State of the world

The human kind has been confronted with radical changes along the past fifty years. Progress in science and technology has permitted people to free themselves from material constraints while, at the same time, it has allowed them to control the nature for their exclusive benefit. The revolution in transport and communication has erased distance while, at the same time, it has brought peoples and cultures closer. The industrialization of the advanced countries and of the emerging economies has allowed hundreds of millions people to access material comfort and mass consumption while, at the same time, it has standardized the ways of life. Besides, the development of education and health has pulled out of misery hundreds of millions people while, at the same time, it has increased their opportunities. All the above could be summerized in a single word : “progress”, and its corollary : “growth”, two master words - and quasi religious believes – on the basis of which everything seemed possible and on the name of which all sacrifices where permitted.

However, the belief in progress and growth - still largely shared by the rulers and the people - is conflicting every day more with less promising prospects. During the past half century mankind as doubled, growing from three to six billion of human beings, inflicting therefore an unsustainable load on natural resources and promoting at the same time rural depopulation and wild urbanization. The rushing ahead towards massive production and unlimited consumption - and the transformation of all social relations into business relationships - has embarked the whole planet into a silly race for economic and financial speculation while, at the same time, it deregulates the climate and endangers the eco-systems. New divides are expanding dramatically in each society : between those who have access to the world of consumption - and who frequently abuse of it - and those who are just left out - and who frequently die from their exclusion. The diffusion all over the world of the mercantile ideology and of the models it carries out exacerbates social Darwinism, undermines natural solidarities and destroys identity landmarks, giving way to a sickly quest of pleasure or, at the opposite, to mere destruction through revolt or simply suicide.

New forms of tension and conflict are appearing along the disorders that are coming up. Within each society, in the North and in the South as well, the control of marginality takes a look each day more oppressive. The fear of the Other and the dread of the one who is left aside feed the sermon on insecurity and repressive policies, opportunely strengthened by wild immigration and international national terrorism. The exacerbation of the identity crises - as a result of the cultural aggression that the globalized capital spreads - destabilizes the nation-states and multiply the low intensity conflicts . The rush towards energy, mineral and natural resources every day scarcer generates new armed conflicts under the most diverse pretexts, especially in the Middle East, where the competition for oil is extreme.

In front of these injustices and of these threats the responses of the governments are most of the time evasive. Most of the political leaders navigate now in sight of land, with their noses stuck to their windscreens and their minds obsessed by the the financial markets , incapable to see the storms that are looming over the skyline. The lack of long term vision, the absence of accurate analyses and the shortage of operative tools lead to a short term handling of the events, whereas it should be imperative to anticipate changes and to control them. Besides, such a “ fireman strategy” compounds with a total lack of relevant policies, most of the rulers avoiding the subjects and the choices that scare them. This failure of the “political class” - appraised globally - would not be so worrying if it was not supplemented by the increasing un-commitment and marginalization of the citizens. The ultimate goal of the "political class" being now to last as such, its goals have become excessively submitted to the ruling interests, to the reactions of the street and to the predominant ideology. Deaf and blind with regard to the real problems of the society, the "political class" lives now concentrated on its little world, converting politics into a show and communication game and depriving the citizens of their own responsibilities.

As it goes now, the world will soon become impossible to manage and unbearable to live . It is urgent to react, otherwise the changes and the regression will become irreversible. Two major obstacles are now preventing this badly needed reaction : the lack of understanding of what is taking place around us , on the one hand, and the apathy in which our societies are immersed, on the other hand. We need pertinent analytical visions, beyond the “politically correct” and the ruling ideology, to understand what is really going on in our world and where we are effectively heading to. We need to react against the apathy and against the fatalism that have invaded our societies, merely to save our world and to mobilize the citizens everywhere to that effect. This is the purpose of this site, which we hope will contribute to a renewal of the political thinking and to a revival of the citizens commitment.