After the Donald Trump’s electoral victory, it seems important to me to remind us of the Pirate Party’s values and raison d’être. Indeed, the populist discourse seems to power up, first in England, then in the United States, and probably later in France and Germany. Please note that I am talking about populist discourse, and not about the people. Some explanation is necessary…
Most opponents to the current system are populists who propose to solve people’s problems by simplistic solutions, but unworkable or even completely counterproductive, and also deeply dividing populations into antagonist communities. Indeed, according to them, we should not believe scientists when they warn us against climate changes ! However, we should believe that only the elites must be held responsible for leading the world to its ruin, without ever reconsidering our individual choices that all together can have more impact than any assembly in politics. Finally, we should build a wall because less community and isolationism would be the solution. That is the kind of discourse we hear and that brings people into error.
It is from ourselves that the changes will come and the citizen initiatives that contribute to a better world. The condition however is that we have the collective courage to confront ourselves with the upcoming challlenges.
Conversely, the Pirate Party doesn’t blame the people, but believes that the solution can only come from the people themselves. It is from ourselves that the changes will come and the citizen initiatives that contribute to a better world. The condition however is that we have the collective courage to confront ourselves with the upcoming challlenges. Never has the world known a population that is that well educated is in our age. Never has the world known more efficient communication tools as now with internet and telephony. That opens opportunities for new, deeper forms of democracy that are maybe not that simple, but give the possibility for citizen initiatives to let evolve their proposals from the local to the global level. A task for the Pirate Party is also to recall ourselves that reality, as hard as it is, is not a fatality, but in daily lives, we need to be able to take difficult decisions. Climate change is not something we can just put aside and our consumption methods are not independent of this. We will need to consume less, certainly less meat, migrate to renewable energies, make durable products instead of obsolete, set up a good recycling logistics. We will need to think how to distribute wealth more equally and why not also with the aid of a basic income. We can not forget that countries in the south are exploited already and will be the first ones to get climate change on top of that. We should be aware of our choice as a consumer. Coluche told that well: “If nobody would buy, it would not get sold” Maybe we still now the humorist, but how many know what he really wanted to say?
We will need to think how to distribute wealth more equally and why not also with the aid of a basic income.
The goal of this text is not to divide people between pro-Trump and opponents, but to propose a third track. Instead of choosing between the lesser of two evils, the Pirate Party wants to promote constructive citizen initiatives. One should stimulate collaboration between people and groups of individuals instead of thinking in competitive terms or even worse, in terms of ennemies. Therefore, people should be informed well and the information should be available in the most transparent way. Knowledge and experience should be shared and eventually we might guide ourselves to a better world and not just a part of it.
Wow, very good and well balanced statement, which really gets the point.
There is just one thing I could add:
Yes, the world as we know it is constructed by the sum of our personal lifestyles.
Yes, climate change is strongly connected to what we eat, because animal agriculture is the no.1 cause of climate change – https://youtu.be/ZlTBC91L-x0?t=1m39s .
Yes, we certainly will need to consume less animals, because this is very efficient & effective in stopping climate change.
And now my addition:
The optimum regarding this is going vegan (see video).
The social-liberal reflection of this fact on level of political party manifestos is adding the following programme point to the manifesto:
“Freedom from barriers in canteens: All canteens, which are subject to approval,
if they are offering warm meals, have to offer at least 1 warm vegan meal,
and if they are offering a salad bar, have to clearly labled split it into a vegan section and a non-vegan section.” – you see, no force, no ban, no additional costs, making transitions in dietary lifestyle easier, beneficial not only for vegans, but also vegetarians, muslims and jews, and of course good for animals, our health – https://youtu.be/30gEiweaAVQ – and our environment. This is good, efficient objective policy.
The pirate party of berlin – https://berlin.piratenpartei.de/wahlprogramm-2016/ – and the green party UK – https://policy.greenparty.org.uk/ar.html – already adopted this programme point.