The astonishing success of the
far-right National Front in France is part of a global trend challenging establishments. Neither the far-Left nor far-Right have been
universally embraced. But the voter everywhere is expressing his exhasperation
with the two party system which has its apron strings tied to corporates and,
thereby, to international finance.
Two-party systems are as old
as the hills, but the ones in bad odour with the electorate are part of the
post Soviet world order erected directly or indirectly, under American auspices.
This world order did not come riding a crest of democracy and human rights. It
was brazenly sold as the triumph of the market. Capitalism, it was, that had
won.
The popular imagination shaped
by the market mythology found the 2008 collapse of capitalism’s citadel, Lehman
Brothers, inexpicable. The economic downturn would just not be arrested.
The first installment of
Manmohan Singh’s Prime Ministerial year from 2004 to 2009 glided smoothly
because not only was the global economy holding but also free market excesses
were being kept in check by a large contingent of Left parties supporting the
government.
The second term was so badly tainted
by corruption and a popular disgust with the Gandhi family that the corporates switched. They
mounted the world’s most expensive media campaign which brought Narendra Modi
to power.
While the corporates imagined
Modi would do their bidding (give them unfettered access to, for instances,
mines, that tribals jealously guard), the voter experienced a huge anti climax.
He had brought down Manmohan Singh and the Gandhi family. This one negative act,
had the consequence of placing Modi on the Prime Ministerial gaddi.
What erupted as a record
success of AAP in Delhi was actually the voter’s realization that he is hemmed
into a system of two parties which, post poll, are controlled by the same set
of interests – the corporates. Whether AAP falls in that category will be known
later.
There is good reason why the
two premier political parties in India are frequently described as Tweedledum
and Tweedledee.
The shocking endorsement of
Marine Le Pen by the French voter does not necessarily signal a dark cloud of
racism over France. Le Pen is the beneficiary of terrorist attacks in Paris
three weeks ago. Had elections taken place in the shadow of some economic debacle,
a major corporate scandal, elements of the French Left would have asserted themselves.
Electorate in other words is not rushing towards something it likes. It is
demonstrating a sense of fatigue with what has been its lot for too long.
Even the Tweedledum –
Tweedledee image fits nicely. Francois Hollande’s Socialist party has decided
to withdrew from the second round of voting this Sunday (December 13), so that
his floating voters can help the Republican Right’s Nicolas Sarkozy prevent the National Front from winning. The future
of refugees from Syria is tragically in the balance.
I saw a completely different
picture in Madrid. A placard, as big as a cinema screen, is pinned on the facade of the newly elected communist
Mayor’s office : Refugees Welcome. This is the sentiment in Valencia, Barcelona.
Photographs of Pablo Iglesias, charismatic leader of Podemos, the communist
party are common. The party did well in a different context. Spain’s economic predicament
was desperate. Over 55 percent of the under 35 years were unemployed. Its
speculative builders had, with government help, built 40 million housing units,
more than the total constructed by UK, France and Germany. The bubble burst in
2009 and angry demonstrators crowded the
city squares. The political system imploded. It is in this mood and the shadow
of Catalan separatism that Spain awaits its historic general election on
December 20.
The establishment, including
the media is still throwing its weight behind the discredited Peoples Party and
the Spanish Socialist Party. Do Podemos- like electoral eruptions have the
strength to take on the might of well entrenched establishments? This is
precisely what will be on test in the December elections.
While Podemos takes heart from
the fact that the Communist Party is part of the ruling coalition in Portugal,
the compromises made by Styriza, the Communist Party of Greece, have
demoralized left forces in Europe.
The important point is the
widespread disenchantment with the post cold war structures erected in the name
of democracy and the unfulfilled promise of never ending boom for the market.
Jeremy Corbyn in UK, the
Scottish vote for separation, Joko Widodo as a surprise President of Indonesia and
a host of others are all symptomatic of popular restiveness with established
structures.
Who knows the world may be
inching towards the Day of Judgement. Why are Pundits not giving eredence to
the fact that Donald Trump is front runner for the Republican nomination –
atleast at the moment.
The media may have blacked out
Bernie Sanders but he is giving Hillary
Clinton the run for her money. Wall Street Journal, reports that 18 to 29 year
olds polled by the Harvard Institute of politics prefer anti establishment
candidates like Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. While 35% favoured Clinton,
41% favoured her insurgent challenger Sanders.
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