Catalysis writes very insightful texts and reports on working conditions, equality, democracy and a sustainable economy as well as nature's conditions.
I am having a tough time financially, but have donated SEK 100 to Katalys. Now I am asking you for your help for Katalys. After a year in power, the right-wing Tidö government, with support from SD, has initiated changes that threaten fundamental parts of Swedish democracy. From restrictions on the freedom of the trade union movement to cuts in public education and the media, these changes represent the biggest threat to Swedish democracy in 100 years.
Catalyst prepares a counterattack by mapping and informing about these threats. Katalys needs your help to resist the onslaught of the right. Right-wing think tanks have significantly more money than the labor movement. But if many contribute a penny, Katalys can put an end to these changes. Catalysis can take the lead, raise self-confidence and the will to fight in the labor movement.
Help Katalys defend democracy by making a contribution. Every little penny counts, and if we take the fight together, the right will fail. Can you give something to Katalys?
I'm a little skeptical about the thesis. A democracy based on state grants is not worth much, you don't bite the hand that feeds you.
Abroad, for the most part, you don't have government grants like this - and it looks as if democratic vivacity is much higher in many places than it is in Sweden. At least people seem to be more prepared to defend themselves than in Sweden, where you rely far too much on nice civil servants and politicians to fix it for you. Which of course they don't do.
We remember e.g. the great defeat of the system in the battle against the yellow vests – in principle forbidden reforms became necessary. And the yellow vests had no contributions, they weren't even an organization. It's just that the French are used to having to defend themselves in order to get something done.
My grandfather's generation, i.e. those born at the end of the 1800th century, had the same habit. They organized an impressive grassroots movement society, completely without government subsidies, which made the welfare state necessary through political pressure. Unfortunately, they did not really understand what they had done, so they did not try to protect their means of power, but left them to the state.
Which we suffer from today.
Then you question The Deficit Myth by Stephanie Kelton and The Entrepreneurial State by Mariana Mazzucato? Of course, government subsidies play a big role, especially for those businesses that sell something as unpopulist as ideas about a freer, more equal and more solidary society instead of candy, alcohol, funny movies, etc. Short-term pleasures are also needed, but as Jesus said, we must not live on earthly bread alone.
I'm just questioning the strategic sense of organizations that claim to be oppositional but still base their existence on the state funding them. You don't bite the hand that feeds you.