Ecoblogi – A Blog by Daniel Elkama

The year 1995 is not far away in history. In Finland, we listened to the Spice Girls, 2Pac and Oasis. Children played with Tamagotchi and Play Station. Windows -95 had appeared. The Soviet Union had fallen and Finland had joined the EU. Today's young adults lived their childhood. However, a bloody war was going on in Europe. Croatia had been a popular beach holiday destination a few years earlier. However, now there was shooting everywhere and tanks were roaming the streets. The same in its neighboring countries, such as Bosnia. In 1992, the American philosopher Francis Fukuyama presented his thoughts on the end of history, the victory of democracy, freedom and human rights, when the Soviet Union had fallen in 1991 and Germany had been united. The Nazis and the Communists had lost their battle. The wars in Croatia, Kosovo and Bosnia were the first signs that history had not reached its destination. When I visited Dubrovnik a few years ago, there were still bullet holes in the walls of some houses, although it is a popular and beautiful resort again. A Croatian armored car had been placed on a pedestal as a memorial in the park. The Croats had repelled an aggressive enemy with the help of NATO and UN peacekeepers. Europe had not been at war for decades. Now, however, evil had reared its head again. The Serbs wanted to create an empire. On July 7, 1995, Serb forces led by General Mladic mercilessly executed 8,000 Bosnian Muslims, including children, in one day in the village of Srebrenica.

When you look at the Balkans on a map, it's a big patchwork. The Balkans have always been a melting pot of peoples, where different cultures meet. Mostly these cultures have lived peacefully side by side. So what triggered these crises between nations, including World War I. There was talk of a Balkan powder keg in the Austro-Hungarian controlled areas. The idea of nationalism and nationalism had intensified. After the assassination of the Archduke of Austria in 1914, the most destructive war between nations that had ever been seen broke out in Europe. 10 million people died. It was believed that this was the war to end all wars. The League of Nations was also born. However, it turned out differently and the World War I fire remained smoldering insidiously. Wanting revenge for World War I, Hitler rekindled that fire and now there were 50-80 million dead in World War II. There is great uncertainty about the number of casualties in China, which suffered the worst.

In the case of Srebrenica, it was about unarmed civilians, innocent people and genocide. What led to such horrible and shocking cruelty? The Balkans had often been ruled by others, sometimes Turkey or Austria-Hungary, maybe that's why strong nationalism arose there. Nationalism arose especially among the Serbs. Eventually, the Serbs, who were the most powerful nation in the former Yugoslavia, became blinded by nationalism and began to dream of a Serbian empire united by Orthodox faith and Serbian nationality. They strive to clear all other nations out of their way by violence.

World War II ended in 1945 and the UN was born from its ashes. As if the League of Nations had been born from the ashes like a phoenix bird. The UN has promoted human rights, the issue of refugees and the world's poor, peace work and sustainable development. Miraculously, the world rose from the ruins. This can be seen as the strong resilience of humanity. The world was blinded by hatred and on the brink of destruction, but soon it stood up again and cooperated. Volkswagens were quickly driven in former enemy countries and hamburgers were eaten in West Berlin. A new, more global world emerged from the crisis the world was in. Globalization can be seen as having a lot of bad things, when it is implemented incorrectly, colonialism, forcing into Western (or other) culture, impoverishment of one's own culture and exploitation by greedy multinational corporations. However, when we talk about peace work, promoting human rights, international cooperation, creating common rules of the game, global responsibility and helping the world's poor, climate work, nature conservation, sustainable development... Then we talk about good globalization. Globalization has its dark side, but these problems brought by globalization, such as the power of greedy multinational corporations and their neo-colonialism and environmental destruction, have been made to be solved. In recent decades, great progress has been made to tame destructive and exploitative capitalism, to promote human rights and sustainable development, and to create common rules of the game. Today, "bad guys" are brought to justice and unjust rulers are often held accountable for their actions.

History repeats itself, it is often said. This is often true. 2022 Russia begins its aggressive colonialist attack on Ukraine. Now was the last war related to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In Butcha, a similar genocide was committed as in Srebrenica, and civilians were shot on the side of the street, perhaps deliberately imitating the Serbs. Putin's intention was to go deep into the heart of Europe and destroy the European Union, the current Europe that Putin calls Gayroopa. Putin claimed that Ukraine is full of Nazis, even though the Russian government and far-right politics itself resemble Nazi Germany. Often the evil one says on his victim what he himself is. This is a narcissistic projection. Narcissistic projection sees its own characteristics in its victim. Russia and Putin represent absolute evil in this war. Putin is a crazy despot comparable to Hitler. Putin imagines himself to be the "great leader or czar" of an Orthodox and conservative empire fighting against the liberal, democratic society and alleged decadence of the "West". In Putin's opinion, signs of corruption are e.g. homosexuality and environmental protection. In reality, Putin is a megalomaniacal, suspicious, paranoid and psychotic tyrant.

In a few blog posts, I have considered the birth of the extreme right. Philosopher Hannah Arendt shows in her book The Birth of Totalitarianism how people's separation and neutrality gives dictators the opportunity to rise to power. When people are separated, they are not only without real power, but they are also afraid. In a house where you don't know your neighbors, people feel more insecure than in a house where everyone knows and trusts each other. Separation breeds fear, fear breeds hatred and hatred breeds aggression. The great Jedi philosopher Yoda says: “Fear, anger, aggression. This is the path to the dark side.” The fear of strangers has struck humans in part through evolution, when they were afraid of foreign wild animals and communicable diseases brought by other people from outside. In fact, the word "terve" from the Stone Age of the Finnish language means "I am healthy, and not dangerous." The English word "hi" has its roots in the word "health". These fears are senseless and irrational in today's world. It would be just as crazy primitive to be afraid of being attacked by a bear in central London. Humanity is plagued by a lack of love and thinking about otherness. We see other people or also animals and nature as "others", who are in some way worse, lower, harmful and dangerous. At its worst, this has led to genocides like Srebrenica and the Holocaust. These are not a new phenomenon, Genghis Khan once destroyed the entire population of one million people in Baghdad. The Crusaders, on the other hand, killed Jerusalem's Orthodox Christians, Jews and Muslims. The ancient Romans were very cruel to the population of the territories they conquered and often enslaved them. The Bible tells terrible stories about how the entire population of a city had to be exterminated in the name of God. The same continuum is Srebrenica and Butcha. The worst thing is that these nazis, communists and others think they are right and on the side of good, even though they are full of evil. They are so blind Thinking of otherness is "us and others" thinking, which can be understood with the help of psychology. Psychology also gives the keys to dispelling otherness. The wall of otherness can only be broken through understanding, empathy and love of neighbor. Indian philosopher Jiddu Krisnamurti spoke about his life's work, how ideas and isms blind people and how understanding is the way to light.

Love arises from seeing that the other is important and valuable, from appreciation. If you see the other person as worthless, bad and inferior, love is of course not possible. Humans have two big relationships, the relationship with nature and the relationship with other people. If the relationship with other people is broken, social problems arise, such as poverty and wars. If the relationship with nature is broken, ecological problems, environmental problems arise. The relationship with nature usually improves when a person spends time in nature, and the relationship with other people improves as a result of other people. Let’s see the beauty and goodness of nature and other people. We see that nature and other people are not dangerous. Let’s understand each other. Separation feeds ”otherness” and seeing others as bad and in a negative light. There is too much hate and too little love in the world. However, love and empathy are the only way to a better world.

Putin, Hitler, Stalin, Trump and other authoritarian leaders, monsters and dictators have all been united not only by lust for power, greed and hatred but also by confident thinking about otherness. They are all united by a blind belief in an idea and the imagination that they are right and the world is wrong. They have all wanted to make the world a "utopia" of their own accord, even though they have only brought evil and suffering into the world. They have opposed freedom and democracy because they have considered them a threat to their own aspirations for power. Freedom and democracy create something they cannot control, something that destroys their imagination of a "perfect utopia" under the order they want. The fact is that no one can control the world completely and all the time. The nature of life is freedom. Creating artificial boundaries is dangerous. This does not mean morality. The whole society, laws and rules must be based on morality and ethics. However, dictators have pushed and promoted anything but morality. Hitler believed that jazz music is evil and dangerous and grand operas are noble. Jazz that used to play on the streets of Berlin was banned. He also believed that a woman's job is to stay at home, give birth to children and do housework. Such thinking is very dangerous and far from moral. People like Hitler come up with self-invented boundaries and rules, which are not based on genuine morality but on invented, blind imaginings of right and wrong. In his time, Jesus strongly criticized the Pharisees with their self-invented rules and traditions. Bad people think they see when they don't and are blind. Often the blind lead the blind and all fall into the well. This is what happened to Nazi Germany. Hitler destroyed an entire nation with his madness. Stalin imagined himself to be a hero and a "man of steel" and murdered tens of millions of his own citizens in a paranoia.

Freedom leads to happiness. Freedom does not mean that we should be allowed to be stupid and do stupid things. Freedom allows us to find an authentic, happy life where we have truly chosen and found morality. We are committed to morality out of our own will. Without freedom there is no true love. Liberalism does not mean that we want to throw the world into chaos. In fact, when you look at politics in America for example (where it is perhaps most obvious), conservatives don't really want rules and morals to follow. They want a few rules, such as a ban on homosexuality and a traditional family concept. Instead, it is the liberals who want justice, equality and rules that secure everyone's well-being and happy life. Conservatives often just want to keep what has been, no matter how silly or pointless. In reality, there are things that are good to keep and there are things that should be changed. There has always been change and so society must change until we reach what Fukuyama or the philosophers would call the end of history. An approximation of utopia exists, but achieving it is slow and difficult. New generations are often better than the previous ones and human development moves forward.

There has always been conservatism. Kings, nobles, clergy, etc. strive to maintain their position. Trump-like fundamentalism and right-wing conservatism cloaked in Christianity is comparable to Iran's patriarchy that oppresses women and minorities. Trump is no better, despite claiming to be a Christian and a demigod. Feminism is a great idea, so is the civil rights movement, the environmental movement and Pride... Ideas based on love, equality and empathy create a better world. John Newton is famous for his Christian hymn Amazing Grace. He was working on a slave ship, but when he came to faith, he deeply repented and started helping the slaves. How wonderful it was to hear America's first black president, Barack Obama, sing Newton's hymn in church.

The roots of modern conservatism and the extreme right are especially in the anti-liberalism of the 16th century. When Luther, Calvin and other reformers preached the message of true faith and moral living, the Pope sent his army to defeat these "rebels". Those supporting the Counter-Reformation wanted to restore the power of the pope, kings and nobility. In the 18th century, Locke, Rousseau and other Enlightenment thinkers wanted to create a society based on the principles of freedom, brotherhood (solidarity) and equality, as well as democracy, human rights, science and reason. Adam Smith wanted to promote freedom and an ethical market. Through the centuries, the flame of civilization and enlightenment has led humanity towards the light. Anti-liberal forces attacked the Enlightenment and the free market with force. The battle has been intense ever since. Hitler sometimes stated that he was continuing the work started by the popes. I am not criticizing the current Catholic Church here, it is completely different from the Middle Ages and even then there were many wise men in the Church. In fact, Protestantism itself often became anti-liberal, exemplified by witch persecutions and narrow-minded conservatives within Protestant churches. In some Protestant countries, even dancing and playing cards were forbidden as "evil". The current Pope Francis has spoken a lot for human rights and the environment. He is quite different from his predecessor.

Conservatives support hierarchies, the rights of the strong and oppose equality, and thus they oppose the idea of everyone's right to a happy life. However, all people should have the right to a happy life. How sad it is that many families with children cannot afford to spend Christmas, and the children do not receive any Christmas presents. How sad is a lonely elderly person who cannot even buy important medicine. The UN Declaration of Human Rights states: "All people are born equal in rights and responsibilities." Every person has the right to a decent and good life. Not only for his basic needs to be satisfied, but for an overall happy life. Unfortunately, this does not happen in today's world. There are many billions of poor people in the world and about a billion people live on about 1-2 dollars a day. The fact that the people of the world should be equal is easily justified by philosophy, as can be found in my previous writings. The fact that we are conscious and sentient beings means that we have interests and rights, that we are all valuable. This should also include animals and plants. Terrible suffering is caused to animals in power production, to conscious and sentient beings who are innocent and even completely defenseless. We have responsibility for ourselves and each other. Any one of us could have been born a poor African or a bird or a mouse. Let's create a world where it's good for everyone, regardless of where and what role we were born into. Life also rewards us for doing good. The law of karma and the fact that good follows those who do good are true. Life usually doesn't reward us with gold and fame etc. but with happiness.

Daniel Elkama