OCTOBER 31, 2018:Â Â Â DAILY SUN
The world has become faster than ever in this 21stcentury. This fastness has come into being in terms of economic development, human attitude, behaviour, taste, perception, life style, consumption, climate change, environmental pollution and many more. During the last two centuries we have witnessed a fast and colourful development of human civilisation, science and technology, culture, values, life styles and so on; whereas we did not find such type of rapid and radical changes and development during the previous one thousand years. Especially the invention of electricity, engine and development in automation technology enabled the human race to make a giant leaf to the rapid and huge development. That development has given human being wealth, comfort, speed, but snatched away mental peace, relief, human values and made us cursed with severe moral degradation.
Our world has also become more dangerous than ever in terms of personal safety, security, humanity, social justice, tolerance, environmental pollution, communal and racial harmony. The world has already been reduced to a global village literally. Simultaneously many other things have also been globalised as well as glamourised, such as terrorism, fundamentalism, extremism, corporate colonialism, injustice, racism, religious fanaticism and greediness. Every important event that happens in a particular country concerns more or less the whole world.
We are witnessing the steadiest expansion of income gap across the world. According to recent statistics, the globe’s richest 1.0 per cent people own half the world’s total wealth. This information has been revealed in a new report highlighting the growing gap between the super-rich and everyone else. According to Credit Suisse’s Global Wealth Report published recently, the world’s richest people have seen their share of the globe’s total wealth increase from 42.5 per cent at the height of the 2008 financial crisis to 50.1 per cent in 2017.
Continuous, reckless and the increasing use of cheap and dirty fossil fuels has made our green planet warmer, created hazardous situation in the climate and atmosphere, made severe environmental pollution, increased unusual and unexpected severe natural calamities all over the world. Human beings’ lust for wealth, reckless use of fossil fuel, endless industrialisation, rapid urbanisation, deforestation gradually reducing this planet to an unfavourable place for the living creatures. Moreover, as the volume of the use of fossil fuel is increasing day by day-the reserve would be exhausted very soon. In that reality, invention and use of alternative fuel is an inescapable demand for upholding the existence of human civilisation in this planet.
Many scientific researches indicate that the expected long-term effects of current global warming due to emission of greenhouse gases are raising sea levels, flooding, melting of polar ice caps and glaciers, fluctuation in temperature and precipitation, more frequent and stronger El Ninos and La Ninas, drought, heat waves, and forest fires which are also evident now a days. If this trend continues, it is expected that the temperature on the earth would increase by about 3 to 5 degree Centigrade (5.4 to 9 degree Fahrenheit) by the year 2100 and the rise of sea levels by at least 25 meters (82 feet) by the year 2100. As a further effect of global warming, diseases like malaria are returning into areas where they have been extinguished earlier. But according to the latest assessment report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – if the current trend of carbon emission continues then the whole world would be severely affected by repeated flash flood, drought, and heat wave within 12 to 15 years and the time is running out fast to rescue our world from ultimate disaster.
From the beginning of 21st century we are observing many new diseases are appearing day by day. At the same time many old diseases like, polio, various flue, dengue with an inevitable shape where vaccines are not working effectively and claiming huge life mainly in Africa. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, better known as SARS, was first identified in 2003 in China, though the first case is believed to have occurred in November 2002. By July more than 8,000 cases and 774 deaths had been reported. The global H1N1 flu pandemic may have killed as many as 575,000 people, though only 18,500 deaths were confirmed. The H1N1 virus is a type of swine flu, which is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by the type A influenza virus.
Medical science still has not been able to invent any effective vaccine against HIV-AIDS and various cancers which are the two biggest killers in the present world. In 1984, scientists identified the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, as the cause of AIDS. That same year the deadly disease killed more than 5,500 people in the United States. Today more than 35 million people around the world are living with an HIV infection. More than 25 million people have died of AIDS since the first cases were reported.
This is a harsh reality that excessive and unnecessary exposure of women’s body, glamour and the demonstration of harmful human nature in the cinema by some greedy producers and directors are creating adverse effects on human mind, especially on the teenagers that are acting as a catalyst in sexual harassment, eve-teasing, rape, murder, vulgarism, abusion and some other things like that. If we investigate into the root causes behind most of the criminal offences and misconducts taking place in this world, we would find that there is a presence of woman and money. To be hundred per cent honest, none can deny this reality.
At present child pornography is the most dangerous threat to the human society. In this age of smart phone, the whole world is under the grip even of a child that are causing over smart moral degradation. Every matter is easily accessible in the online virtual world. The degradation of morality among teenagers is increasing alarmingly. Gang culture is spreading among teenagers as a symbol of heroism. They are organising gangs for committing various immoral and antisocial activities. This is undeniable that in this age of information technology even vulgarism of a single woman could contaminate the whole world and similarly the vulgarism of a single man might also bring adverse effects in the society. Unfortunately all of those are being promoted, patronised in the name of art, culture, creativity, progressiveness, freedom of speech and free-thinking.
Our world is becoming severely violent and intolerant day by day. Couple of decades have passed since this globe reduced to a global village where each and every significant event goes viral through various online social media and influences the whole world more or less. Peace and stability is becoming highly vulnerable. Polarisation in political ideology, dividing people on the basis of race, religious belief, ethnicity, social status is the matter of great concern. As a result of that, balance of power has come under a new threat that might lead human civilisation to a fatal nuclear war. Some events are also coming into being very fast with a new format and are shaping the world more significantly than ever. Some of those are populism, terrorism, ethnic cleansing, extremism, corporate colonialism, communal disharmony, unjustified invasion, extreme nationalism, authoritarianism, war migrants and many more. As a result, we are witnessing desperate migrants, influx of war refugee and climate refugee are the big concerns for today’s world.
Once people would come to politics with an intention to serve the people and the nation and they had inbuilt extraordinary leadership qualities. But now in most of the countries, especially in the third world or developing countries politics is mostly dependent on muscle power, black money, terrorism which are severely damaging the rule of law and good governance. Politics has become the most profitable business that does not require any owner’s equity or capital base. Political influence in combination with muscle power has created a vicious cycle with a long chain of beneficiaries of power, money that is breeding corruption in all parts of the society.
Moreover, political morality has been disappeared. Big companies, corporate giants are dominating over all politicians and political parties. Big companies always try to implement their agenda and to uphold the interest of their business at any cost. Sometimes many billionaires themselves become politicians. Not only that sometimes they act as religious fanatics, racists and spread communal hatred. Even the corporate giants manipulate the election results to bring their favourite person in power or keeping them in powering order to get undue favour, privilege and advantages. Patriotism has been defeated in the hand of money, power and greed. Patriots are being dismantled and even being assassinated.
The speech, ‘might is right’ was not as widespread as it is found in today’s world. But this has been implemented very much tactfully in the name of national security, fighting terrorism, protecting personal freedom, individualism and many other blackmailing traps. At the same time divide and rule policy is still continuing as a very effective weapon. But today’s divide and rule policy is being implemented through local agents, hypocrites and collaborators who are acting against their own society, nation and country just for gaining a tiny personal interest.
Until the 19th century there was no existence of typical arms races as we have been witnessing since the beginning of the 20th century. Controlling over geographical location and establishing colony was the main target before the 19th century. But the scenario is significantly different in the present world. Now the superpowers always try to control over only the key strategic geographical locations such as strategic location of the land and ocean, markets of various consumer products and services through technological innovation, massive industrialisation and various trade mechanism.
According to new estimates released recently by the Stockholm International Peace Institute (SIPRI), $1.75tn was spent on the world’s military in the year 2016. This amount is the equivalent to Canada’s GDP or twice the GDP of the Netherlands. The SIPRI has another excellent data on military spending by nations where the US far outspends every other nation for its military, at over $611 billion, China coming second at over $216 billion, Russia is third with 69 billion, KSA is fourth with 63 billion and India is fifth with 55 billion. Recent arms deal of KSA for $350 billion with the USA has upgraded the position of KSA to 2nd for this year.
Decadence in moral and ethical values also persuading the greedy businessmen to make foods adulterated. They are also cheating customers, dumping, violating copyrights, cyber theft or hacking, illegal and unfair tariff barrier, presenting wrong financial statement, violating labour laws, squeezing out business competitors unfairly. Since the late 20th century there have been dramatic changes in food habit of people. Various types of fast, processed or packed food are becoming popular day by day as most of the people have become busy. People are giving more emphasis on taste rather than quality or hygiene. All of those factors are leading towards the increasing volume of adulterated and contaminated foods which is a big threat for the public health all over the world. On the other hand, in order to cope with the increasing demand of food scientists have invented various Genetically Modified (GM) hybrid food which are in many cases not good for human consumption.
Cyber-attack has now become a highly sophisticated, cheaper and more effective weapon for many countries. Robot technology, bio-technology, artificial intelligence and many other technological attainments are changing the world very rapidly. People are not being able to keep pace with the fastest changing technology. The world is entering a fully digitized version. Almost all activities are being reduced to be paperless. And this has made this world much more vulnerable in all respects. Cyber crimes and rapid changes in IT could bring a disastrous setback for this sophisticated human civilisation. We are now always in a great tension over when our various crucial passwords are going to be hacked while bank account and credit/debit card will become empty. Servers of all social communication sites are being collapsed by hackers or malware halting fully even the global communication. All satellites will be disconnected and even the control of nuclear bombs may go to the hands of terrorists or will be under the control of robots with artificial intelligence and many other unprecedented occurrences. The recent large-scale Ransomware attack is indicative of what the scale of future cyber-attacks might be. Moreover, it threatens privacy and has reduced the extent of control over personal data. This has also opened up the possibility of a range of negative consequences.
This is also obvious that the rich countries are very much resolute and desperate in defending their economic interest, political influence, military might all over the world at any cost. In order to implement their dominion and influence they demonstrate the arms power, invest huge money on arms race, sometimes they apply their powerful intelligence network and most effectively try to gain full control over the dissidents or some collaborators through providing them with money and other facilities and recruit them for implementing their agenda in their targeted land, people and various natural resources.
For implementing all of those agenda the super powers are using poverty and conflict as the most effective tools. If poverty keeps sustaining and conflict keeps lingering then it becomes very easy to take control over a territory, its politics, all natural resources and inevitably arms business continues to boost. But in this way morality is being degraded, injustices are being patronised and institutionalised. Demand for justice and demand for the legal ownership of wealth have become just a crying in the wilderness.
Each and every part of the world has now become unsafe. From Paris to London, Brussels to New York, Dhaka to Delhi – in every place we cannot say confidently that we are in a safe zone. And most of the people must agree that this situation has not been created overnight. This has been created as the by-product of oppression, wrong interpretation of religious scripts, deprivation, immoral corporate colonialism, hyper capitalism and endless consumerism.
So, in order to make this world a peaceful planet as well as to restore peace- the rich, influential bodies and dominating countries of the world should revise their policies, should give emphasis on tolerance, should be moderate in consumption, should give up extreme greediness, should respect to legal demand of oppressed people, should establish the right of their own property so that they could be benefited from the resources of their own country. The rich countries should also export, liberalism, freedom of speech and rule of law prevailing in their own countries to the other countries in order to stop the export of terrorism, extremism and militancy from those countries where practicing liberalism, freedom of speech and rule of law is not so easy due to various social, economic and political reasons. And only then we can make our planet green in every respect.
© Copyright: Reserved by the writer (Noore Alam Siddiqui)
