At a time when many are losing faith in traditional politics, grassroots movements are making ordinary people aware of their power to make politicians listen to them rather than cosy up with business tycoons who know how to endear themselves with those who can make themselves even richer.
Amazon is undoubtedly one of the most successful companies in the world thanks to its ability to revolutionise the retail industry by selling online practically everything that anyone may ever need. They recently wanted to build a second headquarters that would complement their main campus in Seattle in Washington State.
Amazon staged a national competition between cities vying to host its secondary headquarters. Various US major cities entered the competition including Dallas, Miami, Chicago and Newark. Amazon eventually chose New York and Arlington, Virginia. They planned to have a new campus on a waterfront parcel across the East River in Queens opposite Manhattan. It was to employ 25,000 people and would generate millions in tax money for the city and State in the next 25 years.
Not-so-transparent negotiations between the US online sales giant and the city authorities led to a commitment of almost €3 billion in subsidies and tax breaks for the new campus. The New York City negotiators promised to include non-disclosure agreements to lure Amazon to keep important investment incentives hidden from public scrutiny.
Grassroots groups organised quickly against the project. Many were worried this project would drive up rents. Amazon infuriated many ordinary people by vowing to oppose any effort by workers to unionise. This popular opposition on its own would probably not have stopped this project had it not been for some brave Democrat politicians who stood up to defend the interests of ordinary people.
In the face of this opposition, Amazon withdrew its plans to go ahead with the building of its second headquarters in New York.
They even went further and upset the other contenders for this project, some of whom offered to double the subsidies to Amazon by announcing that they would drop their plan to have a second headquarters.
Some business tycoons with deep pockets are better equipped to condition political decisions in their favour
The catalyst that made all the difference in how this project was perceived at the political level was the Democrat Senator Michael Gianaris who represents Long Island City, the Queens neighbourhood on which the company set its sights. Gianaris was not impressed with the clout of Amazon. His interest was to defend the multitude of people whose lives would have been affected negatively had this project gone ahead. He said: “A community that was facing its own demolition was salvaged. Moreover, New York took a stand against the type of corporate subsidies that are increasing the wealth concentration in this country.”
Gianaris was a member of a little-known public authorities control board which had to sign off on development plans. He used his veto powers to nip the project in the bud.
Not all Democrat politicians were pleased with Gianaris opposition to Amazon. New York Democrat governor Andrew Cuomo said: “The New York State senate had done tremendous damage. They should be held accountable for this lost economic opportunity”.
However, Gianaris would not listen to his Democrat colleagues promoting economic growth at all cost. “I am very comfortable being the person that says we should not be giving $3bn to Jeff Bezos when we cannot afford to fix our subways or have enough housing for people to live in,” he said.
One lesson that could be learned from this story is that when politicians cosy up too close to business tycoons, they often forget the purpose why they should be in politics: defending the interests of common people. Money is a bad moral compass when people entrust you to do what is right to improve their lives.
Inspirational politicians resist this temptation. Gianaris hit again at Amazon saying: “Rather than engage with the community that would be affected by their project, they instead decided to pack up and leave like a petulant child. There is no indication they took the community’s concerns regarding the project seriously.”
Some business tycoons with deep pockets are better equipped to condition political decisions in their favour. New Yorkers sided with Amazon in this saga. A statewide poll found that 56 per cent of voters supported the project, even when told it includes almost €3bn in subsidies. Still, Amazon decided not to dig in for a long fight against political opponents determined to defend their constituents’ interests.