( fast thinking )
integer politics : a lost cause, all sinners being. that said
...
inductive logic :
innocent until proven otherwise
or ( bottom up ) democracy
or popular right to veto legislation
or the people can be smart
...
deductive logic :
guilty until proven otherwise
or absolutism / totalitarianism
or no popular right to veto legislation
because the people is stupid,
don’t see ?
...
no i don't
.
i do see though,
leaders,
pretty stupid
.
.
.
why wrote this argument.
at the turning to 2o12 i was looking back at 2o11.
catastrophes had happened, that shouldn't have.
millions of people rightfully demonstrating in the streets.
central banks making up for all the private and public bets gone wrong.
maybe the Mayans had made a classic rounding error
and the worst was supposed to happen last year.
on the other hand the master-terrorist had been shot by the master-soldiers in the mid of 2o11 :
a relative calm would install itself with justice delivered,
at least for Americans,
a situation i didn't trust ahead of US presidential elections in 2o12
and an unfolding Syrian civil war specifically
and more generally because of the way of how the economic crisis respectively credit crunch
had been "saved" to not say delayed both in 2oo8 and 2o11.
there is no fire on the lake
as the Genevans would say,
time to review and write down a few of the assumptions
that might have caused the turmoil in the first place
all while explaining why Switzerland ended up as the sunny island once more.
having spent years in the beautiful republic of Geneva mostly around expats
who would be working in multinationals, banks, international organisations and NGO's,
i had been wondering many times what true Swissness is,
and where our success respectively peaceful life really (!) comes from.
is it because we're a small nation, neutral,
can profit of our geographical situation ?
is it direct democracy ?
many reasons you hear, but never it could
be
because we don't have a strong president.
the directorial or collegial executive
is rarely seen as a source of our success,
more as a solution to a need of a multi-lingual country
allowing us to ensure the minimum of a peaceful together.
never (!)
is our directorial executive seen
not only as that guarantor for that minimum stability,
but as well what could be one of the main reasons
or crucial factors
for our continued maximum success.
a concept that could work
and allow for a peaceful life
so there would be the will to have so such
as well in other countries.
why is collegiality
such a taboo in geopolitical diplomacy ?
maybe that idea - so it is -
respectively the underlying truth - so there is -
maybe somewhere something is frozen or forgotten between decision makers for there to be deep buried path dependencies, such that nobody would not even have the idea for a collegial council in Tunisia, not even in the midst of a revolutionary Arab Spring. nobody would come up with the idea, lest be able to conceptualize it and (!) sell it to the people.
a delusion to enter
to exit normally easily
turn on the light
and go for a walk
.
welcome to the dark
or the blue - the under water
our common subconscious,
where i like to leave it, because my personal conscious not really up for sale such, which is not to say it's not all written from my perspective somewhere, somehow, surely, explaining my opinion of the good of collegiality as i can appreciate it every day, except the bad days.
neptune talk
monolog of a former helvetic grenadier
.
.
somewhere inspired by Yougoslavia civil war post general Tito's fall
on matter of which i had been allowed to write and present thesis on during far-distant highschool,
but don't remember anymore,
and inspired by togo departition post world war one following colonial transport lines,
as i had been allowed to write and present thesis on during also far-distant university,
and kind of still remember.
...
actual motivation for these essays :
i had time, yet, wasn't going to demonstrate with the others,
the 99%, the indignados and OCW protesters
as Grenadier was i ?
.
nor as bank employee, wasn't i...
.
how i failed my studies ? immanuel kant, thoennis, bourdieu etc got stuck on it
.
self-determination,
colonial map,
tyranny, fear of powervacuum,
civil war, war crimes / genocides,
nuclear chess / geopolitics / war of civilizations,
confessional guilt,
self-determination
.
peace
.
new war starts with old war's ending,
with old war's ending new war starts
.
while war is the continuation of politics with weapons
politics is the continuation of war without weapons
.
in that sense :
either words are weapons
or i am doing politics here
.
.
.
as the Swiss Grenadier i used to be, as the special ops trained to fight terrorists, another stream of curiosity stems from the question what the probabilities are for us to be ordered as well to shoot on demonstrating citizens labelled as terrorists by our people in power. an order which in theory you can refuse, in practice it's more complex and probably would end with the logic of "they just didn't have to ..."
...
i wondered as well, with the seal team 6 having operated a complicated mission killing the master terrorist, how come - while not surprising, violence leading to more violence - how come American peace-making - be it in Afghanistan or Iraq - wasn't at the height - or quality - of the military successes; wasn't able to bring about freedom and stability to neither of the two countries. after all the Americans brought lasting economic growth and freedoms to war-ravaged Europe after WW2.
...
as arrogant as i can be, i concluded that the Americans didn't know better anymore, that they maybe had lost their way being the uncontested superpower, in their ability to rule the world since the fall of the Sovjet Empire, and i thought with my failed studies i might not have enough intellectual baggage for an answer, but surely with my thirty years i had just about enough life experience ( and had read enough newspapers, old Weltwoche, NZZ, LeTemps, TheEconomist, etc ) to have an opinion about that critical juncture in American and with it human history. because somewhere i think the fate of Switzerland is closely linked to the American ability maintaining a global commercial system, in which the Swiss can trade their ways. something brought in question with their inability implementing respect of the rule of law decided upon by a tolerant democracy nor in Iraq nor in Afghanistan.
...
the Americans haven't been able to bring about respect of the rule of law through inspiring the masses about the workings of democracy. they have lost their ability, their natural authority, to persuade other people about the intrinsic justice as you can find it in a democracy. i think a result of American presidents having acted too many times unlawfully unpunished in the name of illuminated or universal democracy : or as we say : constant dropping wears away the stone. i think many people get or got tired listening to - somehow rich - western leaders talking about the inner justice of democracy all while continuing getting abused on a daily basis by those same western leaders' actual ( investment ) decisions lacking that universal legitimacy. many people, and not just in the East or South do not see ( anymore ) how western democracy is supposed to get them to - and if it would be only a decent level - of life standard as well.
.
it's complex : too many misunderstandings about humans, the environment, life and the universe; about the economic laws and their social consequences. too many misunderstandings flying around in our world dominated by free speech. which i don't mind per se, the world never perfect being
.
because for as long as the economy is fine, can we pay for these misunderstandings, for the costs they cause, but once we have to pay back what the central banks printed, once the currencies are devalued to prevent inflation, once the costs of living due to more expensive imports increases, once it'll be impossible to just increase the value of the dollar again with the developing world having caught up implementing fair-trade practices and fighting corruption, once the costs have gone up and inflation comes in double and triple, together with the costs of the negative consequences of climate change, the costs of the loss of biodiversity and the costs in fighting both, then ( for some already the moment has come ) we might not ( want to ) have time and money anymore to defuse peacefully and patiently and open-mindedly the aggression or testosterone built-up in the occurrence of misunderstandings.
.
impatience and stubbornness and at some point acceptance of violence take over in the boiling heads unwilling to explain themselves again
.
some grab their weapons by themselves, some others have others grab their weapons.
.
many having gone through war and conflict or revolution and oppression tell us regularly, how everything can just go worse until there is no help around no more.
...
for me, it's that there is a certain delusional part in how we organize societies or nations. out of a need to cope with rising populations, we invent how to organize them. there is a lot of wishful thinking and optimism in the way we live democracy, in the way we organize bureaucracy and big corporations to be able to profit of economies of scale, leading at disappointment to many individual catastrophes.
.
a repetitive drama for which in my mind a fault lies repetitively in the catholic's discussable monopolar ( monotheist ) worldview leading to leaders feel comfortable only when ruling by themselves as strong presidents in monopolar fashion as well, leading them to make one or the other error of gross negligence during their term, humans as are. first they refuse to admit to those errors, to them transgressing their powers. refuse to admit so out of fear of appearing weak, or as mostly though because in their born delusional arrogance they conclude the truth hurts the ordinary citizen too much, thus admitting would make everything only worse possibly leading to public unrest and much worse.
word against word, it opens up a vicious circle between that one pole, the president and his or her entourage, often the whole establishment and the rest of the people ( usually void of direct democratic rights ) creating so much pressure on that lonely president responsible alone for his totalitarian freedoms, that fails to make up for his error and continue on the road of leading and deciding in the people's interest as was elected for.
.
the last thing the people wants ( in their own interest ) : a failing president.
but how they often end up nevertheless
.
tragic
.
.
.
a world full of failing or succeeding presidents. a captivating, hilarious or heart-breaking show to keep you dreaming and waste your one life consuming and making yourself dependent, hollowing yourself your own freedom out from inside until the moment you want to use it just to notice that there is a misunderstanding, that you don't have no more no freedom to speak up, that it's a totalitarian state now. for real.
.
a feeling that was born in me in the aftermath of 9/11 and the totalitarian approach chosen by President Bush Jr. ten years later i thought there is again a window of opportunity to speak up.
.
may i ( have ) been heard. because i believe we all want to be good people, even those who choose to do bad do it for the good ( just don't know better )
.
education and communication are key for a peaceful together i think
.
a call for leaders to always let doubt prevail and not follow the roads of totalitarianism or absolutism as hopeful those suicidal social logics shine in the dark through their promised stability.
.
yet only a fool believes from that russian neo-absolutism or that chinese neo-totalitarianism, that from that political oppression, can grow sustainably (!) social, economic and spiritual freedoms, can you maintain a demanding middle-class, true source of peace as only social class able to bridge opinions in a multilateral world.
.
.
indeed, who says multilateral world, acknowledges that there is difference of opinions, diametrical differences, that can be distorted in the bi-polar political arenas as we find them under monopolar rule between a strong president and the opposition.
.
the truth can be bent as it suits, argumentation lines built as needed, everything is true in a multilateral world.
.
.
for instance my swiss patriotism would probably overrate the role swiss diplomats played in keeping americans and sovjet russians at bay.
.
now, it's one thing to bridge two superpowers in a stable bi-polar world. it's another thing to constantly come up with a new framework to bridge two competing superpowers in the new multilateral world and to maintain the stability in these different frameworks, which i think is an impossible task as the inconsistencies between frameworks force to find an overlaying or base-giving bi-polarity between them; a chinese-american bi-polarity when we aimed for a multipolar world-order.
.
we don't want the swiss to be responsible for the failure of such a multipolar world-order. not again.
.
this is why i think more nations should engage in a collegial manner of ruling their executives allowing them to stay neutral in the midst of heating conflicts and keep the communication flowing between the warring factions; the explanations to their own actions.
.
it's not so much about copying swiss success but about agreeing to directorial logic : to the refusal to submit yourself to a unique king, president or other leader. otherwise said to make your loyalty to the nation conditional on the absence of such monopolar leadership. this neutrality, this mental incorruptibility of the citizens creates the power as a nation to engage successfully in bridge-building and peace-making.
.
or so i pretend. which is the fun ( and dangerous ) part writing about collegial rule : there is just nothing written about it, not much at least
.
something i was about to change
.
in that sense don't write me anymore your astonishment at a nation having fallen victim to the talk of its leader into authoritarianism. write me about how different tribes find common agreement in how to topple a dictator or how to expulse an empire and its vassals to replace them not with a president, no, but a collegial executive !
...
.
always with the rebels
indeed
maybe not terrorists, puppets of warlords
maybe not dictators, slaves of their own mirror
but : always with the rebels
because aren't we all rebels in an unfair universe
up to rebel leaders fighting for their own people ?
.
always with the rebels
.
.
.
as you understand hence, me writing and working on these essays was rather a subconscious exercise at the limits of my knowledge. a repetitive part-lucid state to open up my mind and break through the most crucial brainwash or prejudice as you want to call it...
...trying to find the logic
explaining peace in Switzerland
and that is applicable to other countries...
...to come to the conclusion that a collegial council on its own doesn't prevent abuse but creates the division inside the executive keeping it manipulable by the people; keeping it reflecting the people's will, such not making it impossible for the Swiss Federal Council to call on its militia to shoot on demonstrating citizens, but unlikely leading to a delusional autocrat installing himself abusing, silencing, incarcerating, torturing, killing, stealing freedoms from the masses in short, always demanding more, coercing you beyond being productive at your best; beyond being responsible handling your freedom.
no,
a collegial council
would always fail to keep the corruption and torture prevailing
in "sustainable" manner over centuries
because such a rule and its underlying logic
born in a totalitarian or absolutist delusion
intrinsically contradictory being
to the 'raison d'être'
of a council as head-of-state
in the first place.
.
.
all in all a recommendable form of government, strong through its constitutional weakness.
.
.
.
Xibre
Semper Fidelis
( 2o12 - 2o22 )
...
( about me )
...
