By Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD.
“Has civilization taught us to be more friendly towards one another? Bertrand Russell, the British philosopher and intellectual and explains further: …Within the herd, we are more friendly to each other than are many species of animals, but in our attitude towards those outside the herd, in spite of all that has been done by moralists and religious teachers, our emotions are as ferocious as those of any animal, and our intelligence enables us to give them a scope which is denied to even the most savage beast. It may be hoped, though not very confidently, that the more humane attitude will in time come to prevail, but so far the omens are not very propitious.” — Bertrand A. Russell, Ideas that Have Helped Mankind
“Pandemic” or the Tormenting Fear of the Global Unknown
The 21st century is an age of globalization. A crisis in one part of the world affects all the people of the Earth. We, humanity, live in co-existence with the Nature of Things within the Universe. If we tend to be blind to basic human requisites of human rights, human safety and care, social justice and peace, we tend to challenge and deny the cosmic harmony and justice in which we exist as mankind.
The COVID-19 pandemic crisis is a strand that can be found in the interwoven people’s thought 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 President Trump’s “America First.” Politicians cannot resolve an exceptionally complex medical problem. When a global paradigm of this nature and unpredictable scope does hit 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 maneuvered 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 pre-occupied with warfare and the insanity of victimizing good parts of humanity in the Middle East, Asia South America and many parts of Africa.
Should the UN-WHO be Re-Organized for the Good of the Global Community?
Like the UN- Security Council, global humanity is worried to see its failure to resolve man-made conflicts throughout the world. It is a primary concern for the security and safety of the global communities but the UN-Security Council is incapable of addressing such painful problems. Mankind looks for workable solutions. In an objective analysis, one could repudiate the insane intellectualism of so many policymakers of the war industries overwhelmingly occupied with exterminating humanity for no other reason except to keep the war economies running and productive. They make money by selling weapons, not safeguarding the people. Could the COVID-19 virus out of nowhere make us rethink what went wrong with our thinking and strategic priorities to protect humanity? How come human health and safety were not the priority items of the political elite’s agenda for the present and the future? Was it a planned slaughter of the advanced human civilizations for political change befitting to the agenda of the few? We, the People, need to evaluate some of the contemporary global political policies and practices in a rational manner without prejudice and dogmatic judgments. It is not a blame game but a search for truth and accountability throughout the conscientious world.
Did the official elite ignore the alarming signs of a forthcoming catastrophic disease to affect all mankind? It demonstrates small wisdom but claims of great knowledge that hold the official portfolios of political responsibility. The health care and safety of the people should have been the topmost priority, not the modeling of statistical data for deaths and sufferings of the masses. Modeling of the present crisis is based on information (data) to ponder at various perspectives and end-games for finding the remedy, it does not fulfill the public curiosity for a workable solution except to buy more time for rethinking and re-evaluation for the end purpose. Did the WHO fail in its mission to inform the global mankind of a disastrous sickness? The WHO had the information of the COVID -19 deadly viruses in December 2019, and it relied on issuing bulletins of concerns and warnings but not classifying it as an epidemic or pandemic. Could the elite of the WHO living in a different conflicting time zone have ignored such vital preemptive and critical information for the rest of the world? “Can We Trust the WHO?” Outlines F. William Engdahl (Global Research, 4/03/2020), lecturer at Princeton University and a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization:
Despite the huge 2009-10 conflict-of-interest scandals linking Big Pharma to WHO, today the WHO under Tedros has done little to clean out corruption and conflicts of interest. The current WHO Scientific Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) is riddled with members who receive “financially significant” funds from either major vaccine makers, or the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BGMF) or Wellcome Trust. In the latest posting by WHO of the 15 scientific members of SAGE, no fewer than 8 had declared interest, by law, of potential conflicts. In almost every case the significant financial funder of these 8 SAGE members included the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Merck & Co. (MSD), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (a Gates-funded vaccine group), BMGF Global Health Scientific Advisory Committee, Pfizer, Novovax, GSK, Novartis, Gilead, and other leading pharma vaccine players. So much for independent scientific objectivity at WHO.
To the UN-WHO, it is imperative to be seen as an organization adhering to the facts of human life and to pool the global medical resources and provide prompt assistance and guidance to all the suffering humanity without any reservations.
How to Imagine “Medicine Men” for the Good of Humanity?
Ignorance and complacency should have no place when it comes to human health, safety and sustainable future-making. The medical experts acknowledge a learning attitude from an ever-evolving disease. It knows no perfect explanation or cure to remedy the alarming problem. Strange as 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 the consequential sickness and workout a remedial treatment inclusive of the physical and spiritual factors. Ibna-Sina (Avicenna) narrates – ‘whenever a critical problem confronted me, I prayed to God and found the cure.’ We, humankind, are composed of both physical and spiritual factors. There is no perfection in finding out 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 should be called for to find a remedy.
To pharmaceutical establishments rushing for a cure, these vices could be an outcome of ignorance and error. But any knowledge-based approach with an inner eye and mind could trace out the truth and place it candidly, eradicating the weaknesses in the analytical systems and illuminating a much nobler principle of treatment for the good of mankind. After the facts, most political leaders are awakened from the slumber to rethink the people’s approach and strategies to combat the catastrophic disease impacting the masses across all fields of human affairs. We, the People of the Globe, are moral beings, we cannot ignore the sufferings of fellow human beings, no matter how ideologies or political doctrines divide us. It was wonderful that China and Russia dispatched the essential medical doctors and equipment to Italy, Iran, Spain and America.
In a time of humanitarian crisis, this was a plausible demonstration – we are not alone – how we care about others, not the “America First.” Often, politically aligned thoughts in Europe and America have ignored the humanitarian vitality of China and Russia for convenient political expediency. There appears to be a lot of conjures to be cleaned and clarified for change and a new world order of collaboration and help when it is most needed beyond national flags and borders. We desperately need to re-organize our thoughts and genius for unity and coordination to pool the humanitarian resources to fill the political gaps of egoism and anarchy between inept patriotism and its global outreach to restructure our policies and practices 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.
About the writer:
Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in international relations-global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest book: Global Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution: Approaches to Understand the Current Issues and Future-Making, Lambert Academic Publications, Germany, 2017.
