Where I Want To Live
If we have to have countries and a system of government - here are my criteria a "civilized" country must meet. Warning - it isn't about the accumulation of wealth.
One of the most lucid minds of recent history is and was that of Gyorgy Faludy. A poet, a thinker, a lover, a homeless mind - Gyorgy was a true renaissance man (and he knew a lot about that time - see his amazing book on Erasmus of Rotterdam).
In his later years, Gyorgy had the fortune to settle in Canada for a period of time, the 1980s. One summer, he stayed at a benefactor’s (all poets do have patrons of one sort or another) small cabin in the hinterland of Vancouver Island and wrote a little book - Notes From The Rainforest. I highly recommend this gem, so much direct wisdom.
Faludy lived in many countries during his lifetime. Faced the power of the state and suffered from it. He had some good thoughts about what makes a “good” country to live in. He appreciated Canada for many things but I wonder what he’d think today.
Faludy wrote a small passage in that book about his requirements for a country. Inspired by that, here is my own list. What I’m looking for. Add them up, one point for each. How does the country where you live score?
1. The freedom to come and go without restrictions. The freedom to travel in the country without documents or searches, arbitrary stops.
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We face so many restrictions, these “panic” days. Restrictions that I believe betray our rights as citizens - the right to travel in our country without “checks”, documents or fear of the state apparatus.
“Nobody knows anything about the power of the state until they’ve spent time in jail.” - Lev Tolstoy
2. Faces of the population are generally cheerful. People greet each other, even strangers, in public. Public rudeness is rare. Fairly elaborate manners are expected of everyone after the age of seven.
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I do like Latin America. Despite the poverty and oppression, people are cheerful and open to strangers, to each other. Take the smile test. Walk past someone and smile at them. Do they smile back? Wave back? Or do they think you are a kook?
Society functions because we respect each other. Part of respect is the notion that in public, we consider each other as equals. Call me old fashion but politeness is to be treasured. Society needs social norms to be liveable. Respect for the elderly is required. Respect others when in public - noise, litter, driving, attitude.
3. There is a separation of powers. There is a free, vibrant press. Media is not restricted and represents a wide spectrum of opinion and beliefs.
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Journalism serves not just to tell us about the weather or that the price of beef is going up - it serves to monitor those in power and inform the people of abuses. It operates as the 4th estate. Government has checks and balances and complete separation of powers.
4. Privacy is kept. People can live their lives without being monitored, recorded, followed, and tracked.
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There is no FSI, no NSA, no CCP recording all our daily actions; purchases, movements, phone calls, internet searches. There is no Facebook or Google tracking our every click and then selling the information. As the wise former Canadian Prime Minister once quipped, “The state should stay out of the bedroom.” One can live one’s life quietly, in peace, left alone. See Glenn Greenwald’s thoughts on why this is so important.
5. Information, literature, film are widely available. Libraries are uncensored, well-stocked, and much-used.
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Access to the internet is open, low-cost or free, widely available and not government monitored or censored beyond the minimum for public security and safety. Our universities are places of open debate and free thought and exploration of the kind of society we want for the future.
6. Little or no hunger or squalor. Few are destitute and those who are, are charitably treated. The accumulation of wealth is not generally thought of as the Meaning of Life.
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A country takes care of those left behind (for many reasons). It redistributes wealth in an equitable and sustained fashion. Consumerism is not the godhead and people live within their means. The minimum wage is truly something one can live on with respect and dignity.
7. Violence is rare and, among the police, severely forbidden.
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The police are there to protect all people, even those who might be doing harm - to use violence as a last resort. In civil society, violence, even sanctioned violence (like the UFC gladiators) is not looked at with reverence. Protests are not met with violence.
8. Litigation is at a minimum. People solve their problems among themselves. Laws are flexible. A general attitude of “live and let live” is seen.
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Does the legal and police apparatus have the ability to give one a pass, depending on the circumstances or is it always “the letter of the law”? Is everyone going to court or are people able to solve their differences on their own, in dialogue and through community?
9. No imprisonment or punishments for politics, religion, ideology are taken. Patriotism is not “in your face”, not a public affair but a personal affair of the heart. Civil disobedience is an accepted part of society.
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There is the freedom of assembly, the freedom to speak, the freedom to follow one’s beliefs peacefully. There is no marginalization of ethnic groups, minorities, interest groups, religious groups. Labor has the right to organize, to protest and strike. People have the right and ability to protest without restrictions and the need to apply.
10. The environment in which we live is protected, valued.
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There is a general perception that we are part of a wider ecosystem and have a responsibility to sustain it, nurture it and do our part to keep it going. The environment is not to be exploited, packaged and sold but used only in a sustainable fashion with attention to future generations and other forms of life.
Waking Up
Poetry is hunger and protest.
Not pretty sounds
but a howl, a scowl
a wake-up call for a drunk
in a hotel with
pretty lies and lights
and a roulette table
that never pays out but
keeps going round and round and round.
Poetry is a cry, a picture
that hopes to make the world
ashamed,
that hopes to make the world
– even one man
come out of that hotel
and into the sunlight
of acceptance
and each moment thereafter
be good
and each day thereafter
have thoughts of the good.
Poetry is one hand slapping
the feckless face of man unkind.