Daily Times

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has rightly called for an “immediate global ceasefire” to help protect innocent civilians already ravaged by war and conflict from the coronavirus outbreak. “It is time to put armed conflict on lockdown and focus together on the true fight of our lives,” he said, as the world tries to unite in the fight against an existential, unprecedented threat. Syria, already wasted by 10 years of civil war, just reported its first coronavirus case, while other cases have emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Afghanistan as well. Similar trends are expected from Yemen. Endless fighting has already shattered much of these counties’ infrastructure and nobody expects them to do much about the virus as brutal conflicts rage.

All things considered, it would be a pleasant surprise if the Secretary General’s plea finds much traction in international political circles that matter. That is because while what he says is essentially true, an “immediate global ceasefire” would run against the interests of powerful global capitals and corporations, and would hardly even come under serious consideration anywhere. Yet the coronavirus is one threat that the world, even countries that are used to controlling the fates of other countries, ignores to its peril.

The virus is still without a cure. And there’s still no telling how long the whole world will have to stay shut just so it does not spread any further. And the more the masters of the universe finance and provoke wars while such a contagious virus is spreading, the more the sow the seeds of everybody’s destruction. The last couple of months provided proof enough, if any was needed, of how quickly it could reach and entrench itself in practically all corners of the world. War and suffering will only help spread this fire. And till it is completely rooted out, nobody will be safe anywhere.

Such moments are also good for reflecting on the large sums certain countries are willing to invest in weapons and wars while a lot less could deal effectively with the kind of life threatening problems that confront us today. Secretary General Guterres’s suggestion comes just when the world urgently needs a dose of reality as well as sanity. What he really meant to say, no doubt, was that the present crisis would only end when all state’s join together in fighting it, for which they will have to divert resources away from fighting among themselves. *