In the eye of the storm, there is calm, a light breeze and a pleasant temperature. The rain does not fall and the sky is clear, the sun is visible and the sky is blue. It is a mirage of calm that comes after the storm has passed. Something ephemeral that gives way again to the most extreme violence, a clear sign that nothing is what it seems and that makes the phrase “hope for the best and prepare for the worst” valid. It is also possible that we see the end of the storm, the long awaited calm that fills us with joy and makes us want to rebuild everything that has been destroyed and to return to our former life. But, it seems that we are not. We are in the eye of the storm.
The hurricane hit us hard in the first half of the 20th century. Many indicators pointed to the worst, but European ignorance and arrogance prevented our grandparents from realizing what was coming. First in the form of a tropical storm with the First World War and finally in the form of a special category hurricane with the Second Great War. The scenario, by the way, was very similar to today’s: inequality, youth unemployment, unpayable sovereign debts and expansionist desires of the great powers. The result is well known: a total destruction.
And it was in the 1950s that the calm came, but not the end. We began to live in the eye of the hurricane, whose size is proportional to the storm that surrounds it. It is so big, that for decades we believed we were living in the period of calm that comes after the passage of the deluge. At least it allowed us to create new social structures and transnational organizations in preparation for future emergencies. Reinforcements of structures designed for the scourge of a new cyclone. The birth of the UN, the cultural awakening of the 1960s, the emergence of the middle class, etc. Of course, mistakes continued to be made and the world was divided between capitalism and communism. The first breezes that signaled eye movement and approaching destruction. No one paid attention.
And since then, the shifting of the eye has continued and instability has continued to increase. No one has paid attention to the savage exploitation of resources, individuals and culture behind the big technology companies, no one has paid attention to the extraordinary accumulation of capital that has been produced thanks to the fictitious finances practiced by financial institutions and investors in the wake of complicit national fiscal policies subordinated to their interests, no one has paid attention to the destruction of the planet, no one has paid attention to anyone. Or very few, but not enough.
Well, for those who still did not believe it, we were in the eye of the hurricane. And this one has just left us behind and has thrown the second part of its storm at us again. And it seems that all those reinforcement infrastructures have not been properly maintained. We have learned nothing. We are in a world with multiple powers, with nuclear capability and with our democracies weakened by a professionalized political class, not representative of the will of the people and a party system more concerned with its clientelistic survival in power than with national welfare. Remind you of anything? But this is where the opening sentence takes on more relevance. All is not lost, far from it. The capacity of human beings to reinvent themselves and improve their quality of life is infinite.
What antidotes do we have that we did not have before? We have more informed and critical societies, women are in positions of power, innovation governs our actions and our hopes for growth, and countries are so interconnected that the immensity of cross-interests among them functions as a parapet against possible wars. In this hurricane’s path, war and economic crises are not the only escape valve. We all have a lot to lose. And I have the feeling that, if we get through it, the world will be very different, but better. It will not be easy, the storm that stalks us is huge, with a destructive power without limits, but more selective and merciless with those who want to apply old recipes and outdated solutions.
Just because we are optimistic does not mean we are foolish. Stupidity is also a quality that human beings possess in infinite quantities. For this reason, hope for the best and prepare for the worst.