A man wearing a face mask passes the Karl Marx Monument in the centre of Chemnitz. PHOTO: GETTY

Covid-19 infects neoliberalism: Is the state making a comeback? – Part II

Covid-19 has exacerbated the preexisting economic crisis and revealed the impotencies of the capitalist order

Fatima Laraib April 17, 2020

Read Part I in this series here.


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For five decades conservative neoliberalism, the most faithful denomination of the capitalist creed, has demonstrated an outstanding resolve in denying the social and environmental calamities borne out of itself. This denial is usually laced with a paranoia of a leftist takeover. It does not blot out its contempt and explicit suspicion for any policy – climate change or welfare state – that attempts to rightfully regulate or control the behemothic market. According to Richard Rothschild, former Carroll County Commissioner, climate change policies are,
“an attack on middle-class American capitalism. To what extent is this entire movement simply a green Trojan horse, whose belly is full with red Marxist socioeconomic doctrine?”

While speaking about state welfare, Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, stated,
“The bloated public sector was acting like a fat man riding on the back of a thin man, the private sector.” 

Covid-19 and the virology of the political Right

A crippled system of social support and security coupled with an impending environmental catastrophe are real problems that confront our world today. Their blatant and widely tolerated dismissal does not only irk me but remains to be a source of bewilderment all the same. What explains the aggressive defence of liberal capitalism against any form of emergent red tides?

Here’s a possible explanation: neoliberalism in its most radical form is plagued by a terrible psychosomatic affliction, referred to as “cognitive simplicity” by Dutch Professor André Krouwel. It only permits a black and white world view. There are no complexities, midways, greys or, in the case of economic systems, hybrid regimes – its either liberal capitalism or hardcore socialism. This intellectual disability does not allow welfare capitalism, otherwise called The Third Way, to make any in roads.  For the radical right, any policy marginally leaning towards this centrist ideology is seen as some great communist ploy. It is no surprise that Krouwel also argues that radical ideologies endorse conspiracy theories – Rothschild’s above-mentioned address is a fitting example.

So how does this link to coronavirus? Think of Donald Trumps’ initial response to the pandemic. Here is a fitting summary:
“It’s a hoax, or anyway no big deal. Besides, trying to do anything about it would destroy the economy. And it’s China’s fault, which is why we should call it the ‘Chinese virus’.” – Paul Krugman, Nobel Laureate, Economics.

The above-mentioned statement underscores every single feature that I’ve stated so far – conspiracy theory, trivialisation of the crisis, overconfidence in one’s own approach, and (a market-based) economy first. Watching Krugman’s recent interview only reaffirms my belief in what I’ve been asserting thus far. With regards to his book titled Arguing with Zombies, when asked about who the zombies would be in this situation (referencing Covid-19), Krugman replied,
“The zombies are ideas and most of the zombie ideas are on the right wing and the same people who are responsible for our disastrous response to Covid-19, it's them – there is almost a perfect overlap between the climate change denial and virus denial, same people, same motivations.”

Besides, associating welfare policies with communist propaganda and conspiracy, neoliberalism has also positioned itself as a morally superior theoretical standpoint – yet another psychological feature. A neoliberal system is pro-liberal democracies, pro-freedom, pro-meritocracy – all the moral virtues of an ideal polity. Meanwhile, a welfare system constrains liberty, entrepreneurial spirits, does not value and reward merit – a high-risk hazard for open societies. In effect, the neoliberal discourse itself is a virus that has multiplied over the years and colonised most policy circles. Its virology reveals moral assaults and paranoid suspicion of other systems, yet a confidently infallible treatment of its own self.

The confidence shatters, and the Reds were not the ones to do it

In this examination of neoliberalism’s political language and rhetoric, one must appreciate the title role of the novel coronavirus in shattering the fable of infallibility, of flawlessness. Supporters of liberal capitalism today are forced to step down from their over-confident, hubristic seat. As James Bradford DeLong, Secretary of the Treasury under Bill Clinton, pointed out,
“The baton rightly passes to our colleagues on our left…We are still here, but it is not our time to lead.”

DeLong’s landmark statement is a subject of most leading blogs in America. And why shouldn’t it be? It is not an everyday occurrence that a right-leaning centrist passes “the baton to the left,” and reckons it as necessary for rescuing politics from the shackles of neoliberal bidding. In the war of ‘which ideology is the normative ideal,’ the recent leftist turn has not occurred due to the left’s superior political sparring. In fact, almost all flagship political systems have been dominated by liberal capitalists. This only happened because the fundamental basis of the neoliberal right leads towards its own destruction – best explained and predicted by Karl Marx.

For decades, the Reds have been watching this destruction like Emperor Nero watched Rome burn, and then was quick to rebuild it in the image of his own vision.  Covid-19 has exacerbated the preexisting economic crisis, made it more vivid to the naked eye and revealed the impotencies of the capitalist order while doing so. If neoliberalism is a virus that has killed leftist politics, Covid-19 could be its much-awaited, albeit unwelcome, vaccination. Mike Davis, renowned urban theorist, postulates,
“The current pandemic expands the argument: capitalist globalisation now appears to be biologically unsustainable.”

A summation of the argument here is that for the past twenty years, the inherent contradictions of capitalism have been accounting for economic pitfalls – most manifest in the 2008 crisis. The coronavirus is a rallying point, where all the leftist criticisms are crystallising themselves. Call it political opportunism, but neoliberalism’s erstwhile confidence, in its ideological basis, has been well and truly fractured.

Covid-19 and a party for the Left

With regards to American politics, we often wrongly position the Republicans as the conservative neoliberal right and the Democrats as the anti-market left. This is untrue. If this was the case, then neoliberalism would have faltered under the presidencies of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. To understand how Covid-19 is ushering in a leftist resurgence, it is important to understand what the left is. And it was not the democrats. The reason why the United States (US) is a corporatocracy today is because its two party system had unanimously fallen under the neoliberal doctrinaire in the 1970s. When the Republicans under Ronald Reagan had begun to institute pro-market structural changes, a new ideological wing of the Democrats germinated in no time. Today we call them the Watergate babies,’ or The New Democrats. The ones who did not turn the tide back to Roosevelt’s time – where a pro-welfare New Deal was a defining policy feature. They learnt to ride the wave instead. Their moto? “The solutions of the thirties will not solve the problems of the eighties.”

Therefore, a strong left in American politics has not existed for the past 24 years, ever since Clinton ratified the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, a departure from the 66 years of income provision by the state. In Adolf Reeds’ words:
“(The act) emphatically punctuated Clinton’s bulldozing of the left in Democratic politics and ushered in the bipartisan neoliberal regime under which we’ve lived ever since.”

So now, back to my original question: How is Covid-19 a party for the left? Well, the left is back in Democratic politics. It has been for a while. And if DeLong, the earlier referenced politician, is to be trusted, the political interests of the Democrats is a new centre-left alliance. Obama tried appeasing the conservatives to no avail. DeLong notes,
“Barack Obama rolls into office with Mitt Romney’s health care policy, with John McCain’s climate policy, with Bill Clinton’s tax policy, and George H.W. Bush’s foreign policy,”

yet he was unable to amass conservative support.

Advisably, Democrats today should collaborate with the leftists rather than the neoliberal right for its political gain. The socio-political context of Covid-19, where progressive capitalism is being hailed as a structural solution, allows for this shift in democratic politics – a celebratory occasion for the left. Here’s what Joe Stiglitz, ironically a Clinton-era economist, says,
“Whether you call it progressive capitalism or democratic socialism, the fact is, these are the pillars that will enable us to work together, not only to combat this pandemic, but also to combat the climate change crisis and our inequality crisis and, I think, in a broader sense, our moral crisis...”

Indeed, it is a party for the Reds, but how big is this party and for how long will it last?
WRITTEN BY:
Fatima Laraib The writer is a final year student of BSc (Honours) in Political Science at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

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