The End of the World as we Know it

This should be the final nail in the coffin to the political order most of us grew up in. The USA, under the Second Trump Administration, has probably finished demolishing seventy years of convention in international politics. Having “captured” (read; kidnapped) Nicholas Maduro, president of Venezuela, and declared they will “run” Venezuela themselves as it transitions to a friendly regime, America has positioned itself as the global leader in neo-colonialism. By acting without authorisation from congress and seemingly on a whim, Trump is demonstrating why he is a king in all but name, even if his methods seem more like a mob boss than a sovereign ruler. It’s becoming almost impossible to pretend that “Western” powers are all that different from their enemies, that they actually support something like liberty or self-determination or human rights. A nation dependent on US diplomatic and military aid is conducting a genocide and the West has done precious little about it. The veil’s been ripped from our eyes, if we hadn’t lifted it already. The world as we knew it is gone.

Smoke Rising from Caracas in during the US ‘operation’ last week. Source.

That said, I don’t think there ever was this golden, glorious era for humanity where everything was wonderful and always getting better. It was only ever a narrative of history to comfort people living in rich countries, to lull them into inaction and disconnect. But the narrative has come apart, shredded by the hypocrisy and backsliding of its champions. The Western World was supposedly the beacon of the End of History, the ‘natural, evolutionary’ end of politics. But in the past twenty years, it has been slipping into authoritarianism and fascism. Closing borders and demonising migrants, building torturous detention centres, rolling back human rights and increasing surveillance, limiting the rights to speech and progress. This is a nightmare, not a dream. The heroes of progress and civilisation do not run torture camps. They don’t let children starve, they don’t fund and abet genocide. For a while, we Westerners could look away, could point to some graph or chart and claim data proved life was getting better. That’s when the blood was only at our ankles. But it’s up to our waists, chests, and necks now. We’re drowning in it. The charts are all soaked and the graphs are stained red.

And honestly, the demise of the old political norms is only one piece of this Ending. It’s likely we’ll see two or even three degress of warming due to climate change. The seas will rise and ruin cities. Fires and droughts and floods will devastate millions of lives. Whole regions will become unliveable, and the refugees from those places will find nothing but walls and guns when they turn for help. We were promised action would be taken, that someone would do something, but in the end we’ve all just waited on market forces to fix it for us. We’ve allowed ourselves to believe the people making money off the catastrophes will suddenly change their attitudes, cede money and power. That corporations care about anything other than themselves. Unfortunately, climate change can’t be contained somewhere we don’t notice it. Fires and floods will ruin cities in Europe or America just as much as they do in Africa or Asia. Most of us grew up believing economic growth was eternal, inevitable, and reliable. We’re about to understand that it’s none of those things.

I’m sorry if this is depressing. I do want to express my frustrations; I won’t suggest despair. If it were true that the golden age of humanity was under threat, or ending, panic and surrender would be understandable. But it isn’t, wasn’t. The world order and norms established weren’t fair or just, and never lived up to its ideals. The powers who championed the ideas of progress and freedom used them as weapons to bring people in line and line their own pockets. This isn’t the end of the World, but the end of a charade. This isn’t just who America is – it’s who America always was. It’s who every empire and Great Power has always been, and why we should never support them. The charade of American exceptionalism could not survive climate change, the return of the Far Right, and political upheaval. I’m glad it’s gone, and you should be too. See them for who they are.

They’re talking about Greenland, Colombia, and Cuba. Of designated spheres of influence. This isn’t freedom or progress, it’s colonialism and empire. Source.

But the truth is, our work begins in earnest as the veil is torn away. Confronted with the casual brutality of empire, the naked greed and contempt, we have two choices. We can slink away, murmur something about human nature and hide in our nice houses and cities, hope that we and those we love will survive the horror due to the luck of our birth. Or, we can look it in the eyes and fight. Fight by denying the myth of empire a home in our hearts. Fight by building community, celebrating our culture and all the things that stop us fitting in with power. Fight with every breath in our lungs. The world doesn’t need to be like this, and it shouldn’t be. We can make a better future.

This is the end of the World as we Knew it. That’s a scary thought, but if we get something better at the other side, it’s something I’m okay with.

– The Teaspoon