Matthew GoodwinVerified account

Forget the “centre left”. The only meaningful political engagement is coming from the actual left, with progressive policies on housing, taxation, employment, investment, health, education etc., that respond to everyday concerns. The ‘centre left’ is actively working against them

Issues such as migration, ethnic change, refugees seen as important to voters are only problematic because the more fundamental questions of societal investment, inequality, and access to resources have neglected by both the right and centre left alike for generations

Delusional

Maybe a move right is what’s required. ‘Progressive’ policies on immigration have been implemented without any consultation or mandate. The effects on society are plain to see and, indeed, seen by the vast majority of the electorate.

With respect, there is nothing progressive about regimes that open borders for the benefit of capital (i.e. cheaper labour) and then relinquish any responsibility for the communities affected. That’s (neo)liberal, not socialist.

A good point, however, I’ve yet to see any self-described progressive argue for anything but the unalloyed benefits of mass immigration

You yourself (a few posts up) disregard the cultural changes that people care about as if progessive policies in other areas are a panacea. Its another variant of the arrogant false consciousness argument. ‘They think theyre concerned about A, but theyre really concerned about B’

The left fail to see how demeaning and alienating such an elitist stance is. That’s not to say that there are not legitimate concerns in the areas you describe. But the patrician ‘we know best’ attitude is rightly treated with suspicion.

Center-left is dead. EU won't let immigration to become a topic of discussion anyway.

Hence the EU is dead anyway: it cannot stand against the will of the still voting indigenous european people.

It can if it can replace the voters fast enough.

A hypothesis worth testing is where left/social dem parties that adopt a "civic nationalist" (as opposed to "ethno nationalist") discourse/ are better placed to mitigate the rise of the far-right, and anti immigrant sentiment. Ireland (Sinn Fein) would be a clear case in point.

And yet: the root causes of these issues are inequality and climate change, which only a centre-left agenda can address.