Parallelisms between Europe and Colombia at the end of 2023

(By: Enrique Salinas).

Several things have happened in 2023: the continuity of the war in Russia's invasion of Ukraine; Israel's occupation and genocide of the people of Palestine; without failing to mention the high inflation rate globally, a product of the 2020 pandemic that is still hitting us and the rise in oil prices due to the aforementioned wars.

But what has happened in the European Union? Several political changes came to Europe: in Spain the re-election of the socialist Pedro Sánchez; To Norway, one of the Nordic countries, after 60 years the Labor Party returns under Jonas Garh Støre with a social democratic approach, in a country with high levels of per-capital wealth, low inequality, where it is currently carrying out important projects. international actions such as being a pioneer in the reduction of greenhouse emissions, climate change, clean and green energy among others, being an intervening country in the different peace dialogues in several countries in conflict or war and being a guarantor in the current peace process with the Colombian government together with the different illegal armed actors.

After eight years of conservative government, socialism has returned to Norway, promising a reduction in taxes for low- and medium-income family groups. The change to socialism (called left in the last century) is probably the reaction of a criticism of the neoliberal policies that right-wing and ultra-right parties have implemented in recent decades.

With the above, the current Norwegian Prime Minister promised to end the privatization of public services, more money for hospitals and force the rich to pay more taxes.

Similar changes are taking place in Colombia with the government of the Historical Pact, seen from the outside Colombia is no stranger to the policy changes of previous governments, even more so, when President Gustavo Petro obtained great support from the countries of the European Union and the Nordic countries, never seen in a ruler of the country, and that majority support was achieved not only in the presentation before the United Nations Organization, but in the recent meeting of rulers from more than 200 countries in the COP 28 Dubai; not to mention the support he has received from President Biden's administration.

But what role has the Colombian opposition and the media played during this change in policy in Colombia, compared to the current changes in political ideas in Norway?

In Norway, the Conservative Party, which has been the main opposition party since 2013, remains the country's leading political force in terms of voting intentions, where its ethical parliamentarians attend and discuss the different government reforms with great respect for their opponents. Likewise, the local media do their work very professionally, with ethics and serious investigations.

On the other hand, it is regrettable that the opposition congressmen in Colombia have lost that professional ethic that existed in previous decades, I am talking about when only the traditional conservative and liberal parties existed, and a radical opposition of an incipient left that was annihilated by the governments. from that time; but even so, there were respectable arguments without personal offenses, today it can be said that Colombia and its representatives in both the Senate and the House, seen from the outside, are a shame for the country that appears, and what can we say about the media of traditional communication or the so-called "establishment", which do not report truthfully or objectively, but are dedicated to creating false news, such misinformation that has led them to create "media terrorism", taking advantage of the large population ignorant about political issues, which is easy to manipulate through different social networks or platforms that did not exist before.

Having said the above, it is the reason why independent journalists have taken off, some because they were fired from the journalistic houses for not following the guidelines of the owners, others because they defended their ethics, honesty and responsibility and decided to open direct communication media. with citizens digitally and a good group of young journalists who do not want to fall into that harmful sensationalism of opinion and who have also found in social networks, Facebook, Twitter or X, the expeditious way to keep their audiences informed. listeners with truthfulness at the time of events.

This is how President Petro's first year ends, with a government that for the first time brings to light publicly at the national and international level, the high rate of corruption in the country, managed by previous right-wing and ultra-right governments, including some parliamentarians from coalition parties. that the current opposition in Colombia does.

*Written in Oslo on 12/19/2023. Enrique Salinas is a Colombian journalist based in Norway.