by February/March 2025
I felt the need to start this post in early February and jotted down a few ideas. It’s now March and I’m still struggling to compose it because in the time I need to get the ideas down there are several dramatic developments in world, regional and/or local politics and events which seem to dilute or wash away whatever it was I wanted to say. I’m assuming that I am not alone in this at the moment, it sometimes feels like jumping waves at the beach and struggling to stay upright in the backwash.
There was a time when I started this (2019) in which I decided to try to keep this blog and politics separate. For various reasons I decided to bring them together in one place around about 2021. Now I feel that a clear political stance is becoming more and more important.
I do like reading history and have been busy getting to grips with the Spanish civil war, the Russian revolution and civil war and the political developments of the 1920s and 1930s. I am aware of the pendulum over time between authoritarian and liberal tendencies and the long history of isolationism in the USA and still I am appalled by the staccato of developments coming out of Washington D.C. since the 20th January.
Now by the middle of March we appear to have left the old paradigm and to be on the approach to a new paradigm and currently in a change between complex systems. From a European perspective, a reliable ally since the 1940s appears to be cutting the ropes and heading off to other harbours. Europe feels the need to rearm in order to defend itself with Russia more or less on the doorstep but, on the other hand, an armed and mobilised Europe has been a powder keg twice in the last century and needs to rearm itself differently now, Europe needs to rearm as Europe but not significantly as individual nation states.
So what are you gonna do about it?
How can I, as a “normal-ish” European, make a small statement to the powers that be across the pond about how I feel about all this? I think that a general evaluation of the situation is in order. I have tried to reduce my personal dependence on BigTech and am writing this on a home-built linux-powered laptop but I do send money to companies based in the USA for digital and entertainment services for myself and for the family. Monthly or yearly subscriptions are running for Microsoft office, Google cloud, Apple iCloud, Spotify, Netflix, Disney. I left Amazon some years ago.
I am considering canceling some or even all of them. I have started to talk to the family about this and the kids were surprisingly open to it although we definitely need a strategy to save important spotify playlists first. We have been looking at alternatives, for example, Deezer to replace Spotify. Without wanting to quote McCarthy, I have a list…
A list of thinks to consider:
- Go through your list of bigtech services ie Netflix, Disney, Spotify also google and apple services and think about alternatives or just how to do without them. Then leave them.
- Which foods do you buy? Buy more local stuff from markets as is possible for you. Try to avoid the handful of major foods companies which control your region (very difficult but all change is useful).
- Where does your money go? Is your bank a sensible player on the local or world stage? Think about finding a better bank if needs be.
- Generally, where you spend your money is at least as important as how you vote every few years if not significantly more so.
- Do something voluntary which does someone else good and does you good too (repair café, home help, church, whatever).
- Where are you planning trips away or holidays? Is this money going into the right hands? Try to avoid supporting military dictatorships or authoritarian regimes when taking holidays in the sun.
- Spend time outside doing things you like and which do you good.
- Plant a tree or do some gardening?
Updates to be posted here:
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