Because You Never Asked

 

(6/09, Spain)

     This is the last essay I will write from Spain this year. For more than 6 weeks, I’ve been soaking up the socio-political reality of post-financial crisis Europe. If we adhere to the most visual, superficial aspects of life on my beloved island in the Spanish Mediterranean, the tourist economy that nourishes it has been, if far from sky-is-falling desperate, noticeably slower. This, of course, has made being and living here a more enjoyable experience, something the global economy and its modus operandi seem unconcerned with in defining what is “good” for us. This kind of contradiction is a basic personality trait of the neo-liberal, consumer society. For instance, a town or city without annoying traffic problems is probably a place not doing “well”. There is less traffic here this year, which is really nice, but the neo-liberal economy defines this as not good.

     Go figure.

     In trying to take the pulse of the western world in general, this essay will delve beneath the surface into the hidden caps of behavioral consciousness. It will attempt to shed some light on the emotional state of the part of the world most relevant in deciding the fate of the planet.

     While rummaging through the storehouse of vocabulary available, the word “apathy” seems most appropriate in trying to explain the mood of the European segment of western culture. People seem exhausted with both the political and economic system. They are rundown and cynical. They hardly have the energy to pay attention to it all. There is more a sense of resignation than action. The whole burlesque of “democracy”, with its concept of prosperity; with its prideful boasts of freedom and opportunity, has a quality of vice and insincerity few people respect anymore.

     The recently completed elections for the European Parliament --- the legislative body that sets important policy for the 27 members of the European Community --- drew less than 40% of the electorate, an abysmal number in European terms. The debate was shallow, off subject, and veritably unresponsive to anything having to do with an average citizen’s life. It was an exercise in name calling and finger pointing. There was an absence of policy discussion, let alone solutions. It was little more than political turf protection at its low brow worst. Although the center-right parties can be said to have won, the stigma of abstention and the fast food quality of the campaign can hardly be defined as a victory for anyone. It seems to have left everything unresolved. It has left a bad after taste.

     Have I mentioned the word “corruption”? Like an outbreak of dandelions across the lawn of European politics, we got corruption. East side-west side, all around the town, public funds are being found in the private pockets of elected officials. Impossible! He’s one of the most respected public servants we have, respected even by the opposition, a pillar of democracy and fair play --- and all that. It’s a witch hunt, politically motivated, we stand behind our man with unlimited confidence in his honesty and integrity --- and all that. Where’s the proof? Here’s the proof. That’s no proof. He should resign immediately. No way, your guy didn’t resign when --- and all that!

     It’s a similar script all over the map. It’s getting old, very old. The people are tired, beaten down, cynical, tuning it out.

     Ain’t democracy great?

     And then there is Silvio Berlusconi, President of Italy, where even the ugly girls are sexy. Innumerable face lifts later, Berlusconi has taken corruption to a whole new level, as if he is on some kind of Mafioso steroid. He is the first person to combine the political leader and the media magnate in the same person. No longer is there a division of labor between the Rupert Murdochs and the Dick Cheneys they support. Berlusconi, with his empire of TV and radio stations, newspapers and magazines, makes his own propaganda for his own political career. The results are appalling.

     In the last decade or so, although he has been bumped from office for short periods of time, Berlusconi has been the only real leader Italy has had. For him not to be under a cloud of scandal and corruption would be something like Everest having no snow on its peak. It could almost be called a lifestyle in Italian politics and its manifestations are becoming more obvious and outrageous. It’s almost as if guilt and innocence have become irrelevant concepts; it’s almost as if getting away with it is what people now respect.

     The latest round of scandal --- with undeniable photographic and testamentary evidence --- has to do with a personal life that might make Michael Jackson’s light skin blush (see Post Script). We’ve been treated to a buffet of photos showing teen aged girls “dressed” in string like bits of textile products, prancing about Silvio’s summer mansion in Sardinia in a nubile display of gluto-mammary vigor. There is corroborating evidence of girls being paid large sums of money --- publicly funded Italian Air Force transportation included --- to be at these “soirees”. The President has been accused of relations with minors and other assorted Neronian amusements unbecoming the leader of one of the world’s great industrial and cultural powers.

     And that’s just the “good stuff”. The usual bouts of financial-political scandal could fill an encyclopedia volume by now.

     And what? His hold on power is as strong as ever. European pundits have tried to explain and understand this phenomena. Although the Italian version could be considered the most extreme case, all of “Occidente’s” most powerful players show varying degrees of emotional decay. My take is the following:

     We may be arriving to the end of a cycle begun with the defeat of Fascism in 1945. The 2 main military protagonists on the winning side, the Soviet Union and the United States, were the last 2 standing at the end of the exhausting effort. The capitalist-communist ideological struggle, with the 2 great powers and their surrogates directly confronted, became the name of the game for almost a half century. The communists, mainly due to the brutish application of their ideology, blinked first. The internal contradictions of trying to maintain ideological “purity”, strangled it in a noose of its own device, and The Wall came down.

     This left the road wide open for the American version of capitalism, promoted by self interest masquerading as “market” ideology. With communism completely discredited, it was easy to sweep away any healthy remnants of its ideology that might still exist in the west. Privatization of public interests, along with the loosening of governmental supervision, became the termite of European institutional structure, eating away at its once well developed “social contract” in favor of private capital let to roam off its leash. The clichés of the more American model --- the market, competition, the individual, private initiative, etc. --- became more a part of the lexicon of European thought.

     The political system was also nudged towards a more American model, one more allied with the private capital that funds its structures and ability to compete electorally. Regardless of the ticks in each country’s system, the political panorama is very similar everywhere: a political center that has been moved noticeably to the right, with only tattered remnants, almost in a ceremonial way, of any real leftist parties. This new center is surrounded by only 2 political parties with any relevance, the 2 that provide the burlesque of democratic conflict, neither of which offends the sensitivities of the large sums of private money that both funds and bribes them. The theatrical production is now fully mounted and choreographed. It is a political system --- “democracy”, if you will --- employed by the financial elites and not the populace that elects the marionettes.

     This unopposed, “savage capitalism”, as it is referred to in Europe, has been at it for about a generation now. Its operational concepts have solidified to such an extent, that, like the communists before them, a paralysis in its forms has developed. The self interest that controls it will continue clinging to its privilege. It now seems incapable of responding to the contradictions --- financially, politically, ecologically, emotionally --- it has created. It has mummified. It has calcinated. Its decadence has become more and more obvious. The Italian example is the most advanced symptom of the sickness. People have begun to understand that being a scoundrel is the road to “success” in the neo-liberal world. The Italians, in representation of this generalized weariness with western culture’s socio-economic institutions, have thrown in the towel. They’ve decided to reward the best scoundrel for playing the game in the most degenerate way, instead of trying to reform the game.

     This is disturbing.

     If we are arriving to the end of a cycle, one of 2 things can happen: 1) a period of decay and degeneration, or, 2) a period of reform and renewal.

     This is where Barak Obama comes in.

     I’m not sure if it’s ironic or logical that the American giant, the entity responsible for the cycle we have just lived, seems to be the main hope for leading us out from its decay. The emergence of a charismatic young leader seems to suggest it, and there can be no doubt all eyes in Europe are upon him. Once again, the headstrong, spoiled child of western culture, with the advantages its parents did not have --- its size and resources, its out of harm’s way location, its geo-political reality free from the historical baggage and conflict that has so prejudiced Europe --- is being called upon to do something.

     If Barak Obama is not just a more slickly packaged version working for the same old interests --- and that is a possibility --- and he really is the reformer a sick society needs, the results of the impending battle are closer than one might think. Stalingrad, in the form of health care reform in the United States, is already upon us. A victory here would not end the war, but could very well be the tipping point that sets the stage for more comprehensive global reform later on.

     Given the fact that health care reform is not the problem in Europe, this might seem an exaggeration. It is not. There are elements of this fight in the United States that are essential in the struggle to reform the whole socio-political system everywhere. It will be an all out war against the kind of special interests that have infiltrated and paralyzed the better instincts of the western “idea”. If Obama can pull it off, it will strengthen and embolden the reformist army. The army of special interests would be in retreat for the first time. It could mean victory on all fronts.

     We should know soon.

     Post Script: In an amazing display of coincidence, just a few days after mentioning Michael Jackson in this essay, his shocking death occurred. Perhaps there is a metaphor here. Capitalism, in spite of its ambition, creativity and genius talent, seems to be teetering on the brink of its own ego. It cannot satisfy itself, no matter what it accomplishes. It always needs more and more. Michael Jackson --- may you find that Neverland you could not find here. May you rest in peace.

     Relevant Material: The gangsters of the “Camorra”, the huge criminal underworld centered in the environs of Naples, justify themselves in the following manner --- those who say “there cannot be life without ethics, that the economy has limits and rules that must be followed, are simply those who have never been the boss, those who have been defeated by the market. The ‘ethical’ is the limit of the loser, the excuse of those defeated, the moral justification for those who have never risked it all nor won it all”. From the comprehensive study of the “Camorra”, “Gomorra”, by the Italian journalist, Roberto Saviano.