born of conflict and confrontation, but this must be dialectical and peaceful.
4. Moreover, the focus should not only be on the marginalized and the HR violations they are subjected to. Without culturally and economically seducing the middle strata and the small and medium enterprises that also do not have their HR respected, it will be impossible to rebuild the destroyed social and political fabric. This last point is fundamental for persuasion and credibility. (F. Fasano)
Bottom line: This is what politics is all about
5. Politics is about sitting together with like-minded people, in all their diversity, and trying to converge on what one shares. One common message will then always have more force than a hundred messages from a fragmented group of people –and this requires a lot of political discussion, patience and organization. Without organization, nothing is possible. Thousands of HR voices alone in Iran will not bring down the ayatollahs. Just think of the many movements in recent years, Yellow Vests, Indignados, Occupy Wallstreet, Spring Revolution, etc. They were joyful movements and moments of politicization, but they achieved nothing in the long run. There is nothing wrong with a festival and the organization of joyful events. But one must not forget that behind this there was no clear forward-looking political objective and political organization. Obviously, then, they ceased to exist.
When the individual neoliberal mind wins over the collective will to cooperate, all is lost
6. My main example is still the history of the trade unions. For a century and a half, theirs was a patient struggle for organization and the conquest of rights. Trade unions are the only social movement in history, as far as I know, that succeeded in changing capitalism and de-commodifying labor. It does not mean that everything is perfect in the world of work, but at least there is a global movement with the power to change.
Bottom bottom line
7. All the above is just an analysis of basic politics and it is absolutely absurd that we cannot even openly discuss this often enough. This is what makes it impossible to continue as if everything is fine. Only speaking to the outside world with actions and statements, on the basis of a purportedly objective analysis, I honestly believe is a totally useless exercise. (all the above from Francine Mestrum)
8. We thus need a less vertical system of governance, one that is less state-led, less led by traditional Left/Right parties, i.e., a governance linked to a greater number of actors. Certainly, the number of actors makes it more difficult to reach agreements, but we gain in sustainability and in public ownership. (Jose Sulbrandt).
Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City
Your comments are welcome at schuftan@gmail.com
All Readers are available at www.claudioschuftan.com
Postscript/Marginalia
-The truth is that in Spain there are seven kinds of Spaniards... yes, like the seven deadly sins. Namely:
1. Those who do not know;
2. Those who do not want to know;
3. Those who hate to know;
4. Those who suffer for not knowing;
5. Those who pretend to know;
6. Those who succeed without knowing; and
7. Those who live thanks to the fact that others do not know.
The latter call themselves ‘politicians’ and sometimes even ‘intellectuals’. (Pío Baroja 1872–1956)
–What is the point in documenting in ever greater detail the catastrophe we face, if we are not willing to do anything about it? It has so far been rare for scientists, as a profession and as a collective of subjects, to carry out actions of dissent, of political criticism, of revolt against the ‘lords’ of politics and economics –an exception made for individual cases or small groups. In the name of so-called scientific neutrality, they on-and-on agree not to make any assessment of current policies or any proposals of a political nature, not to propose political-economic solutions or recipes, and not to make any individual or group public statements that could be used for partisan political purposes. (In the light of 35 years of experience, one must and can ask oneself whether such a formula is in the interest of the world population and of the effective capacity of science to help society find the necessary solutions to the problems…). What is the point of producing report after report, tens of thousands of pages, of data, tables, graphs, and constructing alternative scenarios if the scientists themselves accept that the decision-makers will do nothing and they themselves will stand by and watch from the ends of their splendid laboratories and offices without intervening? Scientific neutrality can no longer be an instrument of convenience for politicians and scientists alike. (Riccardo Petrella) See https://scientistrebellion.com/ Now is the time for us to take action, so that we show how seriously we take our warnings.