(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
"Imagine if the trade union movement decided to be part of the next wave of social innovation. And now, civil society did the same. And cultural life and the arts. And the democratic companies. Imagine how big it could be! Together we could create a society where the relationship between people and nature is re-established. A society where citizens throughout their lives have the opportunity to be in contact with their own creativity. And a society where we are there for each other.'
This is how frontrunner, chaos pilot, entrepreneur and occasional politician Uffe Elbæk summarily writes in his latest book Doubt, hope and action. Prior to this, he has been on an inner and outer journey away from the disillusioned place he had ended up in the Folketing after a number of years, where he sat as a representative of first Radikale Venstre and then Alternativet, a party he helped found in 2013. He also managed to have a short period as minister of culture in 2011–2012 and a few periods as a freelancer in the space between the Radical Left and the Alternative, and in the space between the Alternative and the new party Frie Grønne, which he founded together with two other breakaways from the Alternativet, but which did not reach the threshold in the last general election in 2022.
The alternative is the only one of the three parties that has gained a small place in it Doubt, hope and action. First of all, it is present through the original manifesto, on which Uffe Elbæk was a co-author, and which he still stands by. But translated into parliamentary practice, it did not live up to his expectations.
Thought-provoking and provocative
In fact, Elbæk has largely lost faith that party politics and parliamentary politics – at least in its current form – can be part of the solution. Instead, he speaks of a "friendly revolution", which must come from below and from within.
According to Elbæk's narrative, what set him off on the current book was a question in an email from the founder of Visa, Dee Hock:
»How has working for so many years in politics affected you? Do you still believe that the sweeping, systemic change you once dreamed of is possible?'
Elbæk was so doubtful that he did not get his old friend the answer before he died. But after conversations with old and new friends and acquaintances in different parts of the – western – world, Elbæk has turned his doubts into hope. And probably also for some kind of action, if writing a book counts.
In many ways, the book reflects the reserve that Uffe Elbæk walks in on a daily basis. A preserve of relatively privileged Western well-read and well-traveled middle-class types. Who have time and money for the good and the green and to have long, far-reaching conversations about the world's course and visions for the future.
It is alternately thought-provoking and inspiring, provocative and enervating. Several places rather loose in the codes. But never boring, because Uffe Elbæk is a skilled and committed narrator.
If salary that has to go down
One chapter in the book in particular – the chapter that starts the inner and outer journey – I personally really could have done without. I actually think that Uffe Elbæk could, even though he probably doesn't think so. And now I am writing something which, to put it mildly, will not be well received in large parts of the Danish so-called intellectual arena: I have never understood the celebration of the raving high school fanatic Ejvind Larsen. And I understand it even less after reading Uffe Elbæk's retelling of their conversation:
From his "stately apartment on the edge of Frederiksstaden in Copenhagen", the man known as Ejvind Mangeord ends up standing up and shouting across the living room: "Down, down, down with the salary". The trade union movement is ridiculous because it is still demanding wage increases at a time when overspending is lowering the entire global scale, is the point.
Be warned, I also believe that the Danish trade union movement is in many ways both unimaginative, reactionary and far away from the window. And yes, overconsumption is a significant part of the problem for the state of the world. But should we just try to talk a little more concretely about whose wages need to go down and who is responsible for both overproduction and overconsumption?
Elbæk's "friendly revolution" must bring us from "growth capitalism" to "post-capitalism", he writes. About half of the book is about identifying the problems in the former, while the other half tries to identify visions for the latter.
Elbæk has largely lost faith that party politics and parliamentary politics can be part of the solution.
But even though the term post-capitalism/post-capitalist appears 22 times during the roughly 200 pages, it never really becomes clear what Elbæk understands by the system of capitalism, and what it is that must be dismantled in order to get to the other side. What kind of power structures need to be dismantled.
Inequalities and fascist currents
Elbæk is very aware that there are very tangible inequalities, which are expressed both locally and globally, and which are connected to gender, sexuality, racialization and social, cultural and economic conditions. But an actual class analysis is conspicuous by its absence. Despite the keen eye for differences, the book constantly speaks of a 'we', as if there were no conflicting interests or class divisions.
On the other hand, it is refreshing that he both sees the fascist currents in today's society and speaks loudly about them. There are many who neither do nor dare. This is one of the book's greatest strengths, and here Uffe Elbæk is very concrete. Among other things in his chapter on the forces that are internationally united in a shared hatred of women and LGBT+.
He is also specific in the description of examples of actors in what he calls "the next wave of social innovation". I am convinced that Uffe Elbæk and his playmates in the Demokratigaragen in the Northwest and in cooperatives and other socially conscious and democratically minded companies around the world can contribute to making everyday life at least more tolerable. I would actually also like to play along and fight to make the playground bigger. But that it brings us towards a real new and different social system, it delivers Doubt, hope and action not a convincing argument for.
