2020 will go down as A Crunch Year
Just like 1945 and 1989. A radical rejection of what is to come is necessary.
The COVID-19 pandemic raises fundamental questions about human society and its future. It puts neoliberal capitalism in an unprecedented stark light and forces us to rethink the relationship between economics and ecology, issues such as care and solidarity, ethics, and morality. COVID-19 is also the igniter of an unprecedented global economic and social crisis — resulting in millions of unemployed people, immense poverty, and geopolitical tensions.
Many people point out that we cannot continue on the same path, which is true. Even those who usually call for moderation or who recently embraced neoliberalism. Some believe it is the end of neoliberalism. Others are more pessimistic.
We can not unsee it: something is going on. The US elections will be crucial.
2020 will go down in history as a crunch year, like 1945 or 1989.
We are living through #EndGame-times. Political, social, economical, and ecological;
The radical rightwing Trump-era, the climate catastrophe, the COVID-19 pandemic, the rising inequality, the ongoing #BlackLivesMatters-protests: there all intertwined and connected. A second Trump term would be ‘game over’ for the climate. It’ll mean an oppressive reaction to democratic protesting. It will resonate worldwide, on a political and economic scale of democratic one to fascist ten.
A radical rejection of what comes
First, on a social level
So, we must prepare for a storm that is coming. That storm will attempt to close the door again and lock everything so that capital accumulation can go on unhindered after we get through all this—business as usual.
With a second Trump term, it'll be just that. And it will be devastating for labor, the environment, and democracy. Averting a climate catastrophe on a global scale would be impossible if Mr. Trump gets reelected.
Next to that, we can expect years of unprecedented austerity measures and a worldwide drop in wages, benefits, and pensions. While in 2008, bankers got blamed for the crisis, the financial sector (and more generally, the contradictions of capitalism) are left out of the picture.
There is no doubt: a radical rejection of what is to come is necessary. But who do we count on when it comes to opposing those measures? Who will fight for a different social order, in which capitalist violence — poverty, dehumanization, carelessness, insecurity, ecological destruction — is no longer accepted?
And how are we going to organize this resistance, aimed at power formation and structural change? That can only be the work of the workers’ movement and other social movements, despite their current limitations.
In short, it begs the question of who is historically best positioned to bring about radical social change. Which social class can organize this change? That is not primarily the intellectuals. You know, us, people who read and write on Medium. People who read, on average, three newspapers a day. Thinkers and writers who try to debate, argue and persuade others with their convictions.
However loudly they call not to accept the status quo or its restoration, the corona crisis forces us to think about the working class in the broadest sense of the word — including the white men in shirts. I see that writers and activists like Umair Haque and Lauren Martinchek are doing this actively, which is good.
Second, on an economic and political level.
This working-class-approach must be transnational and continuously increasing in size. “This is the Way.” With the globalization of production, there are increasingly intensive and intertwined connections, but there is also an even greater differentiation. High-quality skilled labor occurs in Europe and the US, while precarious work is situated in South and Eastern Europe and the Global South.
The result? Extreme inequality. The destruction of the environment. Deregulation. Exclusion. And an ongoing institutionalization of racism. We are dealing with a political, social, and economic problem. Inequality is one of the main issues were are facing in the 21st century.
The working class is not primarily responsible for the exploitation of the global south. But another fact cannot be left unspoken. Inequality is not a new phenomenon or only emerged in neoliberal capitalism. Aristotle wrote about it. Thomas Aquinas thought about it.
But there is still a sort of apathy and indifference regarding this subject that is especially life-threatening nowadays. Because of this, ‘I don’t care’-attitude populists like Trump, Johnson, and Bolsonaro could arise. We need to stop making suffering acceptable on a large scale. It is worth remembering that the mass of ordinary people is not responsible for decisions that led to these deprived circumstances.
Those in power are. Their neoliberal, capitalist ideology structures a culture of rights and duties around the notion of non-interference and individual responsibility. In that context, there is nothing indecent about indifference to calamities and others' suffering; it is a legitimate moral behavior. And yes, in that way of thinking, there is room for empathy and charity. But it is a little decent extra, nothing more.
At its core, neoliberalism propagates a culture of moral indifference. This should not surprise anyone because it defends an economic formation that justifies the idea that an individual's wealth is obtained through the oppression and (extreme) exploitation of large parts of the world population and the planet. So let us be clear: those who live by this ethic cannot be expected to rescue people in need.
That’s why we need a radical new way of shaping a good and healthy society for the people and our planet.
Third, on an ecological scale
The most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests that we only have ten years left to drastically cut fossil fuels to limit global warming and be kept to a maximum of 1.5C. So, this means a radical change. Now.
Even half a degree will worsen the risks of drought, floods, extreme heat, and poverty for hundreds of millions of people. Changing rainfall patterns threaten grain production worldwide, such as wheat, corn, and rice. By 2070, as many as half a billion people are at risk of being affected by “humid heatwaves that will kill even healthy people in the shade within six hours,” the so-called Wet Bulb Temperature.
It is time for a radical change. You don’t have to be a socialist to see that it is high time to undertake a quasi-revolutionary approach. We need rapid, far-reaching, and unprecedented changes in all aspects of our lives. We need a complete revolution in our energy system. Yes, we need vital adjustments within our economic system.
Something like that does not happen without a struggle.
Ever since the famous Rome Report of 1972, Limits to growth, the climate issue has been on the political and social agenda. But we are now approaching our #Endgame. The choices that will be made will have far-reaching consequences for generations to come.
An alternative ethics
This economical, social, political, ecological, and health crisis is far-reaching and unprecedented. On the one hand, we are witnessing something of an alternative ethic that is becoming more visible, in the idea of mutual care and help, forms of solidarity that help people in need and save lives. These are points of light in the darkness of the usual indifference.
On the other hand, extreme ideas and populist right-wing ideologies are on the rise. Next to that, we are living in the golden age of conspiracy theories. They occupy an increasingly commonplace part of mainstream political discourse.
So it’s up to the left. The left represents a tradition of humanity versus barbarism. That is why I say: We need a new social contract, new humanities. What new ideas and initiatives, what new forms of communication and organization must the left develop to shape this power?
We are in dire need of a world where there is more happiness, compassion, solidarity, empathy, wealth for the many, satisfaction, love, and meaning for everyone.
Every major change started with a thought, a vision, or a dream.
We must act now. It is up to us to realize these actions. Especially after what all witnessed in 2020. Especially with the US presidential elections to come. We need to create our future together. And it takes courage to ground such a future in the present, in the things that are happening.
But we must. We must put our trust in a tomorrow that is not so easily predicted from this past. We must radically rethink the way we live. We are living in these #EndGame-times. It is time to stand our ground together.
This system, this way of life, this approach fails us, fails our planet and fails every living thing in our world. The COVID-19 pandemic is just a prelude to what is to come.
We need to be prepared.
A fight is needed for a more radical politics outside the known order.
