Jacobin, Topic: A Movement With a Future
Link: A Movement With a Future
Excerpt:
One of the singularities of this movement is that it raises the question of power head-on. “Macron resign!” is a unanimous slogan that towers above all others. But the social content of this demand remains indefinite. A battle for this is being played out on social media, in speeches, on yellow sweaters, on posters, on walls. This is obviously a major difficulty.
In this movement, left- and right-wing emotions coexist in great confusion — a large mass of people who are not very politicized, anticapitalist activists, and fascists. Besides, it is impossible to ignore the fact that the accession to power of Bolsonaro in Brazil, of the M5S-Lega alliance in Italy, and even of Trump in the United States, were all to varying degrees examples of social mobilization with an initially indefinite content: against the rise in bus fares in Brazil, against corruption and taxes considered unfair in Italy, and against the bank bailouts in the case of the Tea Party in the US — even if the Republican Party connection was more obvious here.
To put it briefly, these loose movements that have characterized the 2010s all seek a way out of neoliberalism. An exit that can take place in two directions. The first is that of a retrenchment to the national community, the object being to try and stifle class polarization by identity panic. If the main enemy becomes the migrant or Chinese imports, a new pro-capitalist policy is possible.
This is the Trump-Salvini-Wauquiez-Le Pen strategy, which breaks with the ideology of happy globalization, the better to consolidate the political gains made by the richest classes in recent decades. This line even inspires the present government. As witness the crude manipulation attempted by the minister of action and public accounts, Gérald Darmanin, when he answered le Figaro’s questions on December 7: “This is not just a tax revolt, but an identity crisis … they are concerned for the future of our children, the place of religions and in particular Islam.” [...read on at link]
Excerpt:
"Contradictions Among the “Gilets Jaunes” People
One of the singularities of this movement is that it raises the question of power head-on. “Macron resign!” is a unanimous slogan that towers above all others. But the social content of this demand remains indefinite. A battle for this is being played out on social media, in speeches, on yellow sweaters, on posters, on walls. This is obviously a major difficulty.
In this movement, left- and right-wing emotions coexist in great confusion — a large mass of people who are not very politicized, anticapitalist activists, and fascists. Besides, it is impossible to ignore the fact that the accession to power of Bolsonaro in Brazil, of the M5S-Lega alliance in Italy, and even of Trump in the United States, were all to varying degrees examples of social mobilization with an initially indefinite content: against the rise in bus fares in Brazil, against corruption and taxes considered unfair in Italy, and against the bank bailouts in the case of the Tea Party in the US — even if the Republican Party connection was more obvious here.
To put it briefly, these loose movements that have characterized the 2010s all seek a way out of neoliberalism. An exit that can take place in two directions. The first is that of a retrenchment to the national community, the object being to try and stifle class polarization by identity panic. If the main enemy becomes the migrant or Chinese imports, a new pro-capitalist policy is possible.
This is the Trump-Salvini-Wauquiez-Le Pen strategy, which breaks with the ideology of happy globalization, the better to consolidate the political gains made by the richest classes in recent decades. This line even inspires the present government. As witness the crude manipulation attempted by the minister of action and public accounts, Gérald Darmanin, when he answered le Figaro’s questions on December 7: “This is not just a tax revolt, but an identity crisis … they are concerned for the future of our children, the place of religions and in particular Islam.” [...read on at link]
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