For the rest button to work, the international community (whatever that means) has to consensually agree to what “peace” means.
by Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne in Montreal
“You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ~ C.S. Lewis
2021 dawned on the world differently from other years, with glorious pyrotechnics illuminating a desolate and surreal world of dark skies and empty streets: fireworks that no one saw, and no one enjoyed in a gloomy and imprisoned world. It was a new year which nonetheless marked the perennial myth only we humans perpetuate - that by some miracle, the first day of a calendar year portends a “reset” that erases the misfortunes of a dead calendar year. In reality, as other animal species and mother nature follow, it heralds just the continuum of the misery we carry over from one calendar year to another.
But then we can ask, is this true for 2021?
The COVID-19 virus aside, which is the major misery we have to contend with, and which will eventually realise the futility of infesting the world where the might of human determination and the ingenuity of science will triumph at the end, there are many reasons to believe that a “reset” button which we can activate in 2021 really exists.
That reset button was given to us when the COVID-19 virus was yet to attack us, and way before we were even aware of the threat. On 17 September of 2019, the United Nations adopted Resolution 73/338 which designated 2021 as the International Year of Peace & Trust. The Resolution underscores that the International Year of Peace and Trust constitutes a means of mobilizing the efforts of the international community to promote peace and trust among nations based on, inter alia, political dialogue, mutual understanding, and cooperation, in order to build sustainable peace, solidarity and harmony. It calls upon the international community to continue to promote peace and trust among nations as a value that promotes sustainable development, peace and security, and human rights.
Resolution 73/338 goes on to invite all Member States, organizations of the United Nations system other relevant international and regional organizations and civil society, including non-governmental organizations, individuals, and other relevant stakeholders, to facilitate the observance of the International Year of Peace and Trust, in an appropriate manner and to disseminate the advantages of peace and trust, including through educational and public awareness-raising activities.
The key words here are “mobilizing the efforts of the international community” and “disseminate the advantages of peace and trust, including through educational and public awareness-raising activities”. To start with, we would have a new leader of the free world. Zanny Minton Beddoes – Editor in Chief of The Economist writes: “ …rather than attack with unilateral tariffs, Mr. Biden’s team will focus on building a multilateral coalition to counter China”. This is the mobilizing of the efforts of the international community that Resolution 73/338 talks of. Beddoes goes on: “Expect talk of a Transatlantic grand bargain, where America assuages European concerns about tech giants, particularly the personal data they gather, and the tax they don’t pay, in return for a joint approach towards Chinese tech companies. Expect talk of a new global alliance, building Asian democracies into the Western coalition to counter China – the basis, conceivably, of a new kind of American-led world order”.
This by no means implies any negativity or disingenuity on the part of the manner in which China has grown, but rather reflects the ineptitude of the West to recognize over the past few years the value of creating trust among allies to ensure equality of opportunity to compete with the Asian giants, especially China. The reset button calls upon the new President of the United States to deviate his concentration from repairing “yesterdays world (as Beddoes puts it) and to focus on tomorrow’s world”. This is the precise meaning and purpose of the United Nations Resolution.
There is no room for doubt that in the world of science and technology, the world will surge ahead with its efforts in gene editing, quantum computing and Blockchain smart contracts. . However, the reset button should enable the powers that be to apply their focus on peace and trust in the deployment of their efforts. Tom Standage, Editor of The Economist lists as one goal to be achieved in 2021 patching up the new world disorder: “ How much will Joe Biden, newly installed in the White House, be able to patch-up a crumbling rules-based international order? The Paris climate deal and the Iran nuclear deal are obvious places to start. But the crumbling predates Trump and will outlast his presidency”. The last statement is what the United Nations Resolution seemingly wants to prove wrong.
Daniel Franklin, Diplomatic Editor of The Economist is more specific: “ Who will run the world in 2021? International institutions such as the United Nations have been weakened by great-power rivalry. Russia will be a spoiler, not a leader. In Europe, Boris Johnson will have his hands full with the aftermath of Brexit, Germany’s Angela Merkel will leave the stage and France’s Emmanuel Macron has limited means to pursue his grand ideas. China is the rising superpower, and an increasingly assertive one, but not yet keen, let alone able, to take on the burdens of world leadership. The question is whether America, under President Joe Biden, will be prepared to step back into the role”
The International Year of Peace and Trust brings to mind post World War 11 efforts of the Western World. The Bretton Woods initiative; the unification of rules for commercial air transport; globalization of world trade, were all efforts to bring together a badly broken world and to make sense of a new world order. Obviously, 2021 will not be a full turnaround. However, the question remains as to whether the United States and its allies (those that are left) take some cognizance of the fact that if a “reset” button could work 75 years ago, it could work reasonably well to reverse the process aggravated by a virulent virus which as Zanny Minton Beddoes says: “…has changed the trajectory of the three big forces that are shaping the modern world”: globalization which has been truncated (which was in the process of being badly damaged by populism in the world anyway); geo-political rivalry; and inequality.
For the rest button to work, the international community (whatever that means) has to consensually agree to what “peace” means. Former Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon said in 2014: “ We know that peace cannot be decreed solely through treaties – it must be nurtured through the dignity, rights and capacities of every man and woman…It is a way of being, of interacting with others, of living on this planet… more than ever, it means living with others on the basis of tolerance, respect and mutual understanding”, In aviation terms, the Preamble to the Chicago Convention of 1944 talks of “friendship and understanding” among the people of the world.
Whether we can ever achieve this lofty ideal is another matter.
 has to consensually agree to what “peace” means. by Dr. Ruwa...){kind=link}
Post a Comment