Life After Corona
Today we’re almost one year into the pandemic – and it looks like we’re still only halfway through. But our – still very comfortable – ‘western’ lives are not only threatened by the pandemic. There’s also stifling inequality and a climate catastrophe looming in the distance. So never waste a good crisis, as very wise (Chinese) men once aptly put it… For now we may finally get a chance to rearrange our economies and create a new framework for freedom and equality.
Life after corona ought to be based on 4 guiding principles. ‘Global sharing’ should become more important than raw economic growth. With that in mind any kind of ‘man-made damage’ to the environment (or public health) ought to be carefully examined, weighed and ultimately punished through sophisticated taxation. Also, women are by nature more up to the ‘task of sharing’. So women should prepare to become the new leaders of the 21st century. There’s no longer added value in ‘managerial dominance’: so let us – overambitious male predators 🙂 – take a backseat and start enjoying ourselves in an entertaining and supporting role.
- Free education and free, universal health care ought to be considered fundamental human rights.
- The promotion of individual, personal freedom should first and foremost be focused on protecting freedom of expression (of belief or religion) and freedom from exploitation. Or in other words: the ‘freedom to be’ ought to take precedence over ‘the freedom to have’ i.e. the capitalist adage. National states (or even beter common-sense supranational entities) must guarantee these freedoms, all the while recoiling from patronizing ‘grand philosophies and moralities’.
- Act local, think global. Local communities should become more independent and self-relying, political power should be transferred from the center to the fringes, in order to reinstall communal self esteem and civic pride.
Only this way will the world get adequate tools to fight poverty, pollution, inequality and injustice in the 21st century. We, as artists, should tirelessly strive to promote this noble cause and abstain from the – by the day more meaningless – quest for a glittery celebrity status. As the planet – and life itself – is now at stake.
JP – Spring Blog – March 2021