Danny Sriskandarajah is the head of the New Economics Foundation (NEF). This was an organisation set up forty years ago to fight neoliberalism. Since that time neoliberalism has come to dominate the economic policies across the globe. The result has been to concentrate wealth in the hands of the wealthy.
The challenge the Foundation faces can be summarised in just one sentence: Eight men own the same wealth as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity”. That is a rather staggering statistic and this division between the rich and the poor is increasing over time.
In his role as the head of the NEF, Sriskandarajah sees it as important to challenge this concentration of wealth (and power). He says the world moving further towards autocracy. The division created by the concentration of wealth have led people to believe less in the power of democracy. Faith in politicians has declined.
An example of this is the recent British general election. Nineteen million people did not vote in that election. That was double the amount of the number of people who voted for the Labour Party, who ended up with a 170-seat majority in Parliament.
The US election might be written about in the press in relation to the popularity of Trump or whoever the Democratic candidate might be, but what will undoubtedly be significant is the people who refuse to vote for either party.
Increasingly, and in countries throughout the democratic world, people are feeling increasingly disenfranchised form politics. They do not trust politicians, who they see as being self-interested. Guided by social media, there is a move towards a belief that strong politicians would be better than democratically elected ones. This is a core part of the policy which the Republicans hope will get Donald Trump elected as President. It is what could also lead to the decline and fall of democracy.
Danny Sriskandarajah has written a book which he hopes might make some impact on this move towards autocracy. In Power to the People, he argues that we need to be involved in our communities. Rather than wait for an election every four years, people should be out there taking part, in whatever way they feel they can, in the communities in which they live.
There is a belief that a country is democratic if there is an election every few years and, for the rest, people can ignore what is happening and leave it to others. This is not democracy. It does not provide government reflecting the interests or desires of the population and it does not create societies which are inclusive and fair.
In fact, treating democracy in this way has led to people feeling excluded and ignored by politicians and their political system. It has made them look for alternatives and, too often, these alternatives have been ones which are autocratic.
If there is no change in the way our systems work then we will have a political system which focusses on short-term issues, because this is how the politicians feel they can market themselves. It will ignore or be unable to cope with the wider issues which, as a world, we must face. Climate change, rising inequality and digital disruption are all issues which must be addressed if we are to avoid future disaster.
Sriskandarajah argues that these problems will only be solved by greater involvement of individuals and not just through taking part in elections. This book provides a blueprint for greater community engagement and exhorts us all to be more involved in the world we live before it is destroyed.
Given Sriskandarajah’s background, he was exiled from Sri Lanka and has lived in both Australia and the UK, he provides examples throughout the book of inspiring real-life examples of how people can become involved in political action that can make a difference. These examples are from around the world and show how the ordinary citizen might fight greed and corruption wherever they happen.
This is a powerful book which moves us towards becoming world citizens and not the victims of autocratic inequality and control. As various commentators say on the front cover of the book, it is inspiring, powerful, urgent and wise.
