Daniel Levin: «You Shouldn’t Become Embittered and Cynical»
Most impostors are to be found in politics and the financial sector, author Daniel Levin says in an interview with finews.asia. The more power there is at stake, the greater the «rewards».
Daniel Levin, in your new book you describe a world of charlatans and impostors. What prompted you to examine this theme?
For me it was to describe the various aspects of my experience with the subject of power. It includes manipulation. As an author, you have two options: either you present yourself as a hero, capable of manipulating anyone like a puppet; or you are more honest and describe how you are being manipulated yourself. I chose the second option.
Are there areas where manipulators are more likely to operate?
The more power there is at stake, the greater the «rewards». Basically, most impostors are to be found in politics and the financial industry. There are a lot of false friendships, which are quickly cast aside when the aims can no longer be met.
Although your book focuses on serious issues, it does have an amusing undertone. A deliberate tactic?
I am no preacher and don’t like moralizing. Many experiences can only be digested properly when you are able to laugh about them at the end of the day.
«Africa always meant a lot to me»
Of course it isn’t easy when you're mistaken. But you shouldn’t become embittered and cynical. If you tried to avoid taking any risks, you wouldn't get the pleasant experiences either.
What differentiates the charlatans of this world culturally?
Corruption exists in almost every country of the world. This is just as true for people who seek power. What is most painful is when these experiences are inefficient. I often am in the Arab world due to my activities. There it can take years before you gain some people’s confidence.
Fundamentally, you have to like a particular region and its culture. Personally, Africa has always meant a lot to me, although I have had bad experiences there too, as I describe in my book. China on the other hand poses very different challenges. All this is of great interest to me.
In Asia everyone nods, but they mean something else, right?
Saying yes and then nodding is a universal principle. Most people don’t have the courage to say no – even in the U.S., where one expects a fairly direct and open way of communication.
«Actually, for a long time I didn’t know where I would live later»
In Washington for instance no-one in politics would say they weren’t really interested in you. You have to perceive the subtle signs of the time – like when some people never return your calls, or when you can only ever reach their secretaries on the phone. Essentially people are the same all over the world.
You spent your youth and educational years in Switzerland. What do you still remember from those times?
I have pleasant memories of Switzerland. My family moved to Zurich in 1970, where I attended gymnasium and later studied at the university. My mother came from the Ticino, and actually for a long time I didn’t know where I would live later.
«Trump is like a cake mixer, where one has forgotten to screw on the lid»
I wrote my thesis in Israel and later also worked there. I then obtained a stipend to do a post-doctorate in the USA, where I then worked in a various legal practices. That is almost 30 years ago; my parents, my sister and my friends still live here.
Will you stay in the U.S.?
A couple of years ago I would have certainly said yes. Today I’m not so sure anymore. At the end of the day it will depend on how polarization develops in the U.S. Actually I am well rooted, because of my family and my children. But I have serious concerns.
Because of the increasing polarization under US President Donald Trump?
Donald Trump is simply a manifestation of all that. The polarization in the U.S. exists between urban and rural areas. There are no attempts to seek a consensus anymore. Things are only decided on the basis of majorities, which is getting ever more difficult because it is being prevented from both sides.
And what role does Donald Trump play?
He's like a mixer you forgot to put a lid on. He is loud and everything flies through the air. Trump isn’t the real problem, it is rather the unbelievable cultural polarization in the country.
What do you ascribe that to?
What worries me about the U.S. is the issue of slavery, which has never been properly discussed and analyzed. My children are young adults. They have black friends, whose parents are constantly scared of their kids being arrested or shot by police when they go out at night – simply because of the color of their skin.
«China can with good reason regard itself as the Middle Kingdom»
The cultural gap is the last barrier to modernization and the civil rights movement in the U.S. There are people who would still rather see the world as it was in the 1950s. For them Donald Trump is the defender of a long-lost time.
Are you interested in history?
Oh yes, for me it is essential. Certain events in current global politics can only be understood in an historical context. If you don’t understand Russian nationalism, you will never understand Vladimir Putin – the humiliation following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and everything since being an effort to catch up.
Or take China’s new self confidence. The past century was one big catastrophe, but China has a 5,000-year-long tradition, and the Chinese thus have every reason to consider themselves the Middle Kingdom.
55-year-old Daniel Levin is a lawyer. He spent his childhood as the son of a diplomat in the Middle East and in Africa, and later went to school and studied in Switzerland and the U.S. For more than 20 years he has worked as an economic development consultant and political reformer for governments and institutions. He is presently a member of the Liechtenstein Foundation for State Governance. He lives near New York City. Based on his personal experiences, and collected during his career as a global consultant, Levin reflects in his book «Nothing but a Circus» with a sharp and bittersweet look at events behind the corridors of power.
