It is certain that things are not going well today. On a global scale, what dominates as politics comes into conflict with the anxieties, needs and aspirations of the majority of people.
Cynicism, brutality, the systematic serving of the interests of a small minority at the expense of the many, violence, authoritarianism, the treatment of democracy as a pretext are the common threads that connect what may be happening in Los Angeles or American universities, with the ongoing tragedy in Gaza, with the resounding return of the far right, with the explosion of social inequalities and the enormous distance between the daily struggle for existence of billions and the arrogance of wealth of people like Elon Musk.
Faced with this reality, the majority of systemic political forces, those who claim to belong to a variant of the “Center,” have failed miserably. They have not prevented the slide into a world of global conflicts. They have not put any barrier to the tragedy in Gaza. They have not managed to tame “market forces,” they have widened social gaps. They have not raised any barrier to the rise of the far right, on the contrary they have facilitated it, adopting its rhetoric and practices, and legitimized it.
All of this means that more than ever we need an alternative perspective. Not just a more critical rhetoric, but a historic change of course. A future that is different and competitive to the one we are offered today.
Except that this cannot be done either by wishful thinking or by simple declarations. If the goal is an alternative government, then serious preparation is needed.
Analysis and interpretation of what is happening is needed.
A real assessment of the magnitude of the destruction of recent decades is needed, an in-depth analysis of the causes, but also a systematic recording of all the forces, social, scientific, kinetic, productive that can support an alternative historical path.
An international perspective and study of different experiences and paradigms are needed.
An interdisciplinary discussion is needed and recourse is made to all those thinkers who critically and penetratingly approach contemporary reality.
Contact and support are needed in the mass movements of the struggling people themselves.
Above all, fields are needed where the discussion can actually take place, for people from radical politics, from critical theory, from science, from movements to meet and discuss.
And the gap between a society that is looking for something to support and inspire it, and the failure of the wider democratic space, will only deepen.
A gap that risks being filled by despair, disappointment, political apathy or, even worse, the logic of the far right and thus having even more Trumps, Erdogans and Netanyahus.
What can anyone now take from such a discussion and the interventions in it?
Some basic truths: that today our societies are not moving towards prosperity but towards an increasingly intense polarization between extreme wealth and all variations of poverty.
That today there is a real “democratic issue” precisely because the oligarchy of wealth dominates and finds governments willing to serve it.
That the far right is rising precisely because the center and center left parties have fully compromised with the “existing neoliberalism” and have submitted to the oligarchy of wealth, disregarding the needs of the working majority.
That we must escape the “single-mindedness” that has dominated for decades and considered everything to be “technical issues” and seek a different “spiritual model,” as Sanders said, a completely different way of thinking about politics and ultimately practicing politics.
That we need more than ever an internationalist approach and at the same time only a politics of democracy and justice is the only one that is authentically patriotic.
These truths – and together with all the richness of the discussion – offer not only the necessary starting points but also the necessary “food for thought” for any political project that would like things to “go differently.”
Nor do they only emphasize the need for a process in conflict with the existing landscape.
At the same time, they also emphasize the great responsibilities of those who do not want to be spectators of the decline of an entire country.
