John Swinney in organising his recent conference against the far-right shows that he understands the looming political crises, but it just adds to the impression that social democrats the world over don't seem to understand why it's happening nor how to fight it.
You see, the rise of the far-right in the western world is not just a political crisis, it is a crisis of social disintegration, of rising inequality and loss of wellbeing. History, both ancient and modern, teaches us that extremism flourishes where people feel abandoned, economically insecure, and culturally alienated. Where people have lost hope for their future and need someone to blame – it’s human nature.
The antidote does not lie in demonstrating against the far-right, because that just puts them in the spotlight and that is where they thrive. Demonising Farage and Trump just gives them the platform they want to play the victim from.
Given the almost two-decade-long economic crises (the crash, austerity, Brexit cost of living, death of growth …) the conditions are set for the far-right to rise again. Simply trying to demonise Farage, who presents himself to the disenfranchised as the only politician with answers and promises of real change, is just counter-productive. Scotland will prove not to be as resistant to the ideas of the far-right as people think.
Ironically "independence" is the radical and positive change that people need. However, instead of offering a vision of a better Scotland with a wellbeing economic approach at its heart to create equal access to opportunity and enhanced wellbeing for the disenfranchised, the Scottish Government seem to be offering to manage decline slightly better than England. The benefits from mitigation and social policy interventions by the Scottish Government will just not hack it in the long term.
The first line of defence must be a society so unified, so confident in its shared wellbeing, and shared national identity that the politics of division withers before it can take root.
As I have covered in previous columns, inequality is the ever-present factor in the fall of all societies, economies and even empires. Sun Tzu warned that “no army can compensate for a fractured society”. That wisdom holds true today: The far-right never rises not through its own strength, but always through the weakness of society and so being seen as a party or government that is better at managing decline is not a defence, it's a declaration of surrender.
The failure of greed-based economics
The neoliberal experiment of the past half-century – prioritising uneven economic growth over people, without evaluating how it impacts on both societal and environmental wellbeing – has left western societies vulnerable to demagogues.
When people are left feeling alienated and alone they inevitably turn inspiration to anyone offering change because they are desperate for belonging. The far-right offers a perverse version of solidarity, one built on scapegoating, racism and blaming minorities and groups without large voter numbers rather than offering actual solutions.
The UK has become a society riddled with inequality, alienation and deprivation offering such fertile ground for extremism. When people feel abandoned by the system the far-right thrives, weaponizing despair with social media memes manipulating people with narratives of division.
The big idea
If we want to stop the rise of the right at the border there are two weapons open to us.
- The promise to create a wellbeing economy that offers equal access to opportunity and wellbeing access society. An economy that meets the basic needs of all and allows the less fortunate to live with dignity and hope.
- Engage the population in a new national conversation about Scotland's future. Ask people what sort of country they want Scotland to become, capture their hopes and dreams for a better Scotland though the Citizens’ Convention proposed by Believe in Scotland.
The first drains the swamp of extremism and exposes the snakes and bloodsuckers in politics for what they are. The second engages people in a way that they have not experienced before, gives people from all walks of life skin in the game. When people see a system being created that works for them, they will defend it. Right now all they see is elites rigging the game, so they want to burn it down. The ground may be fertile for the far-right but it’s just as fertile for independence if we demonstrate that independence is the change they really need.
A wellbeing economy switches people from survival mode to thriving mode.
The current economic system fails at its most basic task of ensuring that people can meet their fundamental human needs such as food, shelter, and security. We have a housing crisis and foodbanks everywhere – what more proof do we need that the current economy has failed in its most basic task.
When people feel secure, valued, and connected to their communities, the appeal of extremism fades. The first line of defence against the far-right isn’t fear – it’s hope. But you can't create hope for people you have to let the people create it for themselves and that is where the Citizens’ Convention comes in.
Participatory democracy: The antidote to alienation and extremism
A thriving democracy cannot be passive, we can't wait for elections every five years to talk about our nation's future.
It must actively engage citizens in participatory democracy – through Citizens’ Conventions that transform politics from a distant disinterested irrelevance to peoples everyday struggles into a shared mission.
When people experience real agency in decisions that impact their lives, alienation gives way to empowerment, despair gives way to hope. Life no longer seems to just happen to them or to burden them with unfairness, they become co-creators of their nation's future and when they help us co-create that better future they will vote for it. You don't have to make it an independence convention; the people will do that when they realise their hopes and dreams for Scotland's future are incompatible with the Union.
Independence is the radical change that the nation needs, that the economy and the environment need, that the people need. Let’s start offering it to them, let's start discussing it with them, let's replace the politics of despair with those of wellbeing and hope not hate will come to define our society.
Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp is the CEO of Business for Scotland, the chief economist at the wellbeing economics think tank Scotianomics, the founder of the Believe in Scotland campaign, and the author of Scotland the Brief.
