Carol Downie
Nottingham Manor
Plumpton, Little England
Is this what I will write on my future letters to Carol?
Don’t get me wrong, I love England BUT ...
How many times have I heard this? Usually England is replaced by the USA. So what do they have in common? Being related, as England is the mother of the beast, they are both sorry for what they have done and have a funny way of accepting their responsibility to clean up the mess they caused.
I do not understand the English and I feel that they do not want to be understood. As well as, there are a lot of things that bother me about England with which the English can not be bothered.
Why is it so necessary to be so different? Different time, money, electrical sockets, road traffic, measurements. I thought a goal in life is to make it easier.
Where do we begin?
Since the Eighties analysts have been predicting China’s rise to a world power in the 21st Century. It is not that we did not know. Fifty years later, China is the biggest in everything. From Population to Pollution, from consumption to possession of capital. They have the most cars, windmills, toilets and most of all, people, last count 1,4 billion and growing.
When China moves, more than a billion people start to march in the same direction. Can the UK do that? Not. Not with four countries, three British islands and fourteen oversee territories.
The Anglo-American empire that has existed since Britannia took the sees in the 18th Century and started colorizing the world map, is finally coming to an end and in this decade the UK and USA have decided to help with their own demise … May, Trump, Brexit, protectionism and white supremacism.
Why, in the midst of loosing their geo-political and financial power, these two countries seem to want to speed up the process? Now that it is actually getting tough for the Anglo-American empire, instead of that sift upper lip, carry on and keep calm, we can do it attitude, England and the USA are currently retreating from the world they had carved for their own interests.
The dumbing down of the population with the aid of CNN and the BBC. Even little Qatar has more soft power with their Al Jazeera news channel than those two news agencies. When was the last time CNN or BBC was banned for telling the truth instead of just reporting on the what was occurring.
How does one change? Our host Carol and our guest from France, Franck are good examples. They are both live passive with the nature and act defensive in their deeds. Instead of reacting to their environment they interact. She grows a garden, he built and lives in a passive house, they both live sustainable and autonom. Put the two together and Oh, MotherSisterWomanChild, a party will be created.
I can do it. We can. Yes.
Start small and change the world. There is nothing wrong about being communal. Since Marx and Lenin did not cook, they did not realize that communism starts in the kitchen. Lots of little kitchens united … a bottom to top hierarchy, as opposed to the Stalin communism of top to bottom.
Briefly, just think about the event of sharing a meal. The food, the people invited to the table. the shelter of the kitchen, the ensuing discussions, the exchange of ideas.
Human beings are social. This is a given. it is an altruism. If we did not have this social structure build into our being, homo sapiens would not have survived and evolved to it’s present state.
We, homo sapiens, are sitting in a kitchen. There is a roof over our heads. There is a gas oven that will cook our food. There is a refrigerator that keeps our food fresh. There is even clean hot running water from the tap to wash our food and dishes.
We have arrived from different parts of Europe. The food being served is not just edible, it is tasty and good for us. How did all of this come together and what amount of resources have we used to arrive at this moment in time? When one starts calculating the amount of energy, time, and resources, consumed, the result is enormous.
To cut this concept short, we need to make everybody’s kitchen sustainable. I therefore, announce the creation of the party of kitchen communism or PKC.
Back to the USA. There was an evil economic doctrine that occurred as a response to the totalitarianism planned economic structure of the Soviet Union. This plan, conceived by Milton Friedman from the Chicago School of Economics in mid 20th century for which he won a noble prize, is called neoliberalism. Less state control and the market will decide it's destiny, in the hopes that the capital incurred will trickle down.
From 1955 to 1989, the world was pretty much the same, heavy P.M.S. It was divided between those two economic plans, The planned market on one side and the neoliberal capitalism on the other. Everyone knew which side they were on or wanted to be on.
Tradition hinders reform.
There is something to be said about losing a war. Here is where England and France have stuttered. German aligned itself to Europe after WWII whereas England and France just returned to their old nationalistic ways. „We won, why change ?“, was their credo.
Twenty years after WWII, when Germans in their BMW’s and Mercedes started showing up on the streets of Paris and London, it was evident why it was necessary to change but instead those two just dug in and held onto their former ways.
By the time Reagan came to be president of the USA, neoliberalism had taken root in Chili and Brazil with the help of the C.I.A. (Cocaine Import Agency) and Ronald wanted to do the same for the USA. He convinced Margret who was star struck by its simplicity … just sell, sell everything that belongs to the state. Let the market decide the price of health, education, clean air, food and water.
At the time, it was not so easy in big USA with 50 states and 230 million people but for UK with 55 million, with a crumbling industrial sector, a wake-up call that something dramatic must occur economically and a convoluted electoral system that made holding onto power enabled the consequential sell-off possible.
When the Berlin wall came down. The west ceased the moment to implant their neo-liberal economic model onto the other side and a new tactic of ‚Shock and Awe‘ was implemented to facilitate the changes. Almost three decades later, neoliberalism has run its course and the winners in the old order are now the losers in this global and digital world. Hence in 2017, the state of England owns nothing and is proof that neoliberalism does not work and Brexit is its result. Thatcher is laughing in her grave.
No country can survive alone in today’s global economy. There is no turning back. Similar to India, Africa, South America, Asia … they could not return to their original state before colonialism. They became independent and got on with it, they adapted. Took what they wanted and threw out the rest from their colonial masters.
So it is with England. Gone are the days when we need less Europe. The UK has four votes in the European parliament. After Brexit, England, Wales and No. Ireland will have none and Scotland will have one, after they enter the European Union.
It is unfathomable for me how England will stand on its own after Brexit. For those who are now preparing for it's exit, it seems they are all just taking a long and painful wank. I predict, coitus engIand-interruptus for May, Johnson Farage, Ukip the the rest. The millions of pounds spent on an orgy of bad orgasms.
Why does England want to leave when the Europarty when it is just getting good? There are at least six countries who are waiting in line to enter the club. How little does the England want to be ?
The biggest fashion statement of the century. The queen wears the European flag to the opening of the English parliament. It is about time she showed a sign. Brexit is ruining her realm.
Canada, Australia, Gibraltar the Caribbean islands, those islands next to Argentina … what do the English call them ?. What is there status in Europe after England leaves? Was anyone thinking of that when the referendum occurred ?
Elisabeth’s the second's next move should be to Balmoral. She might as well pull herself out of London and the Buckingham Palace and move to Scotland. The only sticky point, she is named after the first Elisabeth that chopped off the head of Mary. At least Scotland will stay in the European Union and she can remain an European.
I am Californian, born in Sacramento. I moved to Europe 35 years ago. Four years ago. I dumped the United States Nationality, was stateless for a couple of weeks and became German. I am proud to be a part of that first generation of New-Europeans. We are a generation that has experienced peace in Europe our entire lifetime.
Let me overstate this. When there is peace, society is freed of want and need and it can develop exponentially.
The scars of war occur in the proceeding generations. It has taken a half of a century for the Germans to recover from the second world war and once again be able to say they are proud of the country in which they live. The Austrians who have caused two world wars are still suffering.
In short, anybody who mocks Europe, is a toxic because apparently peace does not mean anything to them. It is with such hate that I contemplate making a fist and ramming it up their poop-shoot to rip out their inners. I read that they used to do this method of torture during the crusades and again during the 30 year war in Europe and as recently in the Syrian conflict.
Get the point ?
Bad food, bad weather, bad skin, lots of bad attitude.
or
good music, beautiful countryside, I had to google for the other two. Oh yeah, Shakespeare and Mr. Bean, great literature and of course that absolutely fabulous sense of english humor.
Spring 2017
Berlin
