Dear reader,

Something surfaced that I could no longer let lie. Not as observation, but as alarm.

We have forgotten how a civilisation is built. Not by regulating, importing and morally soothing. But by making ourselves, carrying ourselves, taking risk ourselves. And it is precisely this that the Netherlands and Europe have systematically dismantled in recent decades. First work was made lighter. Then production was allowed to leave. Then dependence on China was sold as efficiency. Then every physical profession was placed under suspicion. And now we stand with an industrial immune system too weak to absorb strategic blows.

In this manifesto I write down what I want to face — and what I believe we must face. It is not a plea for recklessness. It is a plea for adulthood: a civilisation can only move forward if it accepts that danger does not disappear, but is borne. By people. With hands. With craftsmanship. With discipline.

Read the full manifesto on openvizier.org

A request — if you know one person who still really makes, repairs, builds or organises something in the physical world, send this to them. Not to support me, but because precisely those people are written off most harshly by a culture that confuses comfort with safety. They deserve status back, not suspicion.

There is no other way. We must get back to work ourselves. Not later. Now.

Warm regards, Jacobus van Merksteijn Malta