People are broadly disaffected with their parties. They are not capable of representing them and that is true for the Republicans as it is for the Democrats, but in different ways. I chose Muncie, Indiana, as my base for the US election because people in Muncie had voted for Sanders and Trump. I was looking for a place where people had voted for anti-establishment candidates, but there is enough national data to suggest that Muncie is not an anomaly. Trump won here, but most of the active Republicans I spoke to didn’t vote for him in the primaries.
Ho khahlisang ke hore Marephabliki a bua ka Hillary ka tsela e tšoanang hantle le eo Mademokrate a buang ka Trump. Joalokaha e mong oa bona a ile a mpolella: 'Ke tseba batho ba bang ba voutelang Hillary, 'me hase batho ba babe, empa ha ba e fumane.'
Ho na le mekhoa e mengata eo batho ba sa tšepeng sistimi. Hillary o bile teng ka lilemo tse 25 e le setho sa lipolotiki sa naha, 'me seo se etsahala se lumellana le nako eo ka eona meputso e seng e theohile 'me ntho e' ngoe le e 'ngoe e nyolohile ntle le theko ea basebetsi. Toropong e kang Muncie, e neng e e-na le setsi se seholo sa indasteri se seng se felile, batho ba sheba Tumellano ea Khoebo ea Free Trade ea Amerika Leboea, ba sheba Glass-Steagall [taolo ea libanka], phetoho ea boiketlo (ha ba bue ka phetoho ea boiketlo ba sechaba, empa ke taba) ebe ba re: u joang ho rona, hantle-ntle?
Both parties are losing control of their base. In the primaries, the Democratic base voted for Sanders, which is not what the establishment wanted and a new group called Team Democrat has grown up to organise itself outside the machine. On the Republican side there was open revolt between the people who run the local Republican establishment and the Tea Party folks who were shut out of the Republican office and given no support, even when they were sitting candidates.
Se etsahetseng ka Stevenage, moo ke tsoang teng, se tšoana hantle le se etsahetseng toropong e kang Muncie naheng ea Amerika. Stevenage had British Aerospace. That’s where you went to work, that’s where your parents worked, that’s where most of my friends left to work from school at 16. You left school, you got an apprenticeship, there were trades, you became a skilled labourer.
Mme yaba e kwala. Re ne re e-na le sebaka sa indasteri, mohlomong re ntse re e-na le eona empa ha ke tsebe hore na indasteri e kae moo. Hangata, batho ba seng ba hōlile ha baa ka ba ea London, ba ne ba lula moo. Botlaaseng bo ile ba theoha ho seo. Ke ne ke tloaetse ho hlalosa Stevenage e le toropo ea batho ba sebetsang moo batho ba hlileng ba sebetsang teng. Empa joale sehlopha sa basebetsi se ile sa fetoha lentsoe le tšoanang la mafutsana le bahloki.
A very similar thing happened to Muncie, which is shrinking. A sense of purpose is lost. There is a sense of disorientation, people begin to ask why are we here. There are attempts to revive the town in a variety of ways, but there is 30 per cent poverty in Muncie and there’s a very big drugs problem.
Ho na le mesebetsi e teng hona joale, empa batho ha baa koetlisoa ka ho lekaneng bakeng sa eona. 'Me batho ha ba na matla a ho li etsa. Ha ba na likoloi, kahoo ha ba khone ho fihla lifemeng, tse kantle ho toropo. Mesebetsi ha e ba lefelle ho lekana hore ba be le likoloi – tseo karolong ena ea Amerika ho kang ha ba tsebe ho bala, kapa ho tsamaea. Haeba u sena koloi ho na le lintho tse ngata tse tšabehang tseo u ke keng ua li etsa. Joale karolo e kholo ea baahi ha e khone ho etsa tlhahlobo ea lithethefatsi, haholo-holo ka lehlakoreng la basebetsi ba basoeu ba toropo (Muncie o ntse a arohane haholo).
Institutions have been hollowed out. Primarily the unions, but also institutions of culture and community. This speaks to Trump’s appeal, particularly for the white working class. It was a point made quite passionately by one woman I spoke to who was considering voting for Trump. She said: ‘People think we’re stupid, and nobody speaks up for the poor.’
Ma-Amerika a Amerika a mpefala le ho feta, empa a na le babuelli mme a na le litsi, a na le meaho ea bolumeli, a na le boitlamo ba lipolotiki le nalane le Letsatsi la Martin Luther King, le mokhoa oa ho amoheloa.
In a nation that doesn’t recognise poverty, those who are just poor and not something else are screwed. Poor white people don’t have advocates, because in a country that prides itself on being a meritocracy, even if it’s not, on having complete class fluidity, even if it doesn’t exist, it’s much more difficult to talk just about being poor if you’re white. Then comes along this guy who isn’t afraid to say whatever he thinks, who can talk in quite raw ways to a group of people who feel really undermined.
Taba e 'ngoe e khahlisang ke hore le hoja Trump a ile a bokella banna ba makhooa ba sa rutehang ba bangata ba sa rutehang kolecheng, le bongata bo fokolang ba basali ba makhooa ba rutehileng bao e seng ba koleche, bao e ne e se bongata ba setsi sa hae. Ha e le hantle, tšehetso ea hae e ne e ruile ho feta tšehetso ea Hillary. Ho na le mohopolo ona oa hore o ile a bokella likhetho tse tšoeu tsa lumpen, empa 'nete ke hore e ne e le batho ba ruileng haholo ba neng ba tšehetsa Trump mme ha a ntse a fumana karolo ea bohlokoa ea likhetho tse tšoeu tse sa rutehang, e ne e ntse e le karolo e nyane ea hae. vouta.
Ka kutloisiso eo, e ne e batla e tšoana le Brexit. Tlhōlo e ile ea khoneha ke batho ba baholo ba ruileng, ba ka boroa, empa e nkoa e le bofetoheli ba basebetsi.
What was striking about the Republicans in this election was their use of coded racial messaging. In Nevada, the Republican party chairman alleged fraud because ‘a certain group’ were given ‘more time to vote’. He meant Latinos, who were in line. If you’re already in line in the US, then you get to vote after the poll closes. Those are the rules.
Mokhoa ona o 'nile oa sebelisoa ke Rephabliki ho tloha ka 1960, ha Nixon a ne a theha leano la ho hapa boroa ho tloha ho Democrats ka ho lebisa tlhokomelo ho karolo ea metse e meholo ea Amerika e nang le melaetsa ea merabe e nang le melaetsa. Nixon o itse: 'Bothata ba sebele ke batho ba batšo, taba ke hore na u bua joalo joang ntle le ho bua.' E bile moralo oa lilemo tse 50 tse fetileng. Haeba u nahana ka papatso ea Willie Horton, ea George Bush oa pele, kapa Reagan le 'mafumahali a boiketlo', kapa '47 lekholong ea Maamerika a sa lefeng lekhetho ea Mitt Romney' - kaofela ke melaetsa ea merabe e nang le khoutu.
Ke seo u se utloileng ha Trump a ne a bua ka ho qhekelloa ha likhetho, lihlopha tse itseng, metse e ka hare joalo-joalo. E ne e le teko ea ho nahana ka litokelo tsa pele tsa litokelo tsa botho Amerika, ho bolela hore batho ba bang ha baa lokela ho khetha. Mohlomong e ne e le lekhetlo la ho qetela ba ka etsa joalo, hobane palo ea batho ba makhooa e ntse e fokotseha e le karolo ea batho ba bang, kahoo linaha tse kang Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, esita le North Carolina ho isa bohōleng bo itseng, moo ho nang le baahi ba bangata ba Latino, ba fetoha ba fetohang. e bua ka tsela eo e neng e e-so ka e ba teng pele.
It was an intensely misogynistic election. Trump boasted about sexual assault and denigrated women’s bodies. He actually talked trash about Clinton’s body. To me, that evoked the symbolic importance of her gender in a way that she did not and could not. In gender terms it was a ‘lean-in’ candidacy, and she refused to galvanise it beyond that. She kept on talking about these holes in the glass ceiling, not realising that an awful lot of women are in the basement and can’t get out. Working-class white women’s life expectancy is falling in the US, which is rare in the west.
The degree to which misogyny became part of the campaign and still did not raise the symbolic nature of her gender is significant. I called Obama the ‘incognegro’, because he would never talk about it. Hillary was the same – she kept quiet about the significance of her gender. It only came to the fore when she was up against the most vile, repugnant, pig of a man you could imagine.
I don’t think the current system can deliver democracy in the 21st century. Corporations are more powerful than governments. Trade has been liberalised legislatively, and then caffeinated technologically in a way that makes it virtually impossible even for a nation state as powerful as America to control its own affairs.
Lintho tsena tseo re li bonang - Brexit, Trump, Le Pen, Corbyn le bona, ka tsela e itseng, le Syriza le Podemos le Sanders - kaofela ke likarabo tsa nako ena ea neoliberal moo ntho e 'ngoe le e' ngoe e ileng ea senyeha. Batho ba futsanehileng le basebetsi ba ile ba etsoa hore ba lefelle kotsi eo 'me ha ho letho le ba ntlafetseng. Sebopeho sa seo se ne se le pepeneneng, se sa hlaka, 'me pheko e ne e le thata, haeba e ne e fanoa, hoo ka mefuta eohle ea litsela - tse ling tseo ke li tšehetsang, 'me tse ling ha ke li tšehetse - batho ba tsoile borabele.
The party systems as they stand are simply not equipped to deal with these challenges. So in Britain, Corbyn rises at the same time that the Tory base is in revolt over Brexit. In the US, you get Sanders at the same time as Trump. They are not morally equivalent responses, but they are responses to the same challenge, which is how we retain some sense of control over our lives, and how we address this patent unfairness.
The nature of neoliberal globalisation brings with it not just the moving of foreign trade to places where unions are weaker and labour is cheaper. It also relates to immigration, to a range of cultural insecurities. When people feel like they have lost control, because the nation state was the basic democratic unit, there is often a patriotic nostalgia – which is where the slogans ‘Make America Great Again’ or ‘Take Your Country Back’ come from.
Phephetso bakeng sa bahanyetsi ba mekha e meholo ea lipolotiki ke hore na ba batla tharollo e kopaneng ho phephetsa tsamaiso ena, e leng moo Corbyn, Sanders le mocha ea sa tsoa tsosoa Europe a kenang, kapa hore na ba leka ho khutlela ho se setseng ho naha. laager, lahlela marako ho batho 'me u leke ho boloka liheke li bulehile bakeng sa khoebo, e leng seo likhang ka Brexit li leng sona hona joale.
Ka tsela e itseng ke moo Trump a emeng teng. Boholo ba lintho tsa hae, lihlahisoa tsa hae tse fapaneng tsa lihlahisoa, li entsoe ka mefuta eohle ea linaha tse fapaneng. O na le lebala la kolofo Scotland. Ha a khahlanong le khoebo ea kantle ho naha. O batla ho fetola mantsoe, empa ha a batle ho e emisa ho hang joalo ka ha Nigel Farage a etsa. Ba mpa ba batla ho koala meeli ho batho le ho ba bulela capital.
We are trying to fix the plane while it’s going down. The primary challenge is to make sure the plane doesn’t crash, because you can’t fix it if it crashes and everybody dies. So we have to do these two things at once. ‘A better world is possible’ is a useful mantra, but we must bear in mind that a worse world is possible also and we have to be determined to prevent that.
I think the way that distinction is sharpest is in making it very clear that we understand the difference between the electoral and the political and that we understand the limits of both, particularly in this neoliberal moment. Elections have a real importance, but national governments also have limited strength and power. Even once elected they have to engage with the political reality on the ground. The Tories couldn’t end tax credits, because they knew what would happen if they did. A huge amount of work has been put into Corbyn electorally, and I think that makes sense, but without the political it’s of limited use.
Ho rialo, re lokela ho hlokomela menyetla ea likhetho e setseng. Ho na le batho ba ileng ba voutela Sanders ba sa kang ba khetha, 'me ke nahana hore ke bonyane boo u ka beng u bo entse. Ha ke na ho etsa tleleime efe kapa efe e kholo bakeng sa eona, ehlile eseng bakeng sa Hillary, ka lebaka la bophelo ba hae ba nakong e fetileng, empa ho bohlokoa hore re se ke ra iphapanyetsa likhetho mabapi le seo batho ba ka se etsang lapeng, le Amerika ka lebaka la matla a eona lefatšeng ka bophara. . Mang kapa mang ea hlōlang e le mopresidente oa US o tla bolaea batho ba bangata, hobane seo se tla le mosebetsi - empa batho ba bang ba bolaea ho feta ba bang.
The thing we mustn’t do, gloomy as it is at the moment, is forget that a Jewish guy from Vermont, who called himself a socialist, ran the crowned establishment figure scared. From nowhere. Nobody saw that coming. And he talked in very stark terms – to a fault, because he couldn’t talk about anything else – about the millionaires and the billionaires. He gave a place for class resentment to go in a way that hadn’t really existed since Jessie Jackson in the 1980s.
Ntho ea bohlokoa e neng e le sieo mokhatlong oa Sanders e ne e le batho ba fokolang ka kakaretso, haholo-holo Maafrika a Amerika. Sanders a ka be a hlotse ha a ne a ka khona ho ipiletsa ho bona. Sena se bua ka bothata ba nako e telele le MaAmerika a setseng: hore batho bao e seng makhooa ke mohopolo o latelang mme ba sokola ho kopanya kutloisiso ea bona ea sehlopha le kutloisiso ea bona ea morabe. Ha ho ntho e mpe e ka etsahalang ho fihlela bothata boo bo rarollotsoe.
Sena e ne e se bothata ho Sanders feela. Hape re bone palo e tlase ea batho ba Maafrika ba Amerika bakeng sa Hillary. Batho ba ne ba nahana hore kaha Maafrika a Amerika a ka mo voutela ho feta Trump, o ne a e-na le likhetho tse ntšo. Ba hlotsoe ho bona esale pele ho putlama ha likhetho tsa batho ba batšo, hobane ha ho mokhethoa ea ileng a ba khahla haholo.
It’s important to remember that the left has been able to clear some electoral space, which didn’t exist before. Corbyn, Syriza, Podemos, the left bloc in Portugal, Bernie Sanders – here were people who either didn’t exist previously, or ran to make point, to make a difference, to introduce something into the debate – and now they have an audience. They are making a difference, and they are winning the debates. So the left has to take itself seriously electorally. It cannot understand itself as having an almost tokenistic or decorative presence: it’s a decisive presence. It turns out we can win things. Electorally we can win, so we have to have systems and policies and programmes in place that can make that victory count.
We need to be proposing some basic social democratic reforms, as basic as redistribution, raising taxes, investing in education, health and housing, that also try to rein in capital – capital controls, that kind of thing. These are things we can do and that would create a different, more humanistic, better-informed conversation about immigration. In this sense immigration in the UK is a bit like gun control in the US. If you have run shy of a positive conversation about it, then it’s very difficult to get anything done. We have to start with changing the conversation and having the courage to say, we’re just not that kind of country.
We need to integrate our understanding of immigration with our understanding of issues like environmentalism, and climate change, foreign trade, and international development and say this is all part of one whole strategy. There are large numbers of people moving around the world who don’t want to move. We should be supporting them and evoking a sense of a welcoming and cosmopolitan nation that has always benefited from migration. I think there is an audience for that, but it’s difficult to reach if you’re not funding health, education and housing because they feel that they’d love to feel nice about the rest of the world, but they can’t even feel nice about their street.
There was a clear distinction in this election for the left between the electoral and the political. Electorally it’s only about what we lose, it’s not much about what we gain. Politically, the work that comes afterwards is hugely important, and that would have been the same if Hillary had won. The battle lines are clearer with Trump, and given the statements he has made, democracy is more in peril, but the political work would have been necessary regardless.
Batho ba nang le kahlolo e molemo ba ka hanana ka taba ea hore na hoa utloahala ho lula mekheng ea lipolotiki, empa joale ho se ho hlakile haholo hore ha hoa lekana ho lula mekheng ena feela. Ke 'nete ho Corbyn, le ho batho ba Bernie. Phetoho e matla e ke ke ea tla ka ho hlophisa feela ka har'a Democratic Party kapa Labor Party, kapa e 'ngoe ea mekha ena. Re hloka ankora lefats'eng la mekhatlo ea sechaba e ka behang khatello ho bona. Ke nako ea ho kenya letsoho.
Gary Young is editor-at-large for the Guardian, a columnist for the Nation and the author of Another Day in the Death of America.
ZNetwork e tšehelitsoe ka lichelete feela ka seatla se bulehileng sa babali ba eona.
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