Global Extreme Centrist Ultra Non-Partisan Party

May 16th, 2020 – during the Covid-19 pandemic

It is time to vote for The Super Inclusive, Hyper Equal, Ultra Pro-Integration, Global Unity, Extreme Centrist, Non-Partisan Party

The headline may not be exactly serious, but the message in it definitely is.

The pandemic situation as of now; more than 4.5 million confirmed cases and more than 300.000 deaths, and all experts are saying that the numbers are too low, we are missing cases. Just a reminder, in case anyone still needs reminding.

But back to the point. It really is time for a movement that is inclusive, stands for global equality, promotes real integration, sees the need for global unity, and is non-partisan and issue based. Since it aims for balance and includes all sides, it is by definition extreme centrist, however funny that might sound.

I called it a party in the headline and a movement above, Lorenzo Marsili and Ulrike Guérot in The Guardian call for “... a hybrid structure: falling somewhere between a social movement, a political actor and a deliberative platform, providing a rallying point for all those wishing to resist the path of disintegration”. (The link to the piece is below.)

They were talking about Europe, my focus is the world, but the message is basically the same: we citizens, we the people, we humans, we need to wake up and we need to take action.

As the pandemic has reminded us, viruses or other diseases do not care about human defined borders. Climate change is global by definition, and is not restricted to one part of the planet. And our commerce is international and our supply-chains criss-cross the globe. We live in a interconnected and interdependent world, though most of the time it seems we don't remember it, we just take it for granted.

All these nationalistic parties and movements that have propped up around the world, rage about national identity, national culture, national ethnicity, national language, and at the same time they take the benefits of globalisation for granted. Not only do they want to “have their cake and eat it too”, they want to “have their cake, make it bigger at the expense of others, and eat it too by themselves”.

As Lorenzo Marsili and Ulrike Guérot point out in their article in The Guardian, “A nation is neither ethnicity nor language, neither culture nor identity”. A nation is basically a bunch of laws that a group of people have come up with.

Laws are written for a society, and when the society develops and changes, laws are rewritten or amended. So, by definition development happens first and laws follow. This process implies that we accept the changes that happen in the world and modify our laws to suit the new situation. A quote usually attributed to John Maynard Keynes says it all: “When the facts change, I change my mind, what do you do sir?”

Well, the question now is what do we do when the facts change? Do we just bury our heads in the sand and wish that things will go back to “normal”, or do we construct a set of alternative facts which conform with our opinions, or do we opt for some other form of denial?

We have no other choice than to accept the changes that have already happened in the world due to globalisation and societal development. We also need to realise that the world is a big ship and big ships turn slow, so there will be changes in the future that will happen regardless of what we do now.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. said that “A mind that is stretched by new experience can never go back to its old dimensions”. Globalisation, the internet, migration and development have, in a way, stretched the mind of the world, and this world will definitely not go back to its old dimensions. It will not retreat to some mythical safe sunlit place that only ever existed in our minds.

We should accept the change and development, and realise that since a nation is not defined as ethnicity, culture, language or identity, these are really not at risk with change. Besides, cultures and languages are very resilient, we still speak many different languages and have distinct cultures, they have not disappeared, they have adapted and will keep adapting.

Through the history of the world, the species that have survived, were usually the ones that were best at adapting to the new situations, not the ones that clung to the old ways. We should adapt and change with the world. We should be an active participant in the changes, and guide development towards a better future, and try to minimise the harm that come with the changes.

There has always been change, the issue now is that it is faster than it used to be, it “feels too fast”. But despite of this, we can not retreat to myopic protectionism and nationalism and isolation, it is way too late for that. The world may be a big ship, but that ship has already sailed.

Our problems are global, and to fix them we need global solutions. To get those solutions we need to come together across borders, engage in global co-operation, and build and strengthen international institutions. National solutions are good, but no one country can fix the mess we are in. We can not act alone, we have to act together.

We have a choice.

We can let hyper-partisan politicians play games with populism, grandstanding and obstructionism, let them distort facts and politicize the court system so they can stay in power, and let them lead the retreat to isolationism, protectionism and fake nationalism.

Or we can take action. Action for equality, for inclusion, for climate change, for better integration, for fair globalisation, for human rights, for better life for all.

It will be a long road out of this mess, and it will take a lot of time and energy to get to where we need to be.

So, it should not be taken with anger, which is powerful but does not last very long, but with hope, which sustains you and gives you a reason to move on.

So next time there is an election in your nation, vote for The Global Extreme Centrist Ultra Non-Partisan Party.

And if you don't find a national chapter, go ahead take action and establish one.

May 10th, in The Guardian's This is Europe series Lorenzo Marsili and Ulrike Guérot: Elites have failed us. It is time to create a European republic

On April 27th, in The Washington Post, King Abdullah II of Jordan wrote about “re-globalization”. I wrote about this earlier, but since the article deals with the same ideas, I'll put the link here again: King of Jordan Abdullah II: It’s time to return to globalization. But this time let’s do it right.