EXPECTING A CRISIS-FREE ERA AS WE ENTER 2022

By Promod Puri

If the circa 2020 and 2021 get merged, we clock an era of a worldwide pandemic, the planetary threat to global climate change, and the sharp and clear emergence of political far-Right.

The impromptu eruption of extreme conservatism, as seen during the last US presidential election followed by the Capitol Hill insurrection, reveals a phenomenon that stubbornly goes unvaccinated to the crisis posed by the pandemic and climate change.

The alt-Right wave runs continental, north to south America, Europe, Asia and spots in Africa. The familiar Left-Right political spectrum got jolted much in '20-21.'

The spur in Far-Right extremist ideas and militancy strikes a grave threat to the pluralist liberal democracies. The danger comes when these ideas get mainstreamed and permeate into political functioning.

Democracy allows this influence in its tradition of having dissent and debate. But the far-Right spread primarily benefits political carpetbaggers.

Prime Minister Modi of India has dexterously introduced and inspired the far-Right culture into the mainstream to advance its ideology as a Hindu nation despite the constitutional affirmation of its diverse and secular character.

The trend is explicit worldwide that opts for monolithic societies in terms of the same religion, same language and same culture.

While extreme conservatism spreads with the excessive doses of nationalism, jingoism and the promise to restore the over-hyped 'past glory,' many nations across the globe stand embroiled in the ongoing internal or external conflicts and combats.

The world remains engulfed in an environment dotted with turmoils and strifes triggered by political, racial, religious, caste, class discords and disturbances fueled with an unlimited supply of arms and ammunition.

From Kashmir to Myanmar, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Ethiopia, the never-ending Israel-Palestinian on and off skirmishes, and many more, the trouble spots are the stable marks on the global vicious and violent scene.

Enormous tragedies are happening worldwide that sound like a normal state of affairs. We are "becoming so desensitized to crises and suffering that they are now happening while hardly being noticed," according to Pope Francis in his X-mas message.

The world population faces desperation and miseries from the never-ending combats and conflicts, contributing to escalating refugee populations year after year. The destitute migrants in their dingy boats die, and those who survive to knock on every available door for shelter to escape from the regimes determined to crush humanity and fundamental human rights.

There seems to be no end to conflicts and crises, battles and bloodshed where radical Right emerges as an influential player in the current state of affairs worldwide.

The issue is how amid all these turmoils and tensions, we can collectively, as one world community, fight the menace of Coronavirus and climate change.

As we head towards 2022, confidently, we do not swing into a revolving door that brings us back to the era of 2020-2021.

 

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