Dec 25, 2023·edited Dec 25, 2023Liked by Robert Urbaschek
This sounds like so many neoliberal countries -- homelessness, cost of living crises, drift to the right...
I don't know what the solution is, but the strengthening labour movement gives me hope, and so do the pro Palestinian protests all over the globe. People are exerting their power. I hope it can be channeled in a constructive way.
We have observed, if we wanted, how the political agenda has been conducted by short-sighted, destructive patterns and divide and rule mechanisms destroying social cohesion and nature for so many years, even millenia. In times of perpetuous fear and the permanent crisis, we have lived in at least since 9/11, and more recently since Covid, people have been drifting to the far right; which doesn't come to any surprise.
We need a new world that is not based on the extractive and dehumanizing ultra-liberal model, we know all too well. There are innovative think tanks, like the University for the Planet and visionaries, like Ervin Laslow or Annaloes Smitsman, who have already set-up new frameworks, e.g. the Earthwise Constitution. These are very inspiring approaches to mitigate the collaps of the old world, we are currently facing and to provide visions for people who look over the brim of their tea cups...
When a political class has nothing but contempt for the average citizen for too long - i.e. being overtly critical of their lifestyle, consumption patterns, traditions, values, aspirations, economic hardship, etc - these electoral results are far from being surprising. This pattern is and will be repeating itself all over the Western world in the years ahead.
On the other hand, I strongly doubt that these new political forces will have the vision, the internal structure or the political fortitude to truly make a difference.
The fundamental cause lies beneath the political level which represents the tip of the iceberg, it spreads accross the cultural institutions at large.
This sounds like so many neoliberal countries -- homelessness, cost of living crises, drift to the right...
I don't know what the solution is, but the strengthening labour movement gives me hope, and so do the pro Palestinian protests all over the globe. People are exerting their power. I hope it can be channeled in a constructive way.
We have observed, if we wanted, how the political agenda has been conducted by short-sighted, destructive patterns and divide and rule mechanisms destroying social cohesion and nature for so many years, even millenia. In times of perpetuous fear and the permanent crisis, we have lived in at least since 9/11, and more recently since Covid, people have been drifting to the far right; which doesn't come to any surprise.
We need a new world that is not based on the extractive and dehumanizing ultra-liberal model, we know all too well. There are innovative think tanks, like the University for the Planet and visionaries, like Ervin Laslow or Annaloes Smitsman, who have already set-up new frameworks, e.g. the Earthwise Constitution. These are very inspiring approaches to mitigate the collaps of the old world, we are currently facing and to provide visions for people who look over the brim of their tea cups...
When a political class has nothing but contempt for the average citizen for too long - i.e. being overtly critical of their lifestyle, consumption patterns, traditions, values, aspirations, economic hardship, etc - these electoral results are far from being surprising. This pattern is and will be repeating itself all over the Western world in the years ahead.
On the other hand, I strongly doubt that these new political forces will have the vision, the internal structure or the political fortitude to truly make a difference.
The fundamental cause lies beneath the political level which represents the tip of the iceberg, it spreads accross the cultural institutions at large.