by November 2024
”Onwards, onwards into uncharted territory”
Intro
Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister
Intro:
It’s roundabout the middle of November 2024. The 6th of the month gave us the results of the presidential election in the USA and the coalition government in Germany finally teetered so that an early federal election is planned for the 23rd February 2025. It has been quite a month so far and we’re only halfway through. The current world political situation gives me the feeling that we could well be on the brink of a new era similar to the retrospective view on a change of state in a complex system.
It has been a long time without war in western and central Europe and I seriously hope it stays that way. Was the absence of war “normal”? What is heading our way after January 2025? It is too early to say with any certainty but I think it is fair to say that the future might well have different rules and norms and that the time from 1995 to 2015 could well appear in retrospect to have been a golden period (for some people!).
I have been listening to Beevor’s “Russia” recently and have been ruminating about the ebb and flow of political systems. Communism in its soviet form came and went although it has left its indelible marks on the present. Fascism never went away, it was beaten back and denied space in the social sphere and appears now to be seeping back in through the gaps and becoming more and more visible. Democracy as a political system seems to be struggling at the moment under a hail of blows and challenges.
This week I had some time to read and got through the two books below. Reading was also a welcome opportunity to not have to follow current events too closely. I’ll continue jotting down a few thoughts below the media section.
Books
Marseilles 1940
Fear and Loathing in America
Well, I have read two books in the last two weeks. The first is in German and is an account of the flight of numerous figures from literature and politics from Germany to France, Spain, Portugal and from there onwards after the invasion of France in 1940 by the German army. I heard about it on the radio and it was shortlisted for the Bavarian book prize 2024. Many of the figures concerned were either jewish or were on blacklists of the nation socialist party, thus were in dire personal danger.
It also tells the story of a very brave American journalist called Varian Fry who used the neutrality of his country at that point to help many hundreds escape including Marc Chagall, Hannah Arendt, relatives of Thomas Mann, Max Ernst, Franz Werfel and many others. The book is a poignant reminder of the many consequences of unleashing the political far-right but is also an immersive close-up account of the people involved and was a rewarding read.
The second book is an amalgamation of letters written by Hunter S. Thompson (HST) from the late 1960s to early 1970s. These range widely if not wildly from letters to local people as well as to state governors, publishers, political candidates and to friends. HST was a prolific letter writer and the missives can safely be described as impactful, unfiltered and potentially life-changing for the recipient if he/she in any way thin skinned. One reason for diving back into this tome was the news on 6th November. HST was politically a republican in the original sense and, although intrigued by political figures of the day such as Richard Nixon, had no qualms to damn him in his published articles, books and even obituary:
“If the right people had been in charge of Nixon’s funeral, his casket would have been launched into one of those open-sewage canals that empty into the ocean just south of Los Angeles. He was a swine of a man and a jabbering dupe of a president. Nixon was so crooked that he needed servants to help him screw his pants on every morning. Even his funeral was illegal. He was queer in the deepest way. His body should have been burned in a trash bin.”
― Hunter S. Thompson, Where Were You When the Fun Stopped
For those who are appalled by the rise of DJT is may be worth looking back at Richard Nixon and those who enabled him. It is also a retrospective view back into the America of 50 years ago through an HST lense which also had the ongoing battles between progressive and conservative factions along with all the sleaze and cheapness of much human behaviour. It is definitely the sort of book that can be dipped into rather than read through in one go.
The Rest is Politics
Rory Stewart has had a diverse and accomplished career spanning academia, writing, adventure, politics, and diplomacy.
I am a fan of this podcast which features Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart discussing the events of the week and their possible implications from a political perspective. They range widely and are knowledgeable and give fascinating insights from both the right and left benches of the political foray. Can be found in various online outlets, I tend to use spotify because it works well in the car but other options possible.
Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister
Thirty-eight episodes of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister were made in total, running from 1980 to 1988. A one-hour special aired in 1984; all other episodes were a half-hour in length. The dates listed below are when a particular episode was first transmitted on BBC2.
I can hardly think of any political situation in which it is not beneficial to have recently listened to Yes Minister or Yes, Prime Minister. I dive into episodes randomly and they are always a joy and are insanely funny as well. Anyone who sees themselves as political and is not familiar with these series I regard with definite caution 🙂 .
more thoughts
So here we are, looking out into the future and a whole load of uncertainty about where things might or might not be going. I am pretty sure that a lot more is going to be written about how the democrats lost this election so definitively in 2024. I hope some of it will concern the digital super-powering of political discourse and how much of it our democratic systems can handle. My feeling is that there is a serious need for human contact as a counterweight to digital contact and an exchange of views and perspectives rather than blows. Human social interaction has its own built in checks and balances.
One of my big take-aways from this whole ordeal is that progressive politics cannot just be limited to the chattering classes but needs to be firmly embedded in all echelons of society, particularly the lower half of the pyramid. Progress in a political democracy needs to be inclusive at all levels and build a system within which all are involved/included at all levels.
The communication of new ideas must be clear and concise. A system within which the impression prevails that inclusion only happens at and above a certain level will become top-heavy and instable in times of difficulty. I believe in progress into an uncharted future. The transition into this future must be built into all policies, for all citizens with no trickle-down hopes or offsets to ease the conscience but as a fundamental part of the building blocks for our future.
