The New World Disorder

Andleeb Abbass
Any choice made in anger is bound to be irrational and thus no matter how aghast the world is at what
has happened in Europe and US it is a reflection of an imbalance in world economy leading to an
imbalance in the rationality of voters and masses around

2016 was a leap year. More than the 29 days in February, 2016 made its presence felt
by terror attacks in France and Germany, political shocks of Brexit in Europe and Trump
triumph in US. The Rio Olympics were the highlight in Brazil and the impeachment of
President Dilma Rousseff on account of fudging budget deficit was the low light. Syrian
war became a tragedy unending while the refugee policies of Europe were applauded
and reprimanded by various segments in the world. Global world was shaken by the
massive Leaks of Panama Papers and many corporate giants like Samsung saw its
brand burning out. The coining of the new Oxford dictionary word of post-truth world
became intriguing as truth became clouded in the Social media swamp of uninhibited
information.
The year marked a trend of world revolt against the traditional politics. With increasing
inequality the divide between rich and poor created rebellion and resentment. The fact
that $1.9tn wealth of 80 top billionaires is equal to bottom 50% of rest of world is
staggering and itself a fully loaded violence preparator. That is why it was a year
marked with widespread violence. Nearly every day of the year some terrorist attack
took place somewhere in the world. Turkey became the new center of attacks. The style
of attacks varied with gun slingers to truck stampeders that proved equally terrorizing.
Turkey suffered from a terrorist attack every fortnight of the year beside the attempted
coup to topple Erdogan by some factions of the army. Syria and Yemen became the
Afghanistan and Iraq of yesteryears where wars are being waged to suppress terror
groups.
This unrest and growing world divide was reflected in desperation for change all over
the world. Brexit and US elections was a reflection of people voting against traditional
established politics. The choice of segregating Britain from Europe and electing Trump
was not as much as being pro these candidates but being anti the existing system that
has bred unemployment, insecurity and class divide. Any choice made in anger is
bound to be irrational and thus no matter how aghast the world is at what has happened
in Europe and US it is a reflection of an imbalance in world economy leading to an
imbalance in the rationality of voters and masses around the world. Even the ouster of
President Park in South Korea is seen as a sign of rejection of traditional system
whereby Korean Chaebols of business like Samsung, LG, Huyndai were monopolizing
government policies to their advantage. Hillary Clintons campaign funding by big
business became a matter of great outrage in many segments of the society.

Many heads rolled this year mostly on charges of corruption. The year started with
ministers and ended with Presidents. In January 2016 the first to go was Japans
Economy Minister Akira Amari who said he resigned amid corruption allegations.
MrAmari made the announcement at a press conference in Tokyo. But he again denied
personally receiving bribes from a construction company, as had been alleged by a
Japanese magazine. In February, Ukraines economy minister Aivarus Abromavicius
resigned in protest at the slow pace of reform in the country. He said he did not want to
provide cover for widespread government corruption. President Petro Poroshenko
brought Mr Abromavicius from Lithuania to help spearhead Ukraines reform campaign.
But two years after their pro-Western revolution, many Ukrainians felt there has been
little change and their country remains mired in corruption. In May the Brazilian
Supreme Court justice in charge of the Lava Jato (Car Wash) investigation into the
massive Petrobras kickback and bribery scandal ordered the removal Thursday of
Eduardo Cunha from his position as the speaker of the lower house of the Brazilian
parliament. In the lesser developed world Iraq and India also faced ministers who were
facing massive scandals and decided to remove them. Iraqs parliament voted to
remove Defense Minister Khalid Obeidi from office over corruption allegations as the
countrys armed forces geared up for a major offensive to retake the Islamic State
stronghold Mosul.
Panama Papers brought the downfall of some heavy weights. Icelands Prime Minister
Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson became the first major casualty of the Panama Papers
revelations, stepping down on after leaked files showed his wife owned an offshore firm
with big claims on the countrys collapsed banks. The other major heads of state to roll
were the two female Presidents, Dilma Rouseff of Brazil and Park of South Korea, both
impeached on charges of figure fudging and corruption. The end of the year saw the
end of South Korean scandal of nepotism and business ties based on them. For
months, prosecutors and opposition lawmakers pursued ties between Park and her
friend Choi Soon-sil, as well as the links between the presidents office and the familyrun chaebol conglomerates like Samsung and Hyundai that dominate the economy. The
stream of often lurid revelations swelled anger in the nations 50 million population amid
widening income inequality, soaring household debt, youth unemployment and a slump
in once-mighty steel mills and shipyards. This led to her impeachment.
2016 was thus a year of change; but whether it was change for the better or worse only
time will tell. The post-truth world is a world where traditional forecasting methods have
been mocked by the explosion of social media. Truth can be photoshoped and shaped
and deshaped with devastating closeness to genuineness giving rise to moods and
feelings that the traditional research methods have failed to capture. Its power to
influence and shape the world is phenomenal. The picture of one Syrian refugee child

lying dead on a sea shore going viral made Europe change its refugee policies.
Similarly, one picture of the Chaiwala in Pakistan made a poor tea boy become a model.
2017 needs a lot of reflection and introspection. Are these voter trends indicative of
permanent and effective choices? Are the capitalistic policies in the world being abused
to suit the few at the cost of the many? Are the visuals being shown on social media
portraying the reality or is it pulp fiction? Are the wars we are waging, against terror or
for terror? The answers to these questions must be sought to carve the right direction,
as going by the trend and the tide are a recipe of comfortably numb sinking. The one
certain thing out of all this uncertainty is that change is imperative. What is perhaps the
most certain thing is that a change based on human values of equality, of integrity, of
dignity will always be more sustainable in the long run.