Crossing Borders

Check out the full article here: Interview with Garba Diallo

We start by thanking the BLACK LIVES MATTER Movement for their brave actions to heal the world of the pandemic of racism. We applaud their powerful push to restore the dignity of black people and other people. We consider the Black Lives Matter as a way for our inner and outer emancipation and that of our cultures and other aspects of life. The 25 May assassination of George Floyd under the sadistic knee of Derek Chauvin and his brothers in crime has once again reminded us that the cries of the Black Lives Matter movement are not only natural. They are necessary absolutely necessary in order to liberate humanity from the pandemic of racism. Therefore, as Crossing Borders organisation whose mission is to create spaces for dialogue on equal terms, it is only natural that we join the Back Lives Matter to condemn in the strongest possible terms the systemic police brutality and its underlying historical, cultural, linguistic, media, economic and power structures. We condemn these structures as they inspire and fuel the mental and emotional infrastructures that justify having cruel supremacist knees on the necks of the black people for so long. We recognise that these knees on the necks of the black are the pandemic that has prevented black people from breathing for the past 401 long years. During these years, black people endured kidnapping, enslavement, forced labour, colonisation, apartheid, and ongoing exploitation of their bodies and economies. We recognise that these infrastructures are the root causes of the daily racism and discrimination that black people and communities of colour are systematically subjected to in our international relations, academia, museums, movement across borders our borders, on our streets, schools, and workplaces. We also recognise that the history of racist abuse has run so long and so deep that even the black victims have internalised and applied it on themselves, as manifested in self-denial and abuse. Thus, we hope that the momentum that the murder of George Floyd has generated will be escalated and sustained until these underlying structures are dismantled and replaced with the recognition of the fact that there is only one human race and that the cultural and other human diversities are not only what makes the human race survive and thrive, but, cultural diversity is as necessary as the biological diversity of planet earth. As a contribution toward restoring trust and healing, we propose the following measures: Recognise, apologise, and cleanse the historical crime of enslavement, colonialism, apartheid, and the still ongoing discrimination, exclusion, and exploitation of black people and other communities of colour. Cleanse our education, media, language, museums and amusement parks of racist legacies just like we have done with the bundling and burning of smart women and pulling down of the monuments of Nazi war founding fathers Launch an honest cultural exchange and spaces for dialogue for youth, educators, artists and schools and university to learn not to repeat the past Replace development aid with fair trade and knowledge sharing partnership with Africa and the countries of people of colour Include black and brown people in our schools, workplaces, parliaments, company boards, and other key positions wherever possible. The public and civil society sectors should walk the talk by taking the lead on this front The nations whose economies were built on black blood and bodies should set up museums and memorials to recognise and honour the vital contribution of black and brown people to their countries Launch campaigns of public education to put an end to the degrading abuse of black people’s pictures by our charities/ development industry for fundraising purposes

That most countries, including the most advanced ones, are ill-prepared for the sudden COVID 19 outbreak proves that the world has not invested in where it matters the most: relevant education, public health, decentralized provision of vital goods and services. The result is the panic and uncoordinated and fragmented responses we witness right now. Responding to and defeating an invisible global enemy calls for global coordination and cooperation and solidarity. In other words, solidarity, and sharing of information, knowledge, expertise, and resources within and across countries and continents. The absence of solidarity and collaboration makes each country grapple with the outbreak within its confines. For populist leaders, the easiest response is resorting to quick fix: closing their borders as if the COVID 19 could be shut out by shutting the borders. During his solitary prayer in the Vatican at the peak of the COVID 19 pandemic in Italy, Pope Francis urged the world to see the coronavirus pandemic as a test of solidarity and a reminder of basic values” and that the health crisis put everyone “in the same boat”.[i] The lesson here is that we need to shift our priorities away from the notion of bigger is better toward small and decentralised units. The orthodox notion of bigger is better that has driven the modern development toward over-centralization has proven itself to be ineffective. The results are mega metropolis with mega glass towers, high ways for mega lorries transporting endless chain of necessary and un-necessary products, a complex web of mega metros and airports, mega power plants dominated by polluting coal, gas, nuclear and hydro plants, mega monoculture-agri-business, mega ports for mega ships ploughing the seas with mega containers and mega fishing trawlers to feed mega markets owned by fewer and fewer mega transnational corporations. The inevitable results include stress and pollutions of various kinds including air, noise, light, water, and stench which breed outbreaks of diseases as we witness today. Other harmful consequences can be seen in the growing mental ill-health, depression, and a general sense of identity crises, unhappiness and satisfaction, and human insecurity.  Therefore, that we have been grounded and provided with ample time by the coronavirus we should be able to reflect about and chart a new direction toward more solidarity and cooperation on global issues like the current COVID 19. Writing in the Financial Times on 25 March 2020, the prime minister of Ethiopia and the 2019 Nobel Peace laureate Aby Ahmed warns that “..if the virus is not defeated in Africa, it will only bounce back to the rest of the world. That is why the current strategy of uncoordinated country-specific measures, while understandable, is myopic, unsustainable, and potentially counter-productive. A virus that ignores borders cannot be tackled successfully like this. We can defeat this invisible and vicious adversary — but only with global leadership. Without that, Africa may suffer the worst, yet it will not be the last. We are all in this together, and we must work together to the end.”[ii] Small could be beautiful and more efficient more sustainable Thus, one of the many lessons we should learn from the corona crisis is to shift the direction from bigger is better toward smaller and decentralized economic models with smaller and self-reliant units of production, supplies, and services. This is not about going to back hunting and gathering mode of society. As can be seen in the global growth of transition towns and eco-villages, reinventing smaller units is the new modern way of leapfrogging back to living with and not apart from nature. Reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian earth scientist Dr. Vandana Shiva asserts that “With the health emergency engendered by the coronavirus we need to look at systems that spread disease and systems that create health in a holistic, systems approach. A systems approach to health care in times of the corona crisis would address not just the virus, but also how new epidemics are spreading as we invade into the homes of other beings. It also needs to address the comorbidity conditions related non-communicable chronic diseases which are spreading due to non-sustainable, anti-nature , unhealthy industrial food systems” She continues “…we need to discard “policies and practices that lead to the physical and moral degradation of the food system while destroying our health and endangering the planet’s ecological stability, and endangering the biogenetic survival of life on the planet.”[iii] Thus, it is high time we turn toward a new sustainable form of production and consumption. A form that is more efficient, healthier, safer, and sustainable than the currently dominant, extractive, and destructive forms. Toward this kind of utopian society, I propose the following seven strategic steps. Decentralise the mega citifies and sectors in order to localise the control over their vital sectors of education, health, production, and energy supply units. In such smaller communities, people will be able to walk and bike in green parks with small schools, clean energy plants, solar and heat pumps Focus on enlightenment and entrepreneurship education to prepare collaborative and job creating citizens rather than frightened job seekers Shift our economic system toward green and cradle to cradle zero economic production, processing and consumption systems that are in harmony with the environment Shift investment from the destructive militarised economy, commercialised public health to life giving and regenerative economic activities  Reform from post-WWII world order to a more democratic global forum with equal representation of the different regions of the world according to proportional democracy with no veto to power on global issues Promote intercultural contacts, exchange, and collaborations to reduce harmful old and prevent new stereotypes Foster and reward international peaceful and climate-friendly joint ventures by providing tax-free to such ventures    Already we see all over the world people volunteering to help, offering food and sharing within and across communities. We also see doctors, nurses, caregivers, and social workers from multicultural backgrounds putting their lives at risk in order to save the lives of fellow humans. This heroic dedication shows the corona

I was once driving down a highway on my own and my cell phone was out of battery. After a while, the engine of my car began to sputter and eventually came to a halt. I checked that there was still fuel in the car. So, I tried turning on the ignition a couple of times in the hope that the car would start. But it didn’t. I had no idea where the nearest petrol station was, I hadn’t seen a car go by since I stopped and I didn’t know how much longer it would be until the sun went down and it became dark. But, I sat in the car and kept turning the ignition on again and again in the hope that the car would start and allow me to go on. We all know that in a situation like that, we try the ignition a couple of times, and if it doesn’t work, accept the fact that something is wrong with the engine and try different ways to fix it. And in the worst case, if we are unable to make any difference under the hood, throw in the towel and leave the car behind and hitch a ride or walk to the nearest place with a mechanic. When stuck in situations like the metaphorical broken car, we tend to keep turning the key hoping to get out of the situation we are in and fail to accept that something is broken and needs fixing. This could be for a host of reasons — we don’t want to accept that we made a bad decision, we don’t want others to come back and tell us “We told you so”, we don’t want to face the reality of having to start all over again from scratch, we don’t want to tell ourselves that all the effort that we have invested in it so far is a total waste. But sitting there and waiting for the car to start is only prolonging this realization and the eventual fix. We can lie to ourselves all we want and feel good and optimistic about it for a relatively short period of time, but eventually, we have to find a way to move forward once the sun goes down. Accepting painful truths about ourselves is what helps us make significant transformational changes. Only then can we hope to get better! Written by: Pareeksha Chadaga Karanth Crossing Borders Admin & HR Coordinator

Will we see a “new normal” after COVID-19? History has shown that behavioural change, when a majority of people within a culture recognise a positive need for change, will cause effective changes to take place and often remarkably quickly. In comparison, for example, dictatorship and the fear of reprisal can secure behavioural change such as accepting that only one political view is correct or what dress codes are permissible and which are not. However, in such cases, once the controlling element has been removed, it is very unlikely that such change will be lasting. The oppressed society will tend to revert to a form of diversity that was normal before the oppression. I would argue that this tends not to be the case when behavioural change is driven from within as opposed to the force of external law or dictatorship. For example, when Sweden became an extremely anti-smoking nation and its Government also limited many other individual rights, a Danish journalist, Mogens Berendt, in 1982 wrote a much-discussed article “Luk Sverige” (Close Sweden) in Berlingske Tidende, and followed up with a book called “Tilfældet Sverige” (The Swedish Way) – a book that painted a picture of an extremely authoritarian and somewhat dictatorial Swedish Government.  Danes at first seemed in general to put this all down to Swedish authoritarianism. However, not too many years later, Danish society began a very serious public debate about the health dangers of smoking for both smokers and non-smokers (passive smoking). Today, the result of this behavioural change has been widespread acceptance of the rules and regulations that followed in the wake of this health discussion – even among smokers, who have been forced to accept a smoking ban in most public areas, where it had been customary to accept smoking. Yes, not all smokers are impressed with the social stigma that smoking has become, but they are nevertheless driven to accept that “Danish society” has evolved into a “new normal” with new written and unwritten rules about smoking. Not long ago, smoking in Denmark was an integral part of accepted cultural behaviour. Smoking was normal behaviour in the street, in public buildings, in cars and in planes. One could even go as far as saying that smoking was a generally accepted social habit giving status. Now, cigarette packets and cigar boxes carry very clear health warnings, and, in some countries like Denmark, they are no longer visible in shops – they are hidden in draws or behind curtains. The power and effectiveness of this “new normal” has been that the changed behaviour came from within. The rules and regulations came as a result of a behavioural change. Post COVID-19, in potentially 18-24 months’ time, we may well see new examples of such “new normal” behavioural changes, where the public debate about this pandemic (especially within social media) will evolve into new behavioural changes. Perhaps this evolution will be exacerbated by this being a massive wake up call to the dangers of biological threats. For example, although global travel is cheaper than ever before, I expect that very many will think twice about where they travel, how far they travel and how they travel. As a behavioural reaction to COVID-19, we could see a dramatic fall in travel and a significant increase in the use of the many of the digital communication tools available. Just six months ago, could we seriously have imagined that a majority of commercial planes globally would be grounded for an unknown period of time, that countries would close their air space, that borders would be closed globally and that everyone would be sent home for a significant period of time as a protection against a deadly virus. My prediction is that this “perfect storm” crisis will result in new long-term behavioural patterns. I predict that it will have a social and economic impact that none of us can imagine with massive changes in global travel, global production and social interaction. People will err on the side of caution and those that don’t will risk paying a heavy price for blindly ignoring that this may be a game changing “new normal” with new behavioural challenges.  Republished with permission, this article was first published by the author on 8 April 2020 on his LinkedIn page