...they do things differently there. So begins the novel The Go-Between.
These strange lockdown days bring a mix of longing for a return to the safety of what we knew as normal, mingled with a courageous dose of recognition that this is the once in a lifetime opportunity to make a place where the past will seem to have been done differently.
I was struck by a tweet by the economist and writer Jason Hickel
This is remarkable: 170 Dutch academics put together a 5-point manifesto for economic change after the C19 crisis, building on #degrowth principles. It has gone viral in Dutch media. In this thread I'll summarize the points in English. https://t.co/jjiJ2nVRW5
— Jason Hickel (@jasonhickel) April 17, 2020
and his translation of a manifesto for economic change from Dutch academics. Two screenshots of the main substance of his tweet.
Heady stuff.
Rowan Williams was interviewed on BBC Newsnight at the end of last month and raises similar questions, but from a different perspective
The welfare of the people we most care about is bound up with the welfare of those that they're close to.
Suddenly this pandemic has reminded us of our being part of a social network - those we share life with in isolation, those with whom we cross paths in the supermarket (even at a social distance), those who are working to support or care for us or our loved ones should matters take a turn for the worse. This is a timely undoing of the trajectory away from a sense of community and society which seeks the good of more than just me (and those like me).
The vested interests are powerful and, as we see with the problems of introducing obvious new technologies such as electric cars, will likely invest as readily in maintaining their position in the status quo as in finding some new way of working to allow the Dutch academics' vision to come into being.
As Bruce Cockburn once sang
Callous men in business costume speak computerese
Play pinball with the Third World trying to keep it on its knees
Their single crop starvation plans put sugar in your tea
And the local Third World's kept on reservations you don't see
"It'll all go back to normal if we put our nation first"
But the trouble with normal is it always gets worse
The trouble with normal is it always gets worse
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