The infamous Lady was once asked what her greatest achievement was. She immediately replied, “New Labour”. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the more recent history of the British Labour Party, New Labour was Tony Blair’s creation.
And what Thatcher implied by her statement was that she had turned Labour into just another free market neo liberal party, perhaps with a veneer of a social conscience which never amounted to much. Tony Blair was supposedly a Socialist and he spoke of “consumers” of education and “consumers” of health care. (He also rushed straight into the role of George W. Bush’s poodle, whole heartedly endorsing war on Iraq and lying to the British Parliament to do so.)
Now, if it were only Tony Blair we could, perhaps, shrug him off as an aberration. However, the most pernicious free market neo liberal attack on its very civilization in Europe, has been carried out by self proclaimed Socialists and even left wingers. (Of course this begs the joke of their not knowing their left from their right.)
Zappatero in Spain, Papandreou in Greece, probably the harshest of them all. And now, to continue the good work, Fotis Kouvelis of the so called united left (descended from the so called Euro Communists), has joined PASOK, the erstwhile socialist party of Papandreou, in a coalition with the right wing Samaras party, to stick the knife even further up… I mean into all social benefits, healthcare, in short the welfare state.
Bravo Margaret. Your achievement was not confined to New Labour alone.
So what is the answer? Vote in hard line right wing parties just in case? That usually leads to disaster but does appear to be gaining in the public mood. Now in Greece, that would again be Papandreou’s great achievement too. No wonder he is lecturing in Harvard about Creating a New Europe.
One can only shudder at the kind of Europe he has in mind!