What unites the leader of the submarine to political leaders – 06/28/2023 – Jorge Abrahão

Gradually we learned about the irresponsible decisions of the OceanGate entrepreneur, of the submarine that imploded last week, who considered security a waste.

The so-called “business plan”, which businessmen usually use to add a touch of sophistication to their projects, however mediocre they may be, was fundamentally to profit from an exotic calling: seeing the Titanic at the bottom of the sea. With such a marketing strategy, which skilfully touches on the affective needs of the target audience, it was not difficult to convince a collection of millionaires eager to be part of a select group that earns the seal of adventurer in a society that values ​​risk. The search for glory and easy fame covered up the fragility of the project and resulted in a tragedy that ran the world.

This disregard for risk does not differ much from the behavior of businessmen and politicians who disregard the urgency of actions that reduce the impact of businesses that pose a risk to life on our mother ship, Earth. Here, too, security is considered a waste. Economic and political leaders pretend to make decisions, but in reality they are nothing more than a veneer in their actions. In the business world, the acronym ESG is the password. In politics, the 2030 Agenda was the great construction that now, due to inaction, is in danger of collapsing: after half the time of the agenda, we have advanced less than 20% of the planned goals.

In this sense, there is an alignment between the public and private sectors: they announce advances that, if effectively evaluated in relation to needs, are negligible. There are always honorable exceptions, which are not the rule. It is for no other reason that emissions in the world have increased since the Paris Agreement; poverty has grown in recent years and more than a billion people are hungry; and inequality only increases between countries and within countries, the result of an economic model that encourages income concentration. It never hurts to remember that inequality and climate change are Siamese twins: they must be solved together.

To move forward, it is urgent to debate a new global governance capable of facing current challenges. A reform of the UN, democratizing its decision-making mechanisms, is a necessity in the face of the environmental and social crisis we are experiencing. No less important is the debate on the issue of artificial intelligence, which, in addition to causing 80 million people to become unemployed in the world, is a huge risk to democracies, given the lack of regulation.

It is in this context that the leaders of rich countries have defaulted on the climate fund since its creation, not fulfilling the commitment to contribute US$ 100 billion a year to finance the climate agenda in developing countries. The curious thing is that, if there are no resources for the climate, there are resources left over for wars, or to save banks in the US and Switzerland. For these sectors, billions of dollars come overnight that take decades to reach the hungry, young people, women and the climate agenda. Those, therefore, are the real priorities of our leaders. They disregard the human, do not look at the long term and bet on risk.

Brazil is a microcosm of the world that is no exception to the rule. Just look at the ongoing tax reform disputes, the same as usual: leaders of economic sectors asking for tax exemptions or reductions, using their political strength in Congress to defend the interests of a few to the detriment of the majority of the population. This is the wheel of history that has been repeating itself.

Not to say that I didn’t talk about flowers, there are very few leaders with a more assertive view of the world. António Guterres, Secretary General of the UN, is one of them. Others are the pope and Lula, who have in common agendas of preserving the environment, fighting inequalities, valuing democracy and changing global governance. In this case, football ceases to be the axis of the relationship between Brazil and Argentina and is replaced by a much more important agenda, which has to do with dignified life, freedom and the preservation of human life.

While billionaires play at visiting space or the depths of the oceans, using the breaking of technological barriers as an alibi to justify their emotional needs and financial greed, we mortals watch this bunch of playboys in uncritical media, who value this human stupidity and insist on not relating these alienations to the crises we are experiencing.

What unites the leader of the submarine to political and business leaders is, basically, a way of thinking and irresponsibility with the future. Even knowing that what is at stake is life, they double their bet on short-term results and maintaining power, certain that they will not be charged for the damage they sponsor. Fuck people and future generations, that’s what’s behind this way of being. Sad the world that gave birth to this type of leadership that gives us no alternative. Of life.

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