Resurgent of socialism in a different facet
Last month, Oxfam published a report saying 26 richest persons in the world hold wealth equivalent to poorest 50 per cent. The world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon, saw his fortune increase to $112bn in a year. Just one per cent of his fortune is equivalent to the whole health budget for Ethiopia, a country of 105 million people.
The continued concentration of world’s wealth to a few limited individuals in the last few decades is creating bigger poor population. This population is vulnerable to any form of exploitations. Their livelihood is threated by the smallest changes in the market and abrupt decisions of the billionaires.
The inequality is growing. Many blame this for capitalist policies where state favours rich and ignores poor. Is the western democracy heading to social crisis created by capitalism?
In recent years, a plethora of books lamenting this crisis are in the market attracting sympathy of larger mass: How Democracies Die, How Democracy Ends, The People vs Democracy, Fascism: A Warning, The Myth of Capitalism: Monopolies and the Death of Competition, Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World etc.
Heightened portrayal of capitalism’s bad picture and rising inequality has opened discourse among the young thinkers to seek alternative political system where equality may exist.
The latest issue of The Economist headlined, ‘The Rise of Millennial Socialism’. And gradually, the political landscape is shifting to these voters’ enclave. In 30 years since the collapse of Berlin Wall and Soviet Union, socialism has resurfaced into the main stage again.
Political ignominies in the western democracies, post financial crisis accompanied by the emergence of China as a major economic power, as well as an unfolding environmental calamities — have utterly devastated these post-1989 assumptions about free markets and the role of governments.
The left leaning politics and popularity among younger population is further encouraged by America’s socialist presidential contenders such as Democrat Barnie Sanders. According to Gallup poll last year, 57 per cent of Democrats favoured socialism in US while similar poll by YouGov in Australia showed 58 per cent of Australian millennials favour socialism.
Britain’s socialist Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn favoured now troubled Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. A few others in this labour party have recently expressed their appreciation of Karl Marx and Mao Zedong.
New Zealand’s most popular prime minister in recent years, Jacinda Ardern has called capitalism ‘a blatant failure’. If socialism is populist now, that’s where politicians usually rush.
This new generation of socialists are not communists but are liberals supporting democratic principles, civil rights, freedom and social equality. This is the population who have faced troubles in making their good livelihood through employment while rising profits continue to concentrate in a few people. This is the generation fed with the political culture of exploiting working class and natural resources benefiting only a few.
This is not communism as in North Korea or Cuba where one individual hold the power for lifelong and is transferred to a family member. China is not communist anymore – despite the name ruling party holds. Not to forget, transfer of power family members in politics is not just in communism but in capitalism too. Bush family in US and Downer family is Australia are some instances.
The immediate future course is very likely for liberal socialism where politics is all about ethnics and service not about power and money. Down the tract, the action of these future leaders – the millennials – would shape the political course if capitalism needs revival.