By Jackie Batamuliza
From time immemorial, war has been the engine of all politics and for a long time, war has been known to be the use of military violence to force the enemies’ (or opponents’) will into submission. In our new world, which is the virtual world, the new plane, where we used military violence now we have political violence, economic violence, cultural violence, generational violence, technological violence and scientific violence.
We are having less of the enemy’s will being forced into submission to all humans being forced into the service of a handful of nations’ interests. The element of ‘all humans’, whether it is by desired necessity or by natural human behavior, it seems inevitably irreversible because we are interconnected.
In addition to the evolution of war, we are witnessing new centers of power.
In the golden age and some ages before, people were ruled with power hinged on the will of G(g)od. Eventually, it became hereditary with evidence of monarchies, then it became democratic with the ruled making the decisions (which is where we are transiting from presently) into the realm of ‘random’ exercise power.
While random power looks like it’s part of democracy it doesn’t have a framework of rules through which it’s regulated or checked. It’s exercised at the mercy of the person wilding it and the people in power who usually get to tremble at the thought of the feelings and the attitudes of the electorate. That presents a dilemma which is that ultimately the masses are at the mercy of the rulers, the wealthy and the powerful. Not that this hasn’t been the case throughout history but today we are an interdependent world with varying cultures, sentiments, feelings and attitudes yet we all listen to each other.
This lot in the last cluster of random power holders includes philanthropists, celebrities, corporation leaders e.t.c.
None of this would be a problem, after all, they are part of humanity. However, in the event that politicians use them to prey on the infatuated and mesmerized masses (who sometimes just follow someone’s dress, not necessarily because they need it but because it’s their wish/ dream) to advance their desires, shouldn’t we be creating rules for this new pitch?
The internet (which is the new plane) presents to us a new terrain. We all can be, cause, influence e.t.c. It is a plane no one can afford not to be resident but it has no rules, it requires no qualifications to use, it is a marketplace and a battlefield at the same time.
None of this would be bad, except that it is the realm where our bodies are less relevant and our soft wares (all that we are that is not the body) are most important. That means that the masses are likely to be influenced into various passions (positive or negative). That calls for either the resilience in the soft wares of the people or the resilience in the close watch and management of national defense systems.
Several months ago George Clooney forced the Sultan of Brunei to turn back on the decision to protect his country from the effects of gay rights by the use of a tweet. The bargain was made over his hotels.
What does this even mean? Is that blackmail? it is war? Is it injustice? Is it imperialism? Is it cyberbullying? Is it the bullying by the powerful?
A couple of years ago, such a decision was only entrusted with the United Nations (UN) and now it can be made on tweeter (a place we get to say what we need to in 140 characters).
I am tempted to believe that President Trump’s decisions about the World Health Organization (WHO) and the messy funding processes for the United Nations (UN) in the recent past are very deliberate. Those that matter know how all these things we still look to might have to be outrun by the new methods.
When you think about, there is no option for the developed countries. If their competitors have caught up with them in numbers, economic strengths, military strengths, intellectual disabilities e.g. Russia, China, India and Brazil, the next option is to exploit the capacities or fields where their own would run faster than the rest. That means the virtual world, the science fields which may explain why there has been a great deal of undoing God out of the consciousness of their citizens because they need less conventional convictions and to come to a place where good and bad are made relative.
Additionally, a great part of the world has cultural influences from either Europe or the U.S. All the 4 other countries that seem to be creating the multipolar world haven’t invested in cultural dominion by virtue of rigidity so they get to be beaten by mere willingness by the west to be flexible. That leaves even their own populations vulnerable to their “enemy’s” will.
Our exam therefore is, how do we avoid being caught off guard by everything we judge to be the results of this unconventional art of global politics?
These things mean that defense is no longer only in the hands of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the like agencies in allied countries for example, they relinquished some authority to singers to play with our emotions, to generate the flow of dopamine and oxytocin which ultimately slow humans. More has been relinquished to technology to deal with our concentration spans, to science to stir our fears and surrender to their will and in some cases just not know where to start.
We respect the idea that the whole world is interfacing the same but our capacities to withstand these winds differ which may call for reinforcement and where necessary upgrades of national defense systems.
If we were alive to these things and used the politics of the last century as an example, we would be busy creating new alliances. I don’t think we will love where we are going. In my view, it’s a place where something (in)visible is in charge of everything we are.
The author is a Global Political Analyst
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