Kamala Harris is the last chance for globalism. Opinion

“Americanism, not globalism, will be our creed.” The announcement that Donald Trump made at the Republican Convention in July 2016 will continue to mark the November 5 elections and the new North American political cycle. Many are convinced that this game involves true patriotic people confronting the spurious interests of the internationalist elite and progressiveThis caricature has made a lot of money in the United States and far-right European “liberty parties.”

From Bill Clinton’s administration in the 1990s to Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s administrations, progressives all over the world embrace this slab of “globalism.” globalization was a project made in USA He was supposed to bring peace and prosperity to the world through trade and new technologies. But it didn’t work as well as some expected: it led to more military intervention in Afghanistan or Iraq, inequality, polarization, and crisis in our democracies. The set of values ​​that motivates “progressive globalism” has not changed: liberal democracy, human rights, the environment, or a certain philosophy. woke upBut while it has been reformed over the past decade, it has deteriorated due to relocation, failures in military operations or insecurity until it has become a somewhat confusing sect. Kamala Harris has turned to the right in the last phase of the campaign. A review of some of his proposals reveals some limitations and fundamental contradictions. It remains to be seen whether leftists, independents or abstainers will exert their influence on a candidate who has bought a stake. package Republicans abandoned some of their previous positions for strategic reasons.

On the domestic front, pure progressivism has hardly any moral core left: Protecting abortion rights – ruling Roe Vs. brought downDefense of the LGTBI group, and above all opposition to Trumpism. Harris has hardened her position exactly where she failed: in managing immigration along the Mexican border. He’s changed that: New bipartisan legislation he’s promised would make the right to asylum even more restrictive. they turned it around too green new deal Like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s, Ursula von der Leyen’s European Union. The mix includes betting on renewables while reopening the door to oil and gas fracking And nuclear energy. Furthermore, Democrats have normalized protectionism in industrial policy and trade. The inflation reduction law and the CHIP law have activated the transfer of tens of billions of dollars more to European companies.

If we talk about taxes to tackle inequality, Biden’s initiative in the G-20 to impose a 15% tax on the profits of large corporations has still not yielded any results, nor has a larger tax on large assets. There is no mark. Call biden economy Leaves a bitter taste: Democrats kept the program build better More than three trillion dollars in infrastructure, green jobs, and assistance to families and vulnerable populations. He cared about people. But they have not been able to build a solid social contract and the foundation of stable development. US GDP is a quarter of the world’s, and already almost double that of the EU. However, inequality is at its highest level with a Gini index of 41.3 (2022, World Bank), ten points above almost all European partners.

And what about democracy and freedom? According to an Associated Press-NORC poll last August, 75% of Americans believe they are at risk. The problem for progressives is that – as in France, Italy or Spain – there is no consensus at all about who poses a threat. It depends on what side you’re on: conservative or progressive, judge or union member, businessman or unemployed. Now it cannot be ignored that polarization in North America is also a result of this big tech Runaways who refuse to follow the rules. The new thing is here in Silicon Valley. liberal technologists who create lobby Supporters of Trumpism, such as Elon Musk (X, Tesla, SpaceX), and investors such as Peter Thiel or Ben Horowitz are challenging the first giants of globalization of the 1990s, such as Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and the struggle against Champions of climate change, or reproductive rights. Meanwhile, others like Mark Zuckerberg from Meta take up a profile. Probably, this war will be replicated in Europe, and Brussels will have to face it to save democracy.

To make matters worse, “progressive” foreign policy has been delegitimized by its disastrous inconsistency and double standards regarding Ukraine and Gaza. ,Le nationalisme, c’est la guerre”François Mitterrand once said. Now, there is the dubious globalism of militarism, which appears powerless to end these wars according to a viable plan. US military spending could increase to 5% from the current 3% under Biden. NATO members like Germany and Poland already exceed 2%. The flow of arms and money to Kiev, or humanitarian aid to Palestine, will continue. But this is not the world Roosevelt left behind in 1945. Our global progressivism today has no idea how to achieve peace. China and emerging countries are moving toward a new world and solutions different from the past.

But China is exactly what Trumpists and anti-Trumpists in America are targeting. What Harris means in a benign way is Biden’s continued efforts to ensure technological dominance in artificial intelligence or quantum computing ventureNow, if a crisis arises in Taiwan, this delicate balance could collapse. In Europe, the two socialist leaders who are in opposition in the government – ​​the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the Spanish government president, Pedro Sánchez – are clear that a Cold War between Washington and Beijing is not in Europe’s interests. Hence their balancing act of building bridges with China and the global South, but yes, navigating beneath an ocean of contradictions.

This being the case, with so many resignations and tactics, it does not look good for globalism which has gone on the defensive. Even if she wins the election, Harris will have to deal with a toxic political environment and a partly hostile Congress in the House or Senate, the governorships of several states and a Supreme Court with a conservative majority. A Trump victory would be a push over the edge; But Harris’s victory would be only a momentary respite. The challenge for European democrats and social democrats is to overcome this structure America first Which snatches away their natural place from them. To do this, after November 5, it is necessary to correct the course of this progressivism with global aspirations, if it intends to have an alternative against the national-populist wave. Viewed from Europe, Harris represents the last chance to change globalism into something better. Of course, there are some reasons for skepticism. But we need the United States: a divided European Union, with Brussels besieged by the extreme right, cannot do this alone. We’re at the end of something and we still don’t know how deep the bottom is.