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Political pedagogy for Marc Márquez and his defenders

Political pedagogy for Marc Márquez and his defenders

March 1, 2024

Given the accumulation of criticisms - positive and negative - that generated the news of Marc Márquez (Spanish driver bi-Moto GP world champion) on his desire to register in Andorra and pay taxes in the country of the Pyrenees in his subsequent declarations , I have decided to give my opinion on the case and thus contribute a grain of sand to the debate established. To this end, I propose an exploration in different levels of analysis: social, political and economic of the economic and tax situation in Spain.

My contributions must be framed within a logic of healthy, free and open debate. I do not mean to offend anyone. I would also like to point out that the controversy over Márquez will not monopolize my analysis, but rather pretends to preponderate the context in which it is inscribed.


Conceptualization and brief history about neoliberalism

Today we live in a particular period of capitalism. The neoliberalism , the stage of capitalism, is an ideology and method of liberal analysis, the result of a new economic vision of the world, whose development took place in the years of government of Roland Reagan Y Margaret Tatcher , who commanded the breaking of the pacts of Breton Woods (1971). The latter established the rules of the global financial system, which should respect the centrality of the dollar as currency. With its rupture, a system called floating changes .


The neoliberalism it pursues, in general terms, to denounce a strong or interventionist state in the economy as well as to diminish the power acquired by the working classes translated, in part, by a Welfare state . In the words of David Harvey, in his book Brief history of Neoliberalism , "Neoliberalism is, above all, a theory of political-economic practices that affirms that the best way to promote the well-being of the human being, is not to restrict the free development of the capacities and the business freedoms of the individual, within a institutional framework characterized by private property rights, strong free markets and freedom of trade. "In theory, it is very nice, but in practice it translates into policies whose purpose consists in dismantle part of the State , or in other words, to break the public sector while maintaining just enough to maintain stability or social cohesion so that companies can compete without many regulations. This leads inexorably to less State intervention in the economy, with the aim of private companies replacing this management, which was previously guaranteed by the State, to seize more opportunities for their accumulation of capital at the expense of society.


In summary, the neoliberalism , as well as the globalization that accompanies it, is the direct effect of the need of certain companies or large capital (in its beginning especially American financial) for guarantee economic expansion at the expense of the State and, ultimately, at the expense of the working classes who can not take advantage of the advantages of free trade in the same way since their accumulation of capital is too small to leave the ideological and administrative reality imposed for them: the Nation state .

The normalization of the neoliberal ideology

The case of Márquez has been the most mediated, and perhaps he does not deserve so much punishment. On the contrary, a scandalous case like the one carried out by the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and the "Tax ruling" in Luxembourg they have had a testimonial relevance and have barely passed the sieve of the after-dinner. However, this event seems interesting to us because it is part of a context of ideological domination neoliberal, settled in the minds of a good part of us, crystallizing in the daily life of the citizens.

The main problem is found in the antidemocratic logic of neoliberalism . This new system liberal it is used, to a large extent, by those who have the capacity to move capital out of some borders into the interior of others. The argument for a neoliberal , conscious or not, is based on your perception of the freedom acquired by that hegemonic vision. The freedom for a liberal consists of mercantilist logic: the freedom of capital, goods and people flows without almost restrictions or regulations. Following this logic, Europe would be one of the freest places in the world.I do not share this perception, at least partially, because, as implicitly shown by this ideology, freedom is linked to the ability to accumulate monetary resources and, in fine, of your social class. The more you have the more free you are and the easier it is to accumulate capital, since you can take advantage of other taxation and facilities available for large capital.

The application in the case of Márquez? Very simple. While most of us do not have the capacity for accumulation, reality, which is presented as a range of possibilities, is basically, that limited by the Nation state . On the other hand, the Márquez or the Pujol they have a mass of capital whose quantity calls them to move from one place to another understanding -actively or passively- the possibilities that the neoliberalism offers them. First conclusion? The neoliberalism It grants more capacity to those who have more so that it can escape, for example, from national taxation, which in the case of elite athletes is 56%. This characteristic, recently denounced by numerous senior police officers in France (as Jean-François Gayraud ), adds a criminal dimension to the capitalist system.

Many times the example of acts of tax evasion is proposed Google or Manzana to legitimize the action of the young athlete. That these companies take advantage of the system of free circulation of capital to pay taxes where better conditions are offered is categorically true. But this does not legitimize that others can do it. In fact, the responsibility of a patriot, he feels Catalan or Spanish (does not matter too much), is to respond to his Nation. Especially in a historical moment when its citizens need it most, since they do not enjoy the same freedom . It is necessary to understand that the young pilot takes advantage of the seguidismo of a great number of fans that are reflected in him, precisely because of his condition of national "brother"; of prodigal son . A few days ago, the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), an organization formed by most of the most developed states on the globe, showed statistics that classified Spain as the fourth country, of those that make up the OECD, with more inequality between rich and poor . Only three countries surpass this bad data: Turkey, the United States and Mexico. In addition, the study showed that Spain took the trophy of the country where they have worsened these inequalities since the economic crisis . Welcome to Marquez's money for those who can not pay for their heating or fill the fridge! Or being more realistic, welcome to try to safeguard our public accounts and our welfare state decimated, in part, by the rescue of nearly 100,000 million Spanish private banks.

To add another icing on the subject, it must be mentioned that, in Spain, tax evasion by large companies and fortunes 107.350 million dollars in 2011 according to Tax Justice Network. The elite athletes are part of this elite able to evade capital from state taxation and there are many cases found in Spanish sport (Lionel Messi is one of those cases, recently prosecuted and that finally reached an agreement with the Treasury to pay what was claimed).

The nation: "farce for the rich, reality for the poor"

Many times there has been a debate about whether or not capitalist interests still respond to the interests of the Nation state . The truth is that this problem is complex and I would like to cover it presupposing that both cases are possible (in the following article I will propose a deeper analysis on this debate). The case of Márquez leads us to question ourselves about the schizophrenia appeared between the national ideological values ​​and the contradiction with the individualistic interest resulting from neoliberal capitalism. The tax evasion of the great fortunes, as we mentioned in the previous point, puts this question at the center of the debate.

The national ideological anchor acts as a limiter, since it gives an identity feeling of horizontal solidarity without class distinction (identity distinctions prevail) and ties society within a framework with "real" borders. The neoliberalism and the globalization They open these borders wide open, although they maintain the ideological reality of the nation in order to cloister the claims of those who do not benefit from the privileges emanating from the possession of large capital. My personal opinion is that a patriot is the one who pays taxes in his country, exercising a political responsibility, and not the one who strongly moves the flag.

Marc Márquez will be in a mess . Media pressure seems to have exerted an important weight: the one of Cervera seems to have understood that he feeds, partly, thanks to the Spanish fans and, without them, his image as national idol and advertising icon can be punished, losing part of his attractive commercial and, in short, being able to commit a non-negligible income. Schizophrenia occurs at the moment in which this great mass, which gives it that social valorization, sees in its desire to change residence a betrayal of national values . These values, for the most part, remain chained to the reality of the Nation state (both sentimentally and tributarily). The nation, as we have been saying, is a concept that prevails over the question of identity against the question of social class, allowing a kind of solidarity or agreement between classes. When this cultural paradigm is threatened, all the popularity gained by an excellent job in the world of motorcycling and its wide media impact can be destroyed in a matter of seconds.

Márquez has understood many things in a short time (or should have done it). its national responsibility to your countrymen could be one of these things. That money does not give everything, could be the second. The third, and more complex: that the national ideology it is incompatible with the interests of the great fortunes, who are freed from that reality, in addition to a neoliberal system that allows them, exclusively to them, a greater mobilization; some tricky rules. To be legitimated before the public opinion, Márquez must understand that the fiscal party must play with the same rules as them. In the days to come, we will see what representation will prevail in the head of the "crack" motorcyclist:national solidarity or the freedom of capital typical of modern capitalism. I have no doubt ...


Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.: Borges: South America's Titan (March 2024).


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