Mainstream middle ground politics ignores the urgent realities of people and planet

Editorial by Ken Ferguson

On every hand — Tory, Starmer Labour and the increasingly divided SNP — mainstream politicians share one key characteristic, in that they claim to represent the moderate majority. So, as the climate crisis burns out of control, and tens of thousands face poverty pay and a cost of living crisis, our supposed “leaders” cling to the failed system which generated the problems. Thus, in way which recalls the words of the imprisoned Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci: “The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.”

And it is this contradiction between the scale of the twin crisis of people and planet and the abysmal lack of action offered by those elected to deal with it who shrink away from challenging the immense powers driving it preferring stunts and spin to action that lies at the core of the problem. Thus the Tories talk green but oppose virtually all action to deal with climate crisis preferring the option of pumping every drop of oil out of the North Sea despite dire warnings of the impact on global warnings.

Labour, intent on breaking any connection to the Corbyn era, is now getting its sell out in before taking power to ensure that the horses of high finance aren’t frightened or city speculators lose any sleep. Thus, already weak offers on workers rights — essential to tackle bosses attacks — are junked, attempts to reduce city car pollution axed and the much hyped £28billion a year Green New Deal fades to an aspiration years away.

SNP/Greens accept Tory austerity
Meanwhile, the SNP/Green government prepares yet again to implement Tory cuts, meekly accepting London austerity rather than leading demands for the cash needed to deal with the myriad problems in the NHS, transport, poverty, housing and so on.

If they want to, as their election slogan had it to, “Stand up For Scotland then they need to challenge Tory austerity — already set to continue if Labour win — with a needs based budget backed by a public mobilisation to win the resources to meet the urgent problems facing us. Of course a growing sub plot in all of this at Holyrood is the growing chorus from the newly confidant SNP right against the coalition with the under fire Greens with attempts right from the Daily Mail playbook to portray them as far left extremists.

In this enterprise they have the enthusiastic support of the so called “quality” but much diminished Scottish press tail ended by the BBC all objectively bolstering the core of the case for the increasingly decrepit British state. However, this does not mean that the coalition partners are blameless as the climb downs on marine areas and recycling show. Yet the problem is probably best illustrated by the ongoing dispute over heat pumps and gas heating.

Either by accident or design we now have the heat pumps issue portrayed as a demand, by government minister and Green leader Patrick Harvie to sanction those who don’t scrap gas heating by downgrading the valuation of their homes.

Challenge the profiteers
The objective of cutting emissions is of course entirely correct but the heat pumps issue taken alongside the question of low emission zones in cities raise legitimate questions of how it is the be achieved. For the far-right and the pro-capitalist centre, we can anticipate howls of protest each time individual solution involving charges are suggested.

Rather than making it an individual question, the scale of the twin economic and climate crisis demands a collective solution involving, as it must, a direct challenge to the profiteers and in favour of people and planet priorities.

Such an approach would build thousands of houses, hugely expand and make free public transport, insulate homes and rapidly expand production and training of the green industries and goods essential for a Just Transition with a Socialist Green New Deal.

Despite the now prevalent consensus on the need to deal with these problems the fact cannot be avoided that this will require a sharp struggle between the overwhelming majority of humanity and the powerful wealthy minority.

On current evidence which reduces action on the economic and climate crisis to squabbles, slogans and spin there is much to do and ever less time to do it. The key task for the left must be to popularise a programme meeting the urgent needs of people and planet and work to build a mass movement around and supportive of such a programme.

Faced with the puny steps flowing from governments who despite all their brave talk serve the interests of big business only such a mass movement alongside an alliance of protest groups, politics and the organised working class can hope to steer us away from disaster to survival.