Libak

Today, Svenska Dagbladet had a piece about the Danish journalist Anna Libak and her new book about value conflicts in the 21st century. In the piece, Libak’s description of the Left caught my interest, linking it to Rousseau and his view of human nature as noble but ruined by “civilization”, suggesting that everyone at the top of the social hierarchy is “guilty” of taking unfair advantage of others whereas those at the bottom are “victims” worthy of compensation. This static non-Marxist view is fascinating since I, being no fan of Rousseau, have always emphasized the opposite transformative view, that the Left is about social investments, about expanding opportunities for everyone and overcoming domination. Yet, as the Left has grown increasingly fond of “degrowth” and zero-sum thinking, the caricature offered by Libak may in fact be close to how many people on the Left actually see the world.