Everyone speaks for the people, but the people are kept out of politics.
\nWe have been told the same story for years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do politics for the people.\u201d
\n\u201cWe include everyone.\u201d
\n\u201cWe are different.\u201d<\/p>\n
But isn't it time to stop and ask?
\nAre you really different, or are you just moving words around?<\/p>\n
Because for a long time, politics has turned into a closed space that revolves within itself and reproduces itself rather than solving social problems. Politics is a space where the door seems to be open to everyone, but few have the key in their pocket. You are allowed to enter, but not to determine its direction, rules and future...<\/p>\n
This is precisely why the term \u201cmen's club\u201d, which is often used when talking about politics, is not an analogy but points to a structural reality.
\nIt is not just a question of the abundance of men.<\/p>\n
It is a question of whose word counts, who can make decisions, who is permanent at the table.<\/p>\n
We look at the table.
\nSame faces.
\nSame relationships.
\nSame power networks.<\/p>\n
Politics is presented as a field whose door is open to the people, but the people do not hold the key. That key has been in the same pockets for years.
\nAnd there are people waiting outside that door.
\nFor a long time.
\nWith patience<\/p>\n
But interestingly, those who enter that door often forget those who remain in front of it. Worse still, when those waiting in front of the door raise their voices, object, criticize or protest, barriers are erected in front of the door.<\/p>\n
Sometimes barriers are put up.
\nSometimes security.
\nSometimes law enforcement.
\nSuddenly, the place where the door was said to be open becomes impassable.
\nThe problem was not waiting at the door; the problem was making noise.<\/p>\n
Parties talk about different ideologies. One says it looks from the right, another from the left. Another claims to be \u201ccenter\u201d.<\/p>\n
But when it comes to party programs and policy texts, the picture is surprisingly familiar. The sentences are similar. Concepts are swapped. Some words are removed and replaced with new ones. But the essence does not change. They talk about different ideologies, but what emerges are different dialects of the same order.<\/p>\n
And it is here that another metaphor comes into play:
\n\u201cWe are in the same boat.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they said \u201dwe are in the same boat\", the people were never passengers on that boat. The public was a crowd that was remembered when the ship took on water; a crowd that was expected to enter the water and hold the ship on its back so that it would not sink.<\/p>\n
When the ship started taking on water,
\n\u201cWe will save it together\u201d.
\nBut again, only ordinary people are thrown overboard to float that ship.
\nChoke on it.
\nSwimming.
\nLoad on their backs.
\nThe ship is being repaired...
\nBut the people are still trying to survive with poverty, with precariousness, with breathlessness.
\nThe ship is surviving.
\nBut the contents are the same.
\nAnd here we come to the most disturbing question about politics:
\nBy whom and for whom is this politics being done?
\nBecause almost everyone in politics today is somehow \u201cother\u201d.
\nBut interestingly, those who are not the other are very few.
\nWho are they?
\nMiddle and upper class men.
\nEducated, middle and upper class women who can articulate with them.
\nEveryone else - the poor, women, poor men, youth, children, the elderly, people with special needs - are excluded from politics for different reasons but in the same way.
\nBut it is not just a question of exclusion.<\/p>\n
At the same time, decisions are made on behalf of these groups.
\n\u201cWe will think for you.\u201d
\n\u201cWe will save you.\u201d
\n\u201cWe will organize your life.\u201d
\nThey say they will end the killings.
\nThey say they will eradicate poverty.
\nThey say they will make life better.
\nBut something is really changing in the process.
\nNot for everyone, of course.
\nThose who can get into politics,
\nwho can walk through that door,
\nthe lives of those who can stay at that table are changing.<\/p>\n
One moves from an ordinary apartment to bigger houses. From slums to residences, from residences to mansions and palaces.
\nPositions are rising.
\nOpportunities are multiplying.
\nPowers are expanding.
\nBut this change clearly shows that politics does not work for the people, but for a narrow circle that can take part in politics.
\nAnd then there are those who speak for \u201cthe people\u201d.
\n\u201cWe are here for the people\u201d.
\n\u201cChanting slogans of \u201dFor the people, against the people\".<\/p>\n
But when it really comes to the people, this time we hear from the same mouths
\n\u201cBut the people don't want it.\u201d
\n\u201cBut the candidate can't win.\u201d
\nThat's where it becomes clear.
\nIt was not about the people.
\nIt was not important what the people wanted; it was important who would win and who would not lose.
\nAnd at that point, they take sides.
\nNot on the side of the people; on the side of rent.
\nNot on the side of change; on the side of the broken order.
\nNot on the side of risk; on the side of comfort.
\nThere is one thing that has not changed:
\n\u201cLives that were told \u201dwe will save you\".
\nFor our part, it is always the same sentences:
\n\u201cA little more patience.\u201d
\n\u201cNow is not the time.\u201d
\n\u201cCan we talk now?\u201d
\n\u201cYou cannot oppose the opposition.\u201d
\n\u201cThis is not the time for criticism.\u201d
\n\u201cWe'll talk later.\u201d
\nBut that \u201cthen\u201d never comes.<\/p>\n
And it is precisely at this point that politics ceases to be for the people and turns into a rent-fueled field.
\nSmall rents as well as big rents sustain this system.
\nNot giving up a seat.
\nNot sharing a mandate.
\nKeeping decision-making in a narrow circle...
\nGreat injustices often begin with the persistent protection of small privileges.
\nToday politics is more about representing the people,
\nhe prefers to speak for the people.<\/p>\n
We feel represented, but when we look at the decision-making processes, we are not there.
\nWe are being talked about but we cannot talk.
\nWe are spoken for, but we have no say.
\nIt is not only a question of which party is in power.
\nThe question is what kind of world politics builds.
\nMaybe the real issue is this:
\nIt is not a question of not being represented;
\nwe think we are represented.
\nAnd at that table, there are those who carry the key in their pockets.<\/p>\n
But we, as a people, are still in front of the door and we are alone, because none of those inside remember the front door anymore.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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