The year 2021 saw the world in turmoil, grappling with Covid-19-related challenges, overcoming supply-side disruptions, and dealing with the critical task of reviving the economies and managing high commodity prices.
At a broader level, the world became more polarised in the preceding year than before. A fierce competition marked the conduct of major powers as they hastened to blame each other for the world’s current perilous state.
An acute lack of global leadership exacerbated these crises of varied nature. There has clearly been some reluctance to play by the global rules of engagement, as several internal challenges kept the leadership occupied. The peculiar nature of these domestic deficits has served as a blow to the forward march of globalism.
The current mix of different challenges threatens to undermine the confidence of ordinary people in the ideals of pluralism, press freedom, and religious and political liberties. Questions are being raised on the relevance and ability of our institutions of democracy and globalisation to show the way forward.
Given the criticality of these challenges, old and cliched solutions are not enough. There is a need for a serious look at the state of the world and a greater understanding of the genuine concerns and apprehensions that people have developed.
Fashioning a durable, consensual and community-owned response to global issues is something that involves effective role of, and interaction among, political parties. For too long have world bodies operated in silos and remained stuck in a bureaucratised thought pattern. The time to break this mould and look for fresh ideas that are locally generated and owned by local communities has come.
The feeling of alienation can be eliminated through the expansion of dialogue and fostering engagement around the issues of relevance to the people. How to incorporate a local buy-in into the working and structure of global institutions remains another key challenge. However, with innovation and technological advancement, evolving such a system should not be difficult.
Ever since Omicron has rung the alarm bells, the world is thinking of ways and means to battle this new variant of the deadly coronavirus. I believe that the best way to fight the pandemic and survive the multiple disasters caused by it remains the foundational principle for global cooperation. The international community should pool their intellectual, material and scientific resources together to find solutions to this most urgent and disruptive public health challenge.
We ‘swim or sink together’ depending on how we respond to the calamity. Individual approaches cannot do much to keep us safe. The role of civil society, community organisations and political parties remains paramount here. They can work together to build pressure on their respective governments to opt for collective solutions.
The development of vaccines to fight Covid-19 is a miraculous achievement. However, what is worrisome is ‘vaccine nationalism’, whereby powerful nations are prioritising their own needs to the exclusion of the developing world that is suffering the most.
The Global North must not fail the Global South. The very nature of the pandemic shows that all of humanity shares similar predicaments and challenges, no matter their varying levels of material development.
The developing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan presents another daunting challenge for the international community. The UN, the World Food Programme, and all international organisations have warned about the imminent meltdown of the Afghan state.
Famine is staring people in the face, as the harsh and long winter starts. Children are dying of starvation. Afghanistan is on its way towards becoming the biggest tragedy of our times if global concerted action is not taken to avert the crisis.
The world may have some genuine concerns about a Taliban-led government, but these apprehensions should not stop them from addressing the needs of the Afghan people.
The plight and welfare of Afghan men, women and children should guide international efforts. The consequences of failure on this count are too horrible to even think about. A collapsing Afghan state will become the hotbed of terrorism and lead to a massive influx of refugees around the world.
As Pakistan has repeatedly pointed out, the world must act fast to avert the humanitarian crisis. So far, the global response has been lacklustre and inadequate, and the Afghan people have every reason to feel betrayed.
The rise of populism across different parts of the world is hugely worrying. The prevalence of this narrow nationalistic ideology means that our shared values of pluralism, tolerance and human rights are under threat.
Populism has resulted in the erosion of multilateralism. While international institutions such as the UN, WTO, WHO, etc may not be in ideal shape, they are still our best bet. The world needs an approach rooted in cooperation and coordination than competition and much less rivalry.
The global nature of crises like the pandemic and climate change means that we can make the world a place worth living for our succeeding generations if we work in unison in line with the spirit of globalisation.
There can be no greater protection and defence against divisive ideologies of populism, narrow nationalism and xenophobia than an inclusive democracy, acting as an instrument for a positive change in the socio-economic conditions of the people.
The neoliberal economic and political architecture has served the interests of the global capitalist elite and failed the people around the world. This class has used international institutions as a smokescreen to project and pursue its agendas, causing popular resentment and erosion in the confidence.
A vacuum so created has been exploited by those with vested interests. Hence, a powerful momentum against globalisation that is, among other things, based on genuine concerns and deprivations is the need of the hour.
It is here that rethinking not just the hardware but also the software of global institutions in terms of their governing philosophy needs to be prioritised to prevent our world from treading a potentially more dangerous path ahead.
The writer studied International Journalism at the University of Sussex.
He tweets @Amanat222 and can be reached at: amanatchpk@gmail.com
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