At the Al Jazeera website, writer and activist Lorenzo Marsili argues that one fundamental reason far-right political forces are gaining power and influence around the globe, while progressive forces struggle to keep up, is that the latter lack a clear utopian vision. While far-right figures like Steve Bannon and Matteo Salvini offer a vision of closed borders and white nationalism, left-wing figures and movements have largely neglected to offer a competing utopian vision. As Marsili writes, “We need a movement of ideas able to shape public debate, inspire artistic creation, and run for office.” Here’s an excerpt from his piece:
It is hardly coincidental that Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, has decided to set up a new foundation, ambitiously called “The Movement”, to support far-right parties in advance of the May 2019 European Parliament elections.
This will be a litmus test for the state of democracy worldwide, touching nearly 500 million people in 27 democracies. The plan is simple. Turn the European elections into a confrontation between enthusiastic supporters of a new world order and tired defenders of the bygone world of yesterday: the strategy that worked so well in the race between Trump and Hillary Clinton.
There is only one way to respond. And that is to finally formulate an all-encompassing vision for a new world beyond the demise of neoliberalism. We need a visionary blueprint of change touching some of the most pressing global issues of our time with the sort of disruptive ideas that would have been deemed unthinkable in the old system: policies like universal income, job guarantee, technological sovereignty, closure of tax heavens, a common international asylum system, ecological transformation and redistribution within and between countries.
Image via DiEM25.org.
