Beyond the Covid-19 Pandemic

May 27, 2021 2021, Archives, Int'l Affairs, MAY 2021 Leave a comment

Beyond 
the Covid-19
Pandemic

Global Peace and
Imperatives of Our Future

Understanding Tragic Tensions of Politics and Scientific Cure
Many political leaders in the Western democratic culture failed to understand the wide range of social, economic, medical and political prejudices, legal injustices and vices of racial discrimination which compounded and highlighted the public portrait of racial injustices and degradation of human values for visible minorities, people of colour and indigenous peoples across the board. The public outrage and demonstrations are historic reflections, and were not attended by the systematic legal and moral values of the so-called Western liberal democracies. Ostensibly, large segments of societies – be it in America or Western and Eastern Europe – were denied access to equal freedom, justice and role within the working culture of society. The Covid-19 pandemic has sharpened the sensitivity of these top-level human concerns and priorities to be resolved and to restore human trust in equality, freedom, justice and political participation in a progressive culture of human unity and future-making.

What will our future be like beyond the compelling horizon of the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath? Are ‘We the People and Humanity’ going to learn global unity and the consciousness of ‘One Humanity’ to cope with the immense problems arising from unpredictable socioeconomic, medical, humanitarian and political imagination terrified by the dreadful threats of an unknown future? Any rational answers would embody proactive intellectual, moral and scientific and political arguments comforting the human consciousness and convergence of knowledge, faith, values and will to meet the challenge of our future-making. Those politicians across the globe claiming to be leaders must realize public concerns and cynicism about their capacity to deal with problem-solving and to their ability to lead humanity out of a scientific-political endemic in which the secret of a future harmonious humanity relies on a plausible vision of the future and effective vaccination and fully diagnostic recovery of societal future free of the Covid-19 impacts. Be aware that our common freedom, human unity and future are subject to the tyranny of reason and expediency of global politics.

In a time of global humanitarian crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic, we should demonstrate a unity of minds and inner human soul that we are not alone – how we care about others, not “America First” or “Europe First” – affluent nations and so-called “smart” leaders hurriedly procuring vaccinations in bulk without caring for the rest of the mankind. Often, politically-aligned thinking in Europe and America has ignored the humanitarian vitality of China and Russia or Asian-African nations for convenient political expediency. There appears to be a lot of conjecture to be cleaned and clarified for change and a new world order of international collaboration and help when it is most needed. We desperately need to re-organize our thoughts and genius for unity and coordination to pool the humanitarian resources to fill the political gaps caused by egoism and anarchy between inept patriotism and its global outreach. We need to restructure our policies and practices in order to extend humanitarian help to all those who need it most, not the weapons of mass destruction, not the claims of individual greatness but a revitalized sense of One Humanity ready to protect the present and future of human civilizations. It is vital to a reasoned dialogue that we search contemporary history as to how previous generations and leaders have dealt with similar global pandemics. While most pharmaceutical organizations endeavour to develop workable medical cures, we could learn from past human experiences.
We the Humanity are composed of both physical and spiritual factors. Treating one and ignoring the other would be sheer inhumanity. Ignorance and complacency should have no place when it comes to human health, safety and a sustainable future. The medical experts acknowledge applying a learning attitude from an ever-evolving disease. It knows no perfect explanation or cure to remedy the alarming problem. Strange as it is, Husain Abdullah Bu Ali Sina – Ibne–Sina (Avicenna – “Canon of Medicine” and “Book of Healing”), a 10th-century Islamic scholar, and Zakria Al-Razi (Russ), a 9th-century scientist, did treat plague and other diseases successfully. Time and opportunity call for a comprehensive approach to comprehend consequential sickness and work out a remedial treatment inclusive of the physical and spiritual factors. Ibne-Sina (Avicenna) narrates – ‘whenever a critical problem confronted me, I prayed to God and found the cure.’ Humankind is com posed of both physical and spiritual factors. There is no perfection in finding a workable cure without analytical argument and contradiction. Some researchers funded by the corporate world are focusing on the computerized analytical vices and weaknesses of the cases under investigation. Perhaps a global conference of all the concerned (people of knowledge, scientists and politicians) should be called for by the United Nations (UN) or World Health Organization (WHO) to find an effective medical remedy.
To Envisage a Reasoned Discourse for Sustainable Global Future-Making
The Covid-19 crisis is a strand that can be found interwoven in people’s thoughts and politics of the 21st-century knowledge-based, informed governance that echoes concerns and priorities that humanitarian imperatives are sacrificed for political expediency. The common sentiment of human solidarity is increasing over the inept nationalistic politics of the few like American and west European leaders. Politicians, as they are, cannot resolve an exceptionally complex medical problem. When a pandemic of this nature and unpredictable scope hits mankind, one cannot think to focus on national interest and political campaigns to get re-elected. We are witnessing the severity of this Covid-19 impact across the globe and how millions and millions reject the politically manoeuvred ideological divisions, hatred and fear and opt for understanding, collaboration and human solidarity to fight the virus with ingenuity, compassion and global unity. It is impeccable for the thinking people of the globe to rise up to the challenge and demonstrate how best We the People are connected together as One Humanity to encounter this invisible enemy of all without borders and nationalities. For several decades, the political elite of the global systematic governance remained preoccupied with warfare and the insanity of victimizing humanity in the Middle East, Asia, South America and many parts of Africa.

Address Inequalities to Fight the Pandemic Humanity is living through a difficult time. We have a global pandemic, and while many present the hope of overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic with a vaccination miracle of modern science, the unwillingness to approach the pandemic and the social dissention it is stimulating globally may well lead to much bigger problems. The pandemic is providing a national and global “stress test” and the world is failing miserably. This test is highlighting the fractures in our societies, and our seeming inability to think about things differently. Seeing how populations, who have systematically been disadvantaged in our societies, bear the brunt of this disease, we then ignore the same problem on a global scale. Western nations, in particular, have exported and implemented their systems of inequality on a global level. We have multiple global existential crises right now, all of which are linked to our own human decisions. I once hoped that a global crisis would pull us all together; take us past the political blockages to cooperate for our common good. I thought that issue would be peak oil or global warming – though these are definitely tied to each other – but neither of those has yet brought us together. Now we are living through a pandemic. Problematically, we could be digging a deeper and deeper hole. There is too much hogwash non-compliance with public health requirements – masks, social distancing, sanitization, etc. Also, it is a reality that for huge swaths of humanity, all of the public health recommendations are unachievable. This means that these people are extremely vulnerable and that they also lack healthcare access, making them not only prime viral targets but also prime locations for virus mutation. Just using commonsense, any effort at ending a pandemic before it becomes a Mobius strip of escalating lethality and chronic health issues is to address it specifically among the most vulnerable populations – nationally and globally. Instead, Western nations not only took a “me first” approach, but seemed taken off guard that systematically excluded populations were being disproportionately impacted with their own nations. May I say “Duh!”? This does not mean that all remediation, testing and public health supports should be directed at the most “vulnerable” populations for they are not isolated in this. However, the inequities that make these populations so at risk need to be addressed because they are not only most “vulnerable” to the pandemic but also to every problem that comes along from natural disasters, e.g. to war, to economic conditions, to pandemics, and so on. Another issue that is posing a risk to us all is the political manipulation driving false issues placing the world at risk. I am talking about the propaganda that the virus is a hoax or only equivalent to the flu at worst. Another is that requiring masks is a violation of civil rights (oh please). Then we have that the hospitals are lying about the number of cases and the number of deaths so they can increase their profits. And now a number of conspiracies about the vaccines themselves that include everything from the insertion of tracking devices to genetically-modifying the human race. In the United States, these conspiracies are rampant and pose a tremendous risk not only nationally, but globally as well. Wherever the virus is allowed to run wild, there is a likelihood of more dangerous variants increases. We are increasingly facing the risk of this virus that went global in an incredibly short time continuing to circle the globe indefinitely until we address it seriously. Addressing it seriously means doing more than vaccinations. It means addressing the inequalities that systematically disadvantage certain populations (those vary cross-nationally). Poor or non-existent housing, clean water and sanitation, access to nutrition, and healthcare, and other necessities must be remediated. While we may be centuries away from having equality (however we decide to define that), we must make a sincere improvement in lessening inequality and improving general quality of health. It is not only the ethical thing to do; it is the only way to lessen overall catastrophes. (Editor’s Note to Dr Khawaja’s article)

America under President Trump failed miserably to understand the vitality of an effective leader to console the masses in situations of unusual crises, to know his own strengths and weaknesses and to analyze the wisdom of people around him conducting the governing circle. President Biden should learn about the dangerous times and challenges of working toward genuine democracy to articulate a harmonious American culture of NEW THINKING and ACTION for change and revulsion against racial inequality, injustice and tormenting pains and sufferings endured by the neglected masses throughout the previous centuries of American history. Intelligent and conscientious leaders unite masses in crisis as Biden appears to hold that vision and priority. If he is not derailed by fraudulent political professionals looking for politically competing number games, Biden must realize that politics is always a discipline of problem-solving and service to the masses. It is incumbent upon Biden and other Western leaders to RETHINK their list of enemies as humanity will move forward in peace, not in conflict. The self-repeating flaws of the past should not be the agenda items of the future in dealing with major nations of the world such as Russia, China, Asian and African states. ‘We, the People and Humanity’ are desperate for the unity of minds and souls for a true course change for global harmony and peacemaking—be it the cure of Covid-19 pandemic, Kashmir, Palestine, relations with Iran, nuclear disarmament, global climate, human rights, freedom and justice or future of peace and global harmony. Intelligent leaders always care for the People and are always open to listening and learning from others—the People of knowledge and wisdom.
The insane egoism brought the downfall of so many leaders in human history, and Trump was no exception. This author recently observed (“American Presidential Election and Democracy Look for Change, Moral and Intellectual Leadership”, or at Pravda Report:
“Wickedness and piety cannot be combined in one human character. Trump inflicted disharmony and racial discrimination against the black and brown population both citizens and those wishing to enter the United States. What about absolute power instigated by absolute-minded maniac leaders regardless of democratic principles? Today, President Trump fired Christopher Krebs, Director CISA (Cyber Security and Infrastructures), for telling the truth that the presidential election was fair and without any security breach or fraudulent intervention. Earlier, Trump fired Defense Secretary Asper for opposing the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and launching an attack on Iran. President Trump could have learned from President Putin – how to resolve successfully the Nagarno-Karbakh prolonged problem between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Dr Mahboob A. Khawaja is the author of several publications including the latest: Global Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution: Approaches to Understand the Current Issues and Future-Making.

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