Left is right in Madrid

The astonishing success of the far-right National Front in France is part of a global trend challenging establishments. Neither the far-Left nor far-Right have been universally embraced. But the voter everywhere is expressing his exasperation with the two party system which has its apron strings tied to corporates and, thereby, to international finance.

Two-party systems are as old as the hills, but the ones in bad odour with the electorate are part of the post Soviet world order erected directly or indirectly, under American auspices. This world order did not come riding a crest of democracy and human rights. It was brazenly sold as the triumph of the market. Capitalism, it was, that had won.

The popular imagination shaped by the market mythology found the 2008 collapse of capitalism’s citadel, Lehman Brothers, inexplicable. The economic downturn would just not be arrested. The first installment of Manmohan Singh’s prime ministerial year from 2004 to 2009 glided smoothly because not only was the global economy holding but also free market excesses were being kept in check by a large contingent of Left parties supporting the government.

The second term was so badly tainted by corruption and a popular disgust with the Gandhi family that the corporates switched. They mounted the world’s most expensive media campaign which brought Narendra Modi to power. While the corporates imagined Modi would do their bidding (give them unfettered access to, for instances, mines, that tribals jealously guard), the voter experienced a huge anti climax. He had brought down Manmohan Singh and the Gandhi family.

The shocking endorsement of Marine Le Pen by the French voter does not necessarily signal a dark cloud of racism over France. Le Pen is the beneficiary of terrorist attacks in Paris three weeks ago. Had elections taken place in the shadow of some economic debacle, a major corporate scandal, elements of the French Left would have asserted themselves. Electorate in other words is not rushing towards something it likes. It is demonstrating a sense of fatigue with what has been its lot for too long.

Spain’s economic predicament was desperate. Over 55 percent of the under 35 years were unemployed. Its speculative builders had, with government help, built 40 million housing units, more than the total constructed by Britain, France and Germany. The bubble burst in 2009 and angry demonstrators crowded the city squares. The political system imploded. It is in this mood and the shadow of Catalan separatism that Spain awaits its historic general election on December 20.

While Podemos takes heart from the fact that the Communist Party is part of the ruling coalition in Portugal, the compromises made by Styriza, the Communist Party of Greece, have demoralized left forces in Europe. The important point is the widespread disenchantment with the post cold war structures erected in the name of democracy and the unfulfilled promise of never ending boom for the market.

The media may have blacked out Bernie Sanders but he is giving Hillary Clinton the run for her money. Wall Street Journal, reports that 18 to 29 year olds polled by the Harvard Institute of politics prefer anti establishment candidates like Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. While 35 percent favoured Clinton, 41 percent favoured her insurgent challenger Sanders.

By Saeed Naqvi