Ko-fi

Thursday 23 July 2020

What now?

The environment seems least on the list of govenment concerns anywhere in the world right now. Puffed-up super-powers busy themselves with foreplay to war - threatening this and that and threatening to take back, roll-back, retract agreements promises... to stop recognising, acknowledging or complying with each other in a world so interconnected that they know... the pulling of one thing, leads to the fall of another in what looks like a catastrophic, worldwide domino game.

The stuff of life that individuals care about and need in order to survive - is not the stuff of politicians. The basic necessities of a home, food, security and clean/safe air and water... can't be relied on or even dangled as a future goal in the current climate.

When Covid came along, it made the cracks in political systems that prioritise power and finance, over wellbeing.. obvious to more people, even the most blinkered. Getting our children into school is clearly to facilitate the return of parents to work to 'keep the economy going' - and the consideration that those children and parents may contract or carry the virus home to their families and back to their friends and colleagues, is a lesser matter; tending the sick economy matters more than protecting the humans.

The death tally from the pandemic is of course a matter for concern and when it goes down, a relief... and you may stand a good chance of not getting the virus and if you do, you may not die... BUT all those hundreds of thousands that are marked as 'recovering' - have been through a long and hellish experience and many are facing life-changing, longterm health impacts. BUT... it's a sacrifice governments are willing to take in order to 'get back to normal'. I wasn't keen on the previous normal and wonder what better could be created as a way for humans to live in this world.

Not sure if it's the grey sky and drizzle or the news station but I just feel so bloody feeble in the face of it all - so much uncertainty and no idea what any can do when the abuse of power by governments the world over is escalating. What can be achieved or even hoped for? How do we change anything? Uprisings during Covid present additional risks to life and what would a successful revolt look like anyway? How would it force change at governmental levels?

I read somewhere that various environmental groups are taking all their funds and using them up within the next 15 years because they see no point in planning further ahead... that they are going to throw all they have at what is genuinely the biggest problem we face - the environment - because wthout air and water that can sustain life... money and power are worthless.


Back to the Philosophical Basis

  Thank you to Ecosocialist Alliance for publishing my piece in time for last week's Green Party of England & Wales, Spring confere...