I wouldn’t normally post more than once a week. But a friend of mine has shared an article I think couldn’t be more relevant. The Financial Times’ Janan Ganesh argues that the rise of anti-globalisation right wing populists like Trump and the pro-Brexit campaigners, have inadvertently made social democrats defend the neoliberal global order they used to criticise. He writes:

“If an investment bank threatened to move staff out of Britain in normal political times, the left would drive them to the airport, bundle them on to the plane and arrange a transfer at the other end. The enemies of rootless capital now cite such threats as prima facie evidence against Brexit. Even Goldman Sachs, the cartoon villain of high finance, can count on Labour MPs, and not just Blairite ones, to rue its relocation of workers to Frankfurt and Paris.

This sudden concern for the City of London is only strange until you remember what else the left has come to cherish of late, spurred by the realisation that populists do not. An unexhaustive list includes the European single market, free trade, Nato, America’s role as guarantor of world peace and, ever since President Donald Trump questioned their work, intelligence agencies…. they now realise these are not just a rightwing stitch-up. Instead, they have  reasonable hunch that whatever is opposed by Mr Trump and the wilder edges of the Eurosceptic movement deserves protection.” (https://www.ft.com/content/13a06188-0fc9-11e7-a88c-50ba212dce4d for the full article, they don’t want me to copy everything from their website.)

Now I personally don’t share Mr Ganesh’s enthusiasm for America as the world’s only superpower. I think its time Europe stepped up to the plate, and worked alongside America as its equal. There needs to be more co-operation between the European nations on security issues. The challenges the continent faces- Russian aggression, Islamist terrorism, mass migration and the rise of China- can only be solved if Europe works as a cohesive whole.

But on the whole, I agree with him. By challenging traditional conservative orthodoxies, Trump and the European populist right have made the Left question their own. Most importantly, the Left now realises the limits of state power. When Trump says, “we’re going to take care of everybody” regarding healthcare, he sounds like a socialist. But because he’s Trump, the Left quite rightly distrusts him. Bold promises that intend to apply to everyone are notoriously hard to fulfil, particularly in America where the nature of the political system almost always necessitates compromises.

Where I depart somewhat from Mr Ganesh, is that I don’t think the left should become unabashed defenders of international capital, however much the populist right seems to oppose it. Partly because this would be a strategy that would eventually lead to electoral oblivion. If the Left are just as avid in their defence of the global free market as the conservative right, what is the point in voting for the Left? Clinton did significantly worse than Obama amongst working class voters for this exact reason: he was seen as the friend of the little guy, she was not. And although I share Mr Ganesh’s enthusiasm for globalisation as a whole, economic globalisation included, you would have to be incredibly oblivious and out-of-touch not to notice it has left some people behind. I think Bernie Sanders’ beloved Denmark probably has it right. On the one hand, it embraces the EU, NATO, free trade, co-operation with America, and other aspects of the liberal world order the socialist left despises. But it balances its liberalism with a strong social welfare system, and a high degree of localism. The right-wing populists’ aversion to globalisation may be socially regressive and economically illiterate. But to dismiss the concerns of its voters out of hand would be a grave mistake. Working class communities ought to be empowered, and need to feel that they can control their own destinies.