Viruses mutate, societies too.

Hegemony and decadence of main ordering principles

Science teaches that viruses, bacteria, what lives, mutate, changes its structure and its functioning dynamic. Societies also change, permanently.

Social changes respond to a diversity of factors, among them the correlation of forces that prevails in each historical moment together with a whole group of environmental, demographic, technological, cultural circumstances that impacts the planet and condition the march of humanity. In these complex settings operate different groups that want to impose their interests, dispute the preeminence. There are those who work for the general wellbeing and protection of the environment (with multiple variations and differentiated perspectives) and others who operate to accumulate privileges by subduing the rest (also with multiple variations and perspectives). These are situations that exist since the origins of humanity, the powerful submitting the rest by force and through the colonization of minds to divide, corner up, and break resistances. They preserve their power by imposing ordering principles for social and economic functioning that harm majorities. This is translated in institutions and normative framework that legitimize the concentration of wealth and consequent decisional power.

Currently, dominators have managed to impose profit as ordering principle of the economic functioning; everything is commodified including health, education, housing, basic services of electricity, water, communications, information, and emotions. The rule is maximizing profits, the mechanisms to achieve that are multiple and diverse. It does not matter the disastrous consequences on humanity and the planet. These impacts are the inevitable and expected results of the imposed course, though dominators pretend to hide their responsibility by calling them “collateral effects” or more graciously “unintended externalities.” They move with greed subduing entire nations. It is impossible to tolerate the opulence of the few with the heartbreaking situations of indigence, poverty, and inequality that are widespread around the world. The arrogance of the abusers gives way for the despair of the abused to become fury. Hopefully, the necessary change in course can be achieved peacefully, so that there is no seeking to defeat institutionalized violence with popular violence. History teaches that in hurricane times the opportunistic and traitors seep through the core of transforming movements to deviate the frustration of millions of people acting in good faith into their favor.

In the present double sanitary and economic pandemic, it will be necessary to adopt new ordering principles for the social functioning, orientating both the economies and public policies towards general wellbeing and environment protection. In this new national order, it will be necessary to eliminate the constant drainage of the resources generated not by a few but by the entire society.  This includes closing the ill-earned capital flight, those hidden by large evaders and those abusively obtained in oligopolistic markets; as well as ending the tremendous sovereign, corporate, and family indebtedness that unmercifully punishes and sterilizes energies and talents. Indeed, it is worth the warning of protecting the already existent valuable.

Subduing modalities and measures to solve them are well-known, though important population segments ignore them due to the manipulation to which they are submitted. For those who seek peaceful solutions, the challenge is centered on politics and social organization, in popular clarification to solve induced divisionism and going for coalitions strengthened in diversity and pluralism. It is a strategic effort aiming at establishing agreements in terms of governability and management, adaptable to the permanent changes of circumstances. Although sometimes statics can be yearned, in the development of life social and individual dynamic always prevail.

It has been said that today’s hegemonic principles that order the functioning of economic systems are incapable of caring for the planet and securing the wellbeing for the entire humanity. It is inadmissible and destructive to hand over to greedy minorities the decisions regarding what to invest in and produce, how to distribute the results of the productive effort. The ordering principles that allow for a minority to appropriate the destiny of humanity are unacceptable. The reaction of huge majorities grows and, if the floodgates remain closed, the planet with its harsh reactions will force the changes.

The decadence of an order opens options for new constructions. It is our hope that humanity will know to choose the best paths and transitions.

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