The AAP as part of a global phenomenon

by SRIRAM BALASUBRAMANIAN

DISSATISFACTION: “The protests in Hong Kong were not just about universal suffrage; they were about a larger issue of urban inequality and lack of opportunities.” Picture shows protestors with the Occupy movement symbol in Hong Kong. PHOTO/Reuters

The rise of the Aam Aadmi Party is part of a global protest against the rapid growth of urbanisation and accompanying inequality

It is an important point now in Indian politics with the stupendous emergence of the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi: the ruling party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are now forced to introspect within months of their unprecedented victory in the Lok Sabha election. While a lot of the credit for the AAP’s victory has been given to party leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, there is a subtle, yet decisive, global trend that has given rise to the party.

Globalisation has engulfed the world over the past 25 years, especially after the fall of the USSR. It has been projected as the pillar of capitalism, and there has been a lot of focus on urbanisation — an offshoot of globalisation — which has caused enormous socio-economic changes. While the endeavour for high growth has provided opportunities to many people and lifted several out of poverty, it has also had its own set of challenges. As Thomas Piketty wrote in his book “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” inequality is present in most of the major cities in the world. This has created a situation where there are large chunks of people in cities who are unemployed or impoverished; people who have been promised opportunities but have been neglected since income is concentrated in the hands of a few. These people are now becoming a vocal majority, asking questions about how economics is fundamentally functioning in the world. We have seen this in New York, Sao Paulo, Hong Kong, London and Paris, and New Delhi is no exception.

Movements across the world

An example of political movements riding on this sentiment is the rise of the Workers’ Party in Brazil. The emergence of Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva (Lula) was synonymous with a left-of-centre “bottom-up” kind of participatory politics which broke the conventional stereotype of democracy in South America. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is a protégé of Mr. Lula who was President in 2002 and has been an integral part of his party since its early days. The Workers’ Party emerged while addressing the negative effects of urbanisation which plagued the city of Sao Paulo.

Besides Brazil, countries in Europe have faced similar movements that have addressed inequality. The rise of Syriza, the leftist anti-austerity party in Greece, has been another example of the growing frustration with crony capitalism that thrives in most countries. According to records, in 2013, Greece had 62 per cent of its population in its cities. Its leader Alexis Tsipras moved beyond the core left ideology and focussed on the impact of the debt crisis and inequality in Greece, to win a landmark election a month ago.

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(Thanks to Mukul Dube)

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