Wednesday, 6 May 2020

Don't just blame the Tories: Blame Blair. Blame Thatcher. Blame Neoliberalism.

In 1997, Tony Blair won the election on a left-wing, populistic platform. He then proceeded to renege on that - he acknowledged in 2013, “my job was to build on Thatcher’s policies”. Thatcher even described New Labour as her "greatest achievement".

He accelerated the dismantling of the NHS; he implemented tuition fees; he continued deregulation; he kept workers disempowered, etc. (Oh, and he killed/maimed/tortured/displaced millions of people in illegal wars).

None of the good social policies he implemented to temporarily lessen the damage of neoliberalism make up for the fact that he ultimately served the interests of the plutocrats and corporations, which has been incredibly harmful for all of us in the long term. (It is very odd that many hardcore anti-Brexit folks are still in love with the man who definitely played a huge role in fuelling the conditions that led people to vote Leave!).

By submitting the Labour Party to the neoliberal ideology, Blair pretty much destroyed hope of an alternative to the system imposed by Thatcher. Along with their counterparts in the US - Reagan and Clinton - Thatcher and Blair surely bear most of the blame for destroying democracy and peace, handing over people+planet to the plutocrats and corporations killing the planet for profit.


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