London Review of Books - June 28, 2013
In
his early writings, Marx described the German situation as one in which
the only answer to particular problems was the universal solution:
global revolution. This is a succinct expression of the difference
between a reformist and a revolutionary period: in a reformist period,
global revolution remains a dream which, if it does anything, merely
lends weight to attempts to change things locally; in a revolutionary
period, it becomes clear that nothing will improve without radical
global change. In this purely formal sense, 1990 was a revolutionary
year: it was plain that partial reforms of the Communist states would
not do the job and that a total break was needed to resolve even such
everyday problems as making sure there was enough for people to eat.
Where
do we stand today with respect to this difference? Are the problems and
protests of the last few years signs of an approaching global crisis,
or are they just minor obstacles that can be dealt with by means of
local interventions? The most remarkable thing about the eruptions is
that they are taking place not only, or even primarily, at the weak
points in the system, but in places which were until now perceived as
success stories. We know why people are protesting in Greece or Spain;
but why is there trouble in such prosperous or fast-developing countries
as Turkey, Sweden or Brazil? With hindsight, we might see the Khomeini
revolution of 1979 as the original ‘trouble in paradise’, given that it
happened in a country that was on the fast-track of pro-Western
modernisation, and the West’s staunchest ally in the region. Maybe there
is something wrong with our notion of paradise.
Before the
current wave of protests, Turkey was hot: the very model of a state able
to combine a thriving liberal economy with moderate Islamism, fit for
Europe, a welcome contrast to the more ‘European’ Greece, caught in an
ideological quagmire and bent on economic self-destruction. True, there
were ominous signs here and there (Turkey’s denial of the Armenian
holocaust; the arrests of journalists; the unresolved status of the
Kurds; calls for a greater Turkey which would resuscitate the tradition
of the Ottoman Empire; the occasional imposition of religious laws), but
these were dismissed as small stains that should not be allowed to
taint the overall picture.
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