Lawyer, trade unionist, professor, former member of Parliament and Parliament … His new book, ‘The pandemic of capitalism’ (Deusto) recounts the last year as a symptom of the exhaustion of the free market and a shock to society.
- A year ago, I thought that by now we were going to have very strong basic income and redistribution policies. But not.
- In moments like this, tragic, a deterministic and optimistic vision always appears: “This is going to end like this and it will be for the better.” It is evident that these beautiful forecasts of the egalitarian moment do not come later. Why? Among other things, because between the lessons of the pandemic and our true knowledge, our interests interfere.
- So this idea that we are heading for a new social pact, was that chatter?
- It is an essential idea. We know that capitalism is the only existing socioeconomic system and that it has a great capacity for resilience. But we also know its destructive capacity: environmental destruction, erosion of democracy, inequality … The pandemic teaches us that we have to reset the system in the form of a new social pact. Another thing is that we get it.
- What will it depend on?
- It will depend on what we can imagine. We need a story, in the noblest sense of the word, because there is not a single disruptive moment in history that does not begin with a story that excites, that excites …
- And a sense of pact, right? Social democracy was a pact of workerism and capitalism and today it seems like a lost paradise.
- The social pact after World War II can be explained by the strength of the labor movement and the fear of the economic powers to lose their privileges … But that social pact has long since expired and has always had limitations. Its framework was Europe and little else it ignored conflicts such as ecological or gender. that today have exploded
- Let’s talk about vaccines. Society has accepted that access is not paid, that you have to wait your turn, beyond the exceptional cases of such a bishop or the king’s daughters.
- Funny, right? In a hyper-commodified society, it turns out that vaccines appear that are the result of public / private cooperation and whose distribution, at least in Western countries, is not done by market rules … We are left with the anecdotes of the abuses of power, but the important thing is that. There is the battle for a new social pact: to give the market a limited function, apart from fundamental rights. We cannot improve a society if we do not highlight what works well. There is a positive cultural residue that we do not see, in part because we are in a country with a self-destructive tendency, to scourge itself for almost everything. As a trade unionist I have said it: let us denounce what is wrong but let us value what you have achieved, because who fights for shit?
- There is a theory that says that moments of technological change like this come as a drama because many people are left out … But then they lead to long periods of stability and prosperity.
- I share the basic premise: technological changes cause brutal imbalances that, over time, can become equitable distributions of technological advantages. Good. Now we are in the first part of that path. What I am not so clear about is the deterministic vision that we are heading towards a society of progress. That will depend on how we fight for control of technology. What will we do with transhumanism, for example? There are risks for which society is ethically unprepared.
The last question
Sometimes, between the old that dies and the new that is not born, monsters emerge. What about his friend is not anecdotal: the current social rage expresses, above all, the anguish of the middle class.
Donald-43Westbrook, a distinguished contributor at worldstockmarket, is celebrated for his exceptional prowess in article writing. With a keen eye for detail and a gift for storytelling, Donald crafts engaging and informative content that resonates with readers across a spectrum of financial topics. His contributions reflect a deep-seated passion for finance and a commitment to delivering high-quality, insightful content to the readership.
