This month many of us will look back at March 2020 as a time when the world shut down.
Fearing for our lives and our futures as a mysterious virus swept across the globe, we closed our borders and sheltered in our homes.
What guided the world through that pandemic, largely, was trust. Instead of arguing with the scientists, our political leaders generally followed what health experts recommended. The citizenry, in large measure, trusted their leaders to act in their best interests. It was a world that acted with solidarity (at first, anyway) and with trust in our shared humanity.
It is worth reflecting on what the response to a pandemic, or some other global threat, would look like in today’s divided world.
What does global solidarity look like when we know that US President Donald Trump has paused or stopped foreign aid, including help for the health and research efforts to fight such international threats as Ebola? What does a global response look like in the shadow of “America First”?
The US president and his lieutenants, chief among them Elon Musk, have trained their sights on South Africa
There has been much sturm und drang since Trump’s inauguration on January 20. The US president and his lieutenants, chief among them Elon Musk, have trained their sights on South Africa. In social media posts, in executive orders, in media interviews, through leaks by some of his many courtiers, we have come to know that BEE, South Africa’s land laws and its stance on Israel are anathema to Trump.
Our understanding of this moment should not stop there. Trump is upending the world, and we are just a tiny sliver of it.
So far South Africa has responded to Trump’s threats, invective and actions as though it is alone in its suffering. In fact, South Africa is alone only on the African continent. The Trump administration has largely forgotten that the continent exists — except for South Africa (and possibly Lesotho).
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government might be able to fashion a more credible, solid and profitable response to the assault if it understands that South Africa’s punishment is part of a global revolution being carried out by the Trump administration.
Since Trump’s first social media post attacking South Africa seven weeks ago, the South African government has been running around like a headless chicken. It appears to have been completely unprepared, and shows no sign of being able to quickly fashion a nuanced response.
From France to Poland, Mexico to Canada, Australia to Germany, everyone is under the Trump cosh. Many of these countries recognise what a Trumpian “America First” world looks like — and it’s not very nice.
Here in Africa, we should know that US companies that resort to bribery while they do business overseas will no longer be punished at home because Trump has halted enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. For reporters exposing Russian President Vladimir Putin and his corrupt state, funding via the US Agency for International Development has been pulled. A darker world, a world where the corrupt and greedy are not held accountable, begins to emerge.
Does British Prime Minister Keir Starmer agree with Trump? No. Is he feeling pain from Trump’s actions? Yes, of course — Nato, which has guaranteed the safety and security of Western Europe and North America since 1949, is about to implode thanks to Trump’s inward-looking policies. President Emmanuel Macron of France and others face similar problems.
Just because South Africa is being bullied by the Trump administration does not mean it has to rush into the arms of even more of the illiberal entities with whom it already consorts
At the same time, the AU needs to be guarded in its response to Trump.
In a roundabout way, I am saying I was surprised to see South Africa cosying up to Iran. Just because South Africa is being bullied by the Trump administration does not mean it has to rush into the arms of even more of the illiberal entities with which it already consorts. It can make plenty of like-minded friends elsewhere.
The Trump administration’s policies on South Africa are not going to change. South Africa should expect further attacks, including sanctions on some of its leaders. It can, however, begin to build a new alliance of nations that believe in a collaborative, peace-driven, nonracial world.
Instead of rushing with a begging bowl to Musk and Trump’s door, or to Putin’s door, this is the time to build strong, lasting, meaningful and honest international ties that do not compromise South Africa’s sovereignty and its rich history of human rights and international solidarity.
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