Brave new world

THERE’S a belief that pandemics, throughout history, force human beings to break with the past and imagine their world anew. “This one is no different,” remarked writer Arundhati Roy in a recent essay in the Financial Times. “It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.” This sense of possibility is the context in which the announcement of a recovery team, the covid19 Avengers, has been assembled. And it is the context that has coloured the way in which the constitution of this team has been received. And rightly so.

On the one hand, there is strength in sticking to what you know. Many of the officials on the team are well-known figures who have, in one capacity or another, garnered reputations for having experience in marshalling people through tough times. Winston Dookeran is not just a former Central Bank governor or former Opposition politician. He’s also known for playing a key role in the 1990 crisis. Other figures come from the business and banking sectors, as well as the oil industry – all of which are sectors that have been integral to our economic stability and have learned to adjust to major changes and challenges, such as the 2008 sub-prime mortgage crisis, the Deep Water Horizon disaster and the turn to alternative energy.

At a time when so much anxiety about the future, when the psychological stress has been exacerbated by financial stress, turning to established figures and adopting familiar approaches is reassuring.

But familiarity also breeds contempt.

And as the initial reaction to this highly qualified committee has shown, there is increasing impatience with the old ways of doing things. If indeed this crisis represents a turning point, then many are the voices of those who would prefer to see the recovery formulated through more innovative means.

Of course, a lot of the feedback has come even before the exact terms of reference of the committee have been spelled out. And it has come before we get a clearer understanding of how this committee will work and whether or not it will be able to take on input from even more sectors. But some of the initial reaction itself showed us how much we have changed and what our expectations now are.

First, there was comment on the glaring gender imbalance, then the lack of youth. It was noted that energy was represented but no renewables, environmental or sustainability experts. Big banks were there but no alternative financing bodies in relation to the unbanked. No tourism or agriculture voice. There were some Tobago representatives but, again, businessmen. That this is a health crisis requiring big changes in the way we do things in the long-run was not apparent. There was a “public” appointee, but also a sense of remoteness from the average man on the street.

The State has been given a chance to fashion a brave new world. That will, increasingly, call for a finer balance of the old with the new.