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Celebrating opponents of the new Chilean constitution after its rejection
Photo: Karin Pozo / Agencia Uno / picture alliance / dpa
Therefore, if I want to let myself fall to the ground exhausted because of the apparent exponential, raging complete stupidity of mankind, I remember my principles:
Don't take yourself too seriously.
My view of the world, of what I think the world is like, can be bullshit.
It is the view of an ant whose potency is minimal - to the point of non-existent.
The probability of – everything – is 50 percent.
This highly mathematical formula implies that many developments that seemed to be taken for granted have, in retrospect, dissolved into nothing or turned into the opposite.
Whether Trump's election, the outcome of the revolution in Haiti, the computer bug in 2000, the fall of the United Kingdom, the East-West reunification of Germany - the history that we have written in the western world is full of surprisingly false predictions.
So it could also be that instead of the almost set victory of greed, unwillingness to change, obscene accumulations of capital, madness of growth to the point of explosion - something completely different arrives.
Just as Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano abruptly ceased its world-baffling activity, one neoliberal regime after another could disappear.
Goodbye Maloni, Bolsonaro, and baby Thatchers everywhere.
Welcome, new, direct-democratic states with de-privatized infrastructure, as envisaged in the new Chilean constitution.
Speaking of which, whenever that moment of hope and belief in the understanding of the masses emerges, it dissipates and is replaced by empty staring.
The Chilean people voted against the new constitution with a majority.
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Sibylle Berg
RCE #RemoteCodeExecution
Publisher: Kiepenheuer&Witsch
Number of pages: 704
Publisher: Kiepenheuer&Witsch
Number of pages: 704
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Everything that made sense with a view of my world was contained in the 57 articles.
For example (poorly translated by me):
"Everyone has the right to a comprehensive sex education that promotes full and free enjoyment of sex, sexual and affective responsibility, autonomy, self-care and consent, recognition of diverse identities and expressions of gender and sexuality, elimination of gender stereotypes, and prevention of gender-based and sexual violence.«
And:
»Workers have the right to fair, reasonable and sufficient remuneration to ensure their livelihood and that of their families.
You are also entitled to equal pay for work of equal value.«
or
“People have the right to age gracefully, to adequate social security benefits to live in dignity, to access the physical, social, economic, cultural and digital environment, to participate politically and socially, to live free from age-related abuse , to autonomy and independence and to the full exercise of their legal capacity with appropriate support and safeguards.«
How could anyone be against this, I asked myself, without having any idea of the living conditions of the majority in Chile.
I don't know what it's like to truly believe in a god, nor how it feels to feel threatened by people who live or love differently than you do. Or how you can feel threatened by transportation, education , care, energy, water and housing to be transferred to general ownership.
Maybe people aren't misguided, manipulated, short-sighted or masochistic, maybe they just want something different than me.
Crazy idea.
And maybe they have to try it out, slowly, get used to something new, find out that there are alternatives to capitalism and its inherent desire to destroy.
But maybe tomorrow the 50 percent rule will come into force and everything that seems to me like racing towards a concrete wall will be gone within a short time.
Or a meteorite hits the earth, or - and that is the highest probability - I am just one in billions who have no idea of the complexities of all life.