Our zeitgeist is one of disenchantment. Few people trust their political masters and, let's face it, why should they? With perhaps a few exceptions, our leaders are utterly shallow figures, devoid of vision and intellect. The void between the political elite and those they claim to represent is staggeringly wide and potentially unbridgeable.
At one point in my life, I would have welcomed this void as an opportunity for “the light to get in”. It would have been a window through which the contradictions of an increasingly unstable and unjust system could have been exposed. And in my more optimistic moments, I might even have viewed it as a springboard to radical and progressive change.
However, the reality of what now fills the void terrifies me.
As a stark reminder that human moral progress is far from linear, we have the (re)emergence of the demagogue in Europe and the US. When postal votes are all there is to prevent a gun toting far right lunatic from assuming the presidency of the country that Hitler was born in, it really is time to worry.
The UK is certainly not immune to this rightward shift. That immigration is a “problem” is now an unquestioned axiom of political discourse. Thanks mainly to the relentless and hate-filled drip feed from large segments of the media, even those on the progressive end of the political spectrum discuss how best this “problem” can be “managed”.
And then there is the pantomime debate over the UK’s membership of the EU. The breathtaking doublethink that allows Boris Johnson et al to portray themselves as defenders of the NHS is just one example of a campaign marred by unprecedented levels of misinformation, downright lies and more than a sprinkling of ugly nationalism.
So what is one to do? What is the role of the self identified progressive in all of this?
My tentative response is that we ought firstly to recognise what is happening and shout as loudly as possible about it to anybody who will listen (and even to those who won't!)
We ought to stand firm and try our hardest to expand the horizon of political discourse. This can start with challenging assumptions about immigrants, or benefit claimants. We ought to do this with pride. Against an increasingly reactionary backdrop, it's easy to doubt oneself. Although it might not feel like it at times, our ideas are correct. Immigrants are not a problem, neither are benefit claimants, Muslims, refugees or whatever “other” is currently in vogue.
The real problem is the political mindset that allows such people to be scapegoated so easily, and it is this that must be confronted head on.
At one point in my life, I would have welcomed this void as an opportunity for “the light to get in”. It would have been a window through which the contradictions of an increasingly unstable and unjust system could have been exposed. And in my more optimistic moments, I might even have viewed it as a springboard to radical and progressive change.
However, the reality of what now fills the void terrifies me.
As a stark reminder that human moral progress is far from linear, we have the (re)emergence of the demagogue in Europe and the US. When postal votes are all there is to prevent a gun toting far right lunatic from assuming the presidency of the country that Hitler was born in, it really is time to worry.
The UK is certainly not immune to this rightward shift. That immigration is a “problem” is now an unquestioned axiom of political discourse. Thanks mainly to the relentless and hate-filled drip feed from large segments of the media, even those on the progressive end of the political spectrum discuss how best this “problem” can be “managed”.
And then there is the pantomime debate over the UK’s membership of the EU. The breathtaking doublethink that allows Boris Johnson et al to portray themselves as defenders of the NHS is just one example of a campaign marred by unprecedented levels of misinformation, downright lies and more than a sprinkling of ugly nationalism.
So what is one to do? What is the role of the self identified progressive in all of this?
My tentative response is that we ought firstly to recognise what is happening and shout as loudly as possible about it to anybody who will listen (and even to those who won't!)
We ought to stand firm and try our hardest to expand the horizon of political discourse. This can start with challenging assumptions about immigrants, or benefit claimants. We ought to do this with pride. Against an increasingly reactionary backdrop, it's easy to doubt oneself. Although it might not feel like it at times, our ideas are correct. Immigrants are not a problem, neither are benefit claimants, Muslims, refugees or whatever “other” is currently in vogue.
The real problem is the political mindset that allows such people to be scapegoated so easily, and it is this that must be confronted head on.