"Let our New Year's resolution be this: we will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word"
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A New Year's resolution is usually a private contract with the self; Persson deliberately drags it into the public square. The line takes a ritual that can be sugary, even consumerist, and repurposes it as civic instruction: the point of turning the calendar is not self-optimization but mutual obligation. Coming from a politician, that pivot matters. It frames solidarity not as charity or sentiment, but as a standard people should demand from institutions and from each other.
The phrasing "fellow members of humanity" is intentionally broad, bordering on bland, and that is the strategy. Persson isn’t speaking to a party base or a national myth; he’s widening the circle until it becomes hard to justify exclusions. In the late-20th/early-21st century European context that Persson is often read within, this kind of language sits in the shadow of debates over immigration, welfare, and what "community" is allowed to mean. By choosing "humanity" over "nation", he quietly contests the idea that care should stop at borders or bloodlines.
The kicker is "in the finest sense of the word". That little clause admits there are cheaper senses available: performative empathy, abstract tolerance, the polite non-interference that passes for decency. Persson is trying to smuggle in a more demanding definition, one where being "there" implies material presence - time, resources, political choices - not just good intentions. It's a resolution that flatters the listener while also recruiting them, which is exactly how effective democratic rhetoric works.
The phrasing "fellow members of humanity" is intentionally broad, bordering on bland, and that is the strategy. Persson isn’t speaking to a party base or a national myth; he’s widening the circle until it becomes hard to justify exclusions. In the late-20th/early-21st century European context that Persson is often read within, this kind of language sits in the shadow of debates over immigration, welfare, and what "community" is allowed to mean. By choosing "humanity" over "nation", he quietly contests the idea that care should stop at borders or bloodlines.
The kicker is "in the finest sense of the word". That little clause admits there are cheaper senses available: performative empathy, abstract tolerance, the polite non-interference that passes for decency. Persson is trying to smuggle in a more demanding definition, one where being "there" implies material presence - time, resources, political choices - not just good intentions. It's a resolution that flatters the listener while also recruiting them, which is exactly how effective democratic rhetoric works.
Quote Details
| Topic | New Year |
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