The European political scene is in a phase of paradox. Obviously, also the North American political scene is in some kind of turmoil, but to me the EU version is much more interesting. Almost every European country has been voting in the past 3/4 years, and the choice has been the same all over, with a few local variations. On one hand we have the traditional, professional politicians, with traditional ideas, styles, and policies. For the purpose of this post, we’ll call those Same Old Shit. On the other hand we have the new, radical, left/right or populist wave of “new politicians” that claim they should win the elections exactly because they don’t share those traditional ideas, styles, and policies. They have new ones, sometimes unclear, other times utopian, but the bottom line is always the same: we’re not the same old shit, we’re new. They are the New Shit. Now, one thing is clear: a large percentage of the European population is fed up with the Same Old Shit. They just can’t take it anymore: the byzantine european bureaucracy, the disconnection between what people feel and how things are, the impression (augmented by the media prism) that yesterday things were better than today, and maybe tomorrow. Enough of the same old shit, they say: we want New Shit. Like what? Different, you know? Better. More welfare, less immigrants, fuck the EU, let’s keep our money. And how are we gonna do that? The answers vary, from “we eradicate corruption” to “citizen salary”, to “we fence the nation”, right down to Brexit: how to crush your present and fuck up your future chances in a few easy steps.
The problem is that the Same Old Shit really sucks, and this continent desperately needs New Shit. But the present New Shit offer seem to lack in quality and consistence. From Geert Wilders in Holland to Nigel Farage in the UK or the Five Stars in Italy, the New Shit really sucks. But we still need some kind of shit. At this point, old or new seems less important to me than another factor: we need better shit. Maybe next time.