Europe: An Unfinished Adventure (Themes for the 21st Century) [Paperback]

This is the second of Zygmunt Bauman's books I have read, and the first thing that needs be said is that you cannot skim-read Bauman. His writing demands the greatest attention to detail on the part of the reader, a care which will be hugely rewarded.

Summing up Bauman's messages inevitably trivialises their impact, but here goes.

Bauman's thesis is that Europe, having led the world into the Hobbesian "bellum omnium contra omnes" outside its borders "has now mellowed into an acceptance of the Kantian model of perpetual peace".

"But it cannot be allowed to dwell in that world, because it is, for the first time in its existence, overshadowed by a power greater than itself, and one which does not share the Kantian ideal, but dwells in the Hobbesian jungle, and trusts no other (nation)."

Europe has lost its way:

"Europe ... oscillates between the `ought' of a hospitable, user friendly planet determined to attain and secure a sustainable life for all its residents, and a planet of deepening disparities, tribal animosities and inter tribal fences, a planet ever less fit for human habitation."

"The ongoing institutional unification of Europe may ... prove to be ... a defensive move prompted by the impulse to defend Europe's `is' - its privileged life standards amidst worldwide deprivation against the `ought' of its challenging, uncomfortable yet imperative planetary responsibilities."

The original EU

" ... set out to work hard for thirty glorious years on the great social experiment of mitigating the unacceptable extremes of unbridled capitalism ... while averting the ... raw and uncouth communist version of social equity ... "

Bauman is a constant critic of globalisation, understanding as he does the union between US military might and the unchecked greed of corporate-capitalism:

"On a Fukuyama/Hobbesian planet, USA military might ... (the) police force of global capitalism can deliver blows at will and at random ... fearing little and hoping to emerge from the short, sharp encounter undamaged; ... In its triumphant seemingly unstoppable march through the planetary casino, capital confronts instead numerous competitors eager to play the same game ... One variety of adversaries that capital does not come across are the proponents of and realistic embodiments of an alternative form of life that would entail the abolition of the casino ... "

And this, Bauman believes, gives Europe its mission.

For Bauman, globalisation is about the creation of `wasted lives' - the migrants who we have seen clinging to the underneath of juggernauts, or packed into small boats - and all those in our own country who are victims of the fact that "full employment" is no longer the goal of good government, as it was before 1979.

At the same time, the welfare state turns into the security state, the war on terror merges with the war on `scroungers', migrants, the mentally ill, and teenagers who have been robbed of their future.

Government's role now revolves around "Standortkonkurrenz" - winning the struggle to: " ... seduce free-floating capital to flow in and to cajole it to resist the temptation to flow out."

To win this battle involves Governments adopting what Bauman calls the "pedlar/beggar" role of inducements, in which regulation, taxation, and welfare have been minimised in the interests of "flexibility". (And excess profit.)

Bauman sees it all with great clarity, and brings it into the sharpest focus.

It is nothing less than the end of The Enlightenment, in which the world was

" ... an object of critical inquiry and creative action ... "

In order to further the success of our new masters immigration is essential.

It depresses wage-rates, which also assists the Bank of England in controlling inflation. The indigenous population who complain about it can be dismissed as racists, so their problems do not have to be addressed, except via ASBOs (Anti Social Behavious Orders.)

Globalisation demands the end of solidarity and welfare: corporate-capital demands nothing less than full-on insecurity:

Conveniently for corporate-capital, along comes Al-Qaeda to attack what Blair calls "modernity" and to enable governments to switch people's attention away from globalisation and onto Muslims, who are just as much victims of globalisation as the rest of us.

And the return to "primordial loyalties" like race takes us further away from the only line of travel which might turn round this catastrophe: world government.

Rightly, since both the EU and the UN are examples of unaccountable, non-democratic bureaucracies which offer little prospect of the necessary supra-national control of trans-national corporations, it's is not easy to share Bauman's optimism that the EU could be turned into a body crusading for a democratic world government.

Back in the real world, President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, writing in The (UK) Guardian (October 18, 2006), indicated the gap between Bauman`s hypothesis and existing reality:

"No nation state can meet the challenges of climate change, mass migration, global competition and terrorism on its own ... " the EU is " ... a uniquely effective instrument for helping the UK and other European countries to develop solutions to these new, cross-border challenges."

(Norway seems to manage quite well!)

How effective is it in practice?

1. Fishing. Faced with repeated calls for a complete ban on cod fishing over several years, the Commission is unable to do other that come up with a fudge. Expect cod to become extinct if the EU has its "uniquely effective" way in the matter.

At the same time the EU has sanctioned "factory" fishing off the coast of West Africa with the likely consequences described by Charles Glover in his book "The End of the Line".

2. Aviation's CO2 emissions. This problem is to be "solved" by airlines buying credits earned by other industries success in cutting their emissions. So the effect on total emissions would be to prevent them rising!

Fortunately, Bauman radiates a profound optimism which persuades this reader to prefer hope over pessimism.