The Extreme Centre: A Second Warning

by Tariq Ali

Against the centre groundSince 1989, politics has been a contest to see who can best serve the needs of the market. In this urgent and wideranging case for the prosecution, Tariq Ali looks at the people and events that have informed this development across the world. It is an investigation that reaches its logical conclusion with the presidency of Donald Trump, the success of En Marche! in France, and the dominance of Merkel’s Germany throughout Europe.

In this fully updated edition of The Extreme Centre, Ali considers recent events that suggest, despite everything, that there is room for hope. He finds promise in Latin America and at the edges of Europe. Emerging parties in Scotland, Greece, and Spain, formed out of the 2008 crisis, are offering new promise for democracy. Even in the UK, with the rise of Jeremy Corbyn, there are indications that the hegemony of the centre may be weaker than imagined.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Economics, Society, Theory

227 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Tariq Ali (Punjabi, Urdu: طارق علی) is a British-Pakistani historian, novelist, filmmaker, political campaigner, and commentator. He is a member of the editorial committee of the New Left Review and Sin Permiso, and regularly contributes to The Guardian, CounterPunch, and the London Review of Books.

He is the author of several books, including Can Pakistan Survive? The Death of a State (1991) , Pirates Of The Caribbean: Axis Of Hope (2006), Conversations with Edward Said (2005), Bush in Babylon (2003), and Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity (2002), A Banker for All Seasons (2007) and the recently published The Duel (2008).

Reviews

[Simon Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE CATASTROPHIC CONSENSUS

"The Extreme Centre" of Tariq Ali's latest book refers to the political parties that adhere to the Neo-liberal consensus that for near forty years has defined the bounds of what's politically possible while peculiarly attending to the needs of capital, particularly financal capital, at the expense of the general population. Currently in Britain there are few substantial issues where there is much divergence between the Tories, Labour and the Lib Dems. Together (with the jokers in the pack UKIP) they form Ali's extreme centre. Together under the banner of Austerity they carry the Neo-liberal project forwards. That it should be alive and kicking in the aftermath of the Great Recession and advancing its agenda of destroying/privatising the remaining vestiges of the Welfare State speaks volumes for the inadequacy of the mainstream parties, particularly those which are ostensibly of the left.

Britain is the subject of the first half of the book with particular focus on the antics at Westminster which is hardly a topic to put a spring in your step, and Ali seems to lose something of the natural fluidity of his prose while slogging through the fetid swamps of expense claim corruption, and the far more insiduous and incestuous relationships between politicians and the private sector. In brief case studies the NHS "reforms" are subjected to a withering critique (including a short interview with Allyson Pollock of "NHS Plc" fame whose "The End of the NHS" is published this month) as are developments in an increasingly emasculated BBC. To cheer himself up Ali turns to Scotland where the Yes campaign performed credibly in a hostile media environment that pushed the politics of fear. The achievement was all the more heartening as they focussed on substantial political issues rather than crude nationalism, and stirred up a great deal of real popular interest.

The second half of the book covers the mess that is the austerity bound Eurozone and the silver lining that is Syriza in Greece, and critiques developments within NATO. The United States and it's global role come under scrutiny including it's relations with China. Ali differs from those who complacently see the U.S.'s hegemony declining rapidly, noting the huge disparity militarily between them and the rest of the world. The book ends by looking at alternatives to the extreme centre, including the achievements of the Bolivarian revolutions in South America and the potential of Syriza in Greece, partly realised by winning power in last months general election.

"The Extreme Centre" isn't a book of theory, or a dense and comprehensive study but a well written, caustic, funny and intelligent book that serves up an erudite and entertaining view of the contemporary world, and on that basis it's worth a read.

[Zanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a rant than a warning or anything else, though certainly on point. It's a little out of date already, but the parts where that applies have historical use. In terms of the overall direction of movement, nothing significant has changed, except perhaps for us in the UK where Brexit and the hint of an alternative to the extreme centre in the form of Corbyn's ascendancy (all too difficult to maintain) are unsettling things a little. Ali's comments on the EU might actually give some Remain voters like me who've forgotten why we gave a minute's thought to voting Leave (landowner subsidies? structural adjustments and austerity? have we forgotten Greece and Spain?) hope that Brexit, though driven by anti-immigrant sentiment continually stoked by the media, corporates eager for a fresh wave of deregulation and blatant lies and misinformation, might some day some how give us space for something better than this insane ideology of neoliberalism.

An interview with Allyson Pollock, professor of public health research and policy at Queen Mary University of London

TARIQ ALI: How can the health service as it stands today resist the forward march of privatization?

ALLYSON POLLOCK: What is happening now in Europe is that we have got neoliberal policies coming from the US. The health care industry has exhausted the funds of America, where healthcare is running at about 18% of GDP, compared with 9 or 10% average in Europe. So the US health care investors need to find new markets, and they are busy attempting to penetrate and open up the health care systems of Europe. And of course the biggest trophy is the UK NHS, because it was for a long time the most socialized of all the health care systems.

So, since devolution, Scotland, Wales and England all have their own health care services. Scotland and Wales, which are very tiny, covering no more than 8 or 9 million people, have retained a national health service. But England, and many people don't realise this, abolished its national health service in 2012 with the Health and Social Care Act. What remains of the NHS is a funding stream, or a government pair, and the NHS has been reduced to a logo. The government is currently accelerating the breakup of what remains of the NHS under public ownership, closing hospitals, closing services, privatising or contracting out.

So just as we heard about how public lands in Liberia and Guinea are being transferred like enclosures to private owners from abroad, the same thing is happening with our public services. Our public facilities are also being enclosed and given over to private-for-profit investors. And this is happening at an extraordinary speed in England. Faster than anywhere else in Europe. And this is a major global neoliberal project.

TARIQ ALI: To privatise health?

AP: Well, to privatise not just the health care system but also ultimately the funding. Now in the US, just under half of that 18% of GDP is actually paid for by the government, but the government is in effect a taxpayer and then channels the money into private-for-profit corporations.

The government in England introduced the Health and Social Care Act because it wanted to open up new funding streams. It wants to reduce the level of services that are available publically, create a climate of discontent with the NHS, forcing the middle classes to go private and pay either out of their pocket or with their health care insurance, so that we desert, we exit what is left.

But at the same time the government is reducing all our entitlements because there is no longer a duty to provide universal health care. That duty, that had been in place since 1948, was abolished in 2012. It means that now government can reduce all the entitlements, reduce everything that is available, and increasingly we are going to have to pay personally or through private health insurance.

And the private health industry is here. They have come here from the US and they are absolutely gearing up through the new structures that the government has put in place to move into private-for-profit health insurance. And actually the new system the government is putting in place is modelled on the US. That will come at a huge loss, and it will also be a public health catastrophe because it will mean that many, many millions will increasingly go with
out care, and of course markets render people invisible, they are not seen. The doctor in front of you only sees the patient that comes to him; he doesn't see the many tens of thousands who are being denied access to health care, which is why doctors are not out on the street campaigning.

But in the UK the doctors are out on the street campaigning [...] you have to use the parallel of the oak tree: it seems to be blooming and flourishing, but the roots have been severed. It can take many months or years for it to completely decay. And once it has gone, these doctors will no longer be there. They'll be like the doctors in the US, interested in themselves, interested in their own pockets and not interested in universal access to healthcare. [...]

Now we do have a solution: we've written an NHS Reinstatement bill [...]

[Redfern Barrett · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to enjoy this book - as a leftist I found the premise interesting, particularly within the current context of British politics. I was sorely disappointed. In 'The Extreme Centre' Ali presents us with a simple scenario: that a 'centrist' movement committed to neoliberalism and austerity has taken hold of the political process, leading to a fundamentally undemocratic scenario in which any meaningful political choice is obliterated in the name of privatisation and consumer capitalism. This sound premise collapses under Ali's poor execution.

First of all Ali's arguments prove simplistic from the outset, the few footnotes providing little in the way of extra context, and frequently providing non-sequiturs to the point being made. It's easy to cruise through the first couple of chapters, which limit themselves to the British political system with all the nuance of a tabloid newspaper (though there are some interesting facts on political corruption, particularly among New Labour Blairites), whilst the later chapters grew worse. Frothing opinion is presented as fact, and the world flattened into two dimensions.

Firstly there's Ali's treatment of the European Union: rather than a flawed entity currently controlled by the political right with a lack of democratic accountability brought about by a conflict between federalists and confederalists, in Ali's world the EU is a borderline-totalitarian state intentionally created as a machine for big business. Ali reduces a union created over decades by movements and individuals from a multitude of political positions to a nightmare from a left-wing children's book. And again, I say this as a socialist. The United States and NATO are treated similarly.

It's not the political perspective I take issue with, it's Ali's overly simplistic take on the world. Throughout 'The Extreme Centre' individuals and institutions are lumped into 'hero' and 'villain' categories, with the latter vastly outnumbering the former--which brings me to the main problem. Ali's text is dispiriting for those that seek real change to the overwhelming corruptions and problems inherent in our unregulated capitalist system. Each chapter is a poorly-sequenced barrage of depressing scenarios, with far too little on how these issues can actually be resolved.

In short, Ali's 'The Extreme Centre' presents a world populated by cartoon villains with too little hope of them ever being defeated. Unless you're seeking an irrelevant tabloid analysis of the current state of Western society, it's one best avoided.

[Mark Hebden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tariq Ali is a veteran revolutionary, radical thinker and icon of the left. He was at the forefront of events in 1968 during the failed revolutions throughout Europe and allegedly is also the inspiration behind the Rolling Stones song, Street Fighting Man. Now 71 he has lost none of his vigour and perspicacity that marked him early on as someone worth listening to. This latest volume deals with his concept of the “extreme centre” – the formulation of a politics so devoid of ideas it has become immobile and dangerous; protected from society by an impenetrable bubble distinguishing our leaders from the masses they are supposed to represent. The extreme centre is another way of saying neoliberal orthodoxy but quibbling over the name doesn’t detract from Ali’s visible anger that the work he and his comrades put in over the decades has been and continues to be dismantled in the name of some shadow of democracy.

In among his anger is a severe jadedness too, or a sadness maybe that he didn’t think this far in to the future we would still be fighting for the same rights, the rights that were won previously and, Ali considers, cemented in to an unwritten constitution of progressivism. Unemployment, household debt, health and income inequalities, public housing, transport and education were all things his generation dealt with and ours has let slip backward in to the private hands of piratical entrepreneurs whose only loyalty is to themselves and possibly their shareholders. Our politicians have not only allowed this to happen but have facilitated the obliteration of the post-war consensus, and they now remain but pawns in a power struggle between competing multi-national interests.

Ali confronts the spinelessness of our politicians with his traditional bite and gives us the hope of solutions through the emergence of radical alternatives in such diverse places as Greece, Scotland and Spain while at the same time acknowledging that this homogeneity in politics is making the far-right seem more appealing – as the generation that dealt with fascism so completely, so the next generation are oblivious to the dangers it contains and once again that fight must be had and won.

Overall this book though has been written by someone who has been let down by the left itself and the politics and politicians he and those fellow travellers like him invested so much time and effort in. His most effective scorn is reserved for those members of the Labour Party who have abrogated responsibility for the ever-expanding inequalities in our society and chosen to feather their own nests at the expense of darkening their souls through corruption, double standards and worst of all, legally dubious foreign policy decisions.

[Clif · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this very informative and educational read, Tariq Ali travels the power centers of the Western world examining how democracy of which we are so proud is a shadow of what it should be. This is because the political parties that should be in opposition have collapsed into an "extreme center" that does little more that serve the neoliberal drive for financial hegemony under the direction of the United States.

What makes this book an exceptional read is Ali's backgrounding. As he travels from the US to the EU and its principle member states, he gives a brief history to inform the reader how each place has arrived where it is today. I found out much I did not know about France in particular. The political parties are identified and, in particular, the situation of the left is described, the left being the center of the author's sympathies and his criticism.

The people you hear about in the superficial news reported by commercial media are here described in greater detail, people such as Tony Blair and Emmanuel Macron who, like the disappointing Barack Obama are all in the service of established money and power.

Ali has no illusions about the strength of this power and sees no diminution of the grip of U.S. finance on the putative democracies of the world, but he offers hope in telling of the places where there has been resistance such as Scotland and Jeremy Corbyn's success in Great Britain.

It's regrettable that books like this one are set in the time they are written. The Extreme Center goes no further than 2017 so Trump is only briefly mentioned, properly discounted for his failure to deliver on the changes he promised in his campaign. I am sure that Ali would see nothing encouraging in the candidacy of Joe Biden.

Ali writes in a direct and easily consumed style, cutting to the chase everywhere he visits. I highly recommend this book to anyone following world political affairs, in particular those who wish to see endless war and domination by the 1% ended.

[KOMET · Rating 4 out of 5]

This slim, weighty book is ideal for anyone wanting to better understand the world in which we now live and the political-economic forces which exercise power and control in the UK, most of Europe, and the U.S.

According to Tariq Ali - a political thinker, activist, filmmaker, and writer who I've heard in several radio interviews over the years; he's a very fascinating person - "[s]ince 1989, politics has become a contest to see who can best serve the needs of the market, a competition now fringed by unstable populist movements. The same catastrophe has taken place in the US, Britain, Continental Europe, and Australia." (To that number, one can add Canada, which since 2006, has been under the firm grip of the Conservative Party and its Prime Minister, an extreme control freak who has put the country on a more militant footing abroad, put curbs on free expression and civil liberties at home, and embraced the gospel of neoliberal economics.)

The sections of the book which dealt with the evolution of British politics since Thatcher, the growth of Scottish nationalism in Scotland since the 1970s (as a challenge to "Tory-fied Britain" as embodied by the Tories and Tony Blair's 'New Labour' --- in favor of promoting popular sovereignty and more humane values in the marketplace and society), the change in NATO's purpose and functions since the end of the Cold War (in a chapter named "Natopolis"), and the European Union were really eye-opening to me.

One of the bestselling points of "The Extreme Centre" is that terrorism as embodied by Islamic extremism (e.g. ISIS and Al Queda and its auxiliaries) is not the only threat to democracy today. There is also "the enemy within" as represented by an unholy alliance between many of our political leaders and the corporate elites interested more in maintaining and enhancing their power and control across countries - oftentimes to the detriment of the middle-class, working poor and marginalized elements of society.

Ali does offer, in the concluding chapter, alternatives that can be promoted as effective challenges to the extreme centre. He emphasizes that progressive movements, if well-organized and unafraid to challenge the status quo, can make a difference and undo the corrosive effects of neoliberal economics, creating a truer egalitarian society. This is a book (at 294 pages) to be read for education and inspiration.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Politicians all seem to be the same, don't they? They make the same stump speeches, preach (sometimes literally in the good ole US of A), and come from the same political stock. Now there are 17 Republicans seeking the nomination for the American presidency and 5 Democrats, four of which are really the same, including a Bush and a Clinton. They expound eerily similar policies, are dependent on money from corporations, and don't question the triumph of neoliberal, austerity-driven politics. In fact, if every candidate is fighting for the same system, is it really politics at all? This is a question that perennial dissident Tariq Ali attempts to answer in The Extreme Centre.

In Ali's mind, mainstream political parties in the West are all the same at their core. Sure, the Democrats and Labour want to spend a few more nickels and the Republicans and the Conservatives like to fearmonger, but these supposedly "opposite" pairs of parties are all in hock to the neoliberal capitalist system.

Ali doesn't apologize for being a socialist and a dreamer. He's in the game to try and destroy the rule of the status quo, unopposed in the West since the 1960s and globally since the fall of Communism in the early 1990s. His essays make for an interesting, angry look at the potential future, where reform is left for dead on the roadside and revolution is out of the question.

Having lived in the UK for over half a century, Ali starts his collection off with an evaluation of contemporary British politics (a not-so-guilty pleasure of mine), and man is he damning. Labour, the Tories, the Lib Dems (don't even mention Ukip): they're all the same to Ali, propagators of the rule of the elite, allergic to any meaningful change, and determined to unwind social benefits to rebalance wealth to the rich. New Labour under Blair pushed away Labour's principles to court rich donors, even going as far as beginning the disastrous privatization of the UK's National Health Service, which the current Tory government is furthering. If the NHS becomes like the American healthcare system (hopefully not), spending on healthcare could double from a European average of 9-10% to the US' horrifying 18% of GDP.

Ali is a big fan of Scottish independence, and he makes that clear. He sees in it a radical movement positioned for change and a break from the neoliberal status quo. I'm not sure how he feels about the SNP thrashing Labour in the May general election, but I'm sure he sees it as a positive sign that Scotland is even more ready for change than when it rejected independence last September.

85% of the total Scottish electorate voted, and 97% of eligible voters were registered. Polls leading up to the referendum showed that the pro-independence campaign was in the lead, leading to severe fearmongering by the No campaign. All three unionist parties united to press for a No vote through intimidation, media bias against independence, and fear of the unknown. They won, but at the cost of losing the trust of the Scots for the foreseeable future. Better Together really showed that Labour, the Tories, and the Lib Dems are more interested in the status quo than change, members of the extreme centre.

I remember staying up late to watch the results, dreading a Yes vote, fearing uncertainty and instability for the Scottish people. But looking back, maybe I was a little too scared. The SNP needs a more comprehensive policy program, and also needs to prove that it can enact the change it always talks about while it's still in government at Holyrood. When that happens, I'll consider advocating for independence, but the SNP really needs to convince me first.

To America: Wages are stagnating, the working class has lost its oomph, and Americans are working 10-20% more hours than Europeans (even more than the notoriously hard working Japanese). He cites some harrowing statistics from both the UK and the US to rail against income inequality. The ratio of executive pay to the average company worker's rose from 42:1 in 1980 to 326:1 by 1997. In 1980 the richest 1% owned 20% of the wealth. By 2000, the 1% had 42.5%. The richest 10% netted 85.8%, and the bottom got diddly squat. Bill Clinton the great reformer wasn't all that great according to Ali, and it only got worse under W.

The Euro: "Greece is in shambles, and the Troika and austerity are evil," is the whole argument Ali makes. The economy has shrunk over 25%, Greece will lose over 3% more of its GDP this year according to recent estimates, and unemployment is at horrific levels, over 50% for young people. I agree with his argument fundamentally, but it's important to realize that everyone's at fault. The Greeks lived above their means by relying on cheap money, and the troika, along with French and German banks that were the main recipients of funds from the first Greek bailout, gave it to them. I'm sure Ali is disappointed in how SYRIZA has handled the current crisis, as he expounded many times on the hope he had for a true leftist government in Greece. Austerity (an essential part of the neoliberal extreme centre for Ali) doesn't work. I'm happy to argue that somewhere else, but it's so obvious to me that it's not worth discussing here.

To NATO: Ali argues that NATO is imperialist and was duped by the US and the UK to go to war in Afghanistan and the Balkans so that they could cover their asses and appeal to warmongers at home. With over 662 bases overseas and another 88 in its territories, the US could easily fight anyone on its own if military resources were the only factor. But luckily they aren't, and moderating forces will always be around, even if the US is the global hegemon and many of its policies are misguided. Ali discusses the rise of China here, but he puts forward no new ideas. He sees China as a regional power and a moderate challenger to US global dominance. His argument was too simplistic in my view.

In his closing remarks, Ali waxes political on the future. He finally addresses those fighting against the extreme centre and for change. He especially cites the indignato movement, and the rise of Evo Morales and the Bolivarian Republics of Latin America, who advocate a shared economy of societal gains rather than the profit-driven hypercapitalism. Maybe it's the future, but I'm not so sure.

Are we in a post-capitalist world? Probably, seeing the low growth figures, wealth inequality, and high unemployment that plagues the contemporary world since 2008. He sees hope in alternative politics, notably Podemos in Spain and SYRIZA in Greece. Rather than pure opposition, we need real advocacy, real policy, and real leaders who decide what next steps the world will take. I think Ali would agree with that.

So I'll leave this mess of a collection and review with a quote from indignata Beatriz García.

"Excuses are not good enough for us. We do not want to choose between actually existing democracy and the dictatorships of the past. We want a different life. Real democracy now!"

[Lazaros Karavasilis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Περίμενα κάτι παραπάνω να πω την αλήθεια...

[Hans Bakker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A second warning, an update from the 2015 edition. I liked the in your face facts about the anti democratic way of neoliberalism. But especially how this extreme middle works out in different countries.

[David Tutt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whist Trariq Ali raises a number of imporant issues, he fails to provide much in terms of solutions.

[Vishal Misra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is democracy dead? Tariq Ali's polemic is timely, and though it pre-dates the Brexit vote, it was deeply prescient. This is a book that levels it's accusations against neoliberal capitalism and relentlessly fights its case. This means that the book sometimes lacks in nuance, but then again, it is designed to make an argument.

So the first premise of the book is that democracy, especially in the Western European heartlands of liberal-democracy is dead. This is relatively easy as a claim to make and to defend. If one looks at the US and UK in isolation, it is obvious that democracy is suffering. Since Reagan/Thatcher, each party has positioned itself in the "centre", seeking to continue Reaganomics and Thatcherism. So with all the hope that lifted Labour to power under Tony Blair swiftly evaporated when he was revealed to be Tory Blair.

Subsequently, there has been no alternative to "free market" thinking. A thinking that ignores that markets need states to create and sustain them. Furthermore, it is one that ignores that the market is ruled by elites, and those elites cannot be held to democratic account.

The second half looks at the Bolivarian revolutions in Latin America. The ones that have seen the poorest live longer, get more educated and seen a drop in homelessness. That much maligned revolution has been subject to US/EU scaremongering on a grand scale. As Western "democracy" cares only for GDP and "trickle down" economics. These rather moderate social democratic alternatives are so reviled partly because they are democratic.

This is a timely book that shows the lie in the claim that capitalism is a democratic doctrine. If anything, capitalism has always sought to hollow out democracy and shift resources inexorably in to the hands of those who have most and need it least.

[Jibran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neoliberalism’s triumph also reflects the failure of the left. When laissez-faire economics led to catastrophe in 1929, Keynes devised a comprehensive economic theory to replace it. When Keynesian demand management hit the buffers in the 70s, there was an alternative ready. But when neoliberalism fell apart in 2008 there was ... nothing. This is why the zombie walks. The left and centre have produced no new general framework of economic thought for 80 years.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016...

Which has led to the "Extreme Centre" of Tariq Ali in which the right-wing and the left-wing, devoid of any plan for the new challenges, have opted to mask their intellectual bankruptcy by situating themselves at the safe centre such that you can no longer tell any difference between them. The supine, corrupt, thoughtless politics is giving rise, on one hand, to the Far Right ideologies which may be seen as a response of the politically sidelined masses who feel powerless and disenfranchised. Tariq Ali warns that the UK - indeed the West and wherever the status quo holds sway - will go down the dreaded road if Extreme Centre is not broken and an alternative not chalked out.

[Bill Brydon · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Not since the interwar years has conflict been incited so shamelessly, and with such frightening frivolity. The combination of unchallengeable military power and the political intoxication it produces sweeps all else to the side. What the whole world knows to be false is proclaimed by the United States to be the truth, with media networks, vassals and acolytes obediently in tow. The triumph of crude force is portrayed as a mark of intelligence or courage; criminal arrogance is described as moral energy. Of course, such aggression doesn’t always succeed politically and, in most cases, the chaos it unleashes is much worse than what existed before. But the economic gains are palpable: the privatization of Libyan and Iraqi oil are the most salient examples. How can hope be sustained in such a world? First, by shedding all illusions about the capacity of the rulers of the world to reform themselves."

[Adam McPhee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of Europe’s admired philosophers cannot interpret this world, let alone change it. Economists and sociologists, however, are discussing a number of possible alternatives.

An update of the litany against neoliberalism. I liked the part about England and Scotland at the time of the Scottish referendum, especially his idea that states-within-a-state are the ones most likely to push back against radical centrism. It strikes me as being true in Canada, with both Quebec and our indigenous population. Also a bunch on New Labour and the problem of unwritten agreements where politicians wait until after they leave office to collect on bribes for actions taken while in office (apparently it's well known that British PMs and foreign ministers rake in Saudi Arabian cash for sparsely attended speeches after leaving office).

The advice proffered to the Labour Party in Britain in 1958 by Professor H. D. Dickinson was rejected by Labour, but accepted by the Bolivarian leaders in Venezuela and Bolivia some forty years later:

If the welfare state is to survive, the state must find a source of income of its own, a source to which it has a claim prior to that of … a profits-receiver. The only source that I can see is that of productive property. The state must come, in some way or another, to own a very large chunk of the land and capital of the country. This may not be a popular policy: but, unless it is pursued, the policy of improved social services, which is a popular one, will become impossible. You cannot for long socialize the means of consumption unless you first socialize the means of production.

The rulers of the world will see in these words little more than an expression of utopianism, but they would be wrong. For these are the structural reforms that are really needed, not those being pushed by the EU. What is needed is a complete turnaround, preceded by a public admission that the Wall Street system could not and did not work and has to be abandoned.

Since all Empires in human history have fallen, the American version will inevitably do so too. But when? Until now, despite many a setback, the signs of impending collapse or irreversible decline are few. Occasionally, left-liberals and fellow travellers attempt to paint a canvas highlighting the setbacks in lurid colours, while leaving all else in darkness. The implication is that the United States was once an all-powerful Empire but is now on the wane. The first claim of omnipotence was never the case, and a cold-eyed survey of the evidence suggests that the second assumption, too, is misjudged.
One conscious or sub-conscious function underlying this false optimism about the US’s imminent decline is to abandon effective opposition. It’s no longer necessary to ask questions. If an Empire is approaching its death agony, why waste time discussing the real symptoms? Such an attitude encourages one to decontextualize geopolitical problems, seeing them in isolation from the strategy or needs of the grand hegemon. In this view the world becomes a chessboard, with the pawns in control. None of the setbacks suffered by the United States – most seriously in South America where the Bolivarians have a universal appeal, unlike the jihadis and their supporters – justifies such a view.
The fact is that the globe still revolves, however shakily, around a fixed political, ideological and military axis. We are not even close to the twilight years of the American imperium. Nor is Washington in any mood to surrender its place in the world. It may be a ‘stationary state’2 at home for the time being, but it is hyperactive abroad. In fact domestic economic problems, whose seriousness should not be underestimated, make the Empire more violent abroad. Each new enemy, however peripheral, is described as evil incarnate and presented as such by global media networks, like a capitalist variant of an old Stalinist category – the ‘enemies of the people’ who should be imprisoned, tortured or exterminated at will.

Sick burn: Grillo’s anti-immigrant views are no secret. In 2011 he was quoted in the conservative press uttering remarks no different in tone and content to those of Britain’s Ukip. The difference is this: Grillo is a clown, Farage merely pretends to be one.

The attempts to roll back neoliberalism are gathering momentum, but what to put in its place, and by what means, remain subjects for debate. The most successful movements are targeting the political structures of the state. Taking on its socio-economic base and transforming it on the South American model – state ownership of utilities and heavy regulation of capital – is an essential next step. This will not be easy in Europe. The power of the world financial system, both officially and through rogue elements, to try and paralyse an economy has been on display in several recent cases. They include Argentina, attacked by a vulture fund based in the Cayman Islands; Russia, subjected to US/EU economic sanctions as political punishment; and Iran, subjected to US/EU sanctions for exercising its sovereignty. Radical democracy alone will not be sufficient to repel these challenges. It will require alliances both from above and below to cement changes. We are many, but the few control the wealth, and have a military to back up that control.
A century ago, in 1913 to be precise, Lenin warned:

Oppression alone, no matter how great, does not always give rise to a revolutionary situation in a country. In most cases it is not enough for revolution that the lower classes should not want to live in the old way. It is also necessary that the upper classes should be unable to rule and govern in the old way.

We live in a very different world on many levels, but what the Russian revolutionary wrote a year before the outbreak of the First World War remains apposite.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

largely agree with the sentiment but feels like a long tweet that i'd like without retweeting

[Rubaiat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goes very well with Adam Curtis' documentary Shifty - if you can grab hold of that ;)

It's a series of analysis of politics and neoliberalism - starting with the Labour party under Tony Blair and then an assessment how (what most of us may be feeling) they just continued the neoliberalism and austerity started by Margaret Thatcher bringing the Labour party pretty pretty pretty close to its opposition. It was interesting to learn also about Scotland's ability to keep the socialist programs intact but also how its referendum for independence was carried out where it vote to stay in the end. Going by what I can see in Australian politics at the moment, just this much of the book would be enough to use as a wake-up call for it's people.

Neoliberalism and austerity are naturally topics that draw in the USA, and also its impact on the EU, some information about Nato and so on. The book was published in 2015 so a decade has passed in between but the book is still useful with a lot of information about the going ons of those years for anyone who hadn't paid very close attention.

[Ben Lacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really strong and interesting analysis especially around the changes in EU politics. This has quickly become outdated but much of his commentary on the EU and western imperialist interventionism turns out to have been very prescient. Grimly amusing to hear Tsiparis being billed as the European status quo's boogeyman (modeled supposedly on Bolivarian radical democratic ideas). But even here it's hard to fault Ali given the cracking poem at the end about the idealist to careerist pipeline of socialist politicians.

Although I enjoyed he breadth (on both time, place and policy area) it made for a bit of a disjointed read - more a collection of interesting and informative histories and analysis, less of a unifying narrative on the creation and practice of "extreme centre" politics. I also would have liked to see more focus on the movements Ali identifies as alternatives. He throws his hands up a little in terms of how these can be generated - relying on the idea of organic generation but not necessarily describing how situations can be leveraged.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whilst I found the writing and narrative to be both enjoyable and compelling, I was disappointed by the lack or nuance in the writing. The lack of references and footnotes was noticeable. Many of the arguments could have been explored with greater depth and more balance. For example, in all of the pages on the EU there was no real mention, or credit given, to the human rights the UK has enjoyed thanks to the European Court; how such legislation has held the UK government to account. However, I did enjoy the book, and found it to be a good starting point to exploring the components of the extreme center.

[Genevieve · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Agree with the premise and the challenge the Left faces in terms of making a real change when political hegemony is neoliberalism and austerity. At times it felt too sprawling and rambling, almost going too wide in terms of comparisons with other countries and in too much detail at other times. But well researched, convincing and interesting nonetheless. As others have said, it was written in 2015 and feels quite out of date now. It was capturing a particular moment of hope in the form of grassroots Leftist movements, and that hope has since diminished somewhat!

[Ronak Patel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this, Ali paints such a grotesquely vivid picture of neoliberalism. I had thought that this would be more of a political analysis of why the extreme centre was so able to maintain itself through 3 governments, but it's more of an aggressive exposure to all of the horribly intertwined interests of the political and capitalist classes of the time. So yeah really enjoyable but more like yes jokes than ooo yeah interesting...

[Martin Henson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good knock-about stuff. Written in 2014 and published the following year, it reads strangely outdated - at least in extreme examples. It is somewhat scary to find the absence of Trump and Brexit so salient. Anyway, though there is nothing really new to learn - most has been well documented variously elsewhere - it’s typically well written and organised, and amounts to a sustained attack on neoliberalism, especially as accepted and prosecuted by the “extreme centre”.

[Kate Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was written in 2014, so a lot has happened since which it obviously doesn’t cover. It is an interesting and informative summary and analysis, gives a helpful overview.

[Tari · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give 3.5 stars, the points are good and valid and the writing is stellar albeit polemic. Yet I wish the arguments were not as redundant, 100 pages would have done it I believe.

[Vernon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent. Kind of repetitive. No major revelations.

[David Hayter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat dated at this point, still a fair overview of a leftist approach to the modern crisis of a failing unreformable and unredeemable global neoliberalism.

[Gilsam Soh · Rating 4 out of 5]

극한적 중도파, 서계 정치에 내린 경계 경보, 타리크 알리, 장석준 옮김, 오월의 봄, 2017

[Leif · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like so many other books written by prolific theorist-critic-commentators, Tariq Ali's The Extreme Centre is more like a catching up with an old acquaintance than it is a genuinely new and argued book: much here is off-the-cuff, sources are backgrounds to the ranging intellect of Ali's play, and, as a result, readability gains if persuasive depth might suffer.

As other have pointed out, the major argument here – tackling the neoliberal centrism that implements austerity measures, destroys left-leaning movements, and rules in a space of capitalism growing increasingly distant from its democratic pretences – is solid and acute: would that this was commonplace for more people in the conversation about these issues. But other ideas are simply asserted, their proof resting in other of Ali's books or an assumption of a shared perspective with the reader: for example, why is Bolivia such a shining light? (Well, Ali might say, listen to my writings over the last twenty years...) Why does Ali's analysis of American/Chinese relations seem so... tired and uninformed?

There are moments of great power here, though: the sheer spirit to question the greatest ideology of our time, capitalism, and the space to re-think democracy as a pretence or a real engagement. To close, I'll quote Ali's citation of Beatriz García, one of the Spanish indignados:

Yes, we question this democracy because it fails to support popular sovereignty: the markets impose decisions for their own benefit and the parties in Parliament are not standing up to this global fact. Neither in our country nor in the European Parliament are they fighting to put an end to financial speculation, whether in currency or in sovereign debt.

Yes, we question this democracy because the parties in power do not look out for the collective good, but for the good of the rich. Because they understand growth as the growth of businessmen's profits, not the growth of social justice, redistribution, public services, access to housing and other necessities. Because the parties in power are concerned only for their continuation in office ... Because no politician has to live with what they legislate for their 'subjects': insecurity, mortgage debt, uncertainty. We question this democracy because it colludes with corruption, allowing politicians to hold a private post at the same time as public office, to profit from privileged information, to step into jobs as business advisors after leaving office, making it very profitable to be a politician.

Yes, we question this democracy because it consists in an absolute delegation of decision-making into the hands of politicians that are nominated in closed lists and to whom we have no access of any kind. Nor is there proportionality between voters and seats. We question this democracy because it is absurd that the only way to 'punish' a party is to vote for another one with which one does not agree. We question this democracy because the parties in power do not even comply with the social provisions of the Constitution: justice is not applied equally, there are no decent jobs or housing for all, foreign-born workers are not treated as citizens. Excuses are not good enough for us. We do not want to choose between actually existing democracy and the dictatorships of the past. We want a different life. Real democracy now!

[Billie Pritchett · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is fine but it's the kind of book that's designed to get you riled up about an issue. The Extreme Centre: A Warning by Tariq Ali is about how the major governments in the developed world have all become largely centrist and the consequences of that. One consequence, for example, would be something like this. In the United States, both the Democratic and Republican Party support drone warfare in Middle Eastern countries the U.S. is not at war with but where there are suspected terrorists. No word on whether these countries are 'harbouring' the suspected terrorists or that is where they have sought refuge. And much uncertainty abounds on who counts as a terrorist.

I can't be too enthused about the book because, to be honest, even if you agree with Ali's political position, it's not as though the book is going to send you to the right places to pursue more information for his case. The book is largely a polemic, so my advice would be that if you do choose to read it to go look up other sources of information that could confirm or disconfirm the thesis.

Incidentally, I should say very quickly that the movement toward new radical right groups as seen in Europe (especially England) and the United States does not disconfirm the thesis of this book. Yeah, there are right-wing movements, to be sure, but mainstream establishment politics favours consensus and overlap among the political leaders. You might say that this tendency toward centrism, away from the concerns of ordinary people, is what has helped generate this strand of right-wing populism.

[John Poulain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whilst Ali has obvious bias against the current system he pulls interesting supportive information across various counties to support his argument. Whilst obviously a lot of the left wing were very upset with New Labour and the PFI contracts of the NHS typify everything wrong with what Ali terms the Extreme Centre I'm not sure that Blair/ Brown proves that there is a monolith of Capitalist Interests being served in Westminster, especially given not even the Conservative Party recently have been able to be monolithic.

To support his argument he jumps from country to country, cherry picking stats and anecdotes, whilst it's informative to see similar ideas in various areas, even in the book itself it admits you cannot understand another country without great struggle due to unspoken assumption, silent norms etc. but Ali feels confident enough to write about dozens. I suspect its mostly about pulling a narrative together.

There are some really interesting parts of the book I'll have to look into in more detail, the idea of Austerity benefitting Germany due to the export culture and the currency Union forcing this upon other countries. However, the UK vehemently opposed the currency Union and went on an austerity bender.

The book ends by quoting Lenin, and there are smatterings of Marx and other communist leanings throughout. I think it overstep the mark by recommending solutions where at most the book is highlighting failures in the interplay of democracy and capitalism.

[Jack Brookes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Attaches a lot of hope to both Syriza (prior to Syriza's first election to power and subsequent capitulation) and to the Bolivarian 'socialist' States without any rigorous analysis of those States.

Also segues into a bizarre chapter on America/China relations that sometimes reads like a first year international relations student without any substantive detailing of relevance to the preceding chapters on Post-Thatcherite Britain.

Obviously there are both elements of hope in the Bolivarian States (announced tentatively) and America/China relations are relevant to Britain, however, Ali fails to justify the inclusion of these strands with a significant or refreshing contribution to the discussion/debate (Yanis Varoufakis does a much better job in The Global Minotaur at explaining American Financial Empire, Chinese relations and the role of the EU/Britain).

Would have been more compelling if Ali had dedicated more space to detailing the hopes/alternatives, which occupied a meagre 20 or so pages and said very little.

Generally seems like a good intro to neoliberal politics that draws upon many contemporary examples of the right-wing consensus of many major political parties in advanced capitalist States.