Valdai Club

Democratic slogans swaying on the surface of mass protests can often lead to outright fascism and totalitarianism. So it happened in the first half of the last century in Italy, and in Germany, and in Spain, and in Russia. So it can happen in the USA today, and not only there, writes Valdai Club chairman Andrey Bystritskiy.

Perhaps the strongest impression of the coronavirus pandemic is that there is nowhere to hide from it. If the coronavirus is war, then there is no place to retreat in this war.

On the one hand, this is the pointless question; of course WW2 is over. The last shots of the war rang out 75 years ago. On the other hand, however, many of us treat it as if it had ended only yesterday. Or as if it never ended at all. In any event, the Second World War is not a resolved matter in the context of history.

There is no doubt now that a global pandemic has erupted. There is also no doubt that sooner or later, it will end. But the main question is, what kind of humanity will survive on the ruins of the coronavirus and what it ruined?

In many of today’s discussions about the influence of the coronavirus, the idea can be heard that the destructiveness of the coronavirus also contains what can be called creative destruction. Every crisis breaks the old and clears the way for the new, paving the way for the solidarity and cooperation of people.

Oddly enough, despite the unprecedented prosperity of mankind, the past few years have been extremely alarming, overwhelmed by gloomy predictions and talk about the destruction of the old world order and the emergence of some new one. And now all the fears, all the negative dreams have come true: the coronavirus is everywhere. Will it be able to play the role of the creative destruction necessary for the emergence of a newly-arranged world? And is it also necessary to understand whether the coronavirus is socio-political or biological in nature?

Ordinary people, leaders, analysts and experts are no longer able to engage in a constructive conversation. They are incapacitated by the uncontrollable flood of information, whose claim to credibility is suspect, and by the disintegration of the hierarchy of news, data, facts, and information sources, a hierarchy essential for a culture and a civilization.

The Middle East is either on the eve of a new round of tensions, which threaten to ignite global conflict, or of a transformation into a successful, developing region. The question is not an idle one, because if you get out of the web of fake news and malicious or involuntary lies, then the contradictory, multidirectional trends in the current development of the Middle East become more apparent.

Many people will remember the year 2019, but one of its most important features has been the impressive growth of what can be called social activity or even aggression. And perhaps this is also a sign of growing global chaos.

The freedom of expression, as well as the right to reliable information, which are often (and mistakenly) combined into one concept - “freedom of speech” - are going through conflicting times. It seems to have never been so easy to communicate as it is now, but, all the same, people roam blindly in the all-consuming fog of information and risk wandering into a place from which they can’t find a way out. Perhaps today, new communications are the main threat to peace.