Freedom to be Human

Freedom 2.0

50 years since the carnation revolution.
In the fight for our rights we augmented democracy.
We went, confident, looking for progress.
And now, with what we’ve learned.
What can be freedom?

…

This year, Portugal is celebrating 50 years since the Carnation Revolution. In 1974, Salazar’s authoritarian regime was overthrown, in a revolution that paved the way for a transition to a democratic nation and the beginning of the decolonization process.

Almost every person in the world had by then gone through their own experience of oppressive control and were aspiring for the freedom to have what was forever denied by tyranny. To seek their own prosperity. 

Since then, we have made great progress. Our governments became more representative and accountable, we are allowed to have different ideas and act on them, we let go of other people’s land, we acknowledged social disparities and recognized the need for a minimum distribution of means, employment became more fair and protected, the right for education and healthcare became commonplace. 

Unarguably, the lives of a lot of people have become easier, and with it came the ability to venture, provide, and accumulate wealth.

As these rights were being fulfilled we inevitably had to get into other no less significant revolutions against discrimination and cruelty. Some of the movements that greatly contributed to the advancement of humanity — Civil rights; Anti-war; Feminism; LGBTQ+; and Decolonization — gained strength and enabled more of us to be able to pursue a ‘good life’.

We have had other conquests that continued our way towards a fairer world, the rise of climate change demonstrations, the Arab Spring protests, the Occupy, Black Lives Matter, #MeToo movements, and the Hong Kong protests to name a few. All of them driven by our hope to free ourselves from systems of oppression. 

In the meantime, while we fulfilled our desires for abundance we got consumed by the intensity and the speed we need to carry to be able to maintain it. Another era of inequalities is here. To match the standard of wealth deemed acceptable we need to be forever productive and performant. We find ourselves desisting from care and relationships to go after our ambitions. Our lifestyles are unsustainable, to everyone who doesn’t have the same privileges, to any other lifeforms, and to the environment.

And as we carry on, fascinated with the future, every time we feel trapped, our greatest wish is that we would have the freedom to escape. To be rich enough to move somewhere else, to buy our own way into happiness, to cancel out the things we don’t like with other things. The old systems of oppression have left a legacy, and the only way we see is out of it. 

But we might not have that option.

Our experience with the pandemic showed us this. Even the wealthiest got sick and had to surrender to the system, stick to their houses, stop traveling, get food delivered to their doorsteps. What if we have to deal with an even bigger crisis? Let’s say, for example, the climate crisis. This is not hypothetical. In a very short time, it can get to a terrible living quality, even for the richest. 

But what if we could become something more than freedom refugees? What if freedom meant something else — The capacity to care for all life.

What can be?

To be available for the people around us.
To have time to learn and reflect.
To create instead of consuming.
To experience and make art. 
To nurture and regenerate relationships.
To enjoy and contribute to nature.

This is not just a way out of calamity, but also a way to persist. As we will inevitably have to transform our lifestyles, a commitment to care and deep relationships can carry us through the worst of times as well as enrich our existence.

Right now there is enough in the world to achieve this. Enough resources, enough technology, enough knowledge. It’s in our hands. 

To stop.
To think.
To distribute. 
To come together.
To make.

A new freedom revolution — Freedom to be Human.