THESES ON DOMINATION AND BARBARISM:
DANGERS FOR DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS

By Bodo Ramelow

[These theses presented at a forum at the University of Hanover, May 26, 2005 are translated from the German on the World Wide Web, www.rosalux.de/index.php.]


1. The perspective “socialism or (imperialist) barbarism” developed by Rosa Luxemburg during and at the end of the 1st World War is burning again. Today it is called “democratic socialism or uncontrolled capitalism.”

2. The establishment of national socialist tyranny, the uniqueness of the crimes of the Nazis and the industrial mass murder and genocide were sheer barbarism and confirmed the worst fears.

However the history of capitalism afterwards was a history of wars, total domination and exploitation, production of hunger and misery in the so-called third world, the intolerable accumulation of wealth on one side and poverty on the other side as well as the neglect of social and political human rights.

3. The undemocratic Stalinist command socialism did not have a real perspective on capitalism. This command socialism also broke down on account of deficiency in democracy and economic rationality and contempt of people and human rights. The Gulag and the snooping of the secret services were neither committed to humanitarian principles nor justified in the name of a socialist alternative. However the system confrontation – under the sword of Damosclethes of tens of thousands of nuclear bombs and extravagant rearmanent – led to emphasizing social and democratic components and the restraint and temporary “civilizing” of capitalism, particularly in Europe.

4. Elements of total domination and barbarism appeared again in the foreground with the end of system competition, the ruin of command socialism and the rise of neoliberalism: old, open barbarism, waging preventive wars – e.g. the Iraq war – the contempt of the UN Charter and the Declaration of Human Rights and the inconceivable wealth of billions in the hands of a few.

5. In the highly developed capitalist countries like Germany after 1990, democratic and social human rights are permanently dismantled. The social states face collapse. Poverty limits people, prevents their social, political and cultural sharing, diminishes equal opportunities and frightens.

6. Capitalist globalization – marked by global players, hedge funds and the like – internationally vagabond capital – establishes a new form of totalitarian rule. This new barbarism is a largely “anonymous barbarism.” Uncontrolled capitalism has more totalitarian economic and political power than ever before. Decisions that strike deeply in our personal lives are often made thousands of miles from our hometown: decisions about thousands of jobs, public necessities and the fate of whole national economies. Democracy is threatened when democratically elected groups have an increasingly diminished importance.

Germany is also enmeshed in a serious social crisis marked by galloping social division and spreading fears of the future. The exodus from social balance and solidarity is intentional. This exodus threatens the cohesion of our society.

It is a social scandal that many wealthy persons remove themselves from financing the community through politically-created tax loopholes. Everything is done that this state and our society offers to increase wealth so personal assets increase, increase and increase. The wealthy ultimately extort the state and say we don’t share in the financing. They trample on the constitution. For them, Article 14 (2) of the German constitution, the principle “Property obligates”, means “nothing.” Worshiping the idol profit, the cry “Enrich yourself,” contradicts all Christian commands.

This conduct splits our society and destroys our natural foundations of life. However capitalism criticism is only valuable when it demands reintroduction of the property tax and introduction of the Tobin tax.

7. The policy of nation-state rulers also threatens democracy and human rights. Snooping around, DNA-data boxes, expanded spying rights for secret services, searches, registration lists and snooping around apartments characterize the total data-state.

The vision of George Orwell is still in the air bound with uninhibited capitalism and no longer with misguided socialism. Human rights are torn asunder where commercialization and human utility are only valuable in competition. The policy of scapegoats in Germany and elsewhere devours the liberal foundations of society little by little and produces tears in the fundamentals of democracy. Persons and social groups are often played off against each other: old against young, men against women, sick against healthy, East Germans against West Germans, natives against foreigners. Governmental discrimination, social diversion and social conflicts promote racism and rightwing extremism.

9. A counterpart to the total economic and political rule could be a new social contract for the 21st century that

- rebalances the responsibility of the community and the individual,
- makes clear the responsibility of owners for social well-being and
- validates the claim of the social in the market economy.

The keywords are democratic participation, solidarity, changed forms of work and economy, equal rights for genders, education, information and time.

Civilian- or police state, social constitutional state or charity state, civil- or authoritarian state, the citizen or the bourgeois as a social model – these are the questions that must be answered by a social contract.

Such a vision as a counterpart to the neoliberal era, economic “positional debates” and “competitiveness” is for me a “democratic Germany.”

10. The struggle against mass unemployment – instead of the globalization drivel – is the central social problem. We do not need a nominal constitutional right to work and framing conditions to give people a new meaningful employment within six months of entering unemployment. Living wage jobs must arise. Work is not lacking. A revaluation or a first acknowledgment of work oriented in the public interest usually performe3d free of charge and often by women has not occurred. Permanent living wage jobs must arise in work oriented in the public welfare through the targeted expansion of the non-profit sector. Regional instead of global economies; sharing instead of branding!

“More democracy” should be central in the social policy of the left. Our country needs a social breakthrough to more democracy and social justice, more emancipation and participation.

Concrete democracy is envisioned, strengthening political forms of direct democratic participation constitutionally and legally. The goal is increasing citizens’ creative possibilities. Experiences from other countries show that direct democratic procedures integrate different social groups and strongly focus on consensus – thus counteracting the division of society.

Bourgeois or citizen? People who act independently and accept one another must be open for knowledge. Otherwise they could be receptive for totalitarian forms of rule. Strengthen citizen insights; rely on the potential for change. Enough of spectator democracy; may we be self-confident political actors.

As communication of humanist values, education represents the most important preventive strategy against all forms of violence and remains the most vital resource of our society. The balanced and just access to life-long education requires fundamental changes. First of all, we need a new basic understanding of education. An education concept is necessary that does not sanction commodity-money relations as the essential basis. This concept must be directed to a humanist view of the person. Living means safeguarding democracy, living out and organizing democratic rights together and practicing tolerance to undermine the enemies of democracy.

11. Responsibility of the Left

Set aside what separates, discover what is common and then do something together. Let us begin today to work together for more dignified conditions, functioning natural foundations of life and an intact environment. Let us work for conditions that promote more peace and ultimately eliminate wars, that limit wealth and poverty and make possible a good education for all our children. These are utopias in the present tense. Humanist values can only be experienced with humanist utopias in the present tense.

Sometimes a glance at the past is helpful. People who were joined in solidarity, tolerance, human relations and civil courage and observed responsibility achieved many things. Dark epochs were illumined, tyrants chased away and walls overturned. Remember those who refused war. Don’t look away but act.

The rights of every individual count. Humanliness in our society is imperative instead of isolation. A better world is possible.