From Canada to New Zealand, values such as transparency, kindness and empathy challenge the toxicity and lies of social media, the populist right and the corrupt elites portrayed in the Epstein case documents.
In this fearsome winter, it takes an indomitable spirit and some luck not to be swept away by mental or climatic depressions — there are already five of them at once: Ingrid, Joseph, Kristin, Leonardo and Marta. But not only the elements in the atmosphere: the international situation is also undeniably depressing.
Lately, The New York Times’ top ten stories have almost invariably been about two old friends: Donald Trump and JeUrey Epstein. Even when they don’t talk directly about them, they reveal consequences or scandals that interactions with them cause or will cause. It is a whirlwind of lies, perversions and more or less toxic and bearable mud, sadly similar to the black and viscous trail left by storms in Alcácer do Sal or Cádiz.
In these desperate circumstances, a few inspiring figures stand out who radiate common sense and show courage and leadership — from Canada to New Zealand to neighboring Spain. Mark Carney came to power less than a year ago to face the threats of the Trumpian Leviathan, who threatened to make Canada “the 51st state” of bars and stars. At the last Davos summit, he gave a memorable speech that earned a standing ovation from those attending the World Economic Forum.
In the now famous speech, in which he cited an essay by the Czech dissident Václav Havel, he proclaimed the “rupture in the world order” and the “beginning of a brutal reality, in which relations between great powers take place without any limits to their actions”. “We are in the middle of a rupture, not a transition”, he insisted. “The middle powers must act together, because if they are not at the table, they are on the menu.”
“When the whole world was looking for a voice in Europe to stop Donald Trump, it was a Canadian with a satisfied retired appearance who rose up against him”, wrote ‘El País’, which published the speech in full, as did ‘Expresso’. In it, the Canadian Prime Minister defends the “strengthening of the strategic autonomy” of middle powers in “energy, food, critical minerals, finance and supply chains”.
In a world without the rules and protection provided by the USA since 1945, Carney argues that it is necessary to establish new trade agreements (as Canada and the European Union are doing) and invest much more in defense. Canada is a founding member of the Coalition of the Willing to support Ukraine and was the first G7 country to recognize Palestine, on the same day as Portugal (September 21, 2025).
Sánchez against the ‘technoligarchs’
“Carney is brilliant, but he is also pragmatic and possibilist. Although he worked as a UN special envoy for Climate Action [e Finanças]when he became Prime Minister of Canada, he removed the tax on emissions”, recalls ‘El País’. At the last Davos meeting, one of the major absentees was Pedro Sánchez, who had to cancel his trip due to the railway crisis in Spain — in addition to the tragic accident in Adamuz, there were others less serious, but still capable of sinking what was once the pride of the neighboring country: the second fastest railway network in the world, after Japan.
However, the Spanish Prime Minister regained his lost prominence in Davos with two measures at the antipodes of Trump’s dystopia: the regularization of half a million undocumented people and the prohibition of access to social networks for minors under 16. Sánchez proposed five measures to mitigate the impact of networks on the mental health of minors and stop the spread of hate and misinformation. It also wants to promote a law so that platform managers are legally responsible for infractions committed on them.
In the crosshairs are two of the most powerful “masters of the algorithm”, in the words of Sánchez: the owner of the social network X, Elon Musk, and the owner of Telegram, Pável Dúrov. Musk was quick to react, accusing “dirty Sánchez” of being a “tyrant” and a “totalitarian fascist”. The general secretary of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party did not back down: “The voice of democracy will not be bent by the ‘technoligarchs’ of the algorithm”.
Ardern’s empathy
At the antipodes of male ‘hyperleaderships’, but also geographically, is the former leader of the Labor party and the New Zealand Executive until 2023, Jacinda Ardern. For a six-year period, the youngest head of government in the world exercised power with disarming empathy and honesty, to the point of unleashing a ‘Jacindamania’ that placed New Zealand, a small country with little relevance on the world board, under the spotlight.
Ardern published a book last year that talks about her time in power, a period that left its mark on her mental health — partly because she didn’t feel prepared for so many responsibilities and sacrifices, but also because she learned she was pregnant just days before being elected prime minister.
The story of the daughter of Mormons who lost her faith, wore an Islamic veil in solidarity with the victims of the attack on a mosque in Christchurch (2019) and abandoned power is called ‘A different power’ and talks about subjects that are uncommon in political memories: motherhood, fragility, and “imposter syndrome” — one of the reasons that led her to leave the Executive. In an unprecedented decision, Ardern claimed she did not have “enough energy” to continue and expressed her desire to spend more time with her partner and daughter.
Carney, Sánchez and Ardern are not perfect figures nor are they free from contradictions, but they represent a way of being in politics radically opposed to the authoritarian or illiberal drift embodied by Trump, Viktor Orbán or Javier Milei. A style that offers a less binary and populist vision of the world, with values such as kindness (Carney spoke of this on the day he won the elections), tolerance (invoked by Sánchez in the face of hatred spread through social media), transparency and empathy (Ardern in her memoirs).
A shining city on a hill
The defense of liberal flags therefore extends from humble New Zealand to immense and rich Canada. But it crosses Europe, and is reorganizing itself internally in the United States thanks to the tireless work of leading figures such as Bernie Sanders, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and Zoram Mamdani. The progressive wing of the Democratic party, reinforced by Mandami’s victory in New York and the abrupt drop in Trump’s popularity, is currently leading the fight against oligarchs and corrupt elites in the USA.
The promise to end corrupt elites brought Trump to power, but if anyone represents the impunity of elites and oligarchies it is precisely the 47th POTUS, who now finds himself dragged by the undisputed links to Epstein. The fight to oust the current tenant of the White House will be the fight of a lifetime for a generation of citizens who see what Ronald Reagan called “a shining city on a hill” threatened, for the first time in the 250-year history of the world’s oldest democracy in the world — the expression to describe the United States as an exceptional nation, a beacon of freedom, hope and opportunity.
It was in another famous speech, Reagan’s farewell speech after eight years as president. The year was 1989. There was still a wall in Berlin and grocers, on the communist side, who put up a sign every day in the window that said: “Workers of the world, unite!” The grocer’s gesture seems innocent, but, according to Havel, it was one of the many lies that supported the communist regime.
This parable, evoked by Carney in Davos, belongs to the essay ‘The power of the powerless’, written in 1978. In 2026, Carney suggests combating lies with the same recipe as the Czech writer: “The power of the less powerful begins with honesty”, he stated in Switzerland.
Honesty is one of the hallmarks of Ardern’s book, where she admits guilt and weaknesses. And it shines through its absence in the unpunished deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, simply for protesting against Trump. The explanations of Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, about the murders perpetrated by ICE and the Border Guard, are pure disinformation, post-truths, alternative facts.
Honesty is, therefore, at the center of the struggles that will mark this century and the following, from climate change to the risks that genetic manipulation or artificial intelligence, without due regulation and control, pose to our species. Honesty and mental health: fewer algorithms and less Prozac to combat oligarchs, tyrants and existential risks in times of ‘Trumpepstein’.
