Hard times

X marks the spot. And the battle to get that x on the “right” spot will be a hot contest in many nations world wide in 2012.

Amazing how many countries will go to the polls next year. Democracy is really facing tough times ahead. Busy times. In some places it is total fake democracy. Other places will be a bloody path. Others a confusing journey. Others a testing phase.
Interesting times. As long as the end of 2012 doesn’t give the globe a massive headache and hangover. Democracy is a crucial, amazing process but it can easily go wrong. Democracy is a moving train on narrow tracks. Going off-track is easier than what it looks like initially.

Anyway. Fingers crossed. Hopes raised. But keep flag jackets and headache tablets handy.

Human behavior can easily slip downhill.

Here’s a few “minefields”.

The big one. US presidential election on November 6, 2012. But the process has already – informally – started and will kick off officially in January with primaries and caucuses. How the Yanks can explain their political system to anybody remains a mystery.

The November stand-off is simply between Obama II and somebody from the right side of the Republicans. That side that can’t find Europe on a worldmap, that thinks women should go stay in the kitchen, and that side that keeps the Bible handy for any questions they can’t find the answers to in their distorted brains.

And those who think that Sarah Palin had totally retreated back to Alaska to shoot dears and think about family values,… are wrong! A comeback is always sexy and good for PR (just keep reading and you will see where I am going with this).

The Republicans still need to sort out their frontrunner. Mitt Romney seems doing well so far. The religious zealot seems ahead in most polls but the journey is still long and full of traps, mines, secrets, emails, tweets, lots of wrong soundbites, plenty of spin and fake smiles, and all that other stuff that goes with lying in public.

Then of course there is also Newt Gingrich. The return of the hardliner. And – here we go – he is thinking of taking Palin on board as Vice-President candidate if he survives the Republican interal killing fields. Kick that. A Newt-Sarah ticket. So how soon can we bomb Iran, cure gays, give tax cuts to the rich, invade Canada,...? And no, we do not need to know where Russia is, or if South and North Korea are the same country or not, and if Africa is 1 country or a continent. That’s all crap. Bomb them all. We are America, right?! Maybe broke (what’s that?), maybe not that economically dominant anymore than in the 20th Century (what Century is it now?),…. but hey ho let’s go. Act first and then …. well….. say some 3 word one-liners, and then…. uuh…. say “America” a few times, and then “terrorism” a few times, and then ….euh… then go and play hockey. America yeah yeah yeah!!

Scary November 6 ahead.

Then of course there is the follow up of the Arab uprisings with elections expected in Egypt, Libya and Yemen. Always a tricky task to introduce democracy to people who have only known dictatorships. The unknown is for many citizens a difficult path to take. A difficult turn. It’s t-junction time!!

And before the US goes to the polls there is another poll (parliament) in Russia. The old foe is back slipping into darkness. The recent presidential poll, with the return of action hero and ex-spy Vladimir Putin, has shown that free and fair elections are being eroded. Not good. The hunger for an authoritarian, strong, proud Russia is back present in the mood swings of the Russian power-elite. Dangerous times. Slippery slope. The past can be the future. Is the cold war peeping its ugly head out of the freezer?

Human behavior is a loss of memory.

As Russia seems destroying its young democratic process, its big commie neighbour China is far from even going down the democracy path. The communist party is still solid in charge. Elections there in 2012 are just an internal communist party shuffle. With eventually some bodies ending up in the Yellow River, but that’s a minor detail in a dictatorship. And don’t google that because you wont get far in China. Google-freedom is just a dream. As are many other things. China is an ever-growing giant with never-changing and very narrow, dark tunnels of life-space.

So elections in 3 world powers: US, Russia and China. 2012 Is interesting!

South of the Texas border lays a whole continent (Yes, Sarah, there is something below Texas!) and 2 Central/South American countries are facing their voters too.

Mexico’s president Calderon might loose the key to his office. His anti-drug war has lost much of its original popularity and the poll might cause a shift back to the PRI party which has been in charge of Mexico for most of the past century. And then, hah!, there will be elections in Venezuela. Mad Chavez is facing a real test….well, if he allows the polls to be free and fair. Because the newly-bold nutter doesn’t like criticism, opponents and a too close look at his economic policies. Is 2012 the end of Chavez?

Shift to the old continent now (do not ask Sarah where that is, or you will really get confused!).

French president Sarkozy (the one with the younger, taller, singing wife) might also face the kick-up-the butt in 2012. After 7 years in his beautiful office he might have to find new nannies to change the nappies of his new baby. Maybe France is ready for a change and bring the Socialist Party back into presidential power.

No Sarah, the French Socialist Party has nothing to do with the old-style Communists from the Soviet Union. The 60s are gone. Even the Soviet Union does not exist anymore! I know it is all hard to grasp for you, but maybe Newt can help you somewhat,…. although his worldviews might also be pretty outdated.

From France down to Africa. That’s a short trip.

Mad Bob is already planning his militias to roam Zimbabwe to maim and kill all opponents as elections should – in theory – be held in 2012.

Another brutal campaign is expected to come down on the poor people of this beautiful country. The economy is broken. The spirits are broken. Half the people have fled the country to neighboring nations like South Africa, Botswana or Zambia. Elections could mean change, but Mugabe’s brutal dictatorship is far from running out of steam. Still enough sticks to brutalize. Still enough tricks up the sleeve to fake the poll. Still enough corruption to keep the necessary henchmen happy and rich. Still enough blood to be spilled.

Neighboring South Africa is not having national elections, but the ruling party (ANC) is voting for a new leader in December 2012. And because the ANC is still so strong the new (or same) party president is likely to become the next state president at the next polls in 2014.

But, sadly, the party is totally rotten within. It has lost its soul and vision. It has turned into a bunch of thieves emptying state coffers for personal gain, and arranging business deals for family members. A young democracy being raped from within. Hyenas on the loose. And thus the party gathering in December next year will turn into a very nasty, dirty battle to get a seat at the table to be able to steal at will. It will not be about policies to lift up the nation, it will – only – be about crude power and the related seat on the gravy rain. Sickening.

And finally, but not least important for sure, the nuke nutter from Iran is facing elections too.

Ahmadinejad could be out of office by the closing of the polls on March 2. Not that the world should start celebrating now already, because even if the current nutter gets voted out he might be replaced by some other hardliner with narrow minded worldviews and nuke-phobia. So keep the champagne (French I hope) in the fridge for now.

Iran’s main reformist groups are boycotting the poll because they claim it’s already a sham. Not really free. Choices limited. A state controlled process that doesn’t stand the test of real democracy. So that champagne will stay in the fridge it seems.

Human behavoir could make 2012 into a rollercoaster of note.

And then of course don’t forget global warming and thus expected freak weather patterns. And also still there and kicking: Syria’s own Arab uprising; Nigeria’s Muslim nutters whom like to slaughter non-Muslims; the London Olympics; the Euro crisis and wider economic hardships; Al Quada affiliates in Mauritania and Niger growing and growing (Sarah, don’t bother trying to find those countries on a map!); the mess in Somalia (on land and on the ocean); maybe more suprises in Saudi Arabia where the state has just allowed women to walk without a male escort on the streets of the nation (are we in the 21st century????); the trial of the Norwegian killing nutter (remember?);….

It certianly looks like 2012 wont be boring. But also it could be scary for sure. The future ain’t what it used to be……

Throw out. John Joseph shouts “Hard Times” from the Cro-Mags’ 1986 album “The age of quarrel”. Maybe the best, hardhitting, in-your-face, punkrock album ever! Cro-Mags unfortunattely has fallen victim to serious infighting and its own quarrels. John Joseph still tours under the band’s name (like last night in NY), but it ain’t what it used to be. But “The age of quarrel” is and forever will be a super classic of the hardcore scene. After decades it hasn’t lost any of its power, emotion, or pure listening pleasure.

C –Ya

collateral – last day of 2011