May 2020
A host of governments across the globe have declared ‘war’ on the outbreak of Covid-19, each calling for a collective national effort the like of which has rarely been seen before. While the virus grinds much of public life to a halt, World War II has become the go-to comparison for the current battle against a deadly germ. Both are crises that affect the whole of humanity; both show us that there is only one humanity and therefore only one solution.
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A vision of the new
A glance at history reveals that it takes a period of acute crisis to set the stage for radical and systemic transformation, often for the better. The global flu epidemic of 1918, for instance, helped create national health services in many European countries. The twinned crises of the Great Depression and World War II led to the modern welfare state. But crises can also send societies down darker paths as we painfully learnt from the response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the 2008 financial crash.
The scale of the coronavirus crisis is likewise so profound that we are provided with an opportunity to remake our society for the greater good and learn from the mistakes of the past that left us utterly ill-equipped for what was and still is to come. Only when the world comes together again and regards its problems as shared and society as more than an agglomeration of individuals competing for wealth and standing, will we be capable of solving this monumental task. Other ways have been tried, and have failed.
More people are in a position to connect the dots and be willing to act. They are the driving forces behind the grassroots movements across the world. They forge with vigour a vision of a new civilization that they believe is possible. They are the antidote to all manner of social ills and the architect of a more humane future that is within our grasp.
