To die or not to die, when is the question? (4 min)

Just a five minute walk from where I Iive, you can find the Levenseindekliniek or End of Life clinic. It is a well maintained if unassuming brick house, tucked away on a quiet street in the Hague. The Netherlands was the first country to legalise euthanasia in 2002. As populations in developed countries age and the right to choose becomes ever more widely accepted, requests for euthanasia are increasing. But it also raises important questions about the value of life for its own sake and how much suffering society is willing to sanction.

The law in the Netherlands allows for GPs to assist patients with euthanasia under certain specified conditions. However, a number of GPs do not feel capable or comfortable with this responsibility. Thus there is a gap between what the law allows and the reality for those looking to choose  when they die. This is where the Levenseinde clinic comes in, explains Annerieke Dekker, who works for the clinic. ‘It is not actually a clinic. It is more of an office, as most people prefer to die at home,’ she continues.

Inside, it is quiet and tastefully furnished. Annerieke tells me that the clinic was started six and a half years ago by the Right to Die Society. Initially funded largely by donors, it is now almost entirely funded by the Dutch health insurance system. The clinic’s long term goal is to provide training and support for GPs around the country so that they will feel empowered to take responsibility for euthanasia requests from their patients. However at present it is still common for consultants attached to the clinic to assist GPs with such cases. They also provide training for GPs  who are unfamiliar with euthanasia law.

How does it work?

A patient can make a request for euthanasia through his/her GP or approach the clinic directly. However,  the clinic will always contact the patient’s GP to discuss the issue and request access to medical files. If the GP is unwilling to get involved, the clinic will then appoint a two person team, consisting of a doctor and a nurse. They will investigate the case together and are usually located in the area where the patient lives. If the case is straight forward, for example, s/he is suffering from terminal cancer and is in a lot of pain, a decision can be made fairly quickly.

However if it concerns a patient with a psychiatric condition then the process can take longer, Annerieke explains. In all cases, an independent opinion from another doctor is also requested. However in the case of a psychiatric patient,  the independent opinion of a psychiatrist is also required. Once the decision is made, the case is discussed once more at the Levenseinde clinic in order to consider any anomalies or complications that might arise. Euthanasia is then performed by the doctor from the original doctor/nurse team.    

When does suffering become ‘unbearable’?  

The Levenseinde clinic was involved in the recent case of Aurelia Brouwers, a 29 year old Dutch woman who had been suffering from a variety of psychiatric illnesses for many years. She was helped to die in January this year at her family home in Deventer, the Netherlands. This was after being declared eligible for euthanasia under the Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide Act (2002). This law permits the ending of lives where there is ‘unbearable suffering’ without hope of relief. Although Brouwers did not have a terminal disease, she suffered from anxiety, depression and psychosis and had attempted suicide numerous times. An  inpatient at a psychiatric hospital for nearly 3 years, she had also served time in prison for arson.

Her case sparked heated debate as it raises the question of what exactly constitutes unbearable and hopeless suffering. Many people suffering from dementia present a moral dilemma for doctors. GPs find it very difficult to euthanize patients who are unable to give verbal consent even if they have signed a declaration of wishes in advance. Yet many who see their parents or grandparents in the grip of advanced dementia wish to opt out of such a bleak end-of-life scenario when their time comes. Indeed, research by end-of-life expert at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Professor Agnes van der Heide, suggests that public opinion in the Netherlands shows substantial support for further liberation of euthanasia laws, especially with regards to dementia.

People want to choose how, when and where they die.

There have been proposals by Dutch politicians like Pia Dijkstra, a member of centrist-liberal party, D66, to allow anyone over 75 without a diagnosis of physical or mental illness, to request euthanasia. While two years ago, the Netherlands’ health and justice ministers issued a joint proposal for a ‘completed life’ pill. This would give anyone over 70 years of age the right to receive life-ending drugs, without involvement of a doctor. The proposal was voted down in parliament but it highlights a key issue for any country contemplating euthanasia legislation. How and to what degree will it inevitably expand?

 Annerieke Dekker tells me that the Levenseinde clinic does not support the extension of current euthanasia laws. They find they can do their work perfectly well within the current legal framework. However, history suggests that the prospect of increased control over our lives and destinies is difficult to resist. MPs like Dijkstra claim that a growing number of older people in the Netherlands want to decide for themselves how, when and where their life will end. For many this constitutes dignity, for others it represents a lack of respect for the value of life itself. In a country like the Netherlands, where death by euthanasia is at 4% and rising, traditional ideas about death are clearly changing. For better or for worse, many agree that the process is irreversible.

Migration

Christina Moreno on why She Matters.

Christina Moreno’s incredible energy and unswerving determination to define her own path to success, have propelled her from a single teenage mum living in poverty in the US to an international lawyer based in the Hague. Two years ago she founded She Matters an innovative organisation designed to find employment for female refugees in the Netherlands. Her refusal to see refugees as victims but rather as an untapped source of talent and skills has earned her the interest of both national governments and large corporates. What is the secret of her success?

I met Christina Moreno two years ago just as she was starting She Matters. At the time, I was struck by her energy and incredibly positive outlook. A petit, well-groomed Latina woman, her open, friendly manner and modesty belied the kind of steely strength that one sees more frequently in Hollywood movies like Erin Brockovich.  I interviewed  Christina for a local radio programme and we agreed to stay in touch so that we could follow her story. NGOs are a dime a dozen here in the international City of Peace and Justice. Although their causes are unquestionably worthy, steady funding is a perennial problem. Particularly for those that have yet to establish themselves. But Christina Moreno chose to give up her job as an international lawyer and use her savings to begin She Matters.  I did not know it at the time, but this was not the first time in her life that Christina chose to defy the odds. 

‘She motivated me to change my life’ – Christina Moreno

Christina Moreno comes from a fourth generation Mexican American family. She was one of five. Her father was a military man and her mother didn’t reach 8th grade at school. Christina left school at age 16 and by 18 was the single mother of young son, Armando. She was living in poverty and was dependent on welfare benefits from the state. She had no qualifications and was struggling to find even a part-time job. Christina tells me this matter-of-factly. There is no self-pity, only an admission that, statistically speaking, her chances of changing her life of poverty were extremely slim.

This was brought home to Christina one day when she went to visit her case worker at the local welfare office. The woman explained to her that she needed to find a job. Christina, her young son on her lap, told the case worker that she had always wanted to be a lawyer. She vividly recalls how the woman laughed at her and explained that that wasn’t going to work for her anymore.  Instead she handed her a bunch of applications for a checkout girl at Walmart and similar positions.

‘They don’t know what I’m capable of’ – Christina Moreno

‘I remember clearly my initial feeling of embarrassment’, Christina tells me. But later, sitting on the bus on the way home, she recalls a growing feeling of anger, of fighting spirit rising within her. ‘ I remember thinking that she doesn’t know me or what I’m capable of. I thought, wait a minute, I have one life, this is mine and no one else’s. No one can take this away from me.’ Christina enrolled in a local technical college and gained the necessary skills that would allow her to work in a call center. 

And this is exactly what she did. All the way through night school, where she earned her associate’s degree and then transferred to university to study for her Bachelor’s and finally her Master’s degree. Through a lot of hard work and coffee, as she puts it, Christina earned her law degree in 2013. ‘ I really thank her because she motivated me to change my life. She was the push I needed. ‘ Christina says of the case worker. This sort of modesty is typical of the She Matters founder. I asked her how she found the strength to continue for 12 years of unstinting effort as a full time employee, a student and a mother. 

‘My son deserved better than this’ – Christina Moreno

‘There were many people along my journey who discouraged me from doing what I wanted to do. But I didn’t want my son to feel that it was normal to go to the welfare office. It was something I felt as a mother. There was really no choice.’ She explains how she felt that as a woman, society was telling her what her place was. ‘I felt that is not fair, that’s not right.’

Asked who was a source of inspiration to her on her journey, Christina replies without hesitation: ‘My grandmother – I love her to death!’ She lives in California and although she’s been there many years she doesn’t speak English. ‘I would always gravitate toward her’, she recalls. ‘To me she was just this beautiful woman.’ The international lawyer remembers how every evening around six, as it was getting dark, her grandmother would take a shower and then get ready for work. She recalls the care with which she  would apply her make-up and dress. I thought she was the president of a company or something like that. It was only later that I found out she worked at a pistachio company, sorting nuts. The experience taught her at a young age how important a job is for one’s self-respect.

‘I think people can see themselves as victims or else you can turn that around and say, this is my situation and I’m going to make it better. I see this every day in the women I work with.’ I ask Christina about her decision to start She Matters. She explains how it all began with a talk she gave for an organisation called The Hague Talks, about inclusive justice. It was the first time Christina told her own story of working her way out of poverty. It was also inspired by the changes in immigration law instigated by the Trump administration. Such changes spoke to her on both a personal and professional level: coming from a family of immigrants herself and as an international lawyer who saw how these new proposals broke with decades of international law, designed to protect the world’s most vulnerable.

They all told me, ‘I want a job’. – Christina Moreno

Christina spent a week researching the refugee crisis from a legal perspective, in preparation for her talk. She describes it as a changing point in her life as she simply ‘became hooked’. ‘I knew I didn’t want to stop there.’ Afterwards, three women approached her. Refugees themselves from Syria and Afghanistan. They invited her for coffee but when she arrived they had prepared a table full of food. ‘I was so humbled by that’, Christina recalls. But when they told her their stories, she was moved to tears.

‘I couldn’t imagine being locked in a room for weeks and not being able to feed your baby.’ It was not pity however that moved her to tears, but the strength of these women that was so moving to her.’They asked me why I was crying and explained that it was all behind them now. They no longer thought about it. They were in a new country, with a new life and what they really wanted was a job.’  Christina recalls how she heard the same thing from many women whom she met over the coming months. They wanted jobs more than anything. She realised that she wanted to make a contribution, but how?

‘I didn’t see parasites, I saw fighters’- Christina Moreno

Christina continued her research. She went out into the Hague community, attended refugee events and spoke with the people who many ignore under a convenient blanket of pity. She was struck by two things. Firstly, the number of men at these events. Women were seldom seen. Secondly, the shame that many felt at being refugees. Many told her that they did not feel comfortable living on welfare payments from the government but had little choice given the difficulty of finding employment. Christina tells me that when she met these people, she didn’t see parasites, she saw fighters. People who wanted to contribute and fight for a better future.

This petite Latina powerhouse knew she wanted to help the women but at first she couldn’t find them! She had founded She Matters as an NGO, given up her job and taken out her savings to finance a 12 week pilot programme called the Lotus Flower. Research shows that employers are primarily concerned about soft skills when employing refugees. With a maximum of 10 participants this programme was designed to foster inter- cultural communication, gender norms, basic interview skills and similar. The programme was free for attendees. Christina expected to be flooded with interest but with just one week remaining, only one woman had registered!

‘We have grown so fast, so quickly!’ – Christina Moreno

What to do? Following advice from local NGOs and refugee centres, Christina went to the playgrounds and coffee mornings for mums. With backpack and duffel coat she set out to persuade these women to give the programme a try. Many were initially reserved and a little suspicious. Why should this woman, who wasn’t even Dutch herself, be willing to help them? Christina realised that she had to win their trust. The first week they had 4 women attend the programme and by the end there were a total of 7. From these shaky beginnings, they have completed three Lotus Flower programmes since.

She Matters has grown at a phenomenal pace in the last 2 years. It is now both a registered company and an NGO. This means that once the women graduate from the 12 week training course, they switch over to the recruitment side of She Matters. Here, they are placed with a company in the manner of a normal recruitment agency. Christina admits that for many companies the idea of hiring a refugee outside of the traditional Corporate Social Responsibility framework is new and takes some adjustment. In order to facilitate trust, she tells me that She Matters now uses a 500 question self-assessment tool from HR Tech, one of their partners. It measures a candidate’s cognitive abilities and emotional stability with 87% accuracy. This data driven approach together with the support of large corporates like Salesforce NL have helped her company win the confidence of other potential clients.

Christina is now looking for investment so that she can upscale and build capacity to deal with the growing number of women. They are focusing on Engineering, ICT and Pharmaceutical sectors. ICT  in particular is a huge growth industry. She Matters has recently partnered with Codam an innovative, new coding college that gives one the opportunity to teach themselves to code. Many of the women they work with come from Syria and attended university there. ‘Most of the women speak better Dutch than me. It’s a waste to be driving taxis if you have a degree in Engineering’.

How do we change the way we look at refugees and NGOs?

The She Matters business model is not only about becoming a self-sustaining NGO, it underpins a deeper ideological drive to create a paradigm shift in how refugees are perceived. Traditionally refugees have been seen as a drain on society. But Christina is confident that if we nurture this untapped pool of talent and skills, our societies will be richer for it. Women often lie at the center of family life hence her decision to focus on empowering female refugees. When the initiative was just a week old, they were told they had reached the semi-finals of the TED ex Amsterdam Women’s Start-up Award. This forced Christina to think very carefully about both their business plan and business model.

This same model is now garnering interest from the French and Belgian governments. Christina tells me that she has been asked if she would be interested in bringing She Matters to these countries. It is early days yet but defying the odds is what Christina Moreno has always done. I suspect she will continue to do so long into the future.   

Up next on Souwie on …

  • Ahmad Joudeh, Syrian dancer.

The trouble with Hong Kong (4 min)

As protests in Hong Kong escalate, the tensions inherent in the one country, two systems approach are becoming increasingly apparent, in spite of Beijing’s claims to the contrary. Hong Kong has one of the freest economies in the world but what of its political system? What is the price of freedom and who is willing to pay it?

I arrived in Hong Kong in 2014. As a new member of Hong Kong’s large expat community, I  remember making my way down to the streets Mong Kok, one of the centers of the so-called Umbrella Revolution. Mong Kok is a large, working man’s district known among tourists for its markets. The ordered, peacefulness of the protests was difficult to appreciate unless seen first-hand. Students had set up desks in order to do their homework and tents and bottles of water were neatly stored for later use. All agreed that this was ‘typical Hong Kong’ – orderly and law-abiding to the extreme. These protests eventually petered out as increasing numbers of the city’s residents grew alarmed about the economic consequences of movements like Occupy Central that brought the CBD to a standstill.

Hong Kong’s colonial history is not China’s

Although Hong Kong is geographically and ethnically part of China, this small territory has enjoyed a very different history, at least for the last couple of centuries. Under British control for more than 150 years, Hong Kong developed in quite a different manner from mainland China, which came under Communist rule in 1949. With British handover in 1997, Hong Kong became a special administrative region within China. This meant that for the next 50 years, at least, the territory would have its own mini-constitution, called the Basic Law. Under Basic Law various rights including an independent legal system, based on the English Common Law, multiple political parties, free speech and freedom of assembly were guaranteed. But the word of the law and the spirit of the law can diverge. Since 1997, a variety of interpretations of these laws by Beijing have clashed with those of Hong Kong citizens. This in turn has led to numerous protests over the years as Hong Kongers have seen their special rights hollowed out by interference from Beijing.  

Greater integration, greater economic prosperity?

The one country, two systems mantra, is one which Beijing has repeatedly reinforced in its  approach to Hong Kong. Building on notions of shared ethnicity and a common desire for economic prosperity, the Chinese Communist Party has made no secret of the fact that it sees this approach as a vehicle for peaceful, prosperous integration. Indeed Hong Kong and Macau are set to play key roles in an ambitious economic development plan released in February this year. The region, termed the Greater Bay Area (GBA), incorporates 11 cities, of which the 9  least developed are in Guangdong province.

The GBA plan is designed to build a cooperative framework between Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong to facilitate integration, including that of all three regulatory environments. Such suggestions have understandably given rise to concern. The GBA is an excellent example of how the mainland views  prosperity and integration as synonymous. It fits very well with the long-term approach of the Chinese Communist Party –  prioritize economic growth and prosperity and this will foster the necessary loyalty and contentment among citizens. Why would such an approach not work with Hong Kong?

The price of freedom

The problem is political . Specifically political freedom. The kind which Hong Kong’s Basic Law was designed to provide. Although the current protests were triggered by an attempt to push through a controversial extradition law, protesters are now calling for more. They are demanding the universal suffrage which was promised them in 2017 but never materialised. Some are even demanding the liberation of Hong Kong itself. Although the most vocal and recently violent protesters are found among the younger generation – one expat onlooker described a recent violent protest in Sha Tin, as ‘a massive temper tantrum with a load of kids – underlying problems run deep. Since hand-over, economic inequality in Hong Kong has grown. In one of the richest economies in the world, social systems are remarkably underdeveloped. Hong Kongers increasingly see this situation as a result of indifferent leadership imposed by Beijing.

For the younger generation the situation is intolerable. One Hong Kong student, 19 year old Frances Hui, wrote, ‘ I am from a city owned by a county that I don’t belong to’. The demands of young pro-democracy leaders like, Joshua Wong, highlight the increasing ideological differences between Hong Kong and mainland China. Beijing has very little experience dealing with such protests. The Communist Party’s response has typically been immediate and violent suppression. Tienanmen Square is a case in point. As are the thinly veiled threats of the Chinese police force performing riot drills on the Shenzhen/Hong Kong border. Beijing officials have recently reiterated that they will not allow Hong Kong’s beleaguered Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, to resign and that protesters must be punished.

The doublethink of ‘one country, two systems’

A number of local commentators have suggested more democratic ways of de-escalating the violence. These include investigating police violence, aswell as attacks by men dressed in white believed to have Triad links, re-evaluating the Basic Law and addressing the housing shortage, as a start. But Beijing is unaccustomed to this sort of democratic  compromise. Unquestioning loyalty and obedience from citizens is the norm. It is also what the Communist Party system relies upon to remain in power. And there’s the rub. One country will struggle to support two systems as radically different as those of Hong Kong and its mainland guardian. The days of such an approach were thus numbered from the start. Only Beijing doublespeak could suggest otherwise. ‘No matter what happens to the protest movement, we will reclaim the democracy that belongs to us, because time is on our side.’ Wong wrote in a recent article for the New York Times. Perhaps it is.

If trees could talk… what would they tell us about climate change?

It is difficult to look up at the towering trunk of an ancient tree and not feel a sense of awe. As Pulitzer prize winning novelist, Richard Powers, puts it, ‘Trees are among the very largest, longest-lived, most successful, and most collaboratively social forms of life on the planet. They talk to and nourish one another, remember the past, and predict the future. What’s not to love?’. As a tree-lover myself, I often marvel at these great, majestic protectors that are a silent source of solace and inspiration for many of us.

In his most recent book, The Overstory, (2018) Powers addresses the question of what the world looks like  from the non-human perspective. Specifically, that of the trees, and the complex and highly sophisticated networks of which they are part.  One of a new and growing climate fiction genre, The Overstory, Powers tells us, aims to explore what the world would look like from the trees’ point of view.

What’s not to love about trees?

Powers read over 120 books on trees as part of his research for this novel and admits that it changed the way he thought about the living world. His research, he tells us, led him to discover that trees engage in social behaviours, communicating with one another through a vast network of roots. They also share significant quantities of DNA with us. And although he acknowledges how fantastical this might sound, all these qualities are quite real, he assures us. Drawing on the ideas of American transcendentalists, Emerson and Theroux, he acknowledges their contribution along with that of the native American beliefs. Thus providing a new understanding of the reciprocal relationship between humans and nature. ‘There is no understanding of myself separate from the wider world in which I exist.’

For centuries trees have been a central part of human life, providing wood from which homes, transport and even weapons  were made. Recently, trees have been at the center of the climate change debate. It has long been assumed that they are generally advantageous for the environment. Trees absorb noxious gases such as nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide and release clean oxygen into the air. They help reduce landslides and flooding, their roots filter the ground water. They provide homes for a wide variety of plant and animal life thus supporting biodiversity. Last but not least, they are job creators and their mental health benefits are numerous. Indeed Germany launched the Bonn Challenge in 2011. A global initiative aimed at restoring 350 million hectares of trees by 2030. So far almost 50 countries have taken up the challenge. 

Are trees the answer to climate change?

Perhaps this is what prompted a group of scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology to embark on a project designed to map how much additional tree cover the earth could accommodate. This excludes existing forests, agricultural and urban land. Their findings suggest that ecosystems could support almost 1 billion hectares of additional forest, involving more than 500 billion trees. They calculated that this would have the potential to cut the atmospheric carbon pool by about 25%.

Responses were ecstatic – plant trees and climate change can be significantly stalled! Since then, more experts have weighed in on the issue and, perhaps unsurprisingly, it is not as simple as that. Aside from the legal and economic challenges of filling said spaces with trees, previous projects of this nature have shown that trees must be carefully matched with the ecosystems where they are planted. If not, their effects can be negative rather than positive.

But there is more to it than this. Trees are far more complex than we imagined. As they live, grow and die, research has found that trees interact with the air around them in highly sophisticated ways. Swapping carbon, light, water and an array of chemicals with the air around them, they interact with the climate in ways that we do not yet fully understand. Research has found that clearing forests liberates the carbon stored in trees, bad. But it also increases the Earth’s albedo (the amount of light that it reflects), good.

The albedo of the earth plays a key role in determining the temperature of the planet. Forests at higher latitudes with dark leaved coniferous trees cover what might otherwise be light or snow-covered ground. This decreases the Earth’s albedo, leading to global warming. However, tropical forests that grow faster and transpire large amounts of water, help cloud formation and thus assist in climate cooling. 

Richard Powers: hopeful for trees, less so for humans.

Just how forest chemicals interact with the climate is being researched by scientists around the world. Researchers are using a 325 meter tower in the Amazon to monitor carbon, water and other chemical changes over a 100 square kilometer area of rain forest. Smaller, similar research towers have been erected in other parts of the world too. NASA has launched the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation and the Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2. These are designed to provide a more consistent global picture of forests’ carbon stores.

More research is always welcome. Yet many scientists say that we can’t afford to wait, we need to take action now. Richard Powers is sanguine about the future of trees. ‘Trees have survived cataclysmic changes in climate and several periods of mass extinction. I’m very hopeful for trees.’ Less so humans, ‘We will have to learn to resign ourselves to the influence of the earth, or we will disappear.’

Jang Jin-Sung

Jang Jin-sung: Poetry and power in North Korea.

What is daily life like in a mental dictatorship? Jang Jin-sung was once part of Kim Jong-il’s inner circle. One of 6 poet laureates in a country where poetry is the most efficient form of propaganda – an indispensable weapon of psychological warfare that is practiced on all who live there.

Dressed in brown sneakers and a dark brown leather jacket,  a small, unassuming man, known as Jang Jin-sung (a pseudonym), defected from North Korea in 2004. He found favour with Kim Jong-il after using the voice of a fictional South Korean poet to promote the idea that the North’s policy of songun, or military first, had been designed to protect South Korea. His epic poem, Spring Rests on the Gun Barrel of the Lord, enjoyed nation-wide publication and a meeting with the leader himself.

Jang Jin-sung was himself born into a family with impeccable revolutionary credentials, by North Korean standards. This allowed him to train as a classical pianist before going on to study literature at Kim Il-sung University. He then went on to join the Central Committee of the North Korean Writers’ Union. Working in the Ministry of Reunification, he was involved in developing the founding myth of North Korea. It began in April 1912 with the sinking of the Titanic. If all this seems a little surreal, Jang’s descriptions of his meetings with Kim Jong-il, are even more so.

Meeting with Kim Jong il.

At their first meeting, in 1999, the young poet was presented with a gold Rolex worth 11 000 US dollars. Between 1994 and 1999, over three million people are believe to have died of hunger in North Korea. His meeting with the North Korean leader also meant that he was guaranteed what was known as ‘sacred immunity’. Granted to only a select few who have spent time in the presence of Kim Jong-il, it meant that he could not be prosecuted without special permission.

Jang Jin-sung recalls how he was blind-folded as he made a complicated journey involving a van, a special train and finally a boat. He finally arrived at a secret, high security island where the leader appeared with a small white puppy. As cries of “Long live the General!” echoed around the sanitized room, two things struck him about the North Korean leader: his 10 cm platform shoes and his embarrassing outburst of tears over a painting. Jang recalls his initial surprise at this bizarre outpouring, given that the country was in the grip of a terrible famine.

Stealing the humanity of others.

However his fear was so great, the young poet began to cry too, like those around him. ‘My tears came easily’, he recalls. Jang later understood the leader’s crying as an attempt to be human. He had never experienced most of the real tragedy that was common to others. And so he tried instead, to ‘steal the humanity’ of others.

It is perhaps difficult to understand the awe with which most North Koreans view their ‘Dear Leader’. Even for someone with Jang’s elite background, he explains that, having been brainwashed from primary school and with textbooks, this man was God. It took some time for him to acknowledge the fact that Kim was an ordinary man. One whose language was sometimes coarse and ungrammatical and who, Jang discovered, had not been groomed for leadership by the Great Leader Kim Il Sung. Rather, Kim Jong-il  had wrested it away from his father, who did not in fact believe hereditary succession.

Escape to South Korea.

By North Korean standards, Jang lived a life of luxury. His family had money and power and he was known to friends as ‘the man who always carried at least one thousand American dollars in his wallet’. However, Jang grew increasingly disenchanted with the realities exposed to him as a result of his work. And did something that would leave him and his family open to charges of treason and probable execution. He lent a banned book to a trusted friend. This was the book that traced the true history of the Kim dynasty. Not the mythic version which the poet had had a hand in constructing. When his friend told him that he had forgotten the book on the Pyongyang Metro, Jang knew it was over. ‘I went white’ he told us, ‘Our only option was to flee the regime.’

‘I felt angry and guilty’ – Jang Jin-Sung.

Jang  Jin-sung tells us that they had no elaborate plans for escape. Another school friend sold them train tickets that would get them to the northern border with China. From there they planned to cross the Tumen River into China. Jang and his friend used money and contraband to bribe the border guards. Even so, they found themselves sprinting across the frozen river (it was January) in broad daylight, the armed guards shouting behind them. But they made it alive. ‘We were crying but ecstatic’ recalls Jang. ‘ I felt a big fear set free, the fear of escape. But I also felt angry and guilty, for my family and all those who are still trapped without chance of escape.’

Once in China however, things became more difficult for the two fleeing men. Their money ran out and North Korean authorities had alerted the Chinese about the escape of ‘two murderers’. They were desperate to keep Jang and his state secrets from reaching the outside world. Jang’s story of escape reveals how closely Chinese and North Korean authorities worked together to apprehend high-level defectors like Jang. The poet spent a month on the run in north eastern China before reaching the South Korean embassy in Beijing. Sadly, his friend was not so lucky.

Immeasurable personal tragedy.

Jang Jin-sung describes  it as an ‘immeasurable personal tragedy’, the moment when a part of his childhood was taken from him. While on the run, he and his friend, Hwang, got separated one night. He later learned that his friend had committed suicide after being captured by the Chinese authorities. The issue of those left behind when defectors make the decision to leave is a painful one. Jang says very little about his family left behind in North Korea. The families of elite defectors are frequently exiled to labour camps and worked to death. ‘There are many things I cannot yet explain’ writes Jang. Clearly thoughts of the fate of his family haunt the poet. Although he has changed his name since arrival in South Korea, it seems unlikely that this will prove sufficient.

Poetry and propaganda.

Jang Jin-sung has published two books since his arrival in South Korea along with two volumes of poetry. As a poet laureate in North Korea, his freedom as a writer was greatly curtailed. In the world’s longest running dictatorship, poetry is used as a weapon with which to wage psychological warfare. He explains that poetry, unlike other literary forms, is short and compact. As such it is extremely effective in conveying political messages succinctly, particularly in a country where paper is scarce. ‘Printing poems costs less’, Jang explains.

‘Selling my daughter for 100 won‘

Jang’s memoir, Crossing the Border, (2013) in English but ‘Crossing the river with poetry in my heart’ in Korean, is a testament to both his escape and the central role that poetry has played in his life. Singled out at age 16 for a poem written in praise of then ruler, Kim il Sung, he wrote poems in private about the suffering he saw around him. In his collection, I am selling my daughter for 100 won (2010), the heart-breaking simplicity of the title poem, captures something of this tragedy.

His longer narrative poem, Kim Jong-il’s last woman, tells the true story of a singer in an elite Bochonbo band who catches the eye of the Dictator himself. But she is already in love with the band’s pianist. The lovers are driven to commit suicide together. However she survives the fall and is treated by the state so that she can be publicly executed 2 months later.  

Life in South Korea.

Following Jang Jin-sung’s arrival in South Korea, he worked in intelligence, for the National Security Research Institute and published his first book of poetry, which sold 80 000 copies. Now he is editor-in-chief of New Focus, an online newspaper about North Korea by North Korean exiles. As one of the most senior insiders to escape the dictatorship, Jang is accompanied by an armed guard at all times. Yet in spite of the challenges he has faced, he remains quietly positive and laughs without difficulty. He recalls his first 24 hours in Seoul, wandering about the streets, a little dazed by all the lights, luxury cars and tall buildings. A taxi driver yelled at him to get out of the road and the poet was thrilled. He had been called an arse hole and nothing had happened – he was free!  

Freedom is slavery.

‘Truth is the strongest weapon’ he says. Since leaving North Korea, he realises more clearly than ever that North Koreans have no concept of basic human rights. The system is one of both physical and mental enslavement. Public executions, extermination camps, forced labour and complete isolation are the weapons used. They are effective. One historian estimates that one third of those in the extermination camps are there for unknown crimes. While half are there simply as a result of association. Similarities have been drawn between state structures like the Inquisition, used to control and dominate the people of Medieval Europe, and those used in North Korea today. Jang believes that the only future for his country, lies in focusing first and foremost on empowering its people.

The West’s efforts to engage Kim Jong il are therefore futile, as his regime relies on this machinery of control in order to survive. Experts have suggested more practical, economic approaches that might aid the North Korean people. For example, micro-financing for the small-time businessmen who trade with China and greater awareness on the part of Western consumers. ‘Made in China’ is in fact frequently made by North Korean slave labour and only assembled in China. The outlook for North Korea is bleak. As Jang writes, ‘If Hitler was a despot who massacred foreign citizens, Kim Jong Il is a despot who has slaughtered his own people. If this truth is not made known, we cannot find justice.’ Indeed, the country Jang describes bears striking resemblance to the Orwellian Big Brother state of 1984. Slogans like ‘ War is Peace’ and ‘Freedom is Slavery’ seem terrifyingly apt.

‘I want to sacrifice my freedom for the liberation of North Korea’ – Jang Jin-sung.

Jang Jin-sung finishes by explaining his  personal journey in more detail. It is one that many in the West may sympathise with but will likely never  fully understand. ‘Physically, I have defected from North Korea, but deep in my heart and mind, I will always be with my people and my country.’ He explains that initially, he was greedy about the personal freedom he experienced upon arrival in South Korea. But, now, he tells us, ‘I want to sacrifice my freedom for the liberation of North Korea from its current brutality’. In spite of everything, he assures us that someday, he wants to return to his homeland. ‘Otherwise, all that I did and continue to do for freedom will be meaningless.’

Estonia’s digital route to happiness? (3 min)

I recently spoke with Raimo Reiman, head of the Estonian government’s citizen portal. Estonia is one of the most digitized nation in the world. The e-government system that they have been developing since 1997, automatically issues citizens with an ID number at birth. This in turn is used to link the newborn to his/her parents’ doctor, social security data and any other relevant online information. An Estonian identity card serves as a key to access 99 per cent of services online; one can pay taxes, vote, check medical records and more, 24 hours a day. It is estimated that the country has saved 2% of GDP via the use of digital signatures alone.

Estonia has become a start-up hot-spot

For a former Soviet republic of only 1.3 million people, Estonia’s has been an all or nothing approach. It took the plunge and invested heavily in technology soon after independence. Estonia’s constitution guarantees free internet for their citizens, not only in the cities but also in rural areas. It is the only country in the world to declare internet access a human right. As ex-managing director of Estonia’s e-Residency programme, Kaspar Korjus, puts it, “A small country like Estonia only has one natural resource and it is located between our ears’’.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, Estonia has become a start-up hot-spot. A new business can be opened online within  two hours. Tax returns can be filed in 3 minutes. According to one estimate, the number of start-ups per 100 000 inhabitants, is 6 times higher in Estonia than the European average.

‘Without trust we can do nothing’ – Reiman

However, when Raimo Reiman talks about his role in the development of the government’s citizen portal, he talks very little of technology itself. His focus is on other very human concerns, specifically, trust and happiness. In order to build and maintain trust he says, transparency is paramount. It is to the optimization of transparency that he devotes much of his attention. Estonian citizens can log into the e-government system and see exactly who has accessed their data and for what purpose. ‘Transparency is key, because this is what builds trust. Without trust we can do nothing’, he states flatly. Decentralization is a core aspect of this drive for transparency. There is no central database and every stakeholder, be it a business or government department, chooses its own system. Inter-connectivity and integrity are therefore key.

Building trust, Reiman explains, has little to do with technical issues.  It has to do with mindset and culture. ‘Changing mindsets is much more difficult and takes much more time than finding technical solutions’. In April and May of 2007, hackers believed to be linked to the Kremlin, unleashed a wave of attacks on Estonia’s government and corporate websites. At this time Reiman was working as head designer for the largest news organisation in Estonia. He remembers clearly the struggle to keep the news media’s website up and running in the face of a full scale botnet attack. ‘Bandwidth was squeezed in a way we had not seen before’, he explains. In spite of efforts to accommodate the sudden overwhelming flood of virtual overseas visitors, Estonia finally had to isolate itself from the rest of the online world, in an effort to contain the foreign attacks.  

Trust in e-government is high in Estonia

The attacks had far-reaching consequences in Estonia and beyond. NATO established a cyber defense research center in Tallinn in 2008 and Estonia called on the European Union to make cyber attacks a criminal offense. ‘We all learnt from the experience’, Reiman says with characteristic understatement. However, this did not deter the small Baltic state from continuing its push toward large-scale digitization. In 2008, Estonia went ahead with its e-Health programme, which involved the digitization of 95% of data generated by hospitals and doctors. Trust in e-government is high in Estonia and is essential to its success. Nevertheless, Reimen points out that technological advancement does not always have the desired effects. Voting levels in Estonia are no higher than the European average. This, in spite of the fact that it can be done online in a matter of seconds and the portal is open for a period of 5 days.

Reiman returns to the issue of happiness. ‘Technology is a tool’, he explains, ‘we should never lose site of that fact. On its own it can not create a better, happier society.’ He and his colleagues at the e-government portal are interested in first defining what the goals should be. What makes a society happier, for instance. They can then think about how technology may be used in order to help them achieve these goals. When asked about the difficulty of assessing happiness levels, he seems unperturbed. What interests him is that conversations such as these are leading the discussion on technology, not the other way around.  As head of the e-government portal of the most digitized country in the world, Raimo Reiman is refreshingly disinclined to wax lyrical about the virtues of technology. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned here.    

Putin’s Russia from the inside.

In 2003 Mikhail Khodorkovsky was one of the wealthiest men in Russia, a captain of industry, he was on the Forbes list of billionaires. Today he lives in exile in Switzerland and speaks to audiences far and wide about the system of which he was once part and of his dreams of another Russia – one founded on the rule of law rather than on corruption and cronyism.

Khodorkovsky describes himself as ‘a naïve person back then’. As one of Russia’s most successful businessmen, his company had risen to prominence under Yeltsin. Although a ‘peculiar person’, Yeltsin still had some idea of what was needed, what made it possible for people to make money, Khodorkovsky explains. And although corruption was part of his  regime too, Yeltsin himself did not accept bribes. ‘We saw Putin as his successor, indeed this is how he presented himself.’ So at the time, the billionaire explains, it was ‘unimaginable’ that he should go to prison for 10 years.   

‘Putin is head of a criminal gang.’

Putin however is not ‘simply an autocrat, he is the head of a criminal gang’. With hindsight, Khodorkovsky admits that Putin’s is a ‘completely different kind of mentality’ to that of Yeltsin. Putin decided to build his Russia on personal loyalty and corruption. This approach, Khodorkovsky tells us is simple; ‘if you want to work in a permanent position, steal. If you’re not stealing, you’re dangerous.’ The ex-captain of industry made the mistake of speaking out against this system, directly to Putin himself. He shows us a brief clip of a televised discussion with Putin in February, 2003. In this exchange, the ex-oligarch raises the issue of corruption in Russia with Putin. At this time, he tells us, it was estimated that a quarter of all Russians were involved in corruption. ‘The stealing continues today,’ he assures us.     

At the time of his arrest in October, 2003, Khodorkovsky was the wealthiest man in Russia and his company, he tells us, paid the most taxes in Russia too. In April of the same year, he had announced that Yukos would merge with Sibneft, creating an oil company with reserves equal to those of Western petroleum multinationals. Companies of this size are involved in one or other court case on a rolling basis, he explains. So when he was arrested on charges of fraud and tax evasion, he envisaged wrangling with the commercial courts where one could ‘correct’ the law, ‘up to a point’. He foresaw four years of pre-trial detention, as the worst-case scenario.

A social activist, not a politician.

As it turned out, the charges against Khodorkovsky ran to 400 volumes and it would be ten years before he was released with the help of intervention from Angela Merkel’s government. He re-iterates that he was pardoned without confessing guilt for any of the charges laid against him. Probably, he adds, because at that stage it was still important for Putin’s government to be seen to co-operate with the West. My plan before I went to jail was to retire at forty-five. But once released, he found that his interest in business had waned. ‘I have no wish to come to power – honestly’ the billionaire declares. He describes himself as a social activist rather than a politician and admits that even though he is fifty-five, he is not counting on any rapid changes in Russia.

Instead he sees ‘a long pathway to democracy and non-corruption’ for his country. Indeed he believes that his country’s path toward democratic development must be evolutionary. ‘I don’t want people to waste their lives and get exactly the same thing back with a different surname,’ he states calmly. The problem that he faces most frequently however, is what he calls, ‘the sacred faith’ of the Russian people. The belief that if they can just elect a great king or president, than he will make everything right and the people can lie down and sleep. It is this entrenched faith in the notion of good power or authority that works against an acceptance of the need to spend time and energy on the control of these authorities.

Khodorkovsky would like to see a Russia that ‘follows the European path – there is no other way.’ Indeed, he says, ‘Russia has been following it for the past 500 years, in a zig-zag way!’ He estimates that in a free and fair election, Putin’s party would probably get 20 to 30% of the vote and the Communist party might even win. ‘But that’s ok, he says calmly, ‘so long as the rule of law is in place’. Now he simply wants ‘to help those people who have the potential to be the future of Russia.’

‘The Russian people are fed-up with Putin.’

He speaks of a new generation of Russians who are not afraid of prison because they don’t believe they will be killed. They will also outlive Putin, he adds. If however you ask them if they would rather have money or freedom, they will say money, he tells us. But just try and switch off the internet or stop them from leaving the country…  The Russian people are fed-up with Putin, and he is bored with us, Khodorkovsky says. In contrast to what Putin claims, ‘we have no enemies abroad, the real enemies are within the country’. The ex-oligarch tells us that Putin has created the National Guard, a 340 000 strong force which has access to air power and artillery, not just water bombs and tear gas.

Asked about relations with the European Union, Khodorkovsky argues that the biggest challenge for Europe is the Kremlin’s unwillingness to see a united Europe. From Russia’s perspective, it is much easier to deal with small individual countries and organisations. ‘To force Russia to speak with a united Europe, will be one of the Commission’s most difficult tasks.’ As for Putin, Khodorkovsky is pessimistic.’ Currently I do not see a good exit for him.’ After the war in Ukraine, it will be difficult for him to relax on his pension, as he puts it, and Putin understands this too. ‘So I fear it will be feet first for him’ Khodorkovsky says blandly, with just the smallest hint of irony.

Vivienne Ming

Vivienne Ming – theoretical neuroscientist and superwoman.

Listen up!

Theoretical neuroscientist, Vivienne Ming has turned her talents to writing algorithms that solve real world problems like diabetes, autism, even job satisfaction. Ming’s rags to riches story might explain why she has the answers to some of the toughest questions: Will I lose my job to AI  and how can I ensure that my child’s future is ‘robot-proof’?

Dr Ming is tall, almost too tall, blonde and speaks in a low voice that suggests she might once have been a heavy smoker. She has a strong Californian twang and is dressed in black leather jacket and leggings. In short, she looks more like a route 66 biker than a neuroscientist. But once she starts talking, it becomes clear that one is in the presence of a formidable intellect. Vivienne Ming speaks fast and low because she has a lot to say, and all of it is relevant. This is a woman who has an answer, a good one, to every question posed. The problem is whether one can absorb all the high-level information that pours forth so effortlessly.

‘Purpose is everything.‘ – Vivinne Ming

Vivienne Ming is a one-of-a-kind in many ways. Owner of five successful AI companies, she has been offered Chief Scientist jobs by Amazon, Uber and Netflix. But turned them all down. But it is the road that lead to her remarkable success that is perhaps most impressive. Dr Ming speaks candidly of the ‘fifteen wasted years’ of her life. Some some of which were spent homeless, living in her car. At one point she bought a gun and seriously contemplated suicide. But on that fateful night, she recalled the words of her father, ‘Live a life of substance’. Vivienne Ming decided that if happiness was out of her reach, she would aim instead, to make a difference to the lives of others. ‘ Purpose is everything’she came to realise. Once she had made this decision, she set about achieving her goal.

Vivienne Ming is happier as a woman.

But it took her ‘five years of hell’ working at a convenience store and then at an abalone factory, to save enough for the college education she had rejected. Dr. Ming went on to ace her studies in computational neuroscience and completed her bachelors degree in just one year. She also met and fell in love with her wife-to-be. Yet still the deep seated sense of self-loathing persisted. Beginning when Vivienne was as young as ten or eleven, she found it increasingly difficult to care about anything.

Finally, on the eve her 34th birthday, Vivienne Ming admitted to her fiance that she would be happier as woman. The couple went on to marry, Ming in tux, in 2006. But shortly thereafter she began the long journey of transition. In 2008, at age 37, Vivienne Ming finally underwent the 46 hours of surgery that would change her biological gender. What comes through most clearly in this incredible story is Ming’s perseverance. As she puts it, ‘for 10 years, still profoundly unhappy, I kept going.’

Vivienne Ming enjoys a unique perspective.

Vivienne Ming’s journey gives her a unique perspective. She has made up for lost time by involving herself in a huge variety of initiatives. All of them have one thing in common however, they are dedicated to making the world a better place. A statement such as this might seem trite coming from anyone else. But Ming’s confidence and sincerity comes from hard-won life experience. She lacks all traces of self-pity, and instead agrees that growing up as a white middle class male in California, gave her every advantage that life could offer. Having experienced life as both a man and woman places her in a fairly unique position of being able to compare the advantages and disadvantages of both. But she admits that she prefers being a woman.

Dr. Ming’s book, The Tax on being Different, explores exactly this issue from an economic perspective. Her research into the gender wage gap involved the analysis of data from 60 000 companies using AI, and revealed that women in leadership positions within companies was the biggest single predictor of a reduced wage gap. In her book, Vivienne Ming discusses how big data provides numerical evidence for the significant role played by factors like race and gender on hiring decisions and ultimately affect one’s life chances. These biases are quantifiable in terms of opportunities and salary level, hence her use of the term ‘tax’. However, unlike other taxes, the tax on being different benefits no one. It simply represents a loss to both individual and society.

‘AI tests our ability to well articulate a problem’ –  Vivienne Ming.

The neuroscientist and tech entrepreneur insists that it is life experience that teaches one resilience and this is one of the biggest predictors of success. She designed a bunch of algorithms that trawled through huge sets of raw data on job candidates. The goal; to identify which qualities were the best predictors of success. Results showed that the college you attended and years of experience on the job were not so important. But resilience and problem-solving ability came up time and again. Dr Ming is clear, ‘AI is not about data. If you know how to fix the problem, AI can change the economics.’ The big problem, she maintains, is that many of those hired, based on traditional recruitment methods, don’t know how to solve problems.

Vivienne Ming admits that the first company she started with her wife, dedicated hundreds of hours to researching problems for which no ready solution was available. Often they failed. Now they focus on smaller bits of big problems. They also found that work on one project can lead to  unexpected break-through’s in other fields. For example, a small emoticon project that they worked on years ago, resulted in the creation of a facial recognition tool. This was used to help autistic children improve their ability to correctly identify facial expressions. They found that this process also improved empathy in these same children. This same technology would later be used to develop what Dr Ming terms, ‘an incredibly sleazy game’ called Sexy Face. Which formed the basis for technology used to help identify orphan refugees and reunite them with their lost relatives, worldwide. All within three minutes.

‘‘I want to make better people.’ – Vivienne Ming

So what of the future? Dr. Ming’s independent think tank, Socos Labs, focuses on a range of areas, including education, inclusive economics and the future of work. The goal that underlies research in all of these is simple: the maximization of human potential. ‘I want to make better people.’ she says with calm conviction. So Project Muse is technology that allows parents to monitor and become more pro-active in their child’s everyday development. Using feedback from a child’s daily activities, the app creates a short, tailor-made activity that parents and children can do together.

Her book, How to Robot- Proof your Kids, focuses on how parents can help prepare their children for a future. A place where, the only job description will be ‘creative, adaptive problem-solver’. And changes in public and private policy will produce ‘a society of explorers’. In short, Vivienne Ming predicts a future job market that will be ‘radically de-professionalized by automation and AI’. But there is reason to believe these changes will produce an even richer set of jobs, if we are prepared!

‘Transition should be celebrated’ – Vivienne Ming

 Dr. Ming finishes by pointing out, with a hint of her trademark dry humour, that if you’re a strawberry picker or a real-world problem-solver, there is no need to fear AI. The likes of consultants and legal professionals may well find themselves losing against the ability of algorithms to analyse spreadsheets or find holes in contracts more quickly and cheaply. But this is not really what Vivienne Ming is about. There is something evangelical in her devotion to what she clearly sees as her purpose in life. Again she draws our attention to the power of transition, in whatever shape or form it may come – ‘Transition should be celebrated! ‘ And again she invites her listeners to focus on adding value in life. Perhaps it is the hard-won sincerity with which she delivers her message or the ample evidence of her own generosity in this regard that makes her a difficult woman to ignore.

Up next on Souwie on …

French writer Edouard Louis
French author, Edouard Louis

A return to Romanticism for Europe.

Neo-romanticism: the answer to Europe’s problems? (3 min)

Simon Strauss has been hailed as Germany’s new wunderkind. A millennial author whose debut novel, ‘Seven Nights’, has been described as ‘a passionate, fearless battle cry’ and a manifesto for the millennial generation, by the German press. I recently heard him speak in Amsterdam about his  vision for the future. A vision that centers around a focus on feeling, in the Romantic tradition of 19th century Europe. He is part of a wider resurgence of neo-romanticism in Germany.  

Strauss hails from Berlin. He has recently completed his Doctorate in History and is a critic for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.  His father is also a well-known writer, Botho, whose plays are among some of the most widely performed in Germany. In all these ways, the young Strauss is the quintessential millennial. Born, as he puts it, into ‘the made bed of wealth’. An inheritor of ‘a liberality that was and is no longer a promise’.  Yet perhaps it is precisely because of his privileged position that his debut novel is concerned with what he terms, a ‘revolutionary tiredness …, a fear of not tackling things’.  Perhaps this is why Strauss is drawn to the passion and the focus on feeling characterized by Romanticism.

‘I yearn for more quarrels.’ – Strauss

The young writer is not alone in his interest in the virtues of Romanticism. Germany’s new Romantics have taken inspiration from Berlin-based philosopher, Byun-Chul Han. He champions the Romantic in the face of the seductive ‘smartpolitics’ of capitalism embodied by the ‘smoothness’ of iPhone and ‘teflon Chancellor Merkel’. Han argues that capitalism in the neoliberal era works by ‘pleasing and fulfilling rather than ‘forbidding and depriving’. ‘Instead of making people compliant, it seeks to make them dependent. To me, the Romantic world of Holderlin (German poet) is the world of the future,’ says Han. His series of talks on Romanticism at Berlin’s University of the Arts last year were delivered to packed lecture theaters. He champions authenticity and laments the eradication of difference.

The dark side of Romanticism.

But Germany’s relationship with Romanticism is not all wine and roses. The movement’s privileging of emotion over reason has resulted in its association with nationalism and populism  of the kind found in the rise of the National Socialists in 1930’s Germany. It was German writer, Thomas Mann,  who coined the phrase ‘romantic barbarism’ to describe the snubbing of rationalism in favour of a focus on folklore and the past. Appropriated by the Nazis, it is this connection that nurtures fears of a neo-romantic revival in Germany today. Yet links between populism and romanticism are not exclusive to the German context. The idea of American exceptionalism has a Romantic component too, as  Conservative commentator, Kyle Sammin points out. Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ approach is clear evidence of this.

However Strauss refuses to let what he describes as its ‘perversion’ by the National Socialists cloud its ‘original promise’. He draws our attention instead to Romanticism’s central role in the development of European liberalism in its emphasis on the individual. For Strauss then, Romanticism represents a much needed antidote to the ‘purely rationalist,  efficiency trimmed worldview, which has become so decisive for Western societies’. It is also ‘a plea for the wonderful, the mysterious’. As such, it provides a much needed antidote to the rational, technocracy that is the European Union today. In what Strauss describes as the ‘hyper-individualism’ of his age, he sees a yearning for ‘cohesion, trust and empathy’. A yearning that has been exploited by right-wing populists.

‘Europe is more than taxation and immigration.’ – Strauss

Macron’s recent call for a European Renaissance – laid out in his open letter to all European citizens in 28 member states, calls for a pan-European approach to problems of migration, defense and social security. Such a vision chimes with Strauss’s argument that the original idea of Europe was ‘a deeply Romantic one … in its focus on a universal community’. ‘Europe is more than taxation and immigration’ he maintains, ‘it is a powerful idea/l that can talk to both the mind and the soul’.

Ironically, Macron’s strong stance against populism and nationalism highlights the difficulty of separating nationalism and Romanticism. ‘We cannot let nationalists without solutions exploit the people’s anger’ says the French president. Strauss finishes with a call to his fellow millennials to ‘Again dare to raise our voices and dream of another world’. Perhaps a German/French rapprochement is not so far off. If so, Europe might find the long looked for balance needed to move forward.