Tag: Farewell

‘There is no alternative’. That was the constant refrain of the recently deceased former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Baroness Margaret Thatcher, to vehement protests against the punitive effects for millions of her vicious brand of neo-liberal capitalism. That is why she was nicknamed TINA. In a way Thatcher has been proved right by her demise on April 8. There is indeed no alternative to death. It must sooner or later be the fate of all human beings – mere mortals who, oftentimes, play God. But Thatcher’s inflexible and insensitive policies reduced millions to a living death before their physical transition even as a microscopic minority luxuriated in obscene opulence. The lesson of Thatcher’s leadership and legacy is that there must always be alternatives to socio-economic policies that promote human misery on an industrial scale. Many analysts have commented with approbation on the late Prime Minister’s strong, charismatic, aggressive and bold leadership. Surely, that cannot be denied. She was one of the dominant figures of our contemporary era. But strong leadership should not mean the absence of compassion especially for the weak, underprivileged and infirm. Compassion was a word that could not be found in Thatcher’s iron dictionary. She was aptly called the iron lady and compassion is not one of the attributes of steel.

Like electricity, Margaret Thatcher had no feeling. I have a feeling that if you cut her skin, acid rather than blood would come gushing out. I have no doubt that the world is a poorer, harsher more hostile place because of the policies associated with Thatcher and her ideological soul mate President Ronald Reagan of the United States for over two decades. The current global economic crisis that has plunged millions into ruination is largely a fall out of the extremist neo-liberalism aggressively pursued by Thatcher, Reagan and their policy collaborators. In his book, ‘Towards An Inclusive Democracy’, the political economist, Takis Fotopoulos gives an extensive background into the emergence and character of Thatcherism as a dominant economic paradigm. Between the 1940s and 1970s, the dominant policy paradigm in industrial capitalist states was what he calls the ‘social democratic consensus’ i.e. the Keynesian interventionist state that sought to promote full employment through state manipulation of the market. It sought to bring the market under social and political control and envisioned a compassionate society. Its primary objective was the provision of social security, including education and health, for all from the cradle to the grave. Ironically, Britain was the cradle of this extensive welfarist agenda and it was inaugurated by a conservative dominated coalition government.

Under the ‘social democratic consensus’, the state’s central role in the management of the economy was recognised. Such state intervention kept unemployment unprecedentedly low, promoted relative job security, ensured sustained enlargement of the labour market and engendered faith in continuous economic growth and expansion of the welfare state. How then did this ‘progressive’ consensus collapse leading to the emergence and triumph of the crude conservatism of the Thatcher years? Takis Fotopoulos attributes this to the economic crisis of the 1970s, the collapse of the Bretton Woods system of international finance and the growing internationalization of the global economy among other factors. The unsustainability of the welfare state thus resulted in the wild swing from the excesses of statist welfarism to the extremes of free market fetishism as symbolized principally by Thatcher and Reagan.

Given neo-liberalism’s disdain for what was perceived as “excess democracy” associated with the ‘social democratic consensus’, Thatcher in particular took on the trade unions with a vengeance. She broke the spine of the powerful mine workers union. She undertook an aggressive deregulation of labour and capital markets resulting in massive unemployment and underemployment. Her frenzied privatisation of public enterprises resulted in the concentration of capital in fewer hands while she waged a sustained war against the welfare state and also redistributed taxes in favour of high income groups. No wonder Professor Noam Chomsky of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) noted that under Reagan and Thatcher-type neo-liberalism, “the rich industrial societies increasingly acquired a Third World outlook with islands of extreme wealth and privilege amidst a rising sea of poverty and despair”.

Margaret Thatcher was a social Darwinist to the core. She believed in the survival of the fittest; the poor, weak and infirm could go to blazes. Society owed them no obligation. Indeed, she starkly declared that “There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families”. Of this terrible atomistic view of human community, Jonathan Sacks notes in his book ‘The Politics of Hope’ avers that “It has given rise to a social order – or more precisely, to a social disorder- more bleak than any within living memory. Today, many parts of Britain and America are marked by vandalism, violent crime and a loss of civility; by the breakdown of the family and the widespread neglect of children; by an erosion of trust and a general loss of faith in the power of governments to cure some of our most deep-seated problems; and by a widespread sense that matters crucial to our future welfare are slipping out of control”. That is the legacy of Thatcher’s extreme neo-liberalism.

Some commentators credit Thatcher and Reagan for the collapse of the communist block. That would appear to me to be a simplistic reading of history. Yes, the duo may have played a role. But communism actually imploded from within when, as Marx would put it the extant social relations of production in communist states had become an obstacle to the further development of the productive forces. In any case, whatever their faults, let us never forget the supportive role of the communist states in the liberation of Africa from colonialism including racist apartheid in South Africa. On her part, Thatcher was a staunch supporter of the racist regimes in South Africa and Zimbabwe. If she had her way, Apartheid would still be alive and well in Africa today. Let us also remember that the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP) that virtually destroyed Africa’s economies and made the 1980s a lost decade for the continent were products of the dominant brand of global neo-liberalism championed by Thatcher and Reagan. The cerebral columnist, Professor Ayo Olukotun has rightly wondered why our policy makers remain glued to these failed neo-liberal policies even when they have been thoroughly discredited in those countries that sold them to us. As we bid Thatcher good bye, let us also say farewell to the untenable doctrine of TINA.

Kehinde Bamigbetan: Hope Alive

As at the time of writing this, there was still  no news of the release of the kidnapped Chairman of Ejigbo Local Council Development (LCDA), Mr Kehinde Bamigbetan. Yet, there are high hopes that his captors are set to let him go. The outpouring of emotion following the shocking incident shows how much impact ‘Korky’ as his friends call him, has made in the polity within such a short period. His house in Ejigbo has become a Mecca of sorts with people from all walks of life trooping in to empathise with his distraught wife. The house itself is a symbol of modesty and simplicity, not noticeably different from any middle class structure in the area. That is a reflection of the radical, humanistic ideology that has always informed Bamigbetan’s politics over the years as a student unionist, labour activist and now progressive politician. For those who have worked closely with him, a keen intellect and remarkable coolness under pressure are Kehinde’s key strengths. Surely, by God’s grace ‘Korky’ will soon be back on the beat doing what he knows best – offering selfless public service. But then, this is a wake- up call for Lagos. The Centre of Excellence must not be allowed to become another kidnapper’s paradise. This is another sad reminder of looming state failure in Nigeria. God have mercy.