Traveling for democracy
Traveling for democracy
It is the year of the election, the year of voting - all over the globe
Globally the year 2024 has more voters (than ever in history) marching to the polls as at least 64 countries (plus the European Union)—representing a combined population of about 49% of the people in the world—are holding elections.
My year was filled with travel to many of these countries and places. And what I found was similar, nuanced of course, but similar. Basically fascism has returned in pretty much every stripe and variant, and only voting smartly (and fighting against dis and mis information) will actually defeat it.
And whilst I have you - don’t trust social media for literally anything.
In Japan, I had a week of walking futurist Tokyo. Just Tokyo. It was my 10th time to Japan but this trip I could spend a week alone, just walking and seeing and hopefully I would peel a little under the skin of this city I loved so much. I met so many queer people in second hand vintage stores, in little ramen shops, in the Arc’teryx Design Center I met fan kids who brought their products and gear from far and wide to share with the community. The country voted last week and currently it is in a deadlock - leaving no party with a clear mandate to lead the world's fourth-largest economy. Japanese voters delivered a stinging rebuke to the country's longtime ruling party - and I felt it when I was there earlier in the year. People wanted more for their lives - whether they wanted gay marriage to be legal, or whether they were unhappy about inflation and rising costs. The voters came out and said, we need a shift. And so they voted.
In Fargo, ND, this summer I met someone who teaches little kids with special needs. She lives across the bridge in the state of Minnesota but comes to work part time as a server as a hip restaurant in this little special city of North Dakota. She shared how many women quietly cross the bridge to come have abortions, or women’s health services in Minnesota - a state that isn’t quite Handmaid’s tale, a state that let’s women do whatever they want with their bodies. And she told me, very clearly, that is why she is voting this election.
In Las Vegas I met ex-show girls who left New York and moved to Nevada to live their dream - and have consequently married Succession rich and now are sequestered in the fancy neighborhoods of the city. I did shabbat with them at a casino and met some of their friends. They’re wealthy, they’re smart and they are politically active - for the side I am not on. I listened to their ideas, their philosophies and what they thought. Most of it was disinformation (they’re eating the pets or the millions of murderers coming over the border, Kamala hates the Jews and you can imagine what else). And yes, they are voting. And this made me think, well, the only way to make any change is to head straight to the polls, to fight for what you believe in. We live in a two party system so you have two choices, and this is the moment to exercise that choice.
If you’re still wondering whether to turn up, perhaps a little Rachel Maddow will help - her podcast details how the fascists are just turning to the same playbook as they always have. Her podcast “Ultra” and her book “Prequel” detail the history of Nazi and far-right movements in America in the twentieth century—and the people who fought them.
In France I spend a weekend in Paris where every single friend from my life in Paris (I lived there for years) told me: we dodged a bullet - for better or for worse. I heard the Macron anger, I heard the Le Pen fear and I managed to piece together the puzzle and gamble of the year’s elections in France. It started when President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the Assemblée Nationale and called snap elections - gambling that he’d get enough support, annnnnnd that’s when that I-obviously-smoke-too-much right wing motley crew stepped in ready to unleash their zombies. It was close, the left (yes with all their faults) banded together and eventually defeated some fascists - just for Macron to appoint a right wing leaning cabinet. But so is democracy. Whilst in Reims for the opening of Ruinart’s incredible incredible design feat - taking the oldest champagne house on the planet and renovating and giving it new life with a Japanese architect - I spoke to locals, and they were all debating the future. This is why you vote, this is why you show up, this is exactly why it is crucial to never sit out an election.
In Romania where I spend a glorious week exploring gorgeous Bucharest and heading into the mountains of Transylvania I focused my time on history lessons. I met an art-loving gentleman who invited me to dinner with his wife and two sons. We talked about Romania’s history (and coming out of communism later than much of Europe) and how the country was now, finally, heading into a better direction in so many ways. A place with not much tourism (minus Bran Castle) is navigating a course with travel companies like beyonddracula.com (Bespoke Travel to Romania) plus courting young tech people to start their companies there. And so, they also have elections coming in December - and this a steadfast NATO member, will soon evaluate their Euroatlantic and pro-EU commitment. But of course, kind of like everywhere else, a far-right former football hooligan is polling strongly in the presidential race in a mega voting year for the Romanians. And every Romanian I spoke to, could see so clearly the looming fascism in their own country - something if you read their history of the 20th century is detailed in a fascinating narrative. So yes, they are gearing up for voting as well, because the fascists are waiting around every bend.
And in Mexico, the first female President. THAT happened this year too, and people voted her in - by crazy numbers. Claudia Sheinbaum's presidential victory came 70 years after women won the right to vote in Mexico - and yes her journey looks tough, but ohhh boy she looks tough to me. And when I spent time there this year people were getting fired up to finally have a person who is competent in charge.
In my home country, South Africa, there was a crucial election as well. And I was there as they were voting. There the African National Congress (ANC) party lost its majority in a historic election result that put South Africa on a new political path for the first time since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule 30 years ago. And boom, things shift. Never in my life did I think this could happen. And so far so good, a few months later and things are starting to look up for Africa’s biggest economy. I mean, do I have to spell this out, I guess so - voting did this, voting changed this trajectory. Every South African (rich/poor, gay/straight, brown/black/pink I know and spent time with during my time there were feeling hopeful…and that has to count for something.
And then when I landed in London (one of my many hometowns) and the Tories were finally pushed out by the opposition Labour Party….well, that was a moment for the ages. I was bopping to the happy beats of the country. Every friend I have - even the cynical ones, were celebrating. Next up we will have the 2025 local elections. And we better start seeing some change…but the voters are now involved, excited and have had it with the fascists and the racists and the xenophobes and the anti-semites. Voters in the UK - and trust me I heard them in Scotland also - are ready for serious change, because Brexit was a mess (thank you for not voting, and thank you for all that misinformation). The Empire might be over, but the UK still has the Spice Girls and they (and everyone else) deserve better.
No elections this year, but soon…
In Peru I spent time in a few cities across the map. In Lima, a city distraught by new pockets of violence, people are opening innovative shops (they have 4000 varietals of potatoes here, so the gastronomic ideas are sizzling), and restaurants (yes, Central is as amazing as people say - but it does make sense to start poking fun at the “World’s 50 Best” finally as the New Yorker points out. In Cusco, specialty coffee at design-led Three Monkeys is flourishing and they are bringing some of the best Andean grown beans to market. In Arequipa there is a hotel so sophisticated, so beautiful, so perfect you will be surprised to have found it. All of this, in spite of a government that has some might say have failed the people. Whether the President did get a collection of watches or not, the citizens of Peru are again concerned that corruption has taken over their country. But the people from my perspective, are looking hopeful.
As I boarded the Veuve Cliquot trip on the Belmond train that took us through the Sacred Valley of Peru at 15,000 ft and more, I thought, oh how fabulous - but also, I hope they vote in their election that is coming in 2026 and let their voices heard. Every person I spoke to felt that they deserved better leadership, and that they needed to find a way to be more competitive in the world (tech hub Lima, I see it). And as I spend time with native Peruvians (who still quote their Inca ancestors) I was told that this very wisdom, this thousands and thousands of years of wisdom, is exactly where their answers will lie - whether it was to feed the country, or protect the Amazon or just how to make decisions that are best for the people and their needs. And that is why they are making plans to vote, in giant numbers.
In Zambia we went with the best friends to Time and Tide on safari. And flew into small airports , like Mfuwe, in the eastern part of the country. I chatted to guides, and barmen, and just about anyone we met. The optimism, the pride of being Zambian (a country that did not have Apartheid) felt fresh and exciting. And then the county discovered they had much more copper than they imagined, and suddenly things looked even a touch brighter. What is crazy is that A.I. helped find this copper. Although they also have elections also in 2026, this is what the citizens have been waiting for. This could transform a country at the brink of absolute development boon. But as our favorite pilot told me after our little bush flight, citizens need to vote in a government that will keep the Chinese overlords at bay, that let’s this country grow not just for a few corrupt politicians but for everyone. And this is why they’re voting.
Still to come
Next up this year I am heading to Brazil, and I thought they had saved themselves as former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva defeated the far-right fascist incumbent Jair Bolsonaro not so long ago. But there seems to be a little trouble, even there as they have a year of local elections. Sao Paulo Mayor Ricardo Nunes was reelected last week to serve another four years in Brazil's largest city, defeating leftist challenger Guilherme Boulos in the country’s municipal runoffs that confirmed a rightward swing by voters. And this is unfortunately what could shape the country's 2026 presidential and congressional elections. I’ll let you know what I find out on the ground.
And then there were the people I met on the road. On a flight from Houston to San Francisco I talked to an oil and gas guy who didn’t need to vote for Kamala, because his daughters would “never be in a position where they would need an abortion.” Or the little hop of a California coast flight where an undecided voter told me he just wasn’t sure who to pick because he felt like America just wasn’t great anymore. I gave him a few stats about this great nation: low unemployment, lowest inflation in G7 countries, highest GDP growth in the world, one of the poorest states, Mississippi, you still earn more on average than Germans do, now the largest energy producer in the world, deficit cut, illegal immigration finally down, record highs on the stock market, number on in right and prosperity - as Scott Galloway and Kara Swisher said on Pivot, it is still the greatest nation on earth and we can be grateful to be born here. We do not need to make it great, it is already great. Thus, vote to protect that and make it even greater.
And there have been other voters - the ones wanting to punish the Democrats for Gaza, or the ones voting for a third party (In case you needed an argument for trying to convince someone NOT to do it, use this one: I liked this environmental reasoning a lot). Or the ones who think by not voting they are making a statement. Or the power hungry undecided voters (don’t get me started), or the family members who are just not informed enough to make a decision…or that friend who is listening to biased media and not setting her mind straight to vote.
This has been my year, talking politics, learning how others think and dream.
But, nobody on the planet said it better this election cycle than Michelle Obama in Kalamazoo, Michigan (another place we road tripped through this year and hung out with Sue and Sue, a retired insurance gal and a retired State Trooper - both who are voting and canvassing for votes all over Iowa and Michigan):
“I know that if we want to help this country finally turn the page on the politics of hatred and division, we can’t just sit around and complain. No, we’ve got to do something.”
I travel for a living. It gives me a unique little peep show of the world. My feeling traversing the world, is that we are done with the anger - we’re ready for joy. And that’s why there is only one way to keep that flame alive - to the polls for all of us.
Please vote. I did it and I know that every single vote matters.