Back into the Arena
For many years after the end of the cold war, a steady growth in the western world economy has greatly contributed to making our lives comfortable. As a consequence, we have sought for
stability and private satisfaction and we have run away from politics and participation in the
public debate. As a result, we have left politics in the hands of mediocre people.
Many point out that the generation who has not lived through the cold war tends to be superficial and selfish: I disagree.
There are plenty of young people who want to take responsibility and who want to go back to politics. These people are ready to claim their role in the society as they realize that the future is in their (our) sole hands.
It is way more difficult now than it was in the seventies, as ideologies were back then the strong and firm bases that helped political positioning. Today, our immensely difficult task is to speak about politics in an open way: we have to discuss matters and not principles, and it is always extremely complicated.
News from the world around us are not positive: they report dreadful economic turmoil, plunging
markets, scared investors and greedy speculators: Governments ask for sacrifices and are
telling us that we cannot sustain our current lifestyle.
They have told us to save money, that we need to give up some of our privileges and accept
wages cuts, higher taxes and higher basic services prices: but they never dare to cut the current pensions or to tax the assets accumulated in years of economic growth.
No head of state or government has taken measures to ensure growth and it seems that none of
them has a vision or a recipe for the future. They are all scared of losing votes amongst their
electoral base, which is mostly composed of scared conservatives - either on the left or on the
right.
No head of State or Government has thought about shuffling the cards and coming out with
interesting and visionary solutions: this should be the time when genius leadership is needed and I see none appearing on the horizon.
For a long time, the European Union - the place we live in - has suffered from boredom and a sense of ridiculous accomplishment. We thought it was done - or at least that we were close. We had no idea where we were going but we thought sooner or later we would have got there.
But today we need to start asking ourselves: Where does the European Union stand? What are the proposals set for the future of Europe in these days of hardship? Is there anyone out there who is ready to think about what will happen next?
Many people ask for interventions from “federal” organs that have been created in different times and for different purposes. But these organs have to be completely re-organized in order to meet the challenges of today.
We are here to ask - and we will shout it out loud - for a new path, for power to be in the hand of people with a vision, that are ready to make what it is necessary to ensure some future to the People of Europe.
Sometimes we turn back and are nostalgic of the visionaries, the European leaders who were courageous enough to bring us where we are: but these people are dead or too old to think forward. They imagined a European family of nations in times when a war had just killed 60 million people and they did not know where this construction could have gone. They tried and succeeded but their success is no longer to be artificially revamped every time we seek for guidance or lose hope. We should not continue to celebrate the past. We should start to think about something new, what we really want it to be.
Today, we are already citizens of this great family of Europe and we need to think further.
But, more important than all, we have to start asking ourselves again the most basic question: do we want to be Europeans? Every answer is possible, from the most federalist ones to the most nationalist ones: but all answers should be equally passionate and motivated because no smart politicians should ever be able to feed us with pre-cooked stories that are only to their personal benefit.
Let’s take the process in our hands again, no matter where we will bring it.
Let’s get back into the arena.
Picture Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mossaiq/6272089006/sizes/l/in/photostream/
public debate. As a result, we have left politics in the hands of mediocre people.
Many point out that the generation who has not lived through the cold war tends to be superficial and selfish: I disagree.
There are plenty of young people who want to take responsibility and who want to go back to politics. These people are ready to claim their role in the society as they realize that the future is in their (our) sole hands.
It is way more difficult now than it was in the seventies, as ideologies were back then the strong and firm bases that helped political positioning. Today, our immensely difficult task is to speak about politics in an open way: we have to discuss matters and not principles, and it is always extremely complicated.
News from the world around us are not positive: they report dreadful economic turmoil, plunging
markets, scared investors and greedy speculators: Governments ask for sacrifices and are
telling us that we cannot sustain our current lifestyle.
They have told us to save money, that we need to give up some of our privileges and accept
wages cuts, higher taxes and higher basic services prices: but they never dare to cut the current pensions or to tax the assets accumulated in years of economic growth.
No head of state or government has taken measures to ensure growth and it seems that none of
them has a vision or a recipe for the future. They are all scared of losing votes amongst their
electoral base, which is mostly composed of scared conservatives - either on the left or on the
right.
No head of State or Government has thought about shuffling the cards and coming out with
interesting and visionary solutions: this should be the time when genius leadership is needed and I see none appearing on the horizon.
For a long time, the European Union - the place we live in - has suffered from boredom and a sense of ridiculous accomplishment. We thought it was done - or at least that we were close. We had no idea where we were going but we thought sooner or later we would have got there.
But today we need to start asking ourselves: Where does the European Union stand? What are the proposals set for the future of Europe in these days of hardship? Is there anyone out there who is ready to think about what will happen next?
Many people ask for interventions from “federal” organs that have been created in different times and for different purposes. But these organs have to be completely re-organized in order to meet the challenges of today.
We are here to ask - and we will shout it out loud - for a new path, for power to be in the hand of people with a vision, that are ready to make what it is necessary to ensure some future to the People of Europe.
Sometimes we turn back and are nostalgic of the visionaries, the European leaders who were courageous enough to bring us where we are: but these people are dead or too old to think forward. They imagined a European family of nations in times when a war had just killed 60 million people and they did not know where this construction could have gone. They tried and succeeded but their success is no longer to be artificially revamped every time we seek for guidance or lose hope. We should not continue to celebrate the past. We should start to think about something new, what we really want it to be.
Today, we are already citizens of this great family of Europe and we need to think further.
But, more important than all, we have to start asking ourselves again the most basic question: do we want to be Europeans? Every answer is possible, from the most federalist ones to the most nationalist ones: but all answers should be equally passionate and motivated because no smart politicians should ever be able to feed us with pre-cooked stories that are only to their personal benefit.
Let’s take the process in our hands again, no matter where we will bring it.
Let’s get back into the arena.
Picture Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mossaiq/6272089006/sizes/l/in/photostream/
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