WHAT WEF & G20 FORGOT ABOUT: OUR GLOBAL IDENTITY CRISIS
Hi from the Atlantic Ocean, Readers — check out my latest blog related to the 2020 edition of my award-winning, Amazon best-selling book, FUTURE WORLD ORDER. As I wrap up my global book tour in the coming weeks, look out for a few more blogs on timely topics including the coronavirus. Headed to Cairo for the book’s second global award at the Women Economic Forum.
Yours, Maha
https://www.amazon.com/FUTURE-WORLD-ORDER-Maha-Hosain/dp/1091096198
Note: 15% of all profits go to my brother’s memorial fund supporting Syrian refugee youth in Jordan’s Za’atari camp via charity Peace & Sport.
WHAT WEF & G20 FORGOT ABOUT: OUR GLOBAL IDENTITY CRISIS
The annual World Economic Forum back in January at Davos and the G20 financial meeting last month in Riyadh struck the right tone — climate change is the major global risk that we are facing in 2020. This exists in the backdrop of a world without strong global or domestic leadership to tackle most risks. Over two months into this new year, we have also been struck with two major shock events that will continue to have global implications — the surprise US attack on Iran and of course the ongoing spread of the coronavirus worldwide. But what about our global identity crisis?
We are faced with a distinct identity crisis which will deepen in the 2020s. Many of us will struggle with who we are in relation to our work and the other. Without specific policies to target this, we can expect more frustration among citizens that will likely lead to more unrest in a more prominent global spring in the coming years.
First, who are we in relation to the other? As we all know, xenophobia — or fear of the other — is very much on the rise globally. At times, it feels as though we are being forced by certain policymakers and hate groups to decide if we are globalists or nationalists, with no option to be both. This divisive sentiment has sadly bled deeply into many societies in the last few years, thanks in part to social media. Consider for instance the actions of empowered and tech-savvy hate groups against many migrants and refugees in the US and some European countries and religious minorities in countries like Myanmar and Sri Lanka. More recently, we have witnessed Hindu extremism in India, xenophobia against Venezuelan refugees across Latin America and even a backlash against East Asians due to coronavirus fears. The obvious question to ask is where is the counter-narrative to such hate? There is still no compelling voice from world leaders or global groups like WEF and the G20 to tackle this. At most, they have called for social media regulation of hate speech which still hasn’t produced the desired results (despite what tech firms keep saying). Perhaps New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is the only world leader explicitly talking about this, even calling for a global campaign against hate (in response to the 2019 Christchurch attacks). But without global leadership or a public counter-narrative to hate, our relationship to the other will continue to be complicated — and in some cases violent.
And what about you, Reader — are you a globalist or a nationalist; do you care about the other?
Second, who are we in relation to our work? We have heard about a global youth unemployment crisis for years since the Arab Spring; the newer concern is of course with how tech will wipe out so many of our jobs — 40% in fact in the next 15 years, according to AI expert Kai Fu Lee. As Chinese tech billionaire Jack Ma put it, automation will create “more pain than happiness in the next 30 years” — and it will impact many generations. Tech optimists, including leaders at the WEF and G20, have appropriately highlighted how new jobs will be created, but they also emphasize how these new jobs will require a reskilling revolution. Some companies have already started this process with a goal to collaborate with government. But will everyone actually want to be reskilled and adapt for these new jobs? Some may resist the change which could create more “precariats” — a term coined by economist Guy Standing — which is a new global class of people with “no occupational identity or narrative to give to their lives”. Some of us may have already been left behind by globalization or been impacted by the global youth unemployment crisis; yet more of us will be left behind by automation. The psychological toll of unemployment and being left behind by the tech economy will create frustration. Even with a reskilling revolution, some of us will experience an occupational identity crisis without the appropriate psychological support to transition to new types of jobs.
And what about you, Reader — do you have an occupational identity or could you become a precariat?
More thoughts on this in the 2020 edition of my award-winning, Amazon best-selling book, Future World Order, which is available on Amazon and my website.
