The Belligerent Disorder

In this world order, countries take unilateral action to bomb another, regardless of the provocation, while the world stands by, helpless and silent

- SUNITA NARAIN

It's been a surreal few months; my (our) world is spinning like a top and seems completely out of control. Nothing seems to make sense anymore. It is a strange time, and I say this particularly for the half-a-century people like me who grew up in the post-colonial era and witnessed a world order that was intensely inequitable but still seemed capable of reform. Maybe it was the age of innocence. But we had hope in the global rule of law, even if it was led by powerful global players; we believed that voices of reason would prevail. The UN had a role—even though the Security Council, then and now, was a body which mirrored an inequitable and unfair global power order—but it still stood with the right, against the wrong. There was something to hold on to; something to believe in.

As I write this today—forgive me for sounding so dejected—it feels as though the ground has collapsed beneath our feet, and we are lost. Certainly, I cannot comprehend this world order, where countries can take unilateral action to bomb another, regardless of the provocation, and the world stands by, helpless and silent. We hear talk of regime change in another country and brush it off as normal; we ignore large-scale starvation and the massacre of entire peoples. At best, we change the channel because we cannot bear to see it anymore. Our helplessness is complete.