The topic of this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos is “Creating a shared future in a fractured world. [1]” WEF founder Klaus Schwab said, “There is today a real danger of a collapse of our global systems. But change is not just happening — it’s in our hands to improve the state of the world and that is what the World Economic Forum stands for. [2]”.
Comment:
The theme for this year’s Davos meeting is a farce. Deeply aggrieved by Trump’s “America first” agenda, and the rise of the far right across Europe, the proponents of the liberal order are desperate to salvage their future ahead of everyone else.
Since 1945, the biggest benefactors of the international order underpinned by neoliberal trade policies have been the liberal elite and the super-rich. Oxfam estimates “world’s richest 1% get 82% of the wealth” [3]. This widespread inequality is spawning a backlash across the West and the loci of this violent anger are white indigenous westerners.
Fueled by excessive nationalism, angry white westerners want to replace gods of liberalism such as free-trade agreements, globalization, free-markets and cooperation on global problems like climate change with the national interest.
This growing group of dissatisfied citizens covet the return of the nation state and like to upend the existing world order starting with the abolition of international agreements and inter-governmental institutions such as the UN. Essentially, angry white nationalists desire a future where they don’t have to share the world with anyone—where naked capitalism exercised by the nation state reigns supreme, relations between states are transactional, and the supremacy of the white race is never in question.
Having sensed this shift in the public mood, Trump and some European politicians have sided with filthy rich people to realise their vision, but this time around, they have adopted policies that put the nation state first. The rise of the nation state is likely to spell the end of the EU, and increase great power rivalry. Trump’s national defence strategy welcomes greater competition against great powers, which increases the likelihood of another great war and undermines humanity’s shared future.
Unfortunately, the Islamic world has no state to protect the interests of the Ummah, and Muslim lands are converted into permanent theaters of war and our children have no stake in the future of the world.
The current situation of the Ummah is akin to the 13th century, where Byzantines, Crusaders and Mongols in pursuit of their own interests had wrought death and destruction to vast swathes of the Islamic world. It was only through the unity of the Caliphate (Khilafah) that the nefarious design of these Kafir states was put to an end. Are there any brave Muslim men in the Islamic armies that are willing to repeat the same feat today and safeguard the shared future for humanity as indicated by Allah (swt)
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِلْعَالَمِينَ
“And We have sent you (O Muhammad) not but as a mercy for the Alameen (mankind, jinns and all that exists)”
(al-Anbiya’ 21:107)
Abdul Majeed Bhatti
References:
[1, 2] (www.dw.com), Deutsche. 2018. “World Economic Forum In Davos Out To Heal ‘A Fractured World’ | Business| Economy And Finance News From A German Perspective | DW | 23.01.2018”. DW.COM. http://www.dw.com/en/world-economic-forum-in-davos-out-to-heal-a-fractured-world/a-42228090.
[3] “‘World’s Richest 1% Get 82% of the Wealth'”. 2018. BBC News. http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42745853