The coronavirus has revealed all the flaws of our old system, and proven that we have the capability to implement even the most drastic of changes at a moment’s notice – if only we want to, says acclaimed jazz musician and composer Niels Lan Doky in an exclusive essay for finews.first.
This article is published on finews.first, a forum for authors specialized in economic and financial topics.
Since a week ago, we are even deeper into this new state of the world. Since it all began, there are in particular two sharply contrasting schools of thought that have emerged and which have caught my attention. On one hand, we have those whose daily lives have turned into a blissful moment of peace and quiet, with the built-in opportunity and incentive to reflect on the world and become inspired to aspire towards positive transformational paradigm shifts in the immediate future.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, we have those who desperately long for a return to «normal», i.e. to their status quo business-as-usual pre-corona lives. Of course, I understand the longing for physical contact with loved ones, attending live concerts and other social activities, etc. However, to a very large extent, the world’s «normal» life has been selfish, unhealthy, unsustainable and irrational.
Needless to say, I belong to the first group. And I sometimes find it really hard to understand the latter group, although I do try my best.
«This reminds me of the two most notorious world leaders at present – Trump and Bolsonaro»
My first thought is, could it be related to education? I don’t know. But in percentage of GDP spent on education, my part of the world ranks in the top 10 with Norway, Sweden and Denmark at 8 percent, 7.7 percent and 7.6 percent of GDP respectively. In sharp contrast, the U.S. ranks No. 65 with only 5 percent, and contrary to Norway, Sweden and Denmark, the U.S. does not have universal healthcare and education, so their spending is mainly private rather than public.
Ironically, the No. 1 spot is held by Cuba with 12.9 percent of GDP spent on education. And it just so happens that Cuba is currently playing a significant role in medical research and helping the world's fight to stop COVID-19. Cuba has some of the best doctors in the world and as of April 1, Cuba had dispatched no less than 593 medical workers to 14 foreign countries including Italy and the U.S., to help them in their battles against the pandemic.
This reminds me of the two most notorious world leaders at present – the U.S.’s Donald Trump and his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro – and how meaningless democracy is without education. In both of these two countries, education is a privilege that is either directly or indirectly unavailable to the majority of the population.
«A lot of the world’s problems are relatively simple and do not require a Ph.D. to understand»
If you are not given the knowledge and education to stimulate your intelligence and raise your awareness to the point where you understand what you are voting for, democracy does not make sense and can be self-defeating. To illustrate this with an example: when Bolsonaro grotesquely and absurdly accused Leonardo DiCaprio of giving money to set the Amazon on fire, the latter’s comment was simply: «I don’t know who is the most stupid, Bolsonaro or the people that voted for him.»
Similarly, the surreal and catastrophic choice of Trump as a U.S. president is arguably rooted in the fact that a majority of Americans are undereducated, as a result of the fact that the system prevents the majority of the population from having access to higher education.
But still, a lot of the world’s problems are relatively simple and do not require a Ph.D. to understand. Luckily in my part of the world, a rapidly growing mass of citizens, media, brands, businesses, and corporations are demanding a post-corona economy based on a «Green New Deal» and new social justice.
«It’s time to press ‹delete› and ‹empty trash› and build a new system from scratch»
Because inequality plays a big role too. Because how can you worry about your carbon footprint when you're just scrambling on a daily basis struggling to earn enough money just to feed your children? Many of us have had more than enough of this old world order. And we are growing in numbers and are well on our way to reach critical mass. It’s time to press «delete» and «empty trash» and build a new system from scratch.
The coronavirus is a blessing in disguise that has revealed all the flaws of our old system, plus proven than we do in fact have the capability to implement even the most drastic of changes on just a moment’s notice, if only we want to. But we are not there yet.
In 1654, scientist and philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote: «All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.» To me, it is a metaphor for our current COVID-19 isolation and represents a call to action to confront and really feel our soul, mind and spirit full-on, without all the numbing usually caused by the myriads of noise and distractions of our consumer society.
«Have we gone completely mad?»
Here’s some food for thought: the whole world economy has gone down as a result of the fact that we are now only buying essentials.
This inevitably proves that our entire economy has been built primarily (i.e., not exclusively, but predominantly and to a very large extent) on the buying and selling of goods and services that we don’t really need. And in the process, we have ravaged our habitat, depleted our natural resources, caused immense suffering to fellow human beings and caused the extinction of numerous other species.
Have we gone completely mad? Is it not time for all of us to wake up from this ridiculous denial and reboot, join forces and start building a new world, worthy to pass on to future generations?
Niels Lan Doky, 56, is an internationally acclaimed Danish musician and composer. He was born in Copenhagen of a Danish mother and Vietnamese father. He first played the guitar but switched to piano at 11. At the age of 15, he began working with Thad Jones. He went on to attend the Berklee College of Music in the 1980s. He has released 42 albums as a leader to date and worked with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, John Scofield, Gino Vannelli, Pat Metheny, Joe Henderson, Michael Brecker, David Sanborn, Ray Brown, Woody Shaw, Charlie Haden, John McLaughlin and many others. In 2010 he was knighted by the Queen of Denmark. His most recent album is «River of Time».
Previous contributions: Rudi Bogni, Peter Kurer, Rolf Banz, Dieter Ruloff, Werner Vogt, Walter Wittmann, Alfred Mettler, Peter Hody, Robert Holzach, Craig Murray, David Zollinger, Arthur Bolliger, Beat Kappeler, Chris Rowe, Stefan Gerlach, Marc Lussy, Nuno Fernandes, Richard Egger, Maurice Pedergnana, Marco Bargel, Steve Hanke, Urs Schoettli, Ursula Finsterwald, Stefan Kreuzkamp, Oliver Bussmann, Michael Benz, Peter Hody, Albert Steck, Martin Dahinden, Thomas Fedier, Alfred Mettler, Brigitte Strebel, Peter Hody, Mirjam Staub-Bisang, Nicolas Roth, Thorsten Polleit, Kim Iskyan, Stephen Dover, Denise Kenyon-Rouvinez, Christian Dreyer, Kinan Khadam-Al-Jame, Robert Hemmi, Anton Affentranger, Yves Mirabaud, Katharina Bart, Frédéric Papp, Hans-Martin Kraus, Gerard Guerdat, Mario Bassi, Stephen Thariyan, Dan Steinbock, Rino Borini, Bert Flossbach, Michael Hasenstab, Guido Schilling, Werner E. Rutsch, Dorte Bech Vizard, Adriano B. Lucatelli, Katharina Bart, Maya Bhandari, Jean Tirole, Hans Jakob Roth, Marco Martinelli, Thomas Sutter, Tom King, Werner Peyer, Thomas Kupfer, Peter Kurer, Arturo Bris, Frederic Papp, James Syme, Dennis Larsen, Bernd Kramer, Ralph Ebert, Armin Jans, Nicolas Roth, Hans Ulrich Jost, Patrick Hunger, Fabrizio Quirighetti, Claire Shaw, Peter Fanconi, Alex Wolf, Dan Steinbock, Patrick Scheurle, Sandro Occhilupo, Will Ballard, Michael Bornhaeusser, Nicholas Yeo, Claude-Alain Margelisch, Jean-François Hirschel, Jens Pongratz, Samuel Gerber, Philipp Weckherlin, Anne Richards, Antoni Trenchev, Benoit Barbereau, Pascal R. Bersier, Shaul Lifshitz, Klaus Breiner, Ana Botín, Martin Gilbert, Jesper Koll, Ingo Rauser, Carlo Capaul, Claude Baumann, Markus Winkler, Konrad Hummler, Thomas Steinemann, Christina Boeck, Guillaume Compeyron, Miro Zivkovic, Alexander F. Wagner, Eric Heymann, Christoph Sax, Felix Brem, Jochen Moebert, Jacques-Aurélien Marcireau, Peter Hody, Ursula Finsterwald, Claudia Kraaz, Michel Longhini, Stefan Blum, Zsolt Kohalmi, Karin M. Klossek, Nicolas Ramelet, Søren Bjønness, Lamara von Albertini, Andreas Britt, Gilles Prince, Darren Willams, Salman Ahmed, Stephane Monier, and Peter van der Welle, Beat Wittmann, Ken Orchard, Michael Welti, Christian Gast, Didier Saint-Georges, Jeffrey Bohn, Juergen Braunstein, Jeff Voegeli, Gérard Piasko, Fiona Frick, Stefan Schneider, Matthias Hunn, Andreas Vetsch, Fabiana Fedeli, Marionna Wegenstein, Kim Fournais, Carole Millet, Ralph Ebert, Lars Jaeger, Swetha Ramachandran, Brigitte Kaps, Thomas Stucki, Teodoro Cocca, Neil Shearing, Claude Baumann, Guy de Blonay, Tom Naratil, Oliver Berger, Robert Sharps, and Santosh Brivio, Tobias Mueller, Florian Wicki, Jean Keller, and Fabrizio Pagani.
