At a time when the idea of a more closely linked world appears to be going out of fashion, here’s the paradox: a global conversation is underway among nationalists. Each country’s anti-globalists are cheering on those in another. Brexiteers are ecstatic about Donald Trump’s America First ideas. The US president-elect has already described his xenophobic appeal to American voters as “Brexit plus plus plus”. On Tuesday, he urged the British prime minister to appoint Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage as British ambassador to Washington. France’s far-right presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen is chanting vive la revolution, in jubilant anticipation that the US and UK are leading the battle against “elites … (who) have acted like carnivores”. Hungary’s anti-immigrant prime minister Viktor Orban is newly joyful about this “wonderful world”, which is seeing a “return to real democracy”. The Netherlands’ far-right leader Geert Wilders is celebrating the West’s “patriotic spring”.
If this is a new nationalism, it is strikingly international.
And yet, everyone is talking about the new nationalism sweeping the western world, the so-called cosmopolitan elites supposedly in pained panicky whispers, the media alert to a “trend” story of global proportions. Every anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-trade deal political viewpoint in every country is being rolled into one big narrative – that nationalism is the new world order.
Is it really? Are we seeing a nationalist surge or a more primitive inflamed tribalism – a new hunkering down within one’s own social group? Is it this that is driving political choices at the ballot box?
In his essay Notes on Nationalism, George Orwell wrote that the “emotion” it arouses “does not always attach itself to what is called a nation – that is, a single race or a geographical area.” It can attach itself to a church or a class, instead, he said, “or it may work in a merely negative sense, against something or other”.
Orwell’s essay was published in May 1945, a month of enormous significance for the devastating conflict that had raged for six years among nations of the world.
Orwell’s essay was the first draft of history at a point when it was possible to note – if not to fully analyse – the terrible consequences of tribalism, which led nations to the deadliest conflict in history.
“The mistake was made of pinning this emotion to Hitler,” Orwell wrote, “… there is no limit to the follies that can be swallowed if one is under the influence of feelings of this kind.”
Fast forward to America today and consider one US writer’s reflections from the relatively early days of the presidential primaries. Fourteen months ago he wrote: “He [Mr Trump] channels primitive and incoherent tribal emotions that stretch way back into our species’ history, before America, before modern conceptions of race and nationality, before any of that stuff.”
Tribal emotions are a powerful influence, as Orwell indicated. They enable a people to see itself in opposition to everyone else, joined by an unseen connective tissue that loosely includes cultural values and traditional customs. That is what Ms Le Pen is talking about when she tells voters “yes to France.” That is what Mr Trump means by “making America great again”.
The question, of course, is where a global tribalism in nationalist garb takes the world? For all the dismal sense of a world retreating into itself, the reality is that Americans won’t want to buy, say, US-made mattresses at three times the price of Chinese-made products. They want their culture unadulterated but the goods on supermarket shelves to be as cheap as possible. Those are contradictory aspirations and the dissonance is likely to become evident when supporters of the new nationalism/tribalism demand low prices just as loudly as they chant “America First” and “yes to France”.
The resulting discontent is likely to be as universal as the anti-globalism political movements, which are being helped by the momentum of others beyond their borders. The anti-globalist agenda is just as global as world trade deals.
For the moment though, the new tribalism may mean a painful if momentary return to what Friedrich Nietzsche in 1881 described as an unjustified pride in superior moral status. It saw “longing for knowledge as a danger, peace as a danger, compassion as a danger”, and it was an “epoch when being pitied was looked upon as an insult … and every kind of change as immoral and pregnant with ruin!”.
This can help explain the current attempts to project cultural strength, the widespread mockery of experts – political and economic – the backlash against elder statesmen and liberal tree-huggers who have travelled widely in spirit at least if not physically. It also underlines the cyclical nature of events.
If, as Albert Einstein said, nationalism is an infantile disease, the measles of mankind, perhaps the rise anew of tribalism underlines that we are destined to be infantile for a long time.
Rashmee Roshan Lall is a writer on world affairs
On Twitter: @rashmeerl
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
The Bio
Name: Lynn Davison
Profession: History teacher at Al Yasmina Academy, Abu Dhabi
Children: She has one son, Casey, 28
Hometown: Pontefract, West Yorkshire in the UK
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite Author: CJ Sansom
Favourite holiday destination: Bali
Favourite food: A Sunday roast
Start-up hopes to end Japan's love affair with cash
Across most of Asia, people pay for taxi rides, restaurant meals and merchandise with smartphone-readable barcodes — except in Japan, where cash still rules. Now, as the country’s biggest web companies race to dominate the payments market, one Tokyo-based startup says it has a fighting chance to win with its QR app.
Origami had a head start when it introduced a QR-code payment service in late 2015 and has since signed up fast-food chain KFC, Tokyo’s largest cab company Nihon Kotsu and convenience store operator Lawson. The company raised $66 million in September to expand nationwide and plans to more than double its staff of about 100 employees, says founder Yoshiki Yasui.
Origami is betting that stores, which until now relied on direct mail and email newsletters, will pay for the ability to reach customers on their smartphones. For example, a hair salon using Origami’s payment app would be able to send a message to past customers with a coupon for their next haircut.
Quick Response codes, the dotted squares that can be read by smartphone cameras, were invented in the 1990s by a unit of Toyota Motor to track automotive parts. But when the Japanese pioneered digital payments almost two decades ago with contactless cards for train fares, they chose the so-called near-field communications technology. The high cost of rolling out NFC payments, convenient ATMs and a culture where lost wallets are often returned have all been cited as reasons why cash remains king in the archipelago. In China, however, QR codes dominate.
Cashless payments, which includes credit cards, accounted for just 20 per cent of total consumer spending in Japan during 2016, compared with 60 per cent in China and 89 per cent in South Korea, according to a report by the Bank of Japan.
The specs
Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
DMZ facts
- The DMZ was created as a buffer after the 1950-53 Korean War.
- It runs 248 kilometers across the Korean Peninsula and is 4km wide.
- The zone is jointly overseen by the US-led United Nations Command and North Korea.
- It is littered with an estimated 2 million mines, tank traps, razor wire fences and guard posts.
- Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un met at a building in Panmunjom, where an armistice was signed to stop the Korean War.
- Panmunjom is 52km north of the Korean capital Seoul and 147km south of Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital.
- Former US president Bill Clinton visited Panmunjom in 1993, while Ronald Reagan visited the DMZ in 1983, George W. Bush in 2002 and Barack Obama visited a nearby military camp in 2012.
- Mr Trump planned to visit in November 2017, but heavy fog that prevented his helicopter from landing.
World Cricket League Division 2
In Windhoek, Namibia - Top two teams qualify for the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, which starts on March 4.
UAE fixtures
Thursday, February 8 v Kenya; Friday, February 9 v Canada; Sunday, February 11 v Nepal; Monday, February 12 v Oman; Wednesday, February 14 v Namibia; Thursday, February 15 final
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Bio
Born in Dibba, Sharjah in 1972.
He is the eldest among 11 brothers and sisters.
He was educated in Sharjah schools and is a graduate of UAE University in Al Ain.
He has written poetry for 30 years and has had work published in local newspapers.
He likes all kinds of adventure movies that relate to his work.
His dream is a safe and preserved environment for all humankind.
His favourite book is The Quran, and 'Maze of Innovation and Creativity', written by his brother.
