Johnathan Selkirk - 22 July 2021
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"BUY EUCLEAN" WILL NOT DELIVER THE WHITE WORKING CLASS VOTE TO THE LEFT
Late last month, the two Premiers of Caldia and Gaullica, Stiofán Mac Suibhne and Mathéo Turzyna respectively, announced a new Buy Euclean initiative that would see both the Caldish and Gaullican government require that any contracts issued would be required to purchase from domestic steel suppliers. This has been hailed as a return of the "hard left" in Euclean politics, and that there would be tangible benefits for the steel industries across eastern Euclea. Indeed, the initiative looks set to be adopted by the Alslandic, Amathian, Azmaran, Borish, Estmerish, and Hennish governments, introducing mirror legislation into their national legislatures. Werania is the only major Euclean Community state to not have announced an adoption of the initiative or similar policy, and there's been no indication yet as to whether or not the von Hößlin will do so.
This represents a sudden and drastic change of policy from member states, so much so that Euclean President and the Euclean Commission have virtually been isolated overnight with the announcement, and this discord between the transnational institution and its member states might bring about more harm than good. Certainly it won't convince the EC's trading partners that both the Commission and its member states are singing from the same hymn sheet on foreign trade.
But outside of perhaps shaken foreign investor confidence and a "please explain" from the EC's major trading partners, the main motivations behind the initiative are to do with internal politics of individual member states rather than any real return to economic nationalism or protectionism. Rather it is a recognition of the political left in eastern Euclea that it may lose out on the working class vote, especially given the rise of the populist right over the last decade. To some, the initiative looks like a desperate attempt to rekindle the old left, one of strong trade unions and ostensibly for the working class. Given the transformation of the mainstream of the political left from the "hard left" to the "soft left", the social democrats, the centre-leftists, and the "Third Way" politicians, it's no surprise the white working class feels isolated, ignored, and ridiculed.
It's especially no surprise when you venture out into the smaller rural communities and see how little services these communities receive. Across north-eastern Euclea, many small villages lost basic services such as the post office, which often functioned as the local bank, where locals could post savings among other banking services provided. That went, they had to travel further. This cost extra, especially as fuel prices increase, which also resulted in an increase in public transport fares, assuming that those services still remained. More often than not they didn't, as the privatisation of public transport companies often saw unprofitable routes axed. There was also a significant shift in how rural communities were perceived, driven by social democratic parties and urban liberals who found that communities who had seen significant deindustrialisation and depopulation from the disappearance of anchor industries and employers and became resentful at the city politicians who had allowed this to happen, especially if they were manufacturing plants and factories. The outsourcing of labour to the third world created a sense of anger both towards the politicians that sanctioned the outsourcing, and the third world countries themselves for having pitiful wages and marginal workers rights. This was construed as xenophobia and racism by the urban liberals who painted the rural working class communities as out of touch with the new economic and social realities of an globalised world.
Something similar happened to working class urban communities as well. However, one significant factor that played into this was immigration. Former colonial powers such as Estmere, Gaullica, and Werania, saw significant migration to their countries from former colonies, many of whom were escaping the chaos of decolonisation. Many were also looking for economic opportunities that their former masters could provide, and so tens of thousands of Coians, particularly those from Bahia and Rahelia, moved to these countries. There was little in the way of widespread xenophobia or racism by the standards of the time, primarily because the social stratification and economic policies meant that migrants often filled labourial or otherwise unpleasant jobs that the working class white men and women wouldn't consider, and reflected what many in those countries assumed was the correct way a society should be. But this was only to last as long as the good economic times could ever last, and as with all things, it eventually came to an end. With the economic degradation of the 1970's came more conflicts in northern Coius and more waves of migrants, both economic migrants and refugees, searching for stability, safety, and security. These were coming into Euclean countries in numbers far higher numbers than in the previous decades, and found themselves in communities pre-made with existing populations of people from relevant ethnic and racial groups, and thus created a lack of interest in integration with the rest of society. At the same time, as job losses mounted, the white working class now found themselves having to compete with a coloured working class that was willing and eager to work hard for lower wages. A working class that was more eager to tolerate terrible working conditions and long hours. A working class that had very little education and spoke little to no of the mother tongue in the countries they were now living in, which made them far easier to exploit. The end result was that the white working class was now being pushed out of the areas they had lived in for years, and began occupying mixed neighbourhoods on vast public housing estates, many of which were soon placed into the hands of companies or even individual landlords who had little to no regard for the conditions of the buildings they rented.
As job losses mounted in the 1980's, even the migrants were finding it tough to find jobs, and many remained unemployed, either living off government welfare, or resorting to the one option many did in times of desperation: crime. Crime rates spiked, with many in the white working class concerned for their own safety as public housing areas became no go areas for police. Gangs appeared to fill the void left by police who often struggled to maintain law and order. The urban white working class blamed the migrants for the crime rates caused by now endemic poverty in many major urban centres across eastern Euclea. Their old parties abandoned them, influenced by urban liberal elites and a preference for social democracy or Third Way economics. In places like Estmere, the governments that assumed the role of centrist reformers often adopted the same neoliberalism of previous governments, and further entrenched poverty in many economically deprived areas around the country. As the new century dawned, the populists in eastern Euclean politics began to exploit the frustrations, fears, and resentment of those in rural and urban communities gutted by neoliberal economic policies and kept repressed by economic inequalities. Parties like Estmere First, Front National, and the OVFP gained traction as more and more people in the white working class turned to reactionary parties and politicians that promised to restore the old societies that existed before. They bought into a lie peddled by these politicians that the old days were better, and that society would benefit from returning to them.
The success of the Tribune Movement in Etruria further emboldened the right-wing fringe, who in addition to gaining traction in mainstream eastern Euclean politics, also began to associate with violent activist groups of the far right. Neo-functionalists and reactionaries who were not afraid to utilise violence and intimidation in order to not only bring about their ideal conflict between whites and non-whites, but also achieve political aims. These groups, often utilising money supplied to them from sympathisers in Etruria and with political protection from politicians and figures within their respective countries. Even before the Great Recession, far right terrorism was a bourgeoning threat. In December 2003, an attempted assassination of then Azmaran Thingspeaker Eleina Helmutsdohter killed seven people and wounded seven others. In April 2007, a right wing terrorist attempted to assassinate Alslandic premier Jabik Neuwenhuis. After as series of Irfanic terrorist attacks, right-wing terrorists killed 81 people in Spagleann, Caldia, on August 13, 2016, in what could be considered the worst terrorist attack committed in Euclea by the far right. There was little shock or condemnation from the white working class who had seen the destitution of their communities and the criminality bought by migrants and saw the attacks as the comeupence for the politicians who had ignored and ridiculed them for decades.
"Buy Euclean" isn't going to change those attitudes. It's not going to rebuild the bridges that were burned between the white working class and the leftist parties who discarded the white working class vote because it would damage their new image of tolerance and acceptance of all cultures. What it is going to do is convince the more cynical of the white working class that this isn't about them or their communities, but about votes in a struggle between the remerging populist left and the rampant populist right. Because "buy Euclean" doesn't mean support local businesses, or indeed, any businesses outside of the Euclean Community. Because neither Mac Suibhne or Turzyna are going to tell any of the white working class that the Saint-Calais steel mill, one of Euclea's largest, is owned by a company with no less than four different corporations who have a controlling stake in the company that owns it. Among those included is the Shangean National Steel Corporation, Shangea's largest steel manufacturer, which owns a full quarter of the Société sidérurgique de Gaullice, the owner of Saint-Calais. Indeed, you will not find a single steel mill or steel company within the Euclean Community still completely owned by the government.
Despite this, the principal criticisms of the "Buy Euclean" initiative have not come from the white working class or the populists. Indeed, the Front National surprised many by enthusiastically supporting the initiative. The criticisms have come from the centre right and right wing, many of whom see this as a precursor to the return of protectionist policies. This concern is especially prevalent among the free trade neoliberals who have decried the initiative as "economic warfare on the third world". What they happily ignore is the guaranteed billion euclo contracts that will subsequently go straight into the pockets of the shareholders and the board executives of the steel companies and the owners of those companies, and virtually nothing will go down to the ordinary worker toiling away in the foundries themselves.
If the left thinks "Buy Euclean" is going to win them back the white working class vote and deflate the far right and the populists, they're in for a rude awakening.
Johnathan Selkirk is a member of the Libertas Institute, a right-wing thinktank based in Morwall, Estmere, and a former public relations adviser to Reginald Wilton-Smyth. His opinions here do not necessarily reflect those of The Continental.
