Unheard voices and tales

History is replete with stories of how determination is a key factor behind success. Well thought through ideas, even in the midst of seemingly insurmountable morass can and do make a difference. The London that we know of today was founded by necessity; that of rebuilding after the great fire. It was spurred by a group that consisted of planners, social thinkers and engineers that took into account the needs of people as well as forecasting future requirements.

For all the fiery political speeches and so called policy statements the root of poverty alleviation and sustainable society has never been addressed. In its place, a combination of intellectual and financial corruption has held sway. Politically, breaking the hold of a handful of families that essentially ran the economy was a must. The break-up didn't happen. Those families took account of the sequence of events leading to their success-not all of which were palatable. A reorganisation and rebuilding took place allowing them to survive, expand, diversify and thrive. Socially, the emergence of a new group of families buoyed the economy, created jobs and in the process new monsters.

Their control of both economy and society supersedes all that the state can muster against. The chain of moral values, beliefs and lifestyles that lie at the centre of society were strangled. The emergence of the drug, smuggling and human traffic cartels fed by the degradation of social values created a new, crass class. Mafia and syndicates rule the roost through a brand of politicians. The sordid side of capitalism has succeeded in outshouting political voices that genuinely have the interest of voters at heart. Able but convoluted minds have redrafted social norms and constitutions.

The laws that allow for interpretation of such dense representations have been purposefully not changed or updated so as to address fast- changing realities. Antiquated laws have left judges helpless while emboldening legal practitioners to twist and distort them to clients' advantage. At state level we hear of international law and norms that are just as ineffective and inadequate. The rise of far-right nationalism hasn't come by chance. Had globalisation really meant what it purported the cartels of the world couldn't have survived.

That root level issues are gleefully overlooked has never been as apparent as they are today. Whatever changes are made are cosmetic or designed to protect vested quarters. A classic example is the world of technology. The internet was to have been almost a saviour for civilisation, social media platforms for global integration. Both are spurning some of the biggest criminal activity and scams in recent times. Legislators scramble to enact new restrictions, tech companies fall backwards to prevent future leakage of privacy and personal data failing miserable to counter the next wave. The latest endeavour is about control, surveillance that further compromise privacy and bans on harmful content. No one is asking what the normal citizen wants. Few listen to the voices of reason of economists, social scientists and urban planners. Even fewer are those that speak of change that transcend theory and translate them into practical solutions.

Rules of business whether in parliaments or the economy have been shredded long ago. Political pressure, corruption and brute majority influence economic decision making. All of such is forcing society to descend deeper into a mangled dichotomy of wrong-doing that has chipped away the line between good and bad to a sliver. Society was to have been based on equal rights, the law isn't. Had that have been so, the social divide wouldn't have been as yawning as it is. People don't risk their lives in illegal migration or fall victim to greed generated by social media if systems had been in place. No one really wants to know why people ignore the threat to their lives and others by flouting safety guidelines during the pandemic. That's one positive side to the extremity of closed, communist societies. There are times when basic rights do have to be suspended. Provided of course, that those suspensions have the correct intent.

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