All is well with the World
And it did on 9/11 with
a bang.
Pandits and economists have been worrying
about the widening gaps between the rich and the poor : the Gini Coefficient has
been signaling the build-up of stress in many countries. A disruption was waiting
to happen.
Donald J Trump, a rank outsider is elected the
45th President of the United States of America, the most prosperous country of
this world.
It is a tribute to our times that Trump very graciously spoke " She congratulated us —
it’s about us — on our victory, and I congratulated her and her family on a
very, very hard-fought campaign."
And Hillary
Clinton spoke thus " Last night I congratulated Donald Trump, and offered
to work with him on behalf of our country. I hope that he will be a successful
president for all Americans."
Hillary wore
purple to make a not so subtle call for unity, which echoes sentiments from her speech. "We have
seen that our nation is more deeply divided than we thought," she said,
"But I still believe in America, and I always will."
Barak Obama the
inspirational 44th President of United States, who opposed Trump spoke thus
"We are now all
rooting for his success in uniting and leading the country,”
All is well with the world.
We in India experienced the same disruption in May 2014. The Experience has been good so far,in many ways.
I am sure our Indian politicians will also catch up and we will see similar quality and grace in public life.
And soon.
Liberalism had become widely accepted as "the" creed of choice, and rulers had also become too strongly entrenched. The money-to-power-to-money nexus was too strong. Now, populism has been raising it's head. Has been going through various versions. Different situations, different people, but similar concerns. From Tunisia to Algeria to Egypt we saw it happen, although in the latter case The System reasserted itself. There is Brexit, and the fact that the French President has 4% approval rating. The Brazilian president was removed. The new Philippines president can publicly talk about his own record as a killer, and gets love and clapping. So, now it was Trump's turn. People nowadays rating need for change much higher than their general aversion for risk that comes with change. The world will be watching closely, there is a lot at stake.
ReplyDeleteWhatever the events that led to Trump and Hillary being the last two left standing, and Trump eventually winning, the subtext of the election perhaps needs to be pondered over. There are many localized conflicts that have been raging in different parts of the world, mostly impoverished. Are we seeing the beginning of a period when regions seen as prosperous, and relatively immune to conflict except being occasional targets, will be drawn into them on account domestic polarization and unrest?
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