Past glory

It has been 75 years since World War II ended in Europe. Immediately after the war, it was realised that cooperation among the states is the way forward to avoid any such destruction. The UN was formed to make sure that the world does not face anything like this again. Internationalism got strength and legitimacy from all the major powers and from other nations. Despite the cold war and proxy wars, the world managed generally to ward off any world war like situation which was the achievement of internationalism. The world in recent times has seen the return of pre-second world war like political narratives in leading nations, protectionism is dictating the closure of borders, nationalism is growing in western and eastern democracies, glorifying the past and solving real issues of the people with metaphysics. These are the growing trends in under developed countries like India, Pakistan and simultaneously in advanced established democracies like the US and UK.

Is the world taking another turn? Covid-19 which otherwise would have been a wakeup call for conservatives is now being used by those very conservatives to further advance their agendas of nationalism. The PTI leader is romancing with the so-called glory of past Muslim imperialism and promoting hollow faith-based nationalism to cow down any opposition he may otherwise have to face due to the poor performance of his government.

Malik Atif Mahmood Majoka

Melbourne

Australia