Planetary Humanisation

Discussion

Anthony Barnett:

“The pandemic creates the opportunity, perhaps the only opportunity, for humanisation to now become globalisation’s defining influence. Many people have written in depth about the issues this raises. Two historians saw it coming in 1995, while emphasising the splintering and differences of humanity, nonetheless, they argued, “in an age of globality… for the first time, we as human beings collectively constitute ourselves and, hence, are responsible for ourselves”. Two years ago, George Monbiot set out the need for a new narrative grounded on the evidence that humans are not competitive by nature but social. Global humanisation provides such a narrative. Post-Covid, Dani Rodik suggests that today’s “hyper-globalisation” needs to be replaced by a beneficial globalisation built around health and the environment, answerable to democratic national governments. It is such a replacement. Let me suggest six things which must be done to achieve planetary humanisation. But first I must emphasise the purpose of the analysis I have set out. The internet is currently full of proposals about what we should or should not do, as if the unexpected arrival of the pandemic means a new manifesto can also sweep all before it. In fact the impact of the virus on our economies, which distinguishes it from all previous viruses, stems from unprecedented policy decisions that were determined by half a century of change. So while we will be lost unless we are welcoming of invention and use our imaginations, we must root and germinate our strategies in experience to give them traction and credibility.”
( https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/out-belly-hell-shutdown-and-humanisation-globalisation/ )