The leader sleeples night

A congresswoman, member of a heterogenous and dynamic dutch party, struggles in the last stretch of her tenure as leader. Deep in the night a deadly question assaults her. She has been the undisputed leader of the youngest and most promising political movement seen in The Netherlands for decades, the greens. And she wonders if she has done enough. She has renewed the socio-economical agenda of her party, but as a matter of fact, electors has not punish or rewarded her. The voting share of the dutch greens has stagnated under her leadership. What more can be done? How to get her solidly minor party in a government coalition? What can be said to her more powerful colleagues for them to take her party in trust?

The other leader

For many centuries Europe has been the cradle and the center of whatever can be called a world civilization. But in the last hundred years the center of the stage belong to other actors. Global governance, surely after the last world war, has moved on further to the west. And still, european political leaders of small and big countries struggle to play their diminishing roles in the international theater. Every country, even the tiny Netherlands, push her resources to the limit... in order to change, influence, or at least help USA's foreign policy. As many of his predecessors, late in the night the recently elected premier of The Netherlands wonders then what signal could he send to the powers that be.

and the militant

After the barricades of the sixties, after the long march through the institutions, ever redefining his ideology, a member of the dutch greens wonder in his bed. He knows damn well that the good old plain pacifism is no answer in the face of international terrorism, failed states and widespread poverty. Devoted to the principle of human security, he is willing today to support armed interventions in foreign soil, if to prevent human massacres. He is not (anymore) the person willing to chain himself to the doors of the national congress, working today instead for having green or progressive legislation passed in his city council. But for a change, today he broods on an international question. Today he has been asked to support his political leaders after they did choose for what he, and many others, vocally opposed. His leaders asked his opinion on sending dutch police trainers to Afghanistan. In the consultation rounds he and many others opposed the envoy. And still, after all the voices were heard, the political leaders of his party decided in favor of the envoy. What will he do next? Can he trust a leadership that hears, but still decides to act against a majority? Does he have an option? Actually he admires the élan of his new elected leader, and believes that she will break through the long standing electoral stagnation of his party. But he is also deeply unset by her decision regarding Afghanistan.

The storm there...

Afghanistan, ha, Afghanistan. A big deal of the worldview of this writer has been shaped by Afghanistan and her ever complicated history. Early on I attended with my high school friends to that despicable Rambo movie, where the well-muscled-and-poorly-brained Stallone fights against cartoonish evil russians in Afghanistan soil, side by side with oriental youngsters. I did read the rolling final titles, dedicating this pastiche of North American hubris to the "gallant freedom fighters of Afghanistan". Whom, cynically enough, a couple of decades later would wreak havoc in North American soil the same way they did to the Soviets. I also had to relativize my childhood love crush with the Soviet Union when faced with their invasive policy in Afghanistan. I devoured Said's "Orientalism", reading how our own views of the exotic afghani predates and deform our attempts to understand the east and its inhabitants. I got to learn that the craving for a strong and harsh leadership is not only a sad South American phenomenon, but also a afghani one, when the Taliban did rise and dominate large swaths of Afghani land. And, last but not least, just like in the South America of my birth, I have been seeing all these years how whichever international power struggling for world relevance, makes its move on Afghani soil.

...and here

For the dutch greens this moment is a perfect and most undesired storm. The actors sketched above join together to produce a nasty situation. And not only before one of the most important elections in the country (where the senate will be elected... and will stop or enable the racist politics of the PVV) but also just before a congress, the moment in which members of the party get together to vent their issues and grievances. What we will do in this congress has the potentiality to shape our party -and our country- for a long while after. Once again, a good mix of hot blood and cold head are demanded from us. Will we raise to the challenge?

a humble opinion

It is my opinion that the politicians of GroenLinks committed a mistake supporting a mission of police trainers now. When the idea was breached and supported in parliament, it did make lots of sense. Then the noises from the powers to be, the USA, where pointing to an end of the armed conflict, with conversations with the taliban, the local and neighboring governments. Obama even fired the hawkish McChrystal, and brought back the dovish Petraeus back. If those noises would have been proven right, a training mission would have been coherent with our ideals and productive with the future of Afghanistan. But alas, the noises proved wrong. The strategy accorded by Petraeus, in apparent contradiction with his previous work in Iraq, is the maintaining of the surge, actually aiming at eliminate as many Taliban as possible before opening negotiations, in a not yet seen future. There is no chance that in this moment of ending-a-civil-war-by-means-of-annihilation police trainers make sense.

But it is also my opinion that the current leaders of GroenLinks has displayed an interesting level of respect for their members and has shown a desirable level of dealing with political opponents. The politicians of GroenLinks do not attend and organize meetings to hear their members too often. And they did this time. And it is neither frequent that a leader of GroenLinks changes a proposal from a VVD premier. Both realities must not be too easily forgotten.

So I do believe, and hope, that this coming congress will let know our politicians that we do not like what they did with our opinion. We really dislike to be heard and then to see them doing otherwise. I believe, and hope, that this congress also tells our leaders that they became committed to the wrong course. Not because old ideals, or bad choice of partners. They did choose wrongly because participating with the invader forces of Afghanistan today is not an act of solidarity, but an act of arrogance and hubris. But I also hope that our congress realize that with Jolande we have got a leader committed to the good fight. And well capable to fight it for us... and hopefully with us. I don't want to undermine her. I, and hopefully the congress, will keep on arguing with her, probably disagreeing now and then. But I, and I do hope we militants of GroenLinks, should go on supporting her.