This morning America, Britain and the world is waking up to arguably the biggest ever political shock : President elect Trump. Please wake me up before I go-go! In Matt Chorlet’s Times article entitled’ Shock Victory is Brexit times ten’, he starts off his piece by suggesting, ‘A populist campaign clashing with the liberal establishment, a nostalgic promise of a time when things were better, a mobilisation of the disaffected…’

Although much will be written over the coming days and weeks based on dissecting each of the US party’s tactics the net result is that we have to admit that we’re dealing with an unknown. Suddenly the known’s are no longer known (RIP Pollsters!) and one could argue that no one has solved any number major global issues to date – The Syrian refugee crisis, Aleppo and ISIS, just to name a few are getting worse by the day. Will the new Commander in chief have any bright ideas as the nuclear codes are handed over to him?

We’ve got to admit that we’re now walking in dangerous territory with a guide that is both unprepared and inexperienced. Just like a mountain climber without a compass, map, supplies, blanket or water proof clothing! The rain or should I say reign is about to come down on us all as we set-up base camp! Or, will he be a leader that puts in a team of experts.

Trump’s call for unity as part of his acceptance speech was promising but is it too late to repair the damage inflicted. Has he indirectly sanctioned that it’s OK to disrespect, women or the disabled. We know bullying is morally wrong but we allowed one person to get away with it for too long. I believe he forgot that children, including is own were listening to his rhetoric and watching him.

The talk of the silent majority is nonsense. We shouldn’t have to lunge to right wing politics to facilitate change. Politicians love to play on fear and it is this tactic that Hitler, LePenn and other far right inspired organisation feast off. Before you know it you’ll be killing your next door neighbour! As we walk towards the darkness, we can only hope that the torches of sense will prevail. We should avoid rising to the bait of the followers of extremists. The latter will no doubt bring out the ugly in all. If the result is street fights then we will potentially stoop to their level.

Now more than ever we need to set-up think tanks that can effectively crowd source solutions – using social media for good. Now more than ever we need to unite around positivity and optimism.
This is why I will be further developing http://www.Solverr.org

To return to the inexperienced mountain climber. We need to arm ourselves with tools (aka knowledge with those in the know taking the lead) , proactively set-up a search party (for example, if the environmental protection policies are to be scrapped, lets get more evidence that is undisputable) and build bases that support each other.

Only then can we hold out our hand when he falls and offer him a new hope that we used our energies to develop. Fighting back with knowledge and truth.

Image credit: Thinkstock

Categories: 2016, Anti-Fascism, Featured Articles, Political comment