What do states owe us?

The enumeration might begin with the astronomic amounts that modern day states have borrowed from their citizens. And they keep on taking on more debt! I will leave this analysis to economists. From a political perspective, the modern state, with a democratic structure, owes its citizens the creation and management of a system of the governing institutions capable of respecting and promoting their fundamental rights and freedoms, to ensure the dominance of the law, under any circumstances and in any situations; to ensure the safety and security of people, of the community and of the polity as a whole; to efficiently fill roles with a major social impact, such as the organization and functioning of education systems, of public healthcare and insurance; to create the legal framework for economic institutions and the unfolding of activities capable of generating growth, circumstances and opportunities for social integration of all members of society. Furthermore, the state has serious debts towards its citizens when it comes to preserving the optimal state of the natural environment, the preservation and management of natural resources, just like it has significant obligations to support cultural institutions and activities, in the broadest sense. Nobody is saying that these functions should be performed exclusively by the state's institutions. But, regardless of the contribution of other societal segments, the state has taken on these debts and furthermore, justifies its insatiable hunger for more and more taxes through the need to provide these functions. The list is not done yet, but we can stop here. Any analysis of the way in which countries "pay" these debts, from the major powers of the world to the smaller ones, arrives to the same conclusion: the dramatic failure, which borders closely on a complete default. Under the impact of daily events, people are starting to find that even when it comes to the citizens' safety, the states aren't the "lions" that the official propaganda makes them out to be. In Turkey, to go with the most readily available example, the state just arrested over 60,000 people whom it mistreats and whose lives it is destroying, on claims that somebody, who is not specified, was allegedly planning a coup, which failed! What should we take away from this? Whenever it wants, the state can become a major generator of individual and social insecurity itself, on a large scale. Not only do its citizens have no hope of being protected by the law, but they should actually expect anything to happen! On a whim, the state suspends the fundamental rights and freedoms, when worst comes to worst, and the people's lives, the law, fairness and justice can be replaced by the fierce revenge of those yelling in all tones of voice, for anyone to hear, in Europe: "I am the state"!!! Except that Europe is busy itself, isn't it?, with its own problems and doesn't have the time to notice what is happening in the country which not long ago, Germany was saying was just right to join the EU! But it isn't only in Turkey that citizens are forced by the current reality to notice that the state isn't capable of taking care of their security in an effective manner. France is another readily available example.

After the events in Nice, some citizens justifiably complained about the failure of the security measures, in an event celebrating the National Day of France. Furthermore, some of them have announced that they were going to ask the courts to decide who and to what extent was guilty for these criminal "lapses" in the procedures and measures for ensuring people's safety in a public event, which was known and prepared months in advance!!! What was the reaction of the "state"? More specifically, of some of those wallowing in the luxury of the privileges offered by the high official institutions, starting with impotent Hollande himself? They got offended!!! How can that be, some lowly citizens daring to accuse Its Majesty, the State, of failing to honor its contractual obligations???!!! And to add insult to injury, the Internal Affairs minister has announced the subjects of the state of Freedom, Equality and Fraternity that from now on, they can expect events like the one in Nice all the time, events which the state won't be able to prevent in the future, just like it wasn't able to deal with them in the past, as a result of universal fatality!!! The same chilling wind has started blowing in Germany, as, in less than two weeks, there have been three events involving lethal violence in public. So what is the State doing? Sleeping on the job? Who cares about all the paperwork, plans, resolutions and stamps put on who knows what papers, when people are getting killed by bullets, axes or machetes, or by devastating explosions? It is clear that somebody, and not just some persons, but institutions of the state, if not the State itself, is seriously, criminally liable to its citizens!!! It seems the time has come for citizens to hold the state to account. To note the failure to meet the contractual obligations and to plan the restructuring of the institutions that we collectively call the State from the ground up.

"Let's build a city and a tower... to build a fame. The city, the Tower, here is the universe made by human labor; fame, the name, as we know, is History" Paul Zumthor's essay dedicated to the biblical parable of the Tower of Babel presents incompleteness as an integral part of the human destiny, both on an individual and historical scale. Paradoxically, this condition serves a positive role! It is the "flaw" that saves us from the certain destruction that our collective projects, motivated by Power and Pride, are pushing us towards,. So it's no wonder to find that modernity is nothing else but a history of imperfection, another failed project. Once spread across the globe, people, communities and their modern societies repeat, each in their own area, the steps of the Babel project. And no other "product" of their endeavors better embodies the elements of the paradigm then the State. Modern states are nothing else than versions of the archetypal tower in the Senaar country.