May Day is celebrated by Leftists, but ironically, this year Ultra Rightists too celebrated across the US and Europe.
If youre above 40, you may remember grand images of May Day rallies in Moscows Red Square, the epitome of Soviet-sponsored extravaganzas symbolising the Might of Labour. But over the last decade, May Day has fallen from grace, diminished to a conclave of a few committed socialist workers listening to desultory speeches made by a handful of communist relics.
But how different it was this year, equally in Russia as in Europe, signifying a sweeping change in international politics. In Moscow, May Day celebrations were a mere shadow of the former spectacle while in many European cities, protesters went on the rampage. In London, protesters ransacked a McDonalds fast food restaurant. Prime Minister Tony Blair called it "mindless thuggery".
Thuggery it is, but mindless it is not. In most places where violence erupted, the protesters were anti-capitalists for whom globalisation, synonymous with Americanisation, had become a dirty word. And therein lies the message a section of the world is sending out to American thinker Francis Fukuyama and his disciples. In 1989, Fukuyama propounded his dramatic theory that the world had reached the "End of History". He claimed mankind had reached the end of ideological evolution with the triumph of liberal democracy and free-market economics. In the context of the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was perhaps tempting to conclude that liberalism and free markets would from now on inevitably be the "final form of human government".
Its taken just a decade to expose the hollowness of that claim. Protesters on the rampage first in Seattle, then in Washington and now across several European cities clearly prove a backlash is brewing against both free market economy and liberal democracy.
No one can deny the achievements of these two ideologies. Freedom-the primary principle enshrined in both liberal democracy and free market economy-is a wonderful catalyst for mankinds evolutionary achievements. Not surprisingly, recent data has shown that the last 50 years has been one of the most remarkable periods in human history in terms of spreading wealth, conquering hunger, disease and poverty.
So how can one explain this backlash? Because globalisation doesnt only create winners as some led the world to believe. Even in the First World, it creates losers, mostly unskilled, semi-skilled or underqualified workers. Besides, the free market economy that has fuelled the cult of consumerism has created an intolerable gap between what these groups want and what they can get-a precondition for revolutions, according to historian Crane Brinton, whos done a comparative study of the English, French, American and Russian revolutions. These disenchanted groups become ideal fodder to take to the streets. What further aggravates them is the way globalisation has heightened disparity. The rich have become richer and whats worse in their eyes, the rich now have an exciting choice of goodies to indulge in-food, clothes, exotic vacations, lucrative stock options.
Along with this growing global anti-free market phenomenon is the simultaneous growth of opposition to liberal democracy. And May Day happenings in the globe established the convergence of these two phenomena. May Day is celebrated by the Leftists but ironically this year, Ultra Rightists laid claim to celebrations as well in several European cities.
What is significant and dangerous is that across Europe and the US, these right-wing groups have one thing in common-theyre all anti-immigrants, exposing a prejudice contrary to the spirit of liberal democracy. The supporters of these far-right groups are resorting to immigrant-bashing because their aspirational frustrations have made them protectionist. Many European and American workers have come to believe a complete falsehood-that they would have greater access to better jobs and consumerist goodies if immigrants are kept out. On the contrary, unemployment is lowest in areas that have immigrant workers. In the next two years, there will be 350,000 unfilled technology jobs in Germany. Yet there is fierce opposition to Germanys proposal to import 20,000 hi-tech workers, mostly from eastern Europe and India.
Their anti-immigrant stance is helping these groups gain popularity. In Austria, the far-right Freedom Party is part of the ruling coalition. In Spain, Italy and Switzerland, rightists are becoming bolder and in some cases winning more parliamentary seats. As Ruth Dreifuss, the Jewish former Swiss president observed: "Whats new is the return of the repressed. What you couldnt support publicly in the 50s is now completely acceptable." So anti-Semitism and immigrant-bashing have now become socially acceptable and much less politically incorrect.
One solution to this growing backlash against free-market economics and liberal democracy could be a new ideology representing a synthesis of socialism and capitalism, what some would call compassionate conservatism or, as a wag put it, "Thatcherism without the handbag". Western writers call this synthesis the "Third Way" but more appropriate is what former prime minister Narasimha Rao eloquently termed the "Middle Way" in Davos several years ago.
So would the Middle Way represent the End of History? Not likely. The Middle Way, like the seeming triumph of Liberal Democracy and Free Market Economics a decade ago, would in fact represent not the end of mankinds ideological evolution but merely yet another chapter in the saga of our evolutionary process. No ideology is capable of being the Ultimate Truth. Perhaps the only Ultimate Truth is mankinds persistent need for change. Only blinding arrogance can make people believe History has a final resting place.
(All mail can be sent to anitapratap@usa.net)