Boxing Day

Twenty years ago today, one of the worst natural disasters in modern history struck off the west coast of Aceh in Indonesia. Killing more than two hundred thousand people across the region, including five hundred Swedish tourists who were on their winter vacation along the Andaman Coast. Learning about the catastrophe during my own winter vacation south of the Apennines in Italy, I remember thinking how quickly humanity was outgrowing its statist confines, and how unaware the Swedish political leadership seemed to be about the fact that there were 20,000 – 30,000 Swedes in the affected region. Yet, at the time, I would never have imagined that the world today would again be one of borders and checkpoints, that bombs would fall over Kyiv on Christmas, or that the only remaining political vision for the future seems to be ever higher military spending.