Free markets, violence and world progress

Free markets, violence and world progress

By Arief Budiman

SALATIGA (JP): When I visited the Australian National University last year, I had the opportunity to attend a seminar presented by Dr. Heinz Arndt. Professor Arndt is one of the most influential economists who helped shape the New Order economic policy.

It was for his invaluable contributions that he received a medal of honor from President Soeharto recently. Though Arndt is now retired, he is still very active.

In the seminar, Arndt talked about the global economic condition, based on a paper he previously presented in Japan.

According to Arndt, the world is progressing toward a more hopeful future. He noted that free markets are flourishing everywhere following the downfall of socialist states. This gives rise to more efficient lifestyles. There has been an increase in the world economic growth rate. More countries are adopting democratic systems. He expressed his happiness at this trend.

He also noted that there were still many problems. Violence and terrorism, for instance, are still around, and there are wars and famine in several parts of the world. However, he said, these things will eventually disappear.

Arndt's presentation was followed by a heated discussion. Most of the participants were trying to deflate his optimism by arguing that there are many negative trends occurring alongside his rosy pictures. The rise of subnationalism based mainly on ethnicity that has threatened many nations and, the rising gap between rich nations and poor nations, despite an increasing rate of economic growth, were two of the trends brought up.

I also had the opportunity to talk and I raised two points.

First, I raised the topic of violence and terrorism. I said that I could not condone violence but as a social scientist I could not deny the positive contribution of violence and terrorism. Nobody likes violence, except those who suffer psychological problems. Violent acts, in many cases, are carried out by desperate people who have no other choices.

From history we can see that in many cases nonviolent political struggles can succeed when there is also a violent political group. At the same time that Mahatma Gandhi was holding his nonviolent political rallies, there was another political group using violent methods in an attempt to achieve its political goal.

The British in India realized that it was better to deal with Gandhi, a lawyer who graduated from a British law school, than with the other party. Thus, Gandhi was able to gradually lead India to independence, while the other group was destroyed. It is easy to see now that if this violent group had not existed, Gandhi's group could not have been as successful as it was.

The same could be said about Martin Luther King's peaceful movement in the United States. A more violent group, the Black Panthers, was fighting for the same cause. King's group would have been considered an extreme and radical party if the Black Panthers had not existed.

The second point I raised concerned the triumph of capitalism and its free market ideology. I said something valuable was starting to disappear. Socialism, despite its many shortcomings, was fighting for human solidarity, especially in defense of the poor, the powerless and other marginal people.

A feeling of strong idealism was there. Many leaders had tears in their eyes when they fought for the rights of dismissed factory workers, or for farmers that were forced to abandon their lands. The tears were expression of their humanity.

What happens now that free market ideology dominates the world? There are two things which capture the minds of contemporary human beings: to make oneself more competitive and to capture material benefits.

Solidarity with the poor? This would be a good topic to discuss in mosques and churches. But now we are dealing with the real world. Here the main thing is to increase our comparative advantages. There is only one commandment left now: Thou shalt compete, or perish.

Two months after the seminar, having returned to my quiet home in Salatiga, I got a letter from Arndt. He said that there was a plan to publish the transcript of the seminar. He asked me whether I could reformulate the two points I expressed in the seminar. This, of course, I am very happy to do.

The writer is a researcher and sociologist living in Salatiga.