Thread by @fuecks

Sunday long read, highly recommended.
haaretz.com/israel-news/.p…
I don't share the melancholic basic trait that we are facing a "right-wing" age of nationalism and authoritarianism. But Shlomo Sand's thorough analysis of the crisis of the left is well worth the read. /1

Sand insists that the fundamental idea of the left is equality, and socio-economic equality at that. In its authoritarian manifestations, it stands above democracy and freedom. /2

The rise of the left in Europe occurred in a liberal-democratic context, which distinguishes it from the illiberal left in Russia, China, etc. The "long lines" of social conditions and political culture shape the specific ideology. /3

This also applies, by the way, to the respective manifestation of capitalism. Sand provokes the common leftist worldview with his thesis that only capitalism, with its constant liquefaction of traditional hierarchies, created the space for the idea of equality. /4

Capitalist globalization has deepened inequality in Western industrial societies, but at the same time it is a powerful engine for the social advancement of billions of people in the developing world and for greater international equality. /5

Sand's key argument against #capitalism now is the constant expansion of needs and consumption beyond what is "necessary." This shifts the causes of the ecological crisis from the (fossil fuel) mode of production to the sphere of consumption. /6

In fact, there is no linear relationship between economic wealth and nature consumption (see the extent of environmental degradation under "real socialism"). Conversely, the innovation dynamics of capitalism are needed for the rapid transition to a post-fossil economy./7

For Sand, the future of freedom and equality depends on the liberal, cosmopolitan elites of the digital economy building a bridge to those parts of society that fear for their social status and today tend to follow the populists á la Trump./8

This amounts to a renewal of democracy that connects freedom & equality, liberal leftists & social liberals in a concept of equal freedom for all. We should not exaggerate the new German "traffic light" coalition into a historic project, but it could advance such an alliance./9