In 2011 the two of us were in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, where Nouh addressed a huge crowd with an enthusiastic call for a dawla madanīya, a civil state, the alternative to both theocracy and military rule. For the past ten years we’ve worked together across the region to promote toleration, de‐monopolization and economic openness, and constitutional democracy.
What has happened since that time?
Since 2010, Sixteen million have been forcibly displaced. Economic growth has fallen by half and unemployment is endemic, especially among the youth, who make up 85% of the unemployed. Oppressive states continue to dominate the Arab world. Cronyism, corruption, and state domination are still the order of the day.
Fears, hopes, projections for 2021
National
December 21, 2020
LAHORE: It’s about a week, the world will be bidding adieu to 2020, an eventful and dreadful year, but the last sun will not set on December 31, before taking a massive toll on the health, economy, social behaviours, careers and life-styles of over 7.8 billion inhabitants breathing on the earth.
Covid-19 has thus adversely affected almost all hence, making the global actors ponder as what should be done next year to prioritise global health, democracy, trade, human rights and arms control etc. The world stands changed and transformed in a few good ways too, for example, the previously tattered Ozone layer is now repaired due to lesser carbon emission from largely reduced air traffic, and the plummeting industrial and transportation activities. For economists, this transformation will result in poverty but those who love to see a balanced and healthy eco-system, the change is welcome.