Black Box - English version Chora

We live in an age of permanent catastrophes: viruses and wars, nuclear threats and climate crises. If danger is everywhere, then it’s necessary to seek protection in closed up and impenetrable spaces: such as the North Star Missile Silo, one of the most secure havens ever made. North Star can be found in Kansas, and it was built to withstand an atomic explosion and every type of catastrophe. In short, a symbol of the cold war is once again back in fashion. In 2021, during the pandemic, the silo was auctioned off to a private owner at a base price of about 900,000 dollars. The space is impenetrable and the dream of the west is unspeakable. Welcome to the bunker.

Theatres are seeing the release of Civil War, by British director Alex Garland, and in the meanwhile the United States truly seem to be under the influence of irreconcilable differences. If we look to the markets we can see the best of all possible worlds, but in the streets Fentanyl is causing thousands of deaths, the middle class is getting poorer and poorer, and student debt is out of control. Meanwhile, investments focus mainly of the defense and arms industries, or towards safe-haven assets such as gold and bitcoin. War is always good business in a nation where the divide between American dream and American nightmare is greater than ever before.

On April 24th 2013, at 8.45. Rana Plaza – an eight-story building which houses several activities including some textile factories, at Savar near Dacca in Bangladesh – collapses upon itself. 1,134 people are killed, and 2,515 are wounded. The carnage wasn’t unexpected – and at the same time, it was the direct consequence of a production model which is ravaging our environment and society. It’s called “fast fashion” and it guarantees the systematic production of clothing at low prices thanks to the ruthless exploitation of workers, the lack of safety measures and the heavy use of petrol-based synthetic fibers. Over ten years have passed since that day, and the massacre of Rana Plaza is still one of the most brutal repressions of Western society.

Humans have being changing the landscape and balance of the Alps for over a century. The ecosystem was compromised after the devastation of the First World War and its reconstruction based on a monoculture of European spruce trees. One hundred years later, extreme weather events caused by climate change and the infestation of the so-called “spruce-bark beetle” have forced us to measure the ruinous effects of an economic model that has cancelled out biodiversity in the woodlands and opened up the mountain to hundreds of dangers.

A catastrophe is befalling the woodlands of Italy; in the regions of Trentino-Alto Adige, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It’s scientific name is Ips typographus, but it’s better known as the European Spruce Bark Beetle, because it loves to devour spruce bark trees. It’s a tiny beetle that feeds off wood, often attacking weakened or dead trees, but capable of attacking living ones as well if in large enough numbers. Nowadays, there are large patches of dark dry trees in the Alps. It’s a scourge caused by many factors: the change in natural balance, the destruction of an ecosystem, extreme weather and a devastating development model.

The financial indicators right now are wildly optimistic. The bond market especially is looking reliable, still supported by the liquidity injected last year to save regional banks affected by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Also, the stock market is seeing a large wave of purchases – not just institutional investors and hedge funds either, but families (who never invested so massively in equity like now). In this election year, the USA is a deeply divided country. But where politics divides, finance unites – and there is peace at least in the United Markets of America.