Is this the political age of easy answers?
(Originally published by the Guardian)
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Jeremy Corbyn's victory has shaken up the political landscape |
Jeremy Corbyn’s victory in the Labour leadership election on
Saturday confirmed what many have suspected for some time: the political
landscape is changing. Corbyn’s rapid rise from backbench obscurity to Leader
of the Opposition is consistent with a global trend. From Podemos in Spain to
Bernie Sanders in the US, all around the world mass movements are forming
around leaders with political messages which are radically different from the
status quo.
Yet not everyone is convinced by ‘the new politics’ with
some observers arguing that populist leaders are selling the public oversimplified
slogans rather than providing proper solutions to complex problems. An
enthusiastic debate in Manchester Central Library brought together four politically
diverse panellists to debate for and against the motion: This is the age of political easy answers.
For
Vanda Murray,
business leader: Public faith in politicians has fallen to an all-time low.
According to one MORI
poll more than 80% of voters say they can’t trust their leaders to tell the
truth – a lower score than real estate agents and even bankers. This, Murray
says, has caused large numbers of people to turn to ‘soundbite politics’ from
leaders who appear more genuine than their centrist rivals yet offer only empty
promises. “While it’s easy for them
to reel off thumping soundbites the people trying to find actual answers to
national problems in a global context are ploughing a tougher furrow,” she
warned.
While Murray acknowledged that Corbyn has managed to capture
the nation’s attention, she questioned what his radical approach would mean for
the business world. “The business community is unsure how all of this will pan
out,” she said. “Politicians and business leaders should work in collaboration;
we need a strong economy creating good jobs. The politics of easy answers and
business bashing rhetoric for the sake of a shock newspaper headline doesn’t do
anyone any good.”
Tristram Hunt, Labour
MP: Last week Tristam Hunt ruled
himself out of serving in Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet citing irreconcilable
policy differences with his leader. So it was perhaps unsurprising to hear the
MP for Stoke express some scepticism of ‘Corbynmania’ and other similar
movements. History, Hunt argued, is
littered with populist eras in which leaders sell simple slogans amid a wave of
public hysteria before succumbing to the complex reality of business as usual
politics.
“This history of complexity and populism, from black and white to
grey, has a long history on the left and we are, I would suggest to you, in one
of those black and white moments,” he said. One audience member, who described herself as an ‘Anyone but
Corbyn’ Labour activist echoed the sentiment: “There’s nothing new about the
new politics, I’ve heard it millions of times in my lifetime, never mind
before,” she said, “Isn’t it just another form of easy answers and
anti-politics?”
Against
Seumas Milne,
Guardian writer: According to Milne, the rise of the likes of Corbyn,
Sanders and Podemos must be understood within the context of a global backlash
against established economics. “For 30 years we have had neoliberal economic
policies of deregulation, privatisation, low taxes on the rich and unrestrained
corporate power,” he explained.
Seen in the light of growing inequality, job insecurity and
the financial crash of 2008, Milne contended it is reductive and patronising to
dismiss progressive movements as merely disgruntled people seeking easy answers.
Instead they should be seen as a justified reaction to austerity and economic
policies which punish the poor for the mistakes of the rich: “Outsourcing,
privatisation and these core policies that are continuing to drive the
austerity period simply don’t work for the majority of people,” he insisted.
Douglas Carswell,
UKIP MP: Milne found an unusual ally in Douglas Carswell, who agreed that the
mood of “political insurgency” running throughout the west had deeper roots
than their rival panellists would allow. “Something profound is going on and
those in Westminster can’t understand it because they’re part of the
problem...We ought to ask why it is that people feel disaffected not what is
wrong with the people who feel this disaffection.”
Much of this political malaise was channelled into four
million votes
for Carswell’s party at the general elections. However, the MP said these
voters were not seeking easy answers rather they were angry that mainstream
politics has become “a cartel run for vested interests.” He argued the new
found enthusiasm for politics should be welcomed, but warned it should not
descend into blaming sections of the population - whether migrants or rich
people – for the ills of society.
“Political insurgency must not be about blaming the other,
it needs to be optimistic. This country is getting better in so many ways but
the one way in which it hasn’t got better is the way we do politics.”
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