The question of Syria: the need for economic transformation
October 20, 2015
Images: The near complete destruction of the city of Dresden, Germany during World War 11
About the Author: Matthew Tukaki is formerly Australia’s Representative to the United Nations Global Compact (2009-13) and was appointed to the governing board of the UNGC by the Secretary General in 2013.
Today the world faces yet another challenge, that of terrorism and regional conflicts. This time it manifests itself under the guise of a fight between the West and moderate countries and a group claiming they are fighting a holy war against non-believers. Many people out there think that this is a new phenomenon and that this is somehow the first time the world has faced such a challenge. The truth is the more things change the more they remain the same and many people forget that the exodus from the middle east to Europe and other western countries has happened before and continues to happen and manifest itself in different ways.
As happened during and after the first and second world war’s it’s not just the number of lives that have been lost its also the fact that major infrastructure has been devastated, tens of thousands of homes and buildings, bridges and roads, businesses and whole economies. Whole generations of children become lost to conflict because in the main their education ceases because there are no classrooms, few teachers and certainly a breakdown in the curriculum. In the aftermath of the second world war we not only saw adults and families on the move, we bore witness to thousands of unaccompanied children. Hospitals and medical facilities were damaged and destroyed, disease and poverty began to creep in and in the years following the second world war it took decades for some sense of normality to return.
Images: British unaccompanied children arriving in New York as refugees during the second world war
Today, we are experiencing the same situation as we did in the 30’s and 40’s although the difference is that the conflict is not between warring states or nations its between nation states and an organisation waging a holy war against anyone they believe does not fit there ideology; even then there are followers of ISIS who fall out of favor and quickly find themselves put to the sword or punished. This means that a war against an enemy who is more agile and adaptable and does not following the same conventions as nation states is harder to win. But, that does not stop the exodus and it certainly does not stop the challenge that the West and others now face which is the potential failure of order in States surrounding Syria.
Next week I will be in Dubai to talk at the annual Arabia CSR conference organising by the Emirates Environmental Group and I’ll be focusing on new economic models and transformational business – but my presentation will not be focused on what we can do once a conflict ends and an economy needs to be rebuilt it will be focused on what we need to do to prevent such conflicts and the work to be done across Europe in preparing their economies for the permanent influx of millions of people from the conflict zones.
Images: Refugee exodus across Europe World War 11
The reason being is we sometimes forget what one of the underlying reasons for the Arab Spring was and that is high unemployment, corruption and a distinct lack of hope, aspiration and opportunity. In other words we have known for a while that the way we have been doing business doesn’t work and so that’s why it’s time for a new way and a new approach. Watch this space and follow me next week @tukakimatt on twitter for the presentation, updates and more. In the mean time I’d like to remind readers of the lessons of the past, that the exodus is not new and that from the past we need to start learning lessons instead of just making things up as we go along. Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has it right when saying we should focus on outcomes.
About the Author: Matthew Tukaki is formerly Australia’s Representative to the United Nations Global Compact (2009-13) and was appointed to the governing board of the UNGC by the Secretary General in 2013. He is the former Head of the worlds largest employment company, Drake International, Chairman of Deakin University CSaRO and Sustain Group. Matthew is currently the CEO and head of EntreHub.org and Chair of the National Coalition for Suicide Prevention in Australia.
Images: Refugee exodus across Europe World War 11
Images: Refugee exodus across Europe World War 11
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