Globalization works…until of course, it doesn’t.
The world is now one family, said everyone, until the pandemic hit.
And then, in an instant, everyone was on his own. Every country started to negotiate their own way out of the pandemic mess, from vaccines to food…globalization be damned.
The rich countries all of a sudden forgot where they got their labour and raw material from, all that mattered is that the pandemic made minimal impact in their own domains.
The poor countries were left to fend on their own, or depend on miserly donations from others who had an abundance of vaccines.
It continues till today, when monkeypox that threatens Africa the most, and when Africa does not have a single vaccine to meet this threat. Where are all those countries who take it’s food, it’s gold and it’s diamonds?
The UAE has been very proactive in this regard. When I came here, the closest thing to “grown in the UAE” was petrol. Today, it makes me proud as I shop homegrown tomatoes, cucumbers, greens and so many other varieties of fruits and vegetables. You cannot depend on others to feed you, however friendly they seem.
The world is changing. Like it was in the early 2000s. Only this time, in the opposite direction. We cannot engage in wishful thinking, we have to work towards a more stable future. For us, our nation, and then for humanity.
See you tomorrow!