I'm writing this from the ruins of the European Social Democratic Dream. I'm in a bar in the ourskirts of Helsinki, talking to other proles.
The whole evening has been dominated by a heated discussion about the global warming, and how the current right wing government has been too weak on the issue while gutting the rights and protections of the working people. I say heated, because people are angry. But in truth, everyone is agreement, especially on four key things: 1)
environmental catastrophe is an imminent threat to us all. 2) Nothing close to sufficient is being done. 3) Right wing policy is destroying both the livelyhood and hope of working class and 4) Populist right wingers, who are again on the rise, will only bring us more uncertainty and false "solutions" like we have seen in Hungary and America. Everyone is in agreement that shit's fucked up, we're standing on the brink and the working man is once again getting screwed. The popular anger is so thick in the air, you could cut it with a knife. The ground is fertile for agitation.
However. These people are still scared. I go out and smoke a cigarette with an old granny, whose been even more radical than me in her statements. We have a laugh, and are in full agreement about how Orban, Bolsonaro and Trump have fucked shit up, and how both the environment and the working people need new champions. She alludes to Macron, and I say he's no better than Orban. We both kek. We're walking inside, as she suddenly stops and asks me "well what alternative do we have?". I take a short breath, look her in the eye and say "revolution". She looks genuinely happy and energized and asks me "I'm with you, but what then?" Without skipping a beat I say "Socialism. Nothing else is enough at this point." Her smile disappears, she looks disappointed. "Son, it's already been tried," she says and goes back to her table.
There's a man well versed in climate science in the bar. We dominate the conversation for the rest of the evening, and are in perfect agreement on what should be done. However, as he says it's never gonna happen, I say it could if we just had a system where we could plan our economy and production rationally. He nods, returns to his card game, and the conversation dies down.
WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE TO DO? They are ready, they know the problem, but still they're afraid of the solution.
