Making Politics Matter
Wednesday, March 27, 7:30 to 9:00 pm
Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh,
17 West Montgomery Place,
Edinburgh EH7 5HA
Today, we find examples of both the left and the right blaming
political democracy, or ‘bourgeois democracy’ as they call it, as the cause of
the many problems facing people. Some envisage nationalist solutions as in
protectionism, the erection of tariff barriers, a sentiment behind the Brexit
vote. They blame political democracy and elected politicians for not heeding
the popular vote in the referendum. There are those who seek to ‘take back
control’ to try to push through a populist and nationalist agenda.
Today’s politics fail, not because the politicians are
insincere, corrupt or incompetent (as many indeed are) nor because they are not
subject to enough control by those who elected them. It’s because the voters who
elected them set an impossible task, that of making the capitalist economic
system work in the interest of the majority. This can’t be done because the
workings of the capitalist economic system forbid it.
Damage to the environment is now a major threat to the
stability of human life on this planet. We cannot expect the problems to be
solved within capitalism. Consider the fact that this has been on the
international agenda for decade after decade and very little has been achieved;
carbon emissions have increased (and were only temporarily slowed as an effect
of the recession). Governments publicly state that the environment must
come second to the economy. Only in a society where we have the power to
determine what can and cannot be done will we be able to stop this headlong
rush to environmental devastation. That means a world of common ownership and
democratic control. Anything else which anyone offers is merely using an
Elastoplast to seal a volcano.
Only socialism can deliver so come along to this regular discussion meeting and learn why.
No comments:
Post a Comment