Najla Al Rostamani :
At the end of each year, it is an annual ritual for people to create a goal wish list that they aim to achieve in the new year. New Year’s resolutions are so fashionable that everyone feels compelled to declare them regardless of how serious they may be in making them happen. The year 2015 is no exception with the usual goals of losing the extra pounds, quitting smoking, earning a degree, spending more time with loved ones, or perhaps finding a new job. It does not seem to matter how much some of us may be genuinely committed to the resolutions that we promise ourselves to pursue, the nostalgic euphoria of having them with the new year’s celebrations is enough to make us commit to one goal or the other.
But what if there were New Year’s resolutions that are made on a global level – those that transform the world into a better place? Why don’t countries, groups and leaders of the world also commit to resolutions that would bring about positive and constructive change; ones that would end problems or obstacles? Imagine if there was a wish list that top decision makers are made to commit to on New Year’s Eve. Certainly that is not impossible given the power such leaders, nations, and organisations have.
Imagine for instance, if leaders of the two most powerful nations on Earth agree on ending the bickering on so many issues, and start with a clean slate in the new year. Surely, both US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin can pick up the phone and have a chat over ending the tit-for-tat stand-off on so many fronts across the globe.
They can start by exchanging Russian dolls and caviar, cowboy boots and apple pie as goodwill gifts to open a new page of cooperation. If this resolution comes true, many problems will get untangled, from the stand-off in Ukraine to the war of proxies in the Middle East. That is not a hard resolution to commit to in 2015, is it?
And if powerful nations can lead by example, others would surely follow. Hence, imagine if top self-made renegade leaders of all extremist factions in the Arab world and beyond in the wider Middle East, came together and agreed on stopping the ugly cycle of violence. After all, it is not impossible for the heads of ISIL/ISIS, Al Qaeda and Taleban – with all their plethora of factions, sub-groups and branches – to commit to lay down their arms and instead shake hands with the rest of the world. Extremism will no longer find a voice or a breeding ground and a lot of innocent civilians will be saved. The lives of women, children, and those most vulnerable of all will stop being cultivated as trophies of war or vengeance.
Now if this New Year’s resolution is promised, there will be much excess of cash to spend.
The staggering amounts spent on purchasing weapons for destruction will be allocated for a good cause – for instance building schools, roads, hospitals, electricity grids, parks, and homes. It is not impossible for such leaders to commit to that resolution in the new year.
Imagine, if this happens, a lot of the sectarian, religious, and ethnic prejudices will be somewhat confined and capped.
Groups and leaders of such entities perhaps can compete not on how much venom they have spewed, but instead on boasting the biggest hospital they built, the number of homes constructed, or the number of enrolled students.
This, of course, is a better claim than that of the extent of damage caused by a bomb, the amount of blood spilled, or the total number of masscaraed bodies that they had piled up. Now is that a difficult resolution to commit to in the new year?
In fact, the Arab world is in dire need for forces of constructive change and figures of wisdom. Hence, leaders promoting wars and divisions would promise to commit to a resolution wherein they compete on what they have built rather than what they have destroyed.
This means they have a commitment, for example, towards creating job opportunities, educating the future generations of children, and ending the displacement of millions due to wars and instability. The competition is all about enabling individuals to dream and excel in life rather than live endlessly in miseries of conflict.
And if extremist religious zealots can give up on a confined view of the world, that can also happen with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Just imagine if Israeli and Palestinian leaders got together over a lunch menu of challah bread, musakhan and baqlava to chalk out matters once and for all.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can make his New Year’s resolution to take part in bringing about peace in the holy land and beyond.
He can prove his goodwill intent by first demolishing the separation wall that has ensured Palestinians live as a sub-human occupied population.
Both sides can declare that Jerusalem is an open city for all denominations on equal footing as religion would not be used as an eligibility entry card. And hence, only those who commit to building bridges of peace and justice are allowed to continue pursuing the resolution into action in that part of the world.
Now is that not a good New Year’s resolution that is worth committing to? Imagine, what can be accomplished only if leaders of the world committed to a global New Year’s resolution.
(Najla Al Rostamani is a UAE-based columnist and media consultant with interests in local and international socio-political affairs)
