Day 1 of the Week-Long Challenge

The world we live in today is full of violence, chaos, and conflict, to the extent that peace is sometimes seen as a curse. To change this view and perception came the ICAD amazing program, which gathered various scholars and experts from different disciplines and fields, with a discussion centered on the theme “Innovating for World Peace.” Each of them contributed to the discussion, highlighting the challenges facing world peace and providing possible solutions and outcomes. To start with the challenges, one of the guest speakers, Prof. Olurotimi Timeyin, a lecturer at Lagos State University, stated in his presentation that the instability of the world today did not emerge suddenly, but rather is a problem that originated from individual countries and later became an international challenge. He mentioned several challenges confronting world peace and cooperation; however, two of them will be discussed here. Racism and national arrogance were mentioned by Prof. Timeyin as major problems and challenges to world peace and cooperation, particularly in European countries. Racism creates discrimination and hostility against individuals or groups due to differences in skin color, ethnicity, cultural background, and other factors. It undermines the principles of equality, human rights, and mutual respect, which are important foundations for peace and global cooperation. When communities are divided by racism, it becomes very difficult to achieve national unity and peaceful coexistence. In most European countries, especially America, there is the existence of extreme racism, which prompts quarrels among people. The whites often see themselves as having more rights and privileges than the blacks in every aspect, leading to discrimination in employment, housing, education, and social interaction. They show arrogance toward blacks and maltreat them to claim superiority over them, and the retaliation from blacks often leads to social unrest, protests, and sometimes violent conflict, thereby distorting peace. In this sense, based on my own personal understanding extracted from the illustration given by Prof. Timeyin, racism also occurs among religious groups, which can be seen as a local and global challenge facing world peace, particularly between Muslims and Christians. Religious diversity contributes to discrimination among people, especially in situations where decisions are sentimentally made in favor of people of the same religion. Some offices discriminate against other religious groups, leading to long-term hostility and violence, which sometimes transcend from local disagreements to national conflicts, undermining peace.Racism does not only affect domestic peace ,it also affects global cooperation. According to Prof. Timeyin, the second challenge affecting world peace and cooperation is injustice planted in the minds of the people. At first, when he mentioned this, I could not understand it, but after giving illustrations and analogies, I gained a deep understanding of the expression. Injustice can be planted in people’s minds through unfair treatment, oppression, exploitation, and discrimination. Some individuals are extremely maltreated, oppressed, and abused, leaving everlasting impressions in their minds that the world is unjust, which could make them engage in criminal activities that may distort peace. Undoubtedly, many people believe the global system is unfair due to high levels of poverty, unemployment, and inequality between the government and the people. Unequal access to education, healthcare, and opportunities shows some level of inequality, which can lead to protests and threaten both national and international peace and cooperation. Some individuals with political aspirations have already decided and planted in their minds to engage in corruption, embezzlement, and fraud after attaining political positions because they believe the government system is already corrupt and filled with injustice and oppression. Be that as it may, political injustice and corruption are causing insurgencies, civil wars, and coups, which weaken global peace and cooperation. It is very important to note that the instability and unrest of today’s world did not occur all of a sudden; rather, they are problems that emerged from the challenges facing individual countries and later became global challenges. What do you also think could be the challenge facing the world peace and cooperation ?Let me know your thoughts and suggestions in the comment section!!

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