[Opinion] Volodymyr Zelensky, the new Greta Thunberg

Remember the Greta Thunberg craze? Not so long ago, the young Swedish activist, who led a school strike against inaction on climate change, armed with her delicate little sign, moved the crowds.

She has been around the world, not always physically, especially on our screens. She has been seen defending her beliefs in front of the world’s most powerful leaders. We invited her to come and teach us a lesson, tell us what to do, educate us, wake us up.

And our governments have made promises to that effect, hand in hand with her.

But, a pandemic later, another figure took his place with our leaders, that of a Ukrainian actor who became a warlord: Volodymyr Zelensky. It is now him that we display on all our screens, everywhere on the planet.

We give him the floor, in our parliaments, our classrooms, and even at the Cannes Film Festival. We are asked to lecture us on the state of international politics, but above all to inspire us with courage and determination.

And our governments have made promises to that effect, expressed solidarity with a people who are fighting to protect our ideals.

But Europe is burning, as much from the fires of war as from the oppressive heat. And, like our ideals, our habits hardly change, under the immutable certainty that everything will be fine: This is fine “, as stipulated by the character of a famous meme, peacefully seated, imperturbable, in his kitchen, yet the prey of the flames.

Meanwhile, solutions are being sought to rising fossil fuel prices which, ironically, are funding Russian advances into Ukrainian territory. The response studied and which seems to achieve consensus, at least for the Biden government, Ukraine’s main ally: to produce more fossil energy worldwide, especially in Saudi Arabia. How dictators can still make amends, until they stop serving our interests, or when Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, joins Putin, Hussein, etc.

Admittedly, we walked with Greta and we show solidarity with Zelensky, but we have to admit that we are mainly mobilized around our easy activism, waiting for a solution, without disturbing our summer holidays, apart from perhaps -being complaining on TikTok about the delay in retrieving our luggage following an intercontinental flight.

Or simply waiting for the next figure broadcast massively on our screens, intended to comfort us, to confirm to us that the problem is elsewhere, far from here, far from us, far from me.

Another solution to another problem, without lasting consideration.

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