The twenty-first century is witnessing chaotic situations. To think about it, the sort of situation the people live in is an unending winter for them. In one of his plays, Richard III, William Shakespeare once said, “Now is the winter of our discontent.” His poetic dictum is comparable to the current hour in which human beings live—the darkest moment of their time, pertinent to the hostile status quo.
The Never-ending Winter
The human soul feels agonistic in the post-modern era, owing to the advancement of society. In the same way, the burgeoning population stands at 8.2 billion, as reported by the World Population Clock. With the passage of time, it becomes parasitic and a burden on the earth’s resources. The undesirable 1.5°C changes in long-term weather patterns create difficulty for the survival of all living habitats.
Furthermore, women are always behind men. They are paid less than their male counterparts. A woman still earns 70% compared to men. They are also victims of violence and vulnerable to various health diseases. The health sector in most countries carries the burden of a huge chunk of patients. It becomes difficult for it to manage the health crisis. The outbreak of fatal diseases such as hepatitis C, B, and HIV pushes humans to live in suspending winters.
The disparity between the haves and have-nots in the capitalist world encourages the concentration of more wealth in the top 1% of tycoons while the rest of the population continues to struggle. The winter of worldwide inflation and the re-emergence of authoritarianism are suspending democratic norms, as is happening in Afghanistan and Kashmir. All these things subtract happiness from their faces. From 2020 to 2022, worldwide inflation reached 8.8%, up from the previous 1.9%. Such statistics are a translation of how crime increases in developing countries.
The intensification of lethal weapons and the continuation of conflicts cost human lives on a vast scale. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) between Russia and the USA is likely to be no longer applicable after 2026 owing to the Ukraine conflict. Trade wars and Cold War 2.0 among great powers sandwich the weaker states.
Besides this, according to the UN Refugee Council, there are millions of unwanted immigrants on a vast scale, which compels them to live in a time of hovering winters. It is very unfortunate that leaders and the champions of democracy turn a blind eye to them. Joe Biden, the US president himself, said in a speech, “What’s happening in Gaza is not genocide.” He vocally defended the mass killings of Palestinians at the hands of Israel.
Many factors give impetus to these sorts of biting times. Firstly, various living ideologies exist. Whether they are political, religious, or economic, they have a bad check on people’s patterns of living, which shape the world to divide them from one another. Secondly, the clash of civilizations in the thesis of Samuel P. Huntington practically proves that ideology turns a good arrangement into derangement.
Thirdly, the quest for hegemony among great powers and racial thinking give birth to the time of genocidal winters. The irrational claim of racial superiority on the part of the Jews against the Palestinians is testimony to this fact.
Changing the Tide
Some important steps are required to be taken to expedite transforming the hovering winters into eternal springs. In this regard, the fair and unbiased role of the United Nations is important. The decision to warrant the arrest of Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu by Karim Khan, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, is commendable in this regard. The success of non-zero-sum diplomacy versus zero-sum games among great powers is to be channeled.
Besides this, work on human development projects can truly get rid of these winters at home. To give an upshot, the argument can be concluded with the optimistically underpinned words of a prominent English poet, P.B. Shelley:
“O wind! If winter comes, can spring be far behind?”
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