HOW TO LIVE DECENTLY IN AN INDECENT WORLD

HOW TO LIVE DECENTLY IN AN INDECENT WORLD
By Dr Duncan Richard Shaw

Madrid, 9 June 2022

What I am going to try to do in these columns is offer my analysis of different aspects (political, ecconomic, social, cultural) of the contemporary global situation.

I have been told that I am fairly well qualified to do this, having visited more than 150 countries, either as a young traveller (back in the 1980s), or as a journalist and school teacher (in the 1990s) – or as a professor of history and international relations (in the 21st century).

I was originally going to call this series of columns As I Please, in appreciative reference to the legendary, thought-provoking, contrarian columns of George Orwell written between 1943 and 1947 for the British left-wing newspaper Tribune.

However, on second thoughts, I have opted for: How To Live Decently In An Indecent World.

Why? Because this is clearly, self-evidently an indecent world (illegal war, growing inequality, cost of living crisis, political and financial corruption, resource depletion, climate change, etc), but nonetheless we really must strive to live decently in it – an enormously difficult task.

This will be the main theme of my columns: how to live decently (with honesty, dignity, satisfaction, gratification, courage, etc), despite all the (obvious, discouraging, depressing) indecencies of life in 21st century neoliberal global capitalism.

All that remains for me to state at this point is that the analysis and opinions in these columns will be entirely my own and will not necessarily be shared by my employer: Schiller International University.