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Democracy Chronicles

The Old World Dreamers and the New Activists

by Mats Sederholm - December 28, 2016

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The Old World Dreamers
George Orwell mural, Southwold Pier in Suffolk , United Kingdom

This is part four of a five part series titled, “5 reasons why this society got to go”:

One of the reasons why change is so hard to achieve is that many people remain with the belief that the existing society can make a fundamental change after all. Why move too far from your comfort zone, better the devil you know…

There are masses of shortcuts; enticing calls from those who both want to keep the old world and still strive towards a new one; an existential three-way-forecast, the only outcome of which is the decently quietened guilty conscience.

The existence of new world culture with its complex power alloy of politicians, capitalism and state security services, tells us that there is a need for our current political and economic systems to be profoundly changed. That final step, however – to actually do it, is incredibly difficult. But if we are to change society we first need to be prepared to dismantle the old one with no guarantee of where we are going.

When trying to articulate the need of another society, there are so many things involved that it may seem threatening; a denial of the whole of society and the surrounding world we have learned to strive for. Indeed, it can be so provocative that people become hostile, even those who are closest to us. The acceptance of what we still have – within the frenzied cycle of security offered by the power, and our constant attachment to it – seems better than no acceptance at all.

The hope for change, that we will succeed despite our isolation, has created myths and romance which that in reality are worth no more than the chance of winning the National Lottery. In the American dream, which is still very much alive, everyone has a chance. But in reality, the US is one of the countries in which the potential for social mobility is at its lowest.

For you who really had enough of this crazy world (where George Orwell’s classic quotes from 1984 becomes more and more real – “War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength”) what is required is a certain ability to get out of the old framework of thoughts. I would say a new kind of activist is needed, a kind of activist that has the courage to leave old identities and thought patterns behind.

The new activist is the backlash brought about the new world culture.

She or he is aware of it and can see all its implications and is, unlike the old activist, not blinded by party issues, politically biased thinking, media campaigns, blinkered opinions or other binding associations.

He or she prefers to search for the truth rather than for opinions or judgments. A prerequisite for the creation of peace is that truth comes before identity.

The new activist is a truth seeker; someone who has left the introvert schisms of the old world behind. The new activist is not just the one leading the struggle for the poor against social injustice, even though that kind of activist also changes things. The revolution will be played out as much within the middle class as any other part of society. The conservatives, autocrats, hawks and patriarchs exist in all camps.

The new activist is an evolutionary, an innovator. He or she is one who has woken up; who has a widened field of perception and has started to ”see the whole picture”. When that happens, one no longer holds prejudices and is less likely to envisage potential enemies and short-term goals.

The good news is, those new activists are spreading like a prairie fire, creating chaos and fear among main stream media editors, old world politicians, political analyzers as the old world framework seems to crack everywhere.

In June 2015, a poll of the electorate by Gallup examined Americans’ confidence in different parts of society’s institutions. On the question of whether the respondents had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in different parts of society’s institutions the result was: US Supreme Court 32%, Presidency 33% , Newspapers 24%, Big business 21%, Television news 21% and Congress 8%.

In Europe, EU is shaken to the core not only because of Brexit, but because so few Europeans support the EU. Europeans are not Europeans, they are first of all French, Italian, Irish etc and so they reject the thought of a future European state that so many in the establishment are looking forward to. And yes there are those who are wishing for a world parliament. One parliament, one culture and utterly one kind of personality, the dreaming one, the one drilled to run in the rat-race. The exhausted and soulless brick in the wall.

The old world will use all its weaponry. Politicians that will suppress human wishes for another society, media that picture the world according to a predefined set of public norms and political correctness, intelligence services that coordinates their control of the citizen together with state authorities and social media providers. And not least, your fellow citizen, the worried and forever enthralled one. The sleeping one.

This is the fourth reason why this society got to go.

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Filed Under: DC Authors Tagged With: Capitalism and Big Business, Democracy Protests, Europe, George Orwell, Socialism and Labor

About Mats Sederholm

Democracy Chronicles author Mats Sederholm was born in 1957 and today lives close to the capital of Sweden, Stockholm. Colliding Worlds (co-written with Linda Bjuvgård) is his first book to be released in both Swedish and English. His aim is to continue to help perpetuate an increasing awareness of system faults and standards which prevent human development.

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