Page 26 - Education World July 2020

Expert Comment

Decoupling & crash

of civilisations

SUDHEENDRA KULKARNI

“ The A ge of N ati ons i s p ast. The task b ef ore us now, i f we Confronted with the deadly pandemic
would not perish, is to shake off our ancient prejudices,
and to b ui ld the E arth. ” — Pierre T eilhard de C hardin and debilitating economic crisis, the
(1881-1955) global community should have united
in multiple acts of cooperation and
HE GLOBAL COVID-19 PANDEMIC OUGHT TO
have united the world as never before. It has caused solidarity. Unfortunately the very
severe disruption of economies and livelihoods in
Tcountries and communities around the world, and opposite is happening
precipitated the worst global public health crisis since the
outbreak of the Spanish flu a century ago. Thus far (July 3), what hope is there for our two countries joining forces to
the total number of Covid positive cases worldwide has al- combat the invisible virus?
most touched 11 million and the number of deaths 523,177. Equally depressing are border skirmishes between the
Of the total global fatalities, the US accounts for 131,423, other two giant Asian neighbours — indeed, the only two
while in India, the toll has crossed 18,000. In Mumbai, the countries in the world with billion-plus populations. Don’t
coronavirus has claimed as many lives (4,632) as in all of India and China have an obligation to set a good example
China (4,634). to the rest of the world? And isn’t that obligation greatly
According to conventional wisdom, people unite when
confronted with danger or calamity. Therefore, faced with enhanced by their being inheritors of the wisdom of two
of the world’s oldest and richest civilisations? If our Upa-
twin crises — a deadly health pandemic and consequential nishads proclaimed v asudhai v a k utum b ak am , exactly the
debilitating economic crisis — the global community should same noble sentiment was affirmed, over 2,000 years ago,
have united in multiple acts of cooperation and solidarity. in the ancient Chinese classic Book of R i tes — “wise people
Unfortunately, the very opposite is happening. Unity is no- take the whole world as one family.”
where in sight. Despite being led by Antonio Guterres, a ll this wisdom was dumped into the barren depths of
great global citizen, the United Nations is paralysed. The Athe Galwan Valley when leaders of India and China
world’s richest country, led by an unworthy president, first failed to put a timely stop to the murderous confrontation
maligned the World Health Organisation and then with- between their soldiers on the ‘line of actual control’ in La-
drew from it altogether. dakh, resulting in the brutal death dance on the night of
The world’s two largest economies — USA and China — June 15. We don’t know yet when, and how, this standoff
which should have become allies in a common war against will end. Already, war mongering ‘strategic experts’ in both
the pandemic, have on the contrary, begun an ominous new neighbour countries are urging their governments to “exer-
Cold War. “De-coupling” is the bellicose new word guid- cise the military option” to defend “our territory, national
ing this slugfest. Global value chains are being recklessly pride, and national sovereignty”. There is very little discus-
disrupted, just when the international community urgently sion on joint research to develop a viable vaccine against
needs to strengthen global cooperation links. the coronavirus or mutual cooperation against the threat
Closer home, our accursed South Asian neighbourhood
has fared no better. The last word in the acronym SAARC of future pandemics. What we hear instead is the shrill de-
mand to ‘de-couple’ India-China ties.
stands for ‘cooperation’. But what cooperation can there be There’s no doubt our planet is entering a dangerous
within an organisation sunk in a coma? Even though prime period in global history because of the rise of virulent na-
minister Narendra Modi has called for SAARC nations to tional exclusivism the world over. Before the Covid crisis
join together to fight the coronavirus pandemic, there is struck, there was an air of optimism about the emergence
little cooperative action on the ground. How can there be? of a smaller, inter-connected and inter-dependent new
Modi has refused to attend SAARC summits for the past world order because of new technologies, trade and un-
four years, since it is now Islamabad’s turn to host it. Mean- precedented human mobility. But dark forces residing in
while, Pakistan’s prime minister Imran Khan has blamed the collective unconscious of humanity have conspired to
India for the terror attack on the Karachi Stock Exchange, sabotage global unity and cooperation necessary to build a
even as the Indian government continues to point accus- safer and healthier world for our children. One hopes that
ing fingers at Pakistan for the continuing terrorist attacks wiser counsel prevails and we re-discover the wisdom of
in Kashmir. Moreover, guns of the two armies have not our civilisations.
stopped firing across the line of control (LoC). All this is
happening when the Covid-19 induced lockdown has wors- (Sudheendra Kulkarni was aide of former prime minister Atal Bihari
ened people’s suffering on both sides of the border. When Vajpayee (1999-2004) and currently the Mumbai-based founder of Forum
the visible virus of mutual hate is so uncontrollably active, for South Asia)

26 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2020