In These New Times

The Big Picture, A Short, Simplified Version

September 13, 2009

By Paul Anderson

“There must be some kind of way out of here
Said the joker to the thief
Theres too much confusion
I can’t get no relief”
Bob Dylan “All Along the Watch Tower”

If anything expresses the zeitgeist or world spirit, it is our apparent lack of direction.
The collapse of the Soviet Union which signaled the triumph of US imperialism and what Fukuyama called ” The End of History”, accelerated the relentless forward march of neoliberalism and privatizations which was a large victory against erstwhile socialist aspirations born from rebellion against poverty throughout the world. Beforehand, the road to freedom was relatively clear. Workers of the world united, smashed the state machine, and brought about a worker controlled planned economy with the proviso that it was democratic and scorned all Stalinist or counter revolutionary practices. This was the paradigm that informed left debate since Marx.

Somehow, as Hegel explained as a theory of development of knowledge: that human knowledge does not evolve in a straight line but more like a spiral sometimes moving backward towards barbarism.
The leftist paradigm has largely revealed itself to be inadequate.

There are not many on the left speaking about the “dictatorship of the proletariat” just as “the end of history” does not come much into right wing thinking today. There has been a gradual change of paradigm.
This corresponds to the end of the era of imperialism, in which there is a historical coincidence of left and right agendas.
In this new left and right alliance, both “traditions” contain baggages from the past. These are largely philosophical and full of redundant cold war precepts but in essence the camps are divided along the old grounds of economic structural forms. Where there is unity is on anti-imperialism. This has involved opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In this the right wing isolationists have in general a less sectarian attitude and are genuinely disappointed by the failures of the anti-war movement.
As with the left, there are also divisions among the isolationists over the 9/11 truth movement. Some are “truthers” and others play a gatekeeping role by stigmatizing the 9/11 movement as a whole as lunatic. Others say little. It is as if they refuse to see the role of 9/11 in bringing about the “war on terror” or why the 9/11 commission’s report was a travesty of justice.
Nevertheless, there is a general anti-imperialist plank that has emerged over the years and has a few noteworthy individuals. To name a few, republican presidential candidate nomination Ron Paul, Democrat presidential candidate nominee Denis Kucinich, Alex Jones prominent 9/11 spokesperson, Cindy Sheehan, antiwar leader, and Justin Raimondo libertarian journalist and editor of Antiwar.com. There is of course Noam Chomsky and Noami Klein.

This anti-imperialist plank is a broad church and includes much of the left and prominent greens Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader.

There is little in the UK which reflects the energy of anti-imperialism in the US and what is in place is but a pale reflection. The Stop the War coalition, partly because of media bias , partly because a lack of leadership, has not played a prominent role in British politics. Deeper than this is the bizarre fact that British isolationism is directed toward Europe rather than the British role as a partner in US imperialism. Never paying attention to the strategy of bring world closer to peace by stopping the UK from doing America’s dirty work in Europe.

Europe itself is misunderstood as an entity. Europe is a victim of neoliberalism, the so-called PIGS, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain went the way of housing bubbles and bad debts. France and Germany have  less problems due to relatively higher resistance to the neoliberal model. Europe is best understood as a battleground between Anglo American imperialism and the rising multipolar world led by the BRIC countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China.

This struggle is ultimately about power. The idea of a super power is becoming an anachronism. This is reflected in the financial crisis. As the French President Sarkozy said “A multi-polar world can’t count on only one currency.”

Much of the paradigm shift has been away from a Marxist view of class polarity. What has emerged is a financial oligarchy destroying both industry and jobs. One need only look at where the bailouts have gone: to failing banks not failing industry.

The idea that finance serves industry has been reversed.

It is hardly surprising that such topsy turvy conditions have produced corruption akin to treachery.
In short , in Jim Willie’s words “We are witnessing the demise of the US-UK empire, a era built upon banker monopoly, engineered inflation, Wall Street power, economic mythology, and military prowess. “

Incidently, the dominance of the military in most areas of science has had a significant side effect and has given them a large say over the regulation of our communication industry, and the spin off mobile phone industry. They are involved in the investigation of Colony Collapse Disorder which is decimating the world’s bee population. Evidence that points to mobile phones as the culprit is being ignored. Many scientists are saying that the demise of our pollinators is more dangerous to the survival of humanity than climate change.