Hollande and Obama… could be…

Europe requires radical changes in order to overcome the fiasco of the last throes of neoliberal globalization and to inaugurate a new model to facilitate growth, while at the same time avoiding excesses and preventing “bubbles”. 

A system that will take into account the world as a whole and that is aware that the domination and exploitation of the resources of others –some taken by force, as in Iraq and more recently, Libya!- have come to an end. From now on the international cooperation so strongly advocated in the 1960s and 1970s (and then replaced by pure and simple exploitation) must become a reality. 

A systemic crisis requires a systemic solution. An unprecedented situation requires an unprecedented solution, a quote from Maalouf that I like to repeat. 

Let’s look at the global scene: CELAC, which represents the emancipation of Latin America and the beginning of its revival; India; Turkey; Russia… Africa… China… The West –in which the United States has diverged from the European Union’s sole policy of austerity- has suffered the most, because it collaborated the most in instituting globalization and in replacing ethical values for those of the stock markets, in speculating and in de-localizing production, and in developing a war economy of colossal proportions. 

New times –mechanization, robotics, working with computers, longevity…- for a new economic system… and a new life. Too many things have changed for us to continue to rely on “traditional” economic solutions.

To start with, Hollande should “make an about face” with respect to the situation in Europe. And once reelected, Obama should promptly proceed to re-found a democratic multilateral system. 

At the local level, democracy. Democracy at the regional level. Global democracy through a totally renewed United Nations system. As in 1948 when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights illuminated the path to the future, a Universal Declaration of Democracy is now needed to make the transition from force to words and from a culture of violence to a culture of dialogue. 

Perhaps Hollande and Obama will be able to initiate the great changes that the West and many other countries urgently require.

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