• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

66th Year -- No. 3623 Tuesday, October 27, 2020 www.mauritiustimes.com facebook.com/mauritius.times 18 Pages - ePaper MAURITIUS TIMES l “A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go but ought to be”. -- Rosalynn Carter 2020 United States Presidential Election - Growing old, Staying youthful An Indian American's Perspective In the context of the pandemic, being old is seen as just one more comorbidity. It should not be By Dr R Neerunjun Gopee * See Page 3 Anil Madan: “The liberal media has created the notion that Trump encourages racial violence. It is more accurate to say that Trump has been his own worst enemy” * See Pages 7-8-9 Education - Whither Bound? An enduring spirit of enquiry and a willingness to give up unnecessary baggage taken up at different stages of the education process will help create a fuller citizen ready to adapt to this world of perpetual changes By Murli Dhar * See Page 4 Climate-protected citadels, virtual worlds only for Consciousness Revisited the privileged: is this the future of inequality? Self-awareness and consciousness still elude our understanding By Matthew Finch & Marie Mahon * See Page 2 By Dr Rajagopal Soondron * See Page 11 Mauritius Times Tuesday, October 27, 2020 www.mauritiustimes.com Edit Page facebook.com/mauritius.times 2 The Conversation Doing politics more Climate-protected citadels, virtual seriously worlds only for the privileged: ver the past few years, the public superior interests will not ultimately be has had occasion to reflect upon relegated behind other lower priority pur- is this the future of inequality? Othe quality of politics which has suits? been applied in the running of the coun- The public is “cautiously optimistic” Researchers are imagining what the world might look try. The perception, if not conclusion, is that, given the parlous state of affairs, a that it has not had the expected positive politician may finally emerge from the like in 2048 — and the new forms of inequality and impact on national affairs. ranks who might summon up control and injustice that might exist External factors have certainly not real governance among the ruling politi- favoured a more assertive outgoing of cians. Because, people feel, short of a magine visiting the initiatives by the private sector. With the “ressaisissement” from the power-game Europe of 2048. The global economy performing at low key equation from which politics has been Icities are strangely for so long now as a result of the pan- done so far, we’ll keep drifting away from silent. Desperate communi- demic, it stands to reason that new bu- our real social and economic objectives. ties in Paris, London and siness opportunities cannot be easily Our key institutions will keep being Berlin struggle in the sha- spotted. “instrumentalised” for sheer political pur- dow of hollowed-out buil- poses. This situation is compounded by the dings. The once-popular fact that we have actually identified how Politicians in the “values” they now coastal resorts have also to break away from the current econo- incarnate have become more impor- been abandoned, as rises mic gridlock – adding new economic tant than the State the government of in sea level have taken their activities to those we have by enhancing which they have been entrusted with. toll. our comparative advantages, opening up The earnest political establishment of Heading out to rural more to other than our traditional mar- years past which had seen us through in areas, you find where the kets, churning up local skills different post-independence days suddenly fortunate few have gone: as both the pandemic and our response to from what we’ve been doing so far to became something of the past. Whims shining citadels, high-tech gated commu- it have reshaped societies, made these better match demand with supply in and caprices of individual politicians nities designed to protect residents from issues more urgent. We need to anticipate changing global conditions, intensifying overtook the values sober political lea- the ravages of climate change and ongo- new and emerging forms of inequality and our international networking to increase ders of the earlier generation had incar- ing pandemics. and build upon our existing economic nated. injustice — and understand how we can scope, etc. - without putting in place the That doesn’t mean life in 2048 is counter them. We may perhaps take cynical comfort always grim. The world is gearing up for first signs of the confident platform on To do this, IMAJINE uses scenario from the fact that, with the coming on the the 39th Summer Olympics, to be held in which to do all this. planning, a tool for envisioning different scene of unpredictable and tempera- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The greatest future worlds. In the absence of concrete results, mental politicians of the calibre of athletes will be attending, but also the public have started doubting the Donald Trump and several other right thinkers, artists and heroes nominated Scenarios aren’t predictions; they are capacity of our politicians to live up to wingers in Europe, Mauritius would not from around the globe for their work valuable even if they never come to pass. their expectations in all these respects be alone in having a high price to pay for fighting the climate crisis. The aim of the four visions we’ve created which, after all, are spelt out by the poli- electing politicians who don’t have isn’t to forecast what will certainly happen, Europeans, Americans and Austra- tical leaders themselves during their “l’étoffe” to manage the country’s affairs but to find our blindspots when it comes to lians are hoping for a great medal haul, electoral campaigns and thereafter more soberly and with a clearer sense of planning for the future of inequality. repeated on official occasions regularly. the direction in which to steer the coun- but this year, as in most others, the coun- The more politicians have tried to ratio- try and the strategies need to reach try expected to dominate is China, the A future of digital citizenship or nalise poor decisions they’ve taken, the there. world’s leader in the fight to survive cli- five-person marriages mate change. more this feeling has actually sunk in. The basic issue remains how to In our first scenario, outlined above, The more they have fetched odd rea- encourage or facilitate the emergence of Is this the future we face? Even if it we picture a world in which cities are sons to explain away things, the more it a new breed of political players who isn’t, what can imagined scenarios like abandoned and today’s rural backwaters has eroded faith in their good intent and would genuinely have the people’s and this teach us about the challenges we become the most desirable places to live. capabilities. face in the present? the country larger interest at heart and The fight against climate change is a The more aberrations of the past engage themselves to fulfil this end. The Identifying inequality blindspots global priority and next-generation clean have been repeated, the more people imperative is still to change the way of Researchers from 13 countries are manufacturing technology is expanding have doubted whether we’ll not keep doing politics, which has been promised currently thinking about such questions as rapidly. Inequality here is based on who seeing more of the bad things of the so many times. How long more will we part of the IMAJINE project, funded by the has the means to protect themselves from past… And wondered if the country’s have to wait? European Commission’s Horizon 2020 the changing climate. programme. IMAJINE’s aim is to explore inequality and injustice across the Mauritius Times European Union’s member states. Marie Mahon, Founder/Editor: Beekrumsing Ramlallah - Aug 1954-Sept 2000 Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, National Inequality isn’t just the gaps between Editor-in-chief: M. Ramlallah / Senior Editor: Dr RN Gopee the haves and have-nots in the present. University of Ireland Galway & This epaper has been produced with the assistance of As the world changes and societies Matthew Finch, Doojesh Ramlallah, Sultana Kurmally and Kersley Ramsamy evolve, different forms of unfairness can Adjunct Research Fellow, University of Pearl House 4th Floor Room 406 - Sir Virgil Naz Street, Port Louis -- Tel: 5-29 29301 Tel/Fax: 212 1313 arise. Southern Queensland COVID-19 has fuelled uncertainty and, [email protected] www.mauritiustimes.com facebook.com/mauritius.times Public Health Mauritius Times Tuesday, October 27, 2020 3 Growing old, Staying youthful In the context of the pandemic, being old is seen as just one more comorbidity. It should not be that I have encountered among many an old person, not to mention the ‘philosophi- cal’ dimension of the more mentally active among them, the wisdom that comes with the mellowness that accompanies the twi- light years of most - but not all, unfortu- Dr R Neerunjun Gopee nately! As the Lancet editorial notes, ‘We ne of the major accept growing old and losing our vitality as concerns related an inevitability of life. To do so is to overlook Oto the Covid-19 the fact that ageing is, fundamentally, a pandemic has been about plastic trait—influenced both by our gene- the elderly population. Not tic predispositions and many (controllable) only have they suffered environmental factors’, going on to add that from a higher mortality ‘the rate of ageing is not fixed. Fragility, vul- from Covid infection than nerability, and poor health need not neces- the rest of the population sarily follow advancing age’.

Load more

  18

Copy Link