"Let's think, let's solve problems and above all... let's not have fun, because we're Catalans!"

BarcelonaYes, democracy is in danger, we're destroying the planet, and too many people can't afford rent. But after the two days of discussions at Focus: The Solutions Forum, organized by the ARA at the CCCB, we've shaken off what seems like "mandatory pessimism" and, at the same time, unmasked the opposite idea: "mandatory happiness."

So let's relax. As the partygoer "The older one who plays dangerously with everyone's club,""Listen up, we're not doing so badly." And, listen up!, we don't need to be so arrogant. But, above all, we're not throwing in the towel.

Because the solutions aren't obvious or easy, but between Friday and Saturday we learned that there are ways out of this ultra-populist chaos (and I'm not talking about football now). There are experts who think about it and work on it, there are activists who are committed to saving the climate, democracy, and the right to housing. There's also all of us, and together we are many. And, of course, there's also Trump, who makes us very aware of his intimidating superpowers.

Trump, the utter cretin

But since we cannot flagellate ourselves at the irruption of the "ultracretin" - as John Carlin defines the US president - let's take it with a bit of good humor: "Come on, let's think, let's solve and, above all, let's not have fun, because we are Catalans," he dismissed the hands with the days, informative and performative intentions of the newspaper, the very large public - more than 1,000 people - and the experts who participated.

Some of the participants at the event were truly surprising and thought-provoking, starting with the youngest, Francisco Javier Vera, the 16-year-old Colombian climate activist who has been living in Catalonia for three years and speaks enviably fluent and standard Catalan. At the age of nine, he founded the group Guardians for Life in his home country, and he is the one who coined the concept ecohopeWithout falling into naive optimism, we certainly need a lot of hard-won hope.

When you feel him so determined, when you see that he even quotes Spinoza, from the vantage point of a chronicler boomer You think that all is not lost. This kid has more leadership potential than Greta Thunberg herself. We'll see how far he goes. For now, he's already a member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. And at Enfoquem, he made it clear that "the underlying problem is a system of production and consumption, based on maximizing profits and economic growth, which is incompatible with natural life."

A diagnosis likely shared by many of the speakers on the panels or the distinguished presenters we've had, from the philosopher Josep Ramoneda to the director of the CCCB, Judit Carrera, and the physicist and science journalist Toni Pou. Pozo, summarizing the environmental interventions, quoted the president of Harvard speaking about education: "If education seems expensive, try ignorance." Indeed, Trump's arrogant climate ignorance will cost the planet dearly. And, indeed, inaction is a crime right now.

Johan Carlin has been a man of action and thought, and of luck. "Barcelona is the best place I've ever lived," he said. And he's lived in many places: in 40 years he's reported from more than 60 countries. "Those of us here [at the CCCB], as a rule, are lucky to live in this place, Catalonia, Spain, and at this time. We could have been in Bangladesh or the United States." Even if only via tweet, Trump couldn't help but make an appearance. "What I like most about that is that people are valued for being good people," he added.

The housing duel

But given the state of the world, the experts convened to mend the ailing liberal democracy, under the combined attack of Trump, Putin, and Xi, believe that, however peaceful and empathetic we may be, however elegant our ideological and technical squabbles—like the duel we witnessed between economist Miquel Puig and A'—Europe must rearm itself if it wants to avoid being swept off the global chessboard controlled by the law of the strongest: that of the three great powers.

A literal rearmament, yes. But also a political and social one. This is the view of Sylvier Kauffmann, Cristina Gallach, Xavier Vives, Blanca Garcés, and Toni Roldán. And after listening to the American historian Mark Bray, author ofAntifa And self-exiled in Spain due to threats he received in his country, even more so. Faced with "the Trump icon of hatred and insolence" and "arrogant and ignorant nihilism," Josep Ramoneda believes it is urgent that everyone understands the dangerous situation and, at the same time, not fuel further confusion. And, yes, to focus properly in order to start providing practical solutions: accelerate electrification with green energy, build social housing and all types of housing [by the way, social housing wasn't even considered in the 1992 Olympic Village], and, please, fix the commuter rail system! One of the highlights of the forum was when attendees received a notification on their phones from ARA informing them that trains wouldn't be running again until Monday.

A place to hook up

This approach has also sought to ground the debates, and the solutions, in the realm of interpersonal relationships, altered by overexposure to social media and, now, by artificial intelligence. How do we relate to each other? What is love today? What kind of sex do we want? According to cultural critic Joan Burdeus, "in just a few decades we've gone from a society of prohibition to one of obligatory enjoyment." "Before, the message was: you have to work. Now it's: you must fulfill yourself. Of course, it was easier to rebel against prohibition," he said. Current depressions, the unwanted loneliness among young people, stem from this environmental obligation to be happy.

Burdeus, Liliana Arroyo, Imane Raissali, and Pau Serrasolsas relieved—and released—pressure I would congratulateAnd they told us she's no longer using Tinder, but the running and cycling app Strava. I don't think my daily 10-minute commutes give me a chance, do they? I'm more of a Team Serrasolsas kind of guy, for a classic solution: a lifelong love.