"Let's Focus" is the title of the conference organized by ARA. Focusing properly on a problem is the first step in addressing it. And it's a way to open cracks in the growing pessimism in society. It's necessary to build spaces of trust inspired by critical thinking to help recover the initiative that is being taken away from citizens.
We are living in a time of evident bewilderment. It has been years since we have seen such a heavy dose of pessimism as the one now sweeping across Europe. It is true that there is a profound crisis, a consequence of a change in the economic system (from industrial to financial or digital capitalism) that threatens a clear deterioration of democratic systems; it is true that there is a transformation of the communication landscape that is disrupting the balance of liberal democracies; and it is true that there are disturbing concentrations of power that are changing established hierarchies. The number of democracies is decreasing, the media landscape is becoming exponentially polluted, and authoritarianism is gaining ground with the concentration of power in a few hands and the exhibitionism of figures who overstep all boundaries.
This excessive evidence shows the erosion of liberal democracies and, consequently, of Europe, with a disturbing sense of collapse. Who will fall for the provocation of the Junta, Trump's alternative UN? Where are we headed? The far right is capitalizing on this unease, social democracies have faded away, and it seems there is free rein for the gold and insolence embodied by Trump's face: golden hair, sunken eyes.
Let's focus. This isn't about wishful thinking to forget the disaster, but about the urgent need to face reality (and not succumb to either token indignation or capitulation). We must unravel the logic of the new communication model, the main driver of the absurdities sweeping the world. We must seek the causes of what is happening, identify the problems, and, in any case, become bearers of a real, continuous, and effective warning.
Let's look to the future, but with our feet on the ground. Not cultivating baseless fantasies, but critically pointing out the things that are happening, the threats that are growing, and demystifying the power of nihilism, of those who believe that everything is permitted to them. And who act and act with a logic doomed to crash against the limits of possibility.
Enfoquem's aim is to denounce the imposture, to take advantage of any crack that can open positive paths to contribute to the demystifying understanding of the powers that threaten the world today. This isn't about succumbing to the frivolity of denying what's happening, but about pointing out the how and why of it all, exposing the deception and manipulation, based on knowledge and not fatalism, and trying to understand and combat the growing resignation that rewards insolence.
Calling things by their name, contributing to the reaction against the powers that have overwhelmed us. We must expose the absurdities that are becoming normalized and that seek to destroy the essential values of a society from which, once again, they want to expropriate what is most sacred: the capacity of each citizen to think and decide for themselves, what distinguishes us as a free society. Against pessimism, information; against fatalism, critical reflection to prevent post-democratic authoritarianism from consolidating as an inexorable future. Focusing isn't fantasizing, it's acting with awareness of who we are and where we are. However, with clear ideas about what we want, an essential condition for making them viable.
