Jane Kelsey likens our present circumstances to Gramsci’s interregnum. He said in 1930 “the crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born: in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear”. Kelsey outlines five morbid symptoms that we are experiencing:

• The collapse of the old;
• The fracturing of traditional party politics of centre left and centre right accompanied by the rise of autocrats determined to bypass structures;
• Orchestrated anarchy in the media which has been aided by post human technology such as AI and controlled by unaccountable elites;
• The calculated revictimization of indigenous people, migrants, refugees and workers and a new rationalisation for the same old appropriation of profit and resources that has been part of capitalism forever; and,
• The systematic destruction of redistributive and social policies that previously stabilised the inequalities of capitalism and secured some notions of social licence.
  She argues that there is currently a contest between the status quo and the disruption, driven by oligarchs and organic intellectuals. Political party institutions are failing because they adhere to the status quo. She argues that business as usual is not tenable and this provides challenge and opportunities for those seeking change from the sclerotic status quo. However, she questions whether the Labour Party is preparing for this new situation.

Her paper is in three parts: an overview of the collapse of Western hegemony, industrial and financial capital and liberal democracy leading to anarchy, autocracy and imperialism; our own homegrown version of neo-colonial disruption, destruction and corruption, and the remaking of the state in the 1980s and 90s; and, how to confront the long and short term challenges.

The full paper can be read here.