Our New Leaders

Yesterday, on December 8th, Finland’s SPD (the party leading the government’s coalition) elected its new leader after the resignation of Antti Rinne last week. Sanna Marin was chosen and will, therefore, be the country’s new Prime Minister.

She is 34. She is leftish. She is Green. She wears normal clothes. Her first Instagram post is a picture of her with a HeForShe sign.

Let’s say that again

She is 34, leftish, Green, dressed as normal people and her first Instagram post is a picture of her with a HeForShe sign.

You can’t even imagine how I feel to finally see a new leader of a country being a great person.

In a world where people like Trump, Putin, Macron, Johnson, Erdogan, Bolsonaro and so many others are leading a country, we can easily lose faith in our leaders and in politics in general.

I have personally come to a point where I don’t believe in them anymore. They didn’t act to protect our future against the interests of private firms and money. They continue to spend more and more for military means while not ensuring peace and making conflicts even more damaging.

Trump spends his time playing golf, insulting the press (I’ve just started to read The Enemy of the People by Jim Acosta and what he says about journalists now fearing for their life after Trump attacks them is terrifying), insulting opponents, lying or simply posting fake news on Twitter.

Bolsonaro spends his time planning the deforestation of the entire Amazon forest and the murder of local tribes.

Macron spends his time lying, saying that he acts for our future while he’s only giving more money to big companies. He lies about social plans, he lies to poor people, he lies to old people, he lies to unemployed people. And he gives more money to the rich. He was elected on the promise of uniting the country and defeating far-right. He’s only making it easier for Marine Le Pen to win in 2022.

I could give more examples with more leaders, just because about all of them are bad. Almost all of them are working for private interests rather than for the People. Jacinda Ardern from New Zealand and Mia Mottley from Barbados are maybe among the only ones I don’t hate. And even them are not acting as they should to ensure us a future.

But yesterday, things have started to change. Sanna Marin was elected Prime Minister of Finland. And that could well be the beginning of a new era in politics (at least I hope it is).

Great new young politicians are emerging all over the world: Raphaël Glucksmann and Manon Aubry in France and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the US are good examples. They are redefining politics and the place it has in our lives. And hopefully, they will become heads of state soon.

So yes, the election of Sanna Marin as the new Prime Minister of Finland is great news to hear. Let’s say again that she is 34, leftish, Green and dressed as normal people. I know it’s stupid to focus on such things but she looks like a good new leader to me. I hope to be able to say that again soon, and I hope she of course is a great leader in the months to come.

One more thing to add: Please give us more politicians like her

Clement