Apps and data are still a brave new world

Fanatic viciousness crossed all known limits in Afghanistan this week, as two leading militant groups fighting for their so-called ‘noble ideologies’ against the Kabul government killed over 100 people in cold blood; people who were going about their daily life.

First, it was the so-called Islamic State group that stormed the compound of the British charity Save the Children in an urban neighbourhood in eastern Jalalabad city. In this country where women and children in particular direly need a helping hand, such an appalling act of terror can never be justified under any pretext.

Frontline humanitarian groups such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have already reduced their activities in the most vulnerable corners of the war-ravaged country as a result of similar targeted attacks aimed at aid groups. Now, with Save the Children also putting its operations on hold, those most in need are set to suffer the most.

Many lives were lost, including three aid workers of the charity, in this reckless assault on Wednesday January 24 by the violent group.

This was followed by another, and more gruesome massacre in the heart of the capital Kabul, by the Taliban, which is the main rebel group operating in the area on Saturday January 27.

Undermining the International Humanitarian Law, and honestly, all human values, a militant driving an improvised ambulance packed with explosives blew himself close to the Ministry of Interior and the main Jamhoriat Public Hospital during the afternoon rush hour, causing another carnage in the devastated capital.

Hours after the brazen Taliban-claimed attack, public hospitals in the city were overwhelmed with wounded victims with missing limbs, and their traumatised friends and relatives eager to know about their loved ones. The desperate sighs and cries of so many anxious mothers and fathers gripped by the shock, made life stop in the surroundings of public hospitals.

The unending spate of such inhumane attacks have crushed all established rules of war, while there continues to be no end in sight. The helpless Afghan government has once again pointed fingers towards its immediate neighbouring Pakistan for continuing to harbour and support the fanatic militants.

Human dignity seems to have lost its value in this strategic tussle for upper hand in a battle that has no winners, only innocent men, women and children as the ultimate sacrifice.

It all started with 444 executives from European firms gathered together in 1971 in the Swiss Alps town of Davos in what was originally called the European Management Symposium. Today, the nonprofit World Economic Forum is an annual summit of some 900 world executives and 70 political leaders – among the occasional celebrity (Elton John, Will.i.am, Cate Blanchett and co) – all brought together to discuss some of the most pressing issues of today.

Keeping true to the etiquette of banquets or pure theatre, each year the World Economic Forum, monikered Davos, carries a masquerade theme; this year was appropriately given the ‘Creating a shared future in a fractured world’ aesthetic, where terms such as ‘the disenfranchised’, ‘the rise of populism’ and ‘gender equality’ are thrown around like the confetti insides of a party popper.

Since opening its grandiose doors this Tuesday, January 24, to the powerful voices – for better or worst – of current times, Canadian President Justin Trudeau has reiterated the importance of the #metoo movement and that “we must each have a well understood established process in place to file allegations of workplace harassment.” When addressing the rise of populism, German chancellor Angela Merkel exclaimed that “The lesson that we drew at the formation of the United Nations [after the Second World War] was a lesson of multilateralism – an answer of cooperation.” While Cate Blanchett tearfully called for more compassion in the treatment of now 65 million displaced people the world over.

This year’s conference also saw Salesforce chief executive Marc Benioff advise that Facebook, among other social media platforms, should be regulated in a similar way to tobacco products because of their harmful and addictive nature. Whether the insightful back-to-backs scheduled for the duration of the four day conference have much effect beyond the borders of the Swiss Davos is up for debate, but as the days unroll, the arrival of President Trump is nearing and with that the squandering of progress – any which progress – that might take root.

High profile, highly reported world summits such as this, alongside the G20 and the World Climate Summit seem to further perpetuate the disillusionment they wish to tackle. For every #metoo uttered out, every ‘disenfranchised’ person pitied, or every displaced nomad looked at as a problem not the solution, the WEF fails time and time again to achieve what it set out to do.

Last week’s assassination of Serbian politician Oliver Ivanovic in northern Kosovo is threatening to destabilise a volatile region where memories of the horrors of war remain unforgotten.

Considered a voice of moderation and dialogue, Ivanovic was also a supporter of efforts to reconcile ethnic Serbians and Albanians in Kosovo. His murder, however, could hinder efforts in accomplishing that goal, having had immediate repercussions, prompting the interruption of political talks between the two nations.

Nearly a decade after declaring independence unilaterally, Kosovo is still struggling to overcome ethnic divisions. Within its disputed territory of 1.9 million people, over 90% are ethnic Albanian. In the north, however, there are still Serb-majority municipalities. The split is most clearly evident in the northern city of Mitrovica – where Ivanovic’s assassination took place – which is run by Kosovo Serbs in the north and by Kosovo Albanians in the south.

The murder has put the small country under the media spotlight, almost 20 years after the war where Serbian forces and Kosovar rebels opposed each other, taking the lives of more than 13,000 people. The hostilities would come to a halt in 1999, after NATO bombed Serbia, forcing Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw his troops. The end of the fighting was followed by a period of administration by a United Nations mission, which lasted until February 2008, when the Assembly of Kosovo declared its independence, breaking away from Serbia.

However, ten years after secession, the international community remains divided over Kosovo’s independence, with countries such as Russia and China, alongside Serbia (who considers Kosovo the cradle of its nation) failing to recognise it.

Since 2008, Serbia has refused to deal directly with the Republic of Kosovo, only accepting talks through international intermediaries. The relations between the two countries have faced increased dialogue. However, the unsolved murder of the Serb leader is now jeopardising the progress achieved. In a territory that also faces a high unemployment rate and corruption, reconciliation between the two communities looks uncertain.

Photo: Screenshot Radija Slobodna Evropa 

Millions of people in developing countries still grapple with the absence of cheaper and sustainable energy, adverse impacts of weather changes, lack of employment, housing and decent livelihoods. While international aid hasn’t been effective in uplifting the recipients out of poverty and giving them a shot at a better life.

As the jury is still out on the efficacy of international aid in poverty alleviation, a growing population and emerging issues are putting more pressure on developing countries to find resources to address the 21st century needs.

Africa for example, home to over 1.2 billion people, requires billions of dollars each year to actualise the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union Agenda 2063, with a view to ending poverty and inequality. Yet what has been sorely missed out in the planning of this utopian goal, is that Africa doesn’t currently have the requisite domestic resources to meet these goals.

Luckily, as the continent moves from an aid reliant economic model and gravitates towards capitalism, a new form of investment is quickly taking shape, providing a win-win situation to investors and locals.

Impact investment, the idea of balancing between profits and social and environmental good has been delivering impressive payoffs to the number of investors across healthcare, sanitation, ecotourism, renewable energy, financial services and ICT. African countries are leading in the number of such investors around the globe, currently standing at 47%, followed by North America with 44%. By 2015, an estimated $10 billion had been invested in various projects in Africa through this model according to the United Nations Development Programme.

This departure from traditional philanthropy is informed by a new crop of young business leaders who are changing the art of giving from that of a company's byproduct to a fundamental part and parcel of the business. The financial rewards for businesses who have made a positive impact together with the tangible change in the livelihoods of millions is proof to the important role impact investing could play in helping the international community meet all the targets of the global goals.

The next phase in this nascent model is to have the correct metrics that quantify impact on even minute levels, while ensuring this momentum remains vibrant if we are to achieve a fairer and more equitable world.

The universe's background radiation, the story goes, tells astrophysicists one thing: the universe is expanding; accelerating away in every direction. There was a bang, some 14 billion years ago, and that primal explosion still sends the universe reeling. Thinking about an ever-expanding universe may also remind us of the ever-expanding inequality gap. 

Several years ago, the richest 100 people held as much as the global poorest; then it was the richest 75, then the richest 50 – now the richest 42 people in the world hold as much wealth as the poorest 3.7 billion people: a ratio of roughly 1:880,000,000.

In a report published on Monday to coincide with the gathering of some of the world’s richest people at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Oxfam said billionaires had been created at a record rate of one every two days over the past 12 months, at a time when the bottom 50% of the world’s population had seen no increase in wealth. It added that 82% of the global wealth generated in 2017 went to the wealthiest 1%.

The charity also said that such wealth disparity is evidence of a broken and rigged system, as opposed to a well-oiled one. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was named the world's richest man, with wealth equivalent to a billion and half of the world's poorest. 

And the gap is widening – not closing. Although living standards are rising globally, and deep poverty is being eradicated, the wealth gap continues to widen. You can read the report here, and help Oxfam in fighting the growing divide. 

The body of a charismatic young man from the militancy-hit tribal belt in Pakistan found in the port city of Karachi last week was dubbed by police as a ‘terrorist’ by an infamous police chief, notorious for extra-judicial killings.

27-year-old Naqeebullah Mehsud, a father of three children, was supporting his family through a cloth shop in the suburbs of Karachi. Known for his passion for fashion and modelling, the police pictured a contrasting picture of the man as an extremist Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militant involved in numerous high-profile terrorist attacks across the country.

According to the friends and relatives of Mehsud, who had thousands of followers on his Facebook page, intelligence officials in plainclothes came and abducted him from a restaurant in Karachi on January 3, some 10 days before police said he was killed. Following which, on January 16, the family members were informed.

Rao Anwar, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), has claimed Mehsud was wanted in many cases, and his family members should have reported his missing status to the police. Family and friends of Naqeebullah Mehsood accused Malir SSP Rao Anwar of killing the youth in a fake encounter in Karachi after kidnapping.

Rao is particularly notorious for the so-called "encounter killings." According to a Human Rights Watch report, there were more than 2,000 encounter killings across Pakistan in 2015, with the practice considered to be "routine."

The charisma of Mehsud has simply shed a spotlight on this chronic issue, which is not new in the system of governance, and particularly law enforcement in Pakistan. This is the moment for local and global human rights bodies to seize and hold the whole state responsible for turning a blind eye, or perhaps encouraging the law enforcement officials to have a license to kill suspects.

Members of the Mehsud have been baring the brunt of militancy and military operation in their native areas for years now. Tragic killings such as that of a young Mehsud in Pakistan’s biggest city would only aggravate their feelings.

The security agencies should not be tolerated under any pretext for bypassing legal systems, and denying the right of suspects to defend themselves until proven guilty. Otherwise, law of the jungle would prevail where might is right, and that means moving back to the Stone Age.

“We live in trying times. Times of fear, of suppression” reads the voice of Chelsea Manning, former army whistleblower now running for the US senate for Maryland. Her recently published campaign ad is made up of glitched footage from the violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville together with flickering images of racial violence and police brutality. “We need to stop expecting that our systems will somehow fix themselves,” Manning’s voice continues as the White House courtyard fountain plays in the background; cascading water vacuumed backwards in slow motion.

After being held in prison for seven years in what the United Nations has denounced as “inhumane” conditions, Manning – a figure who today not only stands for political transparency but for LGBTQI+ rights – has a longstanding Democratic candidate to beat if she’s to become the first transgender woman to ever be elected into the US senate. She will be running against incumbent 74 year old Democratic Sen. Benjamin Cardin who is running for his third senate term, and is the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

#WeGotThis reads Manning’s new campaign hashtag, a call for a complete reshape of the political sphere. Her campaign is anchored in the fight to no longer ask others to accommodate the rights of the underrepresented, the minorities and the LGBTQI+ groups. “We need to stop asking for someone to give us our rights. They won’t support us. [...] We don’t need them anymore. We can do better. We got this.”

If elected, Manning would be the first and only representative voice for the transgender community within the senate, yet she is not alone in her quest diversify the US political sphere. 2017 saw the election of 8 transgender women into city councils, school boards and the staggering win of Democrat Danica Roem into the Virginia House of Delegates.

But with every breakthrough comes the anticipated resistance from a culture not yet willing to let go of the old and in with the revolutionary. Democrats opposing Manning’s running have already painted her candidacy as an espionage tool for the Kremlin, while conservatives are standing against both her court martial sentencing and her transgender identity. Fox news was quick to headline the story as “Sen. Chelsea Manning? To even think about rewarding this criminal with a Senate seat is beyond absurd.”

During her imprisonment, Manning became a monumental force for the rights of LGBTQI+ identifying persons – her work with WikiLeaks proved to be just a glimpse into the fearlessness with which she approaches a political realm congested with conformity, with repression and silencing. Manning is also fighting to become a voice for the previously convicted, something entirely absent from current political representation. It really is time we take matters into our own hands, and with that, #WeGotThis.

At the turn of the millennium Portugal was experiencing the most terrible heroin pandemic in Europe. The country of 10 million people accounted for the worst figures related to drug use: 1% of the population was addicted to heroin, the rate of HIV infection was the highest in the European Union and deaths from overdoses were spiralling out of control.

During the 80s and 90s, hundreds of users used to line up for hours to buy drugs in the impoverished neighbourhood of Casal Ventoso, Lisbon, known as the "drug supermarket". At its height over 6,000 addicts descended daily on the shanty town to buy and consume heroin in the open air until 1999, when the slum was cleared and its residents rehoused.

Today, the country is very different, as heroine use has fallen to a quarter of what it was in 2000. Furthermore, Portugal has seen a dramatic drop in HIV infections (from 104 new cases per million in 2000 to 4.2 in 2015), whilst the number of people dying from overdoses has plummeted by more than 85%.

Despite using different methods as most other countries, Portugal is winning its war on drugs. In 2001, the country undertook an important experiment by becoming the first to decriminalise the possession and consumption of all illicit substances, including those considered "hard drugs", such as heroine and cocaine. Architected by public health expert João Goulão, the policy was introduced while Antonio Guterres, now Secretary-General of the United Nations, was the Portuguese Prime Minister.

Selling and distributing drugs are still criminal offenses. However, purchasing a small quantity is not considered a crime, but an administrative offense. Drug addiction is viewed as a medical disease that should be taken care of in the health system rather than punished by criminal justice.

More importantly, to tackle addiction, Portugal has also launched a strong public health initiative that aims to discourage narcotics use. Every day, vans tour Lisbon's streets to provide users with methadone free of charge.

More than 15 years since the policy’s implementation, the country significantly outperforms those who continue to criminalise drug use, such as the UK, where the rate of overdose deaths is 45 per million, compared to just 3 in Portugal.

This approach has converted Portugal's drug mortality rate to become the lowest in Western Europe. Besides from improving statistics, the country’s radical drug policy has been praised for its humanistic rather than stigmatizing approach. However, even though the international press regularly commends Portugal’s pioneering strategy in tackling its drug problem, few risk following it.