The obsession with cryptocurrency, euro skepticism and sovranismo/ trump, anti vax, and some types of alternative living are all a part of a trend toward decentralization.

In a way since the dawn of civilization cultures have been in a tension between centralization/ civilization building and decentralization/autarchy.

Civilizations rise, centralized. They become corrupt, inequality increases and people start desiring decentralization. When civilization collapses, a decentralized world is what you have left.

The current desire for decentralization is the direct descendent of the transition we are going through from bipolar to a multipolar world, with a weakened US, stronger regional powers, cheaper energy and cheaper weapons.

I want to argue that this decentralization is a natural impulse in civilization but is also very dangerous.

Identity politics is also a part of it possibly.

Possibly also low interest rates.

• Nativism, euroscepticism, white supremacy on the one hand; "wokeness" and the wave of racial justice activism of the past years on the other, but also islamic extremism and blockchain, are part of one phenomenon: the rise of decentralized tribal identities in reaction to the globalist hype of the 90s, but also of communist internationalism.

• For the second half of the XX Centuries, both superpowers had global scope: lassaiz-faire liberalism on the one hand, communist internationalism on the other. The dominant ideology was, we are all the same, therefore our model can be expanded to the whole world. This model reached its peak in the 90s: the coalition of the willing fights the gulf war, the Washington consensus rules, NAFTA, Globalization, etc. Then starting with 9/11 - but with signs already before such as the Iranian revolution and some Western thinkers, the trend was reversed. Regional, religious, local identities became stronger and stronger

• But we have seen this movie before: pre-WW2 globalization, despite its differences, showed a feeling of "we are all similar" - at least among Western powers.

• Decentralized tribal identities are a function of three axes

  • Us vs them - the core of the concept of identity. A restricted identity becomes the main lens through which people look at the world. For all of the parties involved identity is invariably under threat, oppressed and on the verge of being wiped out.
  • Mistrust of the central authority - also a reaction to what people are seeing in China
  • Harkening back to History, or revising it. History is more present than ever

• These movements are obviously not the same: some have murderous intentions, some come to supposedly right ancient wrongs.

• Why are these ideologies toxic?

  • They flatten and stereotype people
  • They antagonize people into an us vs them mindset
  • They get people stuck into a victimhood mindset

From another note