Beyond the politics of fear

Date: 12 May 2015

The outcome of the 2015 election is that myopia, fear and scare tactics have triumphed over an outward looking, hopeful vision of what we could achieve in the world. To be sure there were moments of light: women dominating political debates and the promise that we stop haemorrhaging wealth on weapons of mass destruction. Half way through the campaign, and despite a discourse of demonisation, the government was forced into a U-turn by a public outcry from the many people who refused to watch hundreds of desperate fellow humans drown in the Mediterranean.

But a deeper fear, based on dark fairytales of the ‘other’ (the radical Scots, the immigrants, public spending to help the vulnerable) increasingly silenced hope.

This election should have been dominated by really pressing issues: The tiny amount of time we have left to stop runaway climate change, reducing historically unprecedented levels of inequality, controlling the financial masters of the universe whose activities threaten to unleash more economic chaos and impoverishment, challenging the corporate power which is subverting our democracy and turning every imaginable human need into a commodity.

Instead we are now faced with a raft of policies that will exacerbate these problems. The new government is hell bent on the most extreme version of TTIP which will hand vast new powers to big business at our expense. And there’s more. An aid budget increasingly privatised to bolster corporate profits. Eye-watering cuts to the welfare state accompanying outsourcing of public services to big business. Expansion of fracking and scaling back of windfarms. More agribusiness thanks to less ‘red tape’, more GM and more chemicals in pesticides. Indeed, there is a real prospect that the upcoming Queen’s Speech will contain a proposal to abolish the Human Rights Act.

It is no wonder we look with trepidation to the future. But this state of affairs is not the fault of one political party, and nor will it be solved by another election which simply goes ‘the other way’. All big political parties need to take their share of the blame for feeding a discourse which is fixated on the market, at the behest of big business, which promotes fear and hate in order to maintain privilege, power and the current order.

We need to challenge their assumptions. And we need to confront the puppet masters in the worlds of finance, big business and the media, just as much as the politicians. The truth is that positive and outward looking political solutions were not put before the majority of people in this election – at least not with the balance required – and that is not an accident. That will not happen, unless we can make our voices loud enough to hear over the babble of personality politics peddled by the corporate media.

What do we want to say? None of our world’s problems have easy answers. But there are movements and models that show that it is possible to challenge the manmade processes which drive poverty, inequality and climate change. And what’s more, the solution isn’t austerity. In fact the alternatives out there point to a world driven by meeting human needs and realising human rights. They point to decent, publically controlled services. They point to economies where big decisions are made democratically, not left to the most wealthy in the market. We glimpsed this in the election, but the story of hope never got a real running against the story of fear.

We can tell a different story about our society, about human beings. We can connect global visions with a concrete belief in a different world here in Europe. Whether it’s solidarity healthcare and education in Greece, deeply democratic form of politics in Spain or vibrant movements for land reform in Scotland – the alternative is out there, at this moment, closer than we think.

Of course it isn’t just a matter of information and communication. We are arguing for an alternative ways of doing things which builds on different values within our society. And we have many allies – in faith communities, in trade unions, in local community organisations, in the alternative media, among some of the really good new MPs elected to parliament. We need to build a movement capable of pushing these ideas into reality – whoever is in government. To build that movement we need to join others. To build links, to build understanding, to build community. We need to offer hope and vision, but most of all solidarity and support.

Global Justice Now is not the answer to every problem in the world or even in the UK. But we do believe in long-term change and we do believe in the importance of bringing people together to make that change. We don’t just want a few different policies here and there – we want a world based on community, solidarity and hope, rather than selfishness, greed and fear. 

So if you want things to change, then join us. On bad days, we feel alone, hopeless and tired. But we are not alone. We are many – in Britain, in Europe and in the world.

If you’re already a member – get active. We have a strong network of local groups across the country. You can join one or start your own. We’re also trying to form a broader action network to connect people across the country who want to get more active. If you’re interested, let us know.

Finally, on some of the most important campaigns we’re running, we can still succeed. Our campaign against TTIP has gone from strength to strength. In a month, the European parliament has an important vote on this toxic deal – we think we can win it. Around the country, NoTTIP groups are springing up all the time, changing public perceptions on who controls our society. If you’d like to get more involved with the campaign, sign up here.

The problems the world faces are too important, creating too much suffering, for us to ignore. We can make a difference which not only challenges bad policies but changes our whole political culture. But things will only move, when we move.