International

In almost every church in the Netherlands the same Christmas carol is sung: “Komt allen tezamen!” Literally translated: “all come together!” Yet does everyone really mean what it says? “Together” implies that there should be no social exclusion. “Together” means practical solidarity: so you don’t, unlike the government, demand still more of those who are already having it tough. Together means that the strongest shoulders are happy to carry the heaviest loads, because by doing so they add to the meaning of their lives. Together means that everyone belongs, whatever the colour of their skin, their religion, their gender or their sexual orientation. Together means giving refugees a place where they can forget the troubles they have left behind. There is enough for everyone, but everyone must really want to come together. Can that be achieved in 2015?

In Brussels, a neoliberal wind is blowing, undiminished. The wind of “me, me, me,” often wrapped up in the right to choose for oneself, though to do so you must be materially and physically capable of choosing. You don’t then promote a society from which the most advantaged people withdraw, because they want ‘nothing to do with failures’, or a society from which the most vulnerable are banished into illegality, as are rejected asylum seekers, or to the street, like those who have no work and cannot pay for a roof over their heads.

All come together. Will we do that this year? With everyone shouldering the burden? Say no to the corporate lobby which sees the market as a panacea, but at the same time evades taxes on a grand scale? And yes to those employers who are conscious of their social responsibility and along with their workers try to create and run a social company? Yes to those home helps who, despite the government’s marketisation, continue tirelessly to provide care. Yes to the people from the Salvation Army who are protesting against social exclusion and try to reach out to the homeless, to runaways, and other vulnerable people?

At the SP we’re signed up to this: some of us will celebrate Christmas in the church, singing “All Come Together”. Others prefer to spend Christmas in other ways. What we have in common, however, is that we are never going to turn our backs on our society. We feel at one with those who feel responsible for each other and everyone is included in this. Working together, as befits a society, the Dutch word for which - “samenleving” - translates literally as “living together”. I wish everyone a Happy Christmas, spent with as many other people as possible.