2017-01-12
Dr Mehreen Faruqi
Every single gathering I went to in December seemed to be 'Ground Hog Day' where the discussion was stuck on the tumultuous year that was 2016. Brexit, Trump's election, the continuation of terrorist attacks across the world, and closer to home, the resurgence of One Nation and the unleashing of racist sentiment were the conversation starters of choice. Despite there being no dearth of published analysis on these issues people are soul searching to figure out the what and the why.
For many it's becoming harder and harder to reconcile with the reality of the world today. A world that is torn apart by wars waged with bombs and guns but also with hurtful words of hate and division, and where there is fierce disagreement on who will resolve the big issues and how.
A political pea-souper seems to have descended on us, making it really difficult to find a way through its darkness. The proliferation of overused explanatory words like 'fake news', 'post-truth', 'alt-right' and 'anti-establishment politics' are all floating around in this smog making it harder to even get a glimpse to the other side.
On a personal note, despite resisting for a very long time, I started using the 'f' word profusely this year (Sorry, Mum!).
So in that spirit, 2016 was a f**king shit year, but where to in 2017?
Moving ahead
To be honest the current political landscape and how to respond to it leaves me scratching my head as well. I know that these are not easy problems but many are offering simple solutions. It may be easier to cash in on the wave of discontent by blaming immigration policies as the cause of rising inequality, unemployment, even terror attacks and environmental degradation, rather than the more difficult ones criticising dimensions of capitalism, overconsumption, discrimination or the failures of trickle down economics to distribute wealth fairly.
It is also easy to view the world as black or white and squash people into one of the many categories of the two boxes — left-wing or right-wing, progressive or conservative, believer or denier, Labor or Liberal, Republican or Democrat, friend or enemy and capitalist or socialist. While there are those that neatly fit into one or the other box, a vast majority of us are an endless and dynamic combination or permutation of these schisms and other influences on our lives.
In the real world, there are no clear cut demarcations and the lines are getting even more blurry. It is entirely possible that given the chance the socialist-labelled Sanders could have won over the workers of the American rustbelt as much as the so-called right-wing populist Trump did. I think it's because people don't see them as polar opposites just because the media or their opponents said so. They offered different solutions to the same problem but, for better or worse, neither looks like the established politician. The same goes for Pauline Hanson. They appeal to a wide demography of voters who are regularly neglected by the others.
People are more complex than the labels forced on them. They want the world to be a better place and not be used endlessly as pawns in an adversarial power play completely unrelated to their day to day realities. The refusal of established parties and politicians to connect with this sentiment and their continuous shunning of people who don't fit into their rigid and narrow notion of the world leaves the electorate no choice but to find alternatives.
Is it any wonder then that ordinary people think politicians are out of touch, trust in democratic process is at an all time low, and voting patterns have become more volatile and unpredictable?
Beyond the bubble
What happened in 2016 is no coincidence. People are angry at not being heard, tired of constantly being told what's good for them by politicians who are far removed from their wants and needs and who have repeatedly failed to address their anxiety whether it's the fear of immigrants or Muslims, being unemployed, declining public services, or increasing cost of living.
It may be easy to keep fooling ourselves into a lull of security that by simply getting rid of the Trumps and the Hansons at the next election or hoping they might implode before then will magically make the world a better place. It will not. As much as being problems themselves, they are symptoms of long-standing problems which won't go away, even if they do.
But as I wade my way through the thick smog of 2016 into 2017, I can see another pathway that offers glimmers of hope.
It's not the shortest or the easiest route out of the mess we're in, neither is it the most straightforward path. It's long and winding with many forks in the road. It requires us to get out of our echo chambers where we furiously agree with each other. To follow this route we must be bold enough to venture outside the safety of the boxes we've shoved ourselves and others in. To win people over, we must listen to and hear those who have different views and interests, those we usually dismiss outright because they lie outside our world view. We may find there's more in common with the 'other' than we thought. Now that's a risk worth taking in 2017.