I actually suspect the process is already fermenting to a certain degree within the Netherlands - the left is winning. But it is also losing. The evidence of a failing neoliberal policy is also beginning to show the other side of the coin: rampant nationalism and xenophobia. In other words: blame the funny looking ones.
As has been noticed various times: the centre is dying in Europe and the masses split in half. In Netherlands this is no exception: one part moves to the left (the rise of the Socialist Party in the Netherlands is the example) and one part to the right.
Socialist Party definitely moves the overton window back to the left. But then there is the other side: Geert Wilders and its lot who, by replacing the now practically abolished Pim Fortuyn party, actually moved further to the right. Their message is populist and thrives on xenophobia and, like the Socialist Party, targets the common man. However, the program actually exacerbates the neoliberal frame - but that's okay as long as we get rid of those pesky foreigners. As the press is now openly printing Wilder's frothing ravings, Jerome's point also comes into play.
I want to propose a new left concensus around co-operatives and the creation of specifically non-authoritarian democratic institutions, but I simply don't have the socio-political or philosophical background to do it. I can put up bullet points and ideas, but creating a newly minted ideology is beyond me I'm afraid. keep to the Fen Causeway
A new ideology? Do we need one past simply rebalancing things? The problem, really, is that we've let the system get out of balance in several ways. We need to fix that.
I'm not the sort of person who can survive a conformist society, if there's no space at the edges I don't want your future in my backyard. And the argument last night about gay people in cuba was ridiculous, of course ALL communist societies regard gays as degenerate. Any society that idealises the people whilst treating the individuals like shit cannot bear to have its iconography mocked. It's only societies that allege to be free that have to face their hypocrisy. keep to the Fen Causeway
But his theoretical solutions were IMHO never based upon correct assumptions in relation to Reality, and via the wonders of Dialectics, he flew, like the Oozlum Bird, in ever decreasing circles until he disappeared where the Sun does not shine. "Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky
The thing about this is that if the politcal system can achieve this end, you can have evolution rather than revolution.
All people want meaning in their life. You either find that in building yourself up, or tearing others down. If you can't find a sense of self worth through work and raising your family up in relative equality, maybe you turn to race and religion, and a clash of cultures. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
