Bob Dylan’s iconic ‘anthem for change’ was written before I was born - just! Its melodic sound and lyrics have been the background to much of my life. How else could I aspire to become an Economic Agitator?! Whatever cause has appropriated it, this song has stood the test of, well, the changing times in which we live; from the civil rights movement through JFK’s assassination to the attitudinal shift on LGBTQ+ rights and much, much more besides, especially in the social policy sphere.
But it also speaks directly to the changing times of our economy, and in the current climate that means the fall-out from Covid, the Cost of Living Crisis and the challenge of Climate Change. In fact, each verse of the song may easily be taken as a commentary on the key actors and influences which are driving change throughout the global economy.
“Come gather round people……and admit that the waters around you have grown” is as eloquent an expression of our struggle to reconcile our relationship with our planet as anything which has been written since. Similarly, “and keep your eyes wide open, the chance won’t come again” speaks directly and passionately of the emergency nature of that climate challenge, and how we have but one opportunity to tackle it or let Earth die.
Dylan’s call for politicians to “heed the call” and witness “the battle outside” which is going to “shake your windows and rattle your walls” could have been crafted specifically to describe the shambolic scenes of the chaotic attack on the US Capitol on Jan 6th. It calls on Senators and Congressmen to not “stand in the doorway” or “block up the hall” for someone is likely to get hurt.
My favourite part of the song, however, is when Dylan delves into inter-generational relationships, currently being shaped by the economic mess in which we find ourselves. “Your sons and daughters are beyond your command” is a much-needed maxim describing why decisions should be focused on, and taken by, those who may be impacted by them. This in turn leads to the greatest political irony of our time; that the most emblematic term to arise out of the EU, subsidiarity, is the one we need to embrace most of all just as we wave goodbye, but hopefully not farewell!
My generation of fifty-somethings can role-play and war game all we like with great policy prescriptions designed to sort out the mess we’ve made not only of our economy, but much more critically of our environment. It is, however, the next generation who must take up the baton and orchestrate a way back from the brink.
Here at home in the UK, as we watch a host of once respected institutions crumble around us we must surely pay homage to Dylan’s foresight in the final lines of this great song; “The order is rapidly fadin’ and the first one now will later be last for the times they are a-changin’!
Ross Martin, Economic Agitator and Adviser on Regional Economies @ ScotIncGrowth
Ross is an Economic Agitator who advises on regional economies, assisting governments at all levels in the design, development and delivery of policy frameworks and practical interventions aimed at transitioning to Economic and Environmental Sustainability, e.g. through the implementation of City and Regional Growth Deals, Asset Utilisation Strategies and Public Service Reform programmes.
Ross is currently focused on the regional economies of The Borderlands, The Forth Valley and Glasgow’s City Region, working across the private, public and social sectors and with national organisations alongside shaping sub-regional interventions in a number of other areas, including with SEPA on The Leven Programme and Scottish Water’s Journey to Net Zero.