We Greet The New Year With Optimism
Are we entering the new year with anxiety or with hope? I am hopeful because in my travels I see that people around the world are disappointed with the present state of things â they want to live in a society that is not eclipsed by hunger and suffering. But I am not so optimistic as to think that dissatisfaction alone will transform this world of climate catastrophe and genocidal war into one of dignity and peace. While the feeling exists, it has not yet helped us carve a path towards something better.
For decades, organisations like the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), founded in 1964, have provided empirical analyses of the suffering in our world.