IN THE GRIP OF CAPITALIST REALISM

It was the English political theorist Mark Fisher who coined the term 'capitalist realism' to describe a politics that claims there is no alternative to capitalism. In New Zealand that 'capitalism realism' retains its grip on mainstream politics, where all five parliamentary parties continue to pledge their loyalty to 'the market'.

ENGLISH POLITICAL theorist and cultural critic Mark Fisher argued that 'people find it easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism'. That observation was first famously made by Fredric Jameson and later popularised by Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek. Mark Fisher defined this as capitalist realism - the belief that there is no alternative to capitalism. Capitalist Realism : Is There No Alternative?, published in 2012, expanded on his view that while socialism, specifically, might be preferable to capitalism it was still only capitalism that was viewed as the realistic option. In his introduction Fisher writes:

'...it is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the ed of capitalism. The slogan captures precisely what I mean by 'capitalist realism': the widespread sense that not only is capitalism the only viable political and economic system, but also that it is now impossible to imagine a coherent alternative to it.'

For Fisher capitalist realism represented the corrosion of the political and social imagination and an imposed 'limitation' on what is possible. Even now the socialist left has to campaign on the basis that there is still a world to win, while other elements of the left - mostly those who remain attached to a social democratic tradition long overwhelmed by neoliberalism - continues to counsel 'restraint' and 'pragmatism'. Those who think otherwise are charged with being 'leftists' or even 'ultra leftists'. Or if that they doesn't work, in New Zealand at least, they resort to the last ditch argument that we should appreciate that Labour isn't National. At least it is a 'lesser evil'. Fisher observes that this is nothing more than being told to 'lower our expectations' and quotes the French Marxist philosopher Alain Badiou:

'To justify their conservatism, the partisans of the established order cannot really call it ideal or wonderful. So instead, they have decided to say all the rest is horrible.'

Capitalist realism retains its grip because our representative democracy has declined to the point that all five parliamentary parties have pledged their allegiance to 'the market'. Despite all its proclamations about 'a new culture', we are now led by a Labour Party that long ago adjusted itself to a world governed by neoliberalism. Even those who talk of a 'Maori renaissance', like the Minister of Maori Development Willie Jackson, have no interest in an alternative vision of organising the economy and society; they just want a bigger slice of the neoliberal pie which can be shared among the Maori elite. Not surprisingly, Willie Jackson, a multimillionaire, often expressed his hostility to socialist politics during his years as a talkback host.

But it is important to note that we not permanently trapped within this failed system just because capitalism realism instructs us that 'there is no alternative'. Writing in 2012 Mark Fisher emphasised that the conditions of capitalism were far from immovable and that capitalist realism was not a permanent state of affairs:

'The very oppressive pervasiveness of capitalist realism means that even glimmers of alternative political and economic possibilities can have a disproportionately great effect. The tiniest event can tear a hole in the grey curtain of reaction which has marked the horizons of possibility under capitalist realism. From the situation in which nothing can happen, suddenly anything is possible again.'

Certainly we have seen evidence of that since Fisher made those comments some eight years ago. In Britain Jeremy Corbyn and a left wing Labour Party almost made it to power and in the United States as support for organisations like the Democratic Socialists of America continues to surge, openly socialist politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have done much to 'rehabilitate' socialism in the eyes of an American working class that has, for decades, been told by the political establishment that socialism is 'un-American' and 'un-patriotic'.

Here in New Zealand we are more firmly gripped in the grasp of capitalist realism because a Labour left, steeped in a history of social democratic compromises and betrayals, has succumbed to the realpolitik of a right wing Labour Government. Next year, an election year, it will again fly the flag for Labour. It will be the usual charade orchestrated by the usual political charlatans. This very act of betrayal surrenders to a neoliberalism that has proven to be little more than a project to re-establish the conditions for capital accumulation and to restore the power of the economic elite.

But its also worth noting that much of the Labour Government's electoral support comes from the middle aged voter, comfortably well off and cocooned in the suburbs. It has effectively abandoned young voters who have gradually disengaged from a political system that has failed to represent their interests. Commentator Bernard Hickey has made the point that, for Labour, 'the voters to listen to are older home owners in the suburbs and provinces, who are the 'median' votes needed to win re-election.'

It is young New Zealanders who are seeking an alternative to a capitalist realism that the liberal left still shows little interest in breaking free from.