Through the darkness a small light can burn ever brighter. With enough fuel, it can chart the course for an inferno that can swallow up the most deafening darkness with a roar that loudly proclaims ”ENOUGH.”

I want to spend this piece talking on a more positive note. Acknowledging the steps gained in this march towards a brighter future for everyone.

Hungary

Serbia

Brazil

And now, it’s our turn.

Over the past few months, the people of democracies have made it clear where they stand with cronyism and authoritarianism, and it’s that we’ve had enough. Uprisings in Nepal. Riots in Georgia. Coups in Madagascar. Popular turnout in Serbia has just ousted the 14-year-long rule of Aleksandar Vucic. While previously he and his party had manipulated the vote, long standing resentment toward a corrupt and ineffectual government led to mass protest and large voting percentages in the country to where the government in power could not hold on any longer.

In Hungary, the long-time autocrat, Viktor Orban, ruling through rigged elections, was ousted by a coalition party led by the conservative Peter Magyar. He promised transparency and to decouple from the influence of Russia and Putin.

In Brasil, Flavio Bolsonaro lost to the unpopular Luiz Lula da Silva because people saw the effect Bolsonaro Sr. had on the country and its people. The public could see the damage that had been done, and they decided to take a chance with Lula da Silva again.

In the US, even with all the gerrymandering and disenfranchisement, the Republican party lost its small majority to a more progressive mandate from the people. Because people are tired of cruelty for cruelty’s sake. It was a movement made of thousands of smaller movements that coalesced into the “blue tsunami” we saw just now. But the work is not yet done and we all need to internalize that.

The systems that led to the corruption of governance itself are still in place and they either need to be severely overhauled or they need to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch so that this cannot happen again.

And the thing that a lot of people are not ready for is that Fascism is enabled by capitalism. It relies on the ability of the capital-holding class to take the reins of power and direct people from above. The systemic flow of wealth to the top within capitalism is not a mistake; it is by design, because that is the goal of the economic system. Without massive guardrails and wealth redistribution like we had in the 40s and 50s through the implementation of the New Deal, we will keep funneling capital into the hands of the few, and the American people will continue to be disempowered and disenfranchised.

The way we beat this cycle, this power, this issue is by making sure we have a society that works for all, not just the wealthy class. And that will take much more work.

But the spark has already lit the fire; now we just need to add fuel.

We need to make sure the fire has enough seats around it to keep us all warm.

By: LSU Team Member