Radical Centrism: The Smart Move
Why the middle way is the most radical
Coverage of the developing political situation in the US seems to be increasingly febrile. The “f” word, fascism, is being bandied around too readily in my view, although there is clearly a risk of a drift in that direction, with militarised raids by heavies without badge numbers or warrants.
Of course, looking at the bigger picture, with the climate emergency rapidly unfolding, traditional politics is rapidly becoming less relevant, since we are losing control of the direction of our societies.
Climate change and associated natural disasters will increasingly shape our lives more than which political party we choose. We had a choice between voluntary restraint and simplicity, or business as usual and putting faith in the magical thinking of geo-engineering: the majority chose the latter.
In the short term, political choices still matter, even though we are papering over the cracks before the ship sinks.
Sadly, our societies, both the US and the UK seem bitterly divided. In the US, society seems split almost 50:50 between two quite different political visions, a split so bitter that at times the nation has seemed at risk of drifting towards another civil war, made all the more dangerous by the ubiquity of weapons due to the inability to implement any meaningful gun control.
The red and blue teams seem so far apart any unity seems highly improbable (highly confusingly the colours of the sides are the other way around in the UK, and it doesn’t take much to confuse me!).
In the UK, after fourteen years of Conservative governments and the wholesale asset-stripping of public services and rampant cronyism, Labour currently have their turn at the wheel. However they have been handed a poisoned chalice, a nation hollowed out and on its knees after decades of under-investment in public services, failed neo-liberalism and austerity economics.
The Right got their dream of Brexit, but it has turned into an unmitigated nightmare, serving only to compound the economic crises caused by Covid and war in Ukraine. Even the one claimed advantage, of being able to control our borders, has failed to deliver.
Just when we need unity and a sense of common purpose, to tackle the climate emergency and the many social ills on either side of the Atlantic, we seem more divided than ever.
Radical centrism
In recent years I have favoured a new way of doing politics, where instead of one party in government and another in opposition, slinging insults at each other, we form governments of national unity and work around a table together, government by national cooperation and consensus-building. I would use the label radical centrism for this approach.
However, it seems that such forms of governing only emerge in times of real crisis, such as in Israel at present, where an existential crisis forced parties to shelve their differences for a short period.
Why is it that societies can only unite when in extremis, and not for day-to-day government? Not only are nations divided internally, but the United Nations seems equally riven by division, as countries seek individual short-term advantage, rather than all working together for a better world, which was the original vision that inspired the formation of the League of Nations.
I have written before advocating for a new kind of politics -
https://medium.com/eco-news/a-gaian-perspective-on-politics-def3aa374cdb
However, I am not optimistic that this appeal has any chance of success. As the climate emergency takes hold, and the responses to climate disaster use up ever more economic and social capital, a drift towards the extremes seems sadly more likely. I would love to be proved wrong!
Eventually, the disasters will use up so much capital that humanity starts sliding backwards. With several degrees of global warming now locked in, the only uncertainty is how steep that decline will be.
In my younger days, I was far more radical. I make no secret of that. I burnt with an inner rage at the injustices of the world, the inequalities of opportunity of every kind, and this anger was nurtured by sociology lecturers at my university who spoon-fed Marxism to eager and receptive minds.
It is often observed that, as a generalisation, people become more right-wing as they grow older, and I guess I risk conforming to that cliché. However perhaps to justify my move along the political spectrum, when considering the best tactics to achieve a better world, I think that moving to the centre ground is a smart move.
Why does radical centralism make sense? Because the extremes seem to feed and reinforce each other. So, for example, one extreme group feels strongly about an issue and organises a march. The other extreme will often immediately mount a counter-demonstration, when previously they may have been inactive or divided!
The article featured on the link below highlights just such a situation, where opposing demonstrations met six years ago, and confronted each other, with an iconic photograph being captured as used above-
Go back nearly 90 years, to the “Battle of Cable Street”, when in 1936 fascists and anti-fascists confronted each other in East London, in a prelude to the Second World War, and the same battles were being fought. It seems that we never learn –
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cable_Street
Each side is strengthened by the perceived threat of the other, and uses the atrocities of the other as justification for their own atrocities. The two sides end up pushing against each other, and there may be a descent into outright conflict.
A collapse towards the centre ground
However, think for a moment about what happens when one side of a shoving match stops pushing. The other side collapses forwards into the centre ground! There is nothing to push against.
This is a principle in Judo, where you use an opponent’s weight and strength against them, and roll with the punches. It is not surrender, just being smarter about how to respond. Thinking rather than responding instinctively.
With nothing to push against or oppose, suddenly people feel less threatened by the other side.
Radical centralism is therefore the smart move and a win-win strategy for us all, not a victory for one side or the other, but a solution where we are all winners.
Work smarter, not harder
Sometimes it is better to work smarter than work harder. So I would urge those currently engaged in hurling vitriol and insults at the other side to pause, dial it down, take a beat, calm down, and think about what would actually achieve results, rather than just feel good and get it out of our system, or virtue-signal to those on our side that we wish to impress.
Think which approach actually benefits those that we profess to be wanting to protect the most. Hurling back insults, or building bridges?
It may not be so emotionally satisfying, it may not get the anger out of our system, but do we want to vent, to posture, and virtue signal, or to be effective?
Take a beat
I was reminded of this when seeing a video clip of a performer who crashed a “Straight Pride” event, singing a trans pride song. It was brave resistance. However did it actually help the cause? It may have been an emotionally satifying protest, but did it make the men attending, who perhaps already felt threatened by social change safer, or just more angry and fuel their rage further, perhaps more likely to lash out at the next opportunity?
I suggest that the less satisfying but more productive approach is to take a beat, to dial the temperature down. This may ultimately be a safer approach for most communities than stoking the fire.
Godwin’s Law
As for using the f-word, fascism, I think it is used too readily, and am reminded of Godwin’s Law - that whichever side calls the other a Nazi loses the argument. There is clearly a growing risk of fascism emerging in the US, but in my view we are some way from that yet, and name-calling runs the risk of a self-fulfilling prophecy if those targeted embrace the label.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law
A Goldilock’s Planet
In the context of our Goldilocks planet, neither too hot like Venus, nor too cold like Mars, at the end of the day, we are all on the same side. All passengers on planet Earth are on the same bus currently heading over the edge of a cliff.
There is no escape to living in bunkers, or on the Moon or Mars as some billionaires seem to think, in their hubristic space schemes, to be a possibility. We sink or swim together.
So I would urge everyone to bury the hatchet, not in the back of our opponents, but out of the recognition that we are all on the same team. Rather than opposing and hurling insults, seek common ground.
More in common
There is a well-known quotation I often refer to, from the late UK Member of Parliament Jo Cox, who so poignantly stated:
“We are far more united, and have far more in common with each other, than things that divide us”.
Beyond protest to building
Finally, partly as a reminder to myself, protesting on its own is not enough. It can raise the vital profile of certain issues. However, at some point, we need to stop protesting and start building.
There is another great quotation, from Buckminster Fuller on this theme of building, rather than just protesting:
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
So as the febrile atmosphere builds, I would urge readers to seek common ground and unity. We are ultimately all on the same team, our futures are bound together in a warming world.
I don’t claim that it guarantees a better outcome than resistance. However it seems worth considering. Radical centrism may be the best approach.
As always, thank you for reading.
This is a really compelling case for radical centrism. I also loved the Judo analogy of letting extremism collapse by refusing to push back.
I have a personal question I wanted to ask that I left in your inbox, when you have time please check it out.
Brexit was the result of the stupidity and ignorance of the general voter mixed with sub follower mentality. The worst move in British history. It never accomplished anything good. On the contrary, it’s been an increasing disaster.