Notes on a forward looking liberalism

There are many complaints and enemies of a conservative liberal political world view. Trump, Putin, Duterte, Xi Jinping, Nigel Farage, and Viktor Orban can all be mentioned as belonging on this list.

What can be seen straight away is that three types of people are on this list:
1. Politicians who are invested in business and military affairs, and want to challenge the dominance of Western countries. Especially in the case of China and Russia it is obvious that they perceive the dominance of the US and the EU not only an issue of economic and military competition, but also an ideological threat that might undermine their authoritarian rule.
2. Minor politicians who are trying to ride the waves and make some short term political (and probably monetary) profit from aligning with radicals and subversives who are disillusioned with the ruling parties. Farage in the UK and Orban in Hungary are typical examples of this. While Orban's government channels all EU funds directed at the development of Hungarian agriculture, business, and infrastructure into their own businesses and family properties, he is a devoted fan and ally of Putin. (Farage and Orban are obviously not interested in democracy. When they talk about national self-determination they are talking about the ability of local politicians and businessmen running the place. That's why both of them are afraid of the EU.)
3. Public figures who are nuts (like Trump), and people who see an obstacle in democratic processes to their own power (like Peter Thiel).

What should true liberals, who are conservative in the sense of sticking to the core ideas of liberalism (with a social stint) say? Well, what we need is a positive and forceful narrative. That is what liberalism is lacking at the moment. So much has been achieved in the last 60 years in Europe and the US: wealth, improvements in legal transparency, freedom of press, rights for everyone. The problem is that we don't have a good, politically charged story to move us forward.
Most of the mainstream liberal stories at the moment are extremely individualistic, and focus on improving the lived experiences of individuals in difficult positions in society (minorities, woman, homosexuals, and so on). This is perfectly fine, but it is also perfectly silent on how to relate to governments and corporations that are not afraid to use corrupting means and military threat to get their way, and which are or are becoming extremely powerful.

The key thing we need to keep in mind is that liberalism (a socially sensitive version keeping equality and individual freedom in focus) has to stand up for its values. One cannot support religious freedom, the freedom and equality of woman at the same time as recognizing the right to practice a religion that bans the freedom and equality of woman on the personal level. These are issues of core values and democratic, liberal societies need to step up and be on their guard not to get overwhelmed by nationalist right wing crazies, apostles of capitalism without boundaries, or authoritarian pumpkins like Trump or Putin.

Liberalist societies have plenty to defend. What we need is not nationalism reloaded, but a union of all those communities that are committed to freedom, electing our own leaders without corporate and military interference, to expressing our views and opinions freely, and to stick to the truth that countries which don't treat people right are wrong in their ways and need to change. This should apply to any country, no matter how mighty or economically powerful they are, be that Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, or Turkey.

Recognizing that there is something to lose, and there is something we need to defend is one of the key steps to relaunch a constructive liberalism that can also foster income equality, transparency, and equality among citizens, regardless of gender, race, sexuality, and so on.

In the North-Eastern tip of Japan

The Shiretoko Mountain range

Recently we made it to Hokkaido. We rented a car in Abashiri, and from there drove to the Shiretoko Peninsula. It was a proper trip in the wilderness: bears, deer, and foxes were at large in the forests, and in the sea seals and dolphins were swimming free. Hokkaido is one of those rare gems where more awaits you than what you would expect. Although we were on the move continuously for five days it was more relaxing than anything I did in the last years in a town or city.

Shen Congwen's 'Border Town'

Shen Congwen's book Border Town is hard to pin down as a foreign reader who is mostly comfortable with Western literature. The book itself seems to echo some trends in 18th century European continental literature which idealized and depicted peasants patronizingly as 'simple folks who have a good heart'. Congwen's book is similar in that it ignores all social, political, economic or military dimensions of the story told.
Still, this seems to be a conscious and deliberate decision of the author, and done so that the main focus remains strictly on a simple and straightforward story of growing up, losing the ones we love, and experiencing longing and romantic love for the first time.
The book is excellent on this psychological level. It doesn't dive deep into the personal, consciously experienced thoughts and emotions of the characters, but it does highlight some of their main worries and thoughts, and gives the reader a good sense of how they feel and think by talking about their behaviour.
Cuicui and her grandpa offer a touching and sad pair, but one that is not heartbreaking: we all have to go through similar things in our lives, as we are all more or less powerless in the face of loss, passion, growing up. Cuicui is confused about the changes in herself, her grandfathers' behaviour towards her, and her feelings. And her grandfather despairs over how to secure the future happiness of his beloved and treasured granddaughter.
The grandpa departs during a very symbolic storm followed by a flood. The elements cannot be stopped, just as the old man's life cannot be extended forever. Nature has no respect and patience for the personal troubles of the pair. At the end of the novel Cuicui stands alone in life, and her supportive and caring community tries to nudge her towards growing up. Unable to move on quickly after her grandfather's loss she stays put, and with the assistance of an old friend of her grandfather's she continues to live in the same way as before. The fact that life cannot be easily controlled seems only to strengthen her attachment to what she holds dear - the way of life and place that she loved.

Donations for Macmillan Cancer Support

It's that time of the year again: I'm running the Oxford Half Marathon. This year I'm collecting donations for Macmillan Cancer Support.

See my donation page here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Istvan-Zoltan-Zardai

If you happen to have a spare coin please donate. Every donation is appreciated!

Macmillan are doing a lot of good work for people with cancer, and they are also supporting their families through what is undoubtedly some of the hardest periods of their lives.

It is a service that can make a huge difference to anyone's life. As nowadays there is a very high percentage (above 45% percent for most of us) that one gets cancer, this is vital. It is these sort of community solutions to problems that we need to foster and maintain. The government can't do everything and we need to get together as a large community of people caring for each other.

New tutoring website

My new website advertising my tutorial, mentoring, and consulting services is up and running.

Check it out here!

Why low salaries, low taxes on the rich, and sitting on one's money isn't good for the economy

Inequality is bad for the economy. When masses of people don’t have money they can’t spend it on goods and services, and therefore there is no consumption. The concentration of wealth in the hands of a few families is harmful for everyone in society. No matter how rich someone is, they can only buy so many cars, and dine at so many luxury restaurants. Their spending will be minuscule compared to the spending of thousands, or millions of people. Companies and businesses can't grow, competition just gets fiercer the way  things are now, which will lead to even more companies failing. If we want more growth and more social justice, as well as political stability, we need to have higher taxes on the rich and the biggest corporations, and raise wages. Simple as that.

The Chinese government's concerted PR and military strategy

The Chinese media, war, and economic machine is working because many talented people work in a concerted and devoted manner. This seems to be something that Japan and the US understand but Europe - and especially the UK voting for Brexit - fails to grasp.

China is now not only the second biggest economy of the world but also has one of the most powerful armys and it is not afraid to rely on it to put pressure on business partners and neighbours, as well as countries far from its waters.


The country's highest leadership also understands how important good PR work is and is not shy when having to spend on journalists, internet commenters, academics, diplomats, and even foreign specialists to defend its interests and emphasize a narrative which shows China in a good light.

The true face of the country's current leadership is easy to decipher: it is a hawkish, aggressive band, bent on gaining more power and territory. The current military and party leadership of China won't be a good friend of the UK just because they offer them a decent reciprocal trade pact. In fact, what the UK largely fails to admit is that is has historically played the largest role in the plundering of China during the second half of the 19th century and this isn't forgotten by the Chinese. If the British Empire hadn't forced concessions in several ports and wouldn't have highlighted the weakness of the imperial system in China, the demise of that system could have been slower and more peaceful. Also, other states like the Russian, the Americans, the French, the Dutch, the Germans and the Japanese - who all held concessions and were present with their military - would have had a much harder time in China. Not to mention that the Japanese incursions in the 1920s and 1930s would have likely been impossible.

You can read a great description of government sanctioned tabloid activity, covering the Global Times, here in the Quartz. It shows that the Chinese government keeps the public opinion in China under close control. People are forced to think what the government wants them to think because they don't have free access to impartial information, nor to any criticism of the system.

What I write is also confirmed by the Chinese government's insistence after Brexit to have an even larger access to sensitive technology and energy sectors in the UK. A good example is the Chinese ambassadors address over the Hinkley Point nuclear development. Such smaller and medium sized countries like the UK on its own will be more easily influenced and bought by China in the future. That is one of the reasons why the Brexit decision was disastrous. The UK is already home to many shadowy Russian operations. Now it might become the dwelling of characters who want to strike in the middle of Europe, but were repelled so far by the EU's common foreign policies.

Another example of how even Chinese academics - who are no doubt intelligent and very capable professional researchers - can be recruited by the government and military leadership is a paper by Dr. Xue Li and Xu Yanzhuo in the Diplomat. They warm up the misty-cloudy suggestion designed to deceive that China has been misunderstood, it is a peaceful growing giant, following Buddhist and Taoist teachings when making decisions. This is as false as it can be, as has been evidenced by China's behavior in Tibet, in north-west China, and when cracking down on thousands of protests and demonstrations. It is also obvious that this is false, when we take a look at the way Chinese diplomacy handles the South-China issue, and how the military is now trying to raise the pressure in the East-China sea.

Update in 2018 August: Now that Xi is on the top until his death China has sadly returned to a capitalist-emperor system. Trump and Putin are dreaming of the same, Erdogan has achieved the same, and Orban is dreaming of it. If the country's economy keeps growing as it is now, there won't be any stopping the military-diplomatic bulldozer.

Giffard's 'Japan Among the Powers 1890-1990'

I've just finished Sydney Giffard's 'Japan Among the Powers 1890-1990'. The book offers an excellent overview of the political, social, and economic changes that took place in Japan in the century covered. It's main focus is on politics and governance, and thanks to Giffard's background as an active diplomat who has spent years in Japan, the book offers especially insightful and in-depth descriptions of the considerations informing key policies and decisions that have shaped many of the big decisions of Japan's, and Asia's, past.
Giffard is also an excellent writer: the book offers flowing prose, precise and evocative language. It has an arch, it creates a narrative, but avoids forcing the facts into a 'theory'. It has respect for the facts and the many different strands of processes that together constitute the fibers of reality.

An outstanding reading, and I can wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who is interested in Japan, the history of East-Asia, the Second World War, in history in general, or in politics and international relations.

Michael Sandel in Oxford

Michael Sandel is a philosopher working at Harvard Uni. His specialization is in political philosophy. Sandel has been working in the last years on the connection between markets and morals. He is well known and respected for his work as a researcher among philosophers since a long time, but he became sort of a celebrity a few years ago when his lecture series on 'Justice' at Harvard went viral on the net.

Yesterday he gave a dashing talk at the Sheldonian in Oxford. The event was organized by the Oxford Martin School, who have a strong programme of outstanding speakers impacting public policy.
Sandel is not only an eloquent speaker, but also holds the ability to engage his audience, fostering a debate in which people actually get to voice their arguments and positions. Sandel then masterfully summarizes these, points out their strengths and builds up a very common sense argument for a strong moral position.

In this particular talk Sandel argued against the view that it would be sensible to monetize every social issue and to always look for economic and/or financial solutions for social issues. The example of most importance he - and the audience - discussed was that of the proposed option that many countries with developed economies would like to have, that instead of reducing their carbon emission they should be able to pay to developing countries so that rather they reduce their emissions. As it emerged from the discussion, while in the short term this might be a solution for the particular problem of CO2 emission levels, in the long run it simply fosters the avoidance of problems and of assuming responsibility - political, economic, and moral - of dealing with problems caused by one's behavior. Such thinking will just lead to the same kind of structural problems re-emerging again and again, and instead of avoiding them by changing one's behavior - or economic policy - the problems will simply be put off, or 'outsourced'. The issue here is of course that moral harm is done by harming the environment to such an extent that it might become uninhabitable and lead to the death of hundreds of millions of people in the future. To mask this as an economic problem is to avoid dealing with it at face value.

You can buy Sandel's recent books here and here, the reader to the 'Justice' course here, watch a neat TED talk of his here, and download his Tanner Lectures talk here.

People who will be affected by Brexit, but don't get to vote

The Guardian ran a short compilation of profiles of people from the EU currently working and living in the UK. The piece focuses on how people see and feel about the vote, and what their fears are about a possible 'Leave' win.