The world: Insecure, uncertain, unpredictable

We all have a stake in doing whatever we can in our own way to prevent the situation from worsening

Thoughts & Reflections

By Dr R Neerunjun Gopee

As has been remarked about newly-sworn in President of the USA Donald Trump, the only thing we can say about him is his unpredictability. Testimony to that is his rapid-fire signing of nearly 200 executive orders on his very first day in the White House. Several of them have drastic implications for both US residents and the world, and some are already being taken to court by e.g. the American Civil Liberties Union.

Much the same can be said about the world, with added and increasing and cross-cutting insecurities and uncertainties.

However, the entrenched ‘axes’ of hatred/violence/evil notwithstanding, dedicated people from several walks of life and varied disciplines all over the world are plodding on to consolidate our acquired comparative advantages, as well as innovating in diverse fields of human endeavour to provide humanity with the means to make a better living and to enhance, if not necessarily enrich, the lives of millions. Any number of examples can be cited to illustrate this view, such as drug development and medical robotics, marvels of engineering and technology, the vertiginous strides in the communications sector and the latest tool to take the world by storm: AI.

At the same time, though, we have to face ground realities which trail us like a shadow or rather, like gunpowder. Someone who had studied in London almost three decades ago recently revisited. He told me how he felt apprehensive when he was travelling by the underground. He couldn’t help thinking about the terror attack that took place many years ago, carried out by what the British press then called ‘home-grown terrorists,’ and during which a Mauritian citizen, Rachel, lost her life. Unlike when he was a student there, he didn’t see a single White British face among the travellers, and he didn’t hear a single word of English being spoken! The native Britishers themselves refer to their capital city as Londonistan…

All these acts of terror are directed at soft targets, mainly innocent civilians who have nothing to do with the self-prophesising frustrations that some groups of people have decided to inflict upon themselves in perpetuity. Such scenarios and scenes are splashed around the world on screens both large and small in billions of houses like an open book, and make our stomachs churn.

Thus, it can be seen that while many people are busy constructing, others prefer to specialize in destroying, and preferably violently, in many cases not sparing their own kind. How then can we expect such people to show respect for others’ lives and values? It is a sad comment that while the vast majority of people all over the world would like to be left to live in peace, a comparatively fewer others – but still sizeable and organized enough! – are sworn to put all sorts of obstacles in the way. As mankind evolved from cave life, it was hoped that it would leave behind the barbarian, atavistic impulses and become more refined, accommodating to others in a mutually sustainable manner. Hope belied…

On the other hand, although as a whole the world is undoubtedly making progress, yet the fruits of this progress are not equally or equitably distributed. There are many reasons of course, simple or complex as the case may be, but the walkout of developing country representatives during earlier WTO meetings held in Geneva and the gap between the European Union’s position and that of the US are an indication that some rigidities appear to be unsurmountable. Besides it is a fact that the Ukraine war has further disrupted supply chains.

Restricting the markets of the developed world by unfair and asymmetrical tariffs puts in jeopardy the livelihood of millions in the developing world, especially farmers many of whom have committed suicide in sheer desperation. The days of mountains of butter and rivers of milk going to waste while there are starving millions elsewhere seem not to be over as yet.

Food security, the primary condition for survival, is indeed a major issue all over the world. Distributive policies – or absence of such –, trade practices and rivalries, hoarding, all these contribute to create an uncertain environment, and growing numbers of people become left out in the cold as a result. Allied to this is of course energy supply. We have seen how these factors have affected local prices, which have gone up tremendously as a result of a chain effect when the prices of petrol and electricity went up. Down the line of the chain, the price rise of goods is usually out of proportion to the triggering cause, and households find themselves spending proportionately more on food, leaving little money for other expenditure, effectively thus preventing social emancipation of families.

Personal security is also no longer guaranteed, what with the civilian law and order situation almost everywhere around the world deteriorating. It is not necessary to list the individual cases that we read about every day, but as we are aware the danger lurks very close to us all the time. Cases of abuse of children have surfaced with a sickening regularity, and all manner of crime are committed on them including sexual violence frequently followed by murder. How some people – relatives and close ones in many cases – can bring themselves to go to such extremes is beyond the comprehension of the ordinary mortal.

The rationalisations offered after crimes are committed are merely pretexts, and they become all the more condemnable the louder they are voiced. We had thought that human depravity had reached its limits with Hitler’s extermination machines and machinery. We had, alas, reckoned without the preying instincts of parents or relatives on their very own progeny. Mauritius must rank pretty high on the notorious league table that this category of crime falls into.

On the environment front, the news is not much better. Despite some controversies that exist among experts, there is sufficient evidence, according to analysts – flash floods, melting glaciers, abnormal heat and cold waves amongst others – that global warming is indeed a reality. Developed and developing nations are locked in a battle about trade-off of carbon emissions, and rapidly developing countries do not take kindly to the moral high-ground of the rich country emitters of carbon dioxide. With the US pulling out of the Paris Accord on climate change, the uncertainties increase.

These scenarios are not meant to scare but to create the necessary awareness that we all have a stake in doing whatever we can in our own way to prevent them from worsening, for it is the very future of mankind that many decisions, taken beyond our shores, will threaten.

Human life is worth it for its own sake: that is the message that we must pass around.

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 24 January 2025