Right wing’s ‘enemy’ is within
Richard Calland’s opinion piece “Age of uncertainty and paradox” (August 12) reveals his bias. The article is l aced with a broad spectrum of villains. His criticisms lack substance and for the most part consist of ad hominem attacks on the individuals of whom he disapproves. Aspirant United States president Donald Trump, former United Kingdom Independent Party leader Nigel Farage and the Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema are anti-Establishment weirdos.
Calland makes his bias clear when he smears Trump as a grotesque example of crass Anglo-capitalism and a crude nationalist. This is compared with the internationalism, whatever that is, of Hillary Clinton, clearly his preferred choice.
Calland asserts that Western leadership is no longer trusted by its electorate. Why the surprise, considering the wars we have been led into after being fed a catalogue of lies about the threat of imminent nuclear attack, at the time, from Iraq, followed by the disasters in Libya and Syria?
Far from our lives being made safe from terrorism, we are now infinitely more vulnerable than before former US president George W Bush and former British prime minister Tony Blair worked their intrigues into world affairs. Yes, most certainly our trust in politicians is at its lowest ebb, the root of our uncertainty.
He further laments that “the left is in crisis” and “all new ideas come from the right”. Oh, is that so? It’s the right that frogmarched us into Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. The right has given us Syria, Islamic State and the refugees flooding into Europe. It’s the right that is moving Nato ever closer to the Russian border and conducting military exercises there.
It’s the right that conducts trade talks in secret, then expects the electorates to blindly accept the outcomes. So, what’s new about this?
Right-wing policies masquerade under the paradoxical banner of neoliberalism. Well, to paraphrase Noam Chomsky, its ideas are neither new nor are they liberal. So, when commentators such as Calland refer to Russian President Vladimir Putin as a raving lunatic, what agenda is he trying to foist on us? Is he perhaps an “embedded” journalist, one that punts the right message? For the right wing to justify itself, it needs an enemy, then it needs to spread its message. Is this where Calland fits in?
Our age of uncertainty and paradox is brought about by the failed policies of the right. Examine the record. Economic deregulation leading to massive casino-style speculation by the banks, quantitative easing, spiralling debt, wars on terror, wars on drugs, total upheaval in the Middle East that’s bequeathed us a refugee crisis and the Islamic State, the invention of Russian and Chinese security threats, secret trade deals, plutocracy in the US, where money power calls the tune.
Calland calls for one, just one new idea from the left. Well, how about breaking the bipartisan political system in the US?