The G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany, highlights there are an increasing number of people, not just in Germany who are unhappy with the direction the world is going in. Forty years of neo-liberal experimentation have only succeeded in concentrating power and wealth in the hands of a very small minority. When less than 20 people have more wealth at their disposal than the poorest three billion (yes, 3 billion!), you know there is something not right with the world.
Currently we are seeing three forces at work in the world. The G20 leaders represent the deregulation, privatisation, corporatisation, globalisation tsunami that has swept all before it over the past 40 years. The rise of nationalism, religious fundamentalism and racism around the globe is a force that has gathered momentum as people left behind, as a result of the neo-liberal tsunami, look for new ways to assert their authority. Then we have what is happening in Hamburg. Movements that are both inclusive and egalitarian have always been part of human history. Unfortunately, they have been shunted aside as neo-liberalism has gained favour among the growing investment class. The investment class has grown as a result of the passage of legislation in parliamentary democracies and laws in dictatorships that put the interests of investors before the interests of the population as a whole. Around 10% of people have done very well holding onto the coattails of that small section of society that owns the means of population, distribution, exchange and communication. Another 60% have tread water surviving on a lifelong addiction to debt. While around 30% fight among themselves as they try to catch the crumbs brushed off the corporate table.
We are part of that third movement that has attempted to keep the embers of inclusiveness and egalitarianism alive during those dark days when neo-liberalism seemed to be too powerful to face, let alone dislodge. Things are beginning to change. The destruction of the social elevator that allows people to move from one category to the next has been the impetus that has seen so many come out in Hamburg. We are part of an international movement that is beginning to fan the embers of change. Change based on toppling rulers and replacing them with a direct democratic egalitarian sustainable community.
Time is rapidly running out. We either make the change that is needed to create an egalitarian community or we tag along behind strong rulers who beat the nationalist, racist or religious drum attempting to create exclusive communities they control. Whether it’s Daesh in Syria or Iraq, religious fundamentalists in the Southern United States or racists based political parties or movements, the message is the same – follow our rules and you will survive, cross us and you will be excluded, exiled or face death. This three cornered social and political contest will continue to grow as the four horsemen of the postmodern apocalypse – increasing population growth, finite resources, increasing greenhouse emissions due to human activity and the domination of the world economy by an ideology based on creating ever increasing profits for major shareholders irrespective of the human, social, environmental and national costs throws up challenges that need to be met head on for the human race to survive.