While it might be ideal to focus our efforts directly and exclusively on combatting Climate Change, the reality is that Global Warming, the increasing extinction of species and the wanton disposal of waste all sit on top of a pyramid. At the base of this pyramid are the theory and practices of Neoliberalism around the world. It appears that unless and until action is taken to deal with Neoliberalism, it will be like swimming against the current in our efforts to be successful in dealing with Climate Change.
David Harvey in his book, "A Brief History of Neoliberalism," does an effective job of making the connection between human-induced Climate Change, the degradation of Nature and the advent of Neoliberalism on the global stage. He points to the late 1970's as the time when Global Warming became more prominent which is also the time when Margaret Thatcher in the UK and Ronald Reagan in the U.S. brought Neoliberalism front and center on the Global stage.
Harvey cites the roll back of the regulatory framework designed to protect labor and the environment as a result of Neoliberal policies. He states that the era of Neoliberalism is the era of the fastest extinction of species in the Earth's recent history.
What is it about Neoliberalism that enables it to have this effect?
Harvey points out that under Neoliberalism, the market exchange is an ethic in itself which wants to draw all human action into the domain of the market. The market will act as an appropriate guide - an ethic for all human action. From his perspective, Neoliberalism allows the market mechanism to be the sole director of the fate of human beings and their natural environment. In supporting the freedom of the market, enterprise and trade, Neoliberalism seeks the privatization of assets. Individual freedoms are guaranteed by this freedom of the market. Neoliberalism asserts that the resulting increase in productivity should deliver higher standards of living to everyone.
In the book, Harvey provides the background of Neoliberalism. It ultimately grew out of the Bretton Woods Conference after World War II which attempted to construct a new world order following the war. The economic practices in vogue in the aftermath of this conference were Keynesian in nature. However, Neoliberal theory was waiting in the wings and after the crisis of capital accumulation and inflation in the 1970's which threatened the wealth of the upper classes, Thatcher moved to reform the British economy and the U.S. moved away from the New Deal practices that Franklin Roosevelt had implemented following the Great Depression. Harvey comments, "and so began the momentous shift towards greater social inequality and the restoration of economic power to the upper class."
All of these paths converged into the "Washington Consensus" in the 1990's. The resulting Neoliberal economy became so entrenched that neither Tony Blair in the UK nor Bill Clinton in the U.S. could move beyond it. In fact, it appears that in terms of Clinton, he accepted and acted within the underlying principles of Neoliberalism.
As with Blair and Clinton, so with the rest of us - we have acted as if the Neoliberal system is not open to question. We have accepted the Neoliberal economic principles as if they had almost scientific validity. This state of affairs appears to be continuing. As Harvey points out, there does not seem to be a global discourse focusing on this state of affairs.
As long as the role of Neoliberalism remains unquestioned, progress on combatting Climate Change will be made more difficult. Harvey lays out a number of lines of argument that support this. He points out how the intense focus on the unrestrained freedom of the market coupled with the non-interventionist ideology of Neoliberalism has opened up public lands and natural resources to unrestrained economic activity. He refers to this as the commoditization of nature.
He lays out a detailed argument how following the Neoliberal agenda of debt restructuring around the world by the IMF and the World Bank at the behest of financial houses in the U.S. countries and their peoples have been plunged into severe financial straits. This, in turn, has resulted in the privatization and selling off of forests. The poor have themselves burned away forests as a result of seeking fuel for use in their own lives.
Harvey details how the advent of Neoliberalism has resulted in huge income and wealth inequities around the world from the U.S. and UK to Russia and China.
One of the key points in his book is that Neoliberalism had the original intent and the ultimate result of wealth accumulation for the upper classes and in spite of what was set out, not the creation of wealth for anyone else. "There is abundant evidence that Neoliberal theory and rhetoric (particularly the political rhetoric concerning liberty and freedom) has also all along primarily functioned as a mask for practices that are all about the maintenance, reconstitution and restoration of elite class power."
The Trojan Horse of Neoliberalism has been its paean to individual freedom. As Harvey points out, "any political movement that holds individual freedoms to be sacrosanct is vulnerable to incorporation into the Neoliberal fold." Thus, it has not been difficult to integrate neoliberal values into the common sense of people generally, and much of the workforce. In reality, the idea of "freedom" has been reduced to "freedom of enterprise," Harvey says. Once that happened, it was just another short step to the commoditization of everything - the environment, workers, people.
Part of this commoditization has been that people became disposable contract workers or as we refer to them these days "human capital." This is connected to the reversal of rights to welfare, healthcare, pensions. Harvey points out, "all global indicators on health levels, life expectancy, infant mortality and the like show losses rather than gains in well-being since the 1960's. What we got in return is the inducement to rely on consumer culture - as reflected in the belief that "I shop, therefore I am." What is lost is the deeper sense of the complexities of people and workers - with needs, skills, interests, desires, hopes and ambitions and the networks of social relations in which they are embedded.
Looking again at the bottom of the pyramid, Harvey points out that there is a conversation - a discourse, that needs to occur. Certainly, one part of this is to recognize that Neoliberalism has failed in every respect but to support the wealth accumulation of a very few. Another is to recognize the internal inconsistencies in Neoliberal ideology and practice that support the responsibility and accountability of the individual and non-interference by the State while at the same time, allowing state action to prop up banks and financial houses and the economy when their actions lead to difficulties. This is not a benefit it accords to the individual in need of unemployment insurance or welfare. Though the rhetoric of Neoliberalism supports increasing productivity, most often benefit to the financiers is chosen over corporate productivity.
Another aspect of the needed discourse pertains to which of several divergent concepts of freedom might be appropriate for our times. Harvey suggests several beginning with Roosevelt's "Freedom from want." He continues suggesting other freedoms and rights: the right to life chances; good governance; control over production by the direct producer; the inviolability and integrity of the human body; decent and healthy living environment; and collective control of common property resources.
Not to have this conversation, he says is to accept that we have no alternative except to live under a regime of endless capital accumulation and economic growth no matter what the social, ecological or political consequences.
Taking a step back to view the entire pyramid helps to make clear the importance of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) which go beyond addressing the important area of the environment to also focus on inequities and other types of rights around the world. It also brings into a new focus the approach now being proposed in the U.S. for an encompassing "Green New Deal" which is a reflection of Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930's. I imagine that Harvey would say that only by dealing with the entire pyramid can we hope to be successful in combatting Climate Change.
Comments