With the rolling grief we’ve suffered this summer, I thought I’d give us some perspective to help us through the rest of the season. I’ve found that taking a step forward in time and asking what will historians say about the summer of 2016 helps me find hope and comfort. In the future, will historians be able to ignore the summer of 2016? It seems to me with the turmoil in Europe and the US, historians will have something to say. But what? What kind of summer are we having, really? What do the future history books say about the summer of 2016?
*****
“The summer of 2016 was marked with violence as more displaced peoples increased tensions across the globe. Cultures clashed as refugees poured into Europe and North American where the populations were already stressed due to low wages, systematic racial discrimination and economic inequality. Eventually, the blending of cultures led to greater understanding of human commonalities and recognition of basic human rights…” * Oh wait, is that how that sentence ends? Or does it end, “…blending of cultures led to greater inequality, stress and poverty triggering civil wars across Europe and the rest of the globe.” - We don’t know how the sentence ends. Can we influence that end?
*****
“The summer of 2016 marked a point at which the US could have turned toward greater social justice and economic equality. Both black and white people took to the streets to protest systematic racism. Police brutality escalated in response to the demonstrations that then turned more violent toward the police. The backlash against the police escalated until military back-up quashed the movement for justice in the streets. The electoral scene further disheartened the voting public when one political candidate campaigning on the slogan ‘Enough is Enough’ attempted to overturn unjust banking and employment practices. Election fraud was successful in forcing him out of the race and the power elite grew stronger and more secure. The end result being a lost opportunity to change the direction of the nation away from a steady slide into fascism and a police state.” * Or will historians write, “the combination of election fraud and the exposure of police brutality through cell phone recordings caused the people to wake up to the direction their country was headed and demand justice through the courts. They formed initiatives demanding psychological screening for police and used the initiative process to curb the excesses of the banking and finance industries.” * Hm, using initiatives, we can do that.
*****
“The summer of 2016 found the world on the brink of massive civil unrest and another world war. The power elite looking to distract the population from their own increasingly illegal activities chose war with Russia as their distraction, which also satisfied the oligarchs who wanted control over Russian resources. They steadily stationed more troops along the Russian border and instituted a policy of repeated practice drills off the Russian coast hoping to provoke an incident that would give them an excuse for war. Unable to force an incident, NATO forces grew frustrated and bombed London, blaming the Russians and solidifying support for an invasion of Russia.” * Is there a different ending for this scenario? What about “… forces grew frustrated and formed a conspiracy to bomb London and blame Russia, but a hacktivist and a whistleblower teamed up with a real journalist to expose the plot. Europeans already exhausted by constant war and civil unrest, took to the streets and the courts to demand the resignations of all military generals and high-ranking officials. The French took a page from their history and executed all their oligarchs. Chaos reigned across Europe, but by fall interim governments had been set up and protocols to insure honest elections had been drafted.”
*****
“In the summer of 2016 the world sat poised for mass destruction. NATO forces were pushing for war with Russia. The oligarchs were on the brink of solidifying their absolute control over the US war machine, the world supplies of oil, and global fresh water supplies. The summer of 2016 could have seen the death of democracy and with it social justice then someone invented a game called Pokemon Go. People left their houses to go searching for imaginary prizes. They dropped their daily dose of propaganda. They started talking to each other. They started to laugh and have fun. They liked their neighbors and stopped being afraid. When people stopped huddling in front of their news shows, the tide turned against the corrupt establishment. Once the power elite lost control of the people, the people were able to regain control of the government and establish justice. Humanity survived and ushered in a new age based on actually liking other people.”
*****
Human beings are unpredictable. About the time the power elite thinks we are under control, we look up from our daily pursuits and declare, “Hey, that’s not right.” At the point when We The People stop what we are doing and look at the injustice around us and recognize the pure evil behind the injustice, we become very powerful. The oligarchs fear our collective power. We can change our world. What will the catalyst be?
How will future historians write about The Summer of 2016?