It’s so easy to lose hope these days, lingering as we are on the edge of utter despair. I, for one, often feel overwhelmed with dread and apathy, because what can any of us, all so apparently insignificant, do about any of this?
I’m not only talking about Trump, because there’s so much more to the current, almost insurmountable challenge of making better lives possible on this planet, for humans and more-than-humans alike.
But I’m also talking about him, of course, though I guess there’s nothing surprising about the Trump regime so blatantly bullying Zelenskyy, while openly demonstrating their wholehearted support for Putin. We all knew all along this is what it would be like, whether we hoped for betterment or merely ignored the whole debacle. We may never know exactly why Trump obeys Putins every bidding, we may never gauge the true depth of whatever debt he is in, but maybe that’s not important now.
What matters is that we know beyond any doubt that the current American regime is no longer a friend of democracy. Nothing seems to matter beyond raw power, the vulgar accumulation of capital and the narcissistic urges to look strong.
A lot the mythology USA has built for itself, that we have all been exposed to, was always little more than that, mythology, myths, lies. How many regular people get to live the much-heralded American dream? How many are living the American nightmare? The neoliberal dream of individuals competing with individuals, always only able to rely on whatever support one can afford, has so many people living in misery, trapped in narratives that will never benefit them.
And now the US is collapsing completley before our eyes, as (already deeply flawed) democracy, as the so-called-but-never-quite-rightfully-so leader of the free world, as that mythic ‘city on a hill’, as even just a barely functioning society. Everyone not working to sustain the optics of the strong white man is simply fired, and those who will not kiss the ring and obey the random whims of the would-be king are immediately dismissed.
As an authoritarian regime with the most powerful military in the world, it may be sustained for quite a while longer. As a democracy and an even remotely trustworthy ally and partner in international affairs, this might be it, at least for the foreseeable future.
I have no idea what we can do about any of this on the global scale, other than daring to engage in much closer collaboration with those who are willing to actually stand up for the values and ideals many of us still claim to believe in. Maybe at some point, we’ll have to realise that nation states are not the only thing that matters, and that our (more or less) artificial borders often get in the way of peaceful co-existence and mutual flourishing.
On the ultra-local level, the level where we all live our everyday lives, I think we urgently need to double down on our values and the things that matter most to us. There is no innocence, no neutrality, no just going about our daily business while the world is burning. There never was, but at this moment in time? We have to commit to something. Not merely through the formal political systems and its occasional elections or by supporting specific political parties, but through our ways of life. Through who we are, who we aspire to be, and who we might become together. If we believe in actual democracy, in interdependence, in caring for the societies we create together, in trusting each other, in sharing both joys and sorrows, in striving to maintain liveable conditions for everyone, then we must collectively find better ways of living those beliefs. Irony and sarcasm won’t help us here, neither will the modern idea of detached, distanced, rational individuals. We’re in this together, and we need to embrace that, with sincerity. We need to remember that we are making a life together, all the time, every day, through every encounter, every exchange.
Maybe, maybe, maybe, we can come to love each other, love the world, love life, just a little bit more, and maybe that will itself be an act of resistance, imagining and enacting
There’s probably more we can do, I don’t know, and shit is bleak, but if we can move a little closer together, be a little bit more open and frank about the things we value, then, maybe, that can come to matter more than we think.
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