Every Little Helps....

As someone who has often been accused of never saying anything positive about Nigeria, I decided sometime last week, to go in search of all things good that are also Nigerian. Furthermore, I decided to publicise those things as far as my blog would take them.

So, there I was at my favourite bookstore (my main source of information), browsing through every thing that caught my fancy, when all of a sudden I came across a very interesting book. 

'A Brief History of the Future' by Jacques Attali, is basically predictions for the next 50 years. So, you can imagine my delighted surprise when it has some good news about Naija! 




I will do my best to summarise the relevant core of the provocative and courageous book:

Fall of the US empire

Apparently, this would take place before the end of the ninth form of capitalism, estimated to take place around 2035. It would be followed by a polycentric world, with nine dominating nations on all continents: the USA, Brazil, Mexico, China, India, Russia, the European Union, Egypt and Nigeria. Some of them, notably China, India and Nigeria, as well as other countries artificially created after colonisation, could undertake an explosion process similar to that of USSR in 1991, with as many as 100 new countries emerging. Japan, Indonesia, Korea, Australia, Canada and South Africa would also play important roles as major regional powers.
A process of "nomadisation" would stem from technological factors, like the Internet; from demographic factors, like aging of developed populations which would entail massive immigration from Southern countries to pay retirements; and from development of megapoles. Increase of world population would entail a doubling of global farming production.

HyperEmpire

The "nomadisation" process would make nation-States irrelevant, transforming the world into a chaotic market called "hyperempire". The entire planet would work according to an ultra-liberal economy and a form of democracy with "revisited" standards.

The ruling class, called "hypernomads", would ground its power on a middle class of 4 billion "virtual nomads" comprising technicians, scientists, managers, engineers, etc. The "virtual nomads" would live a sedentary life, but work in networks for companies without a central location. 3.5 billion "infranomads" would subsist in misery.

"Infranomads" are expected to revolt violently against their condition, stemming a resurgence of national entities and cristalising conflicts around traditional borders of ethnicities, religions, etc. Technologicial improvements in weaponry would put Humanity at risk of destroying intself in this conflict.

HyperDemocracy

Opportunities of more constructive developments are detailed under the term "Hyperdemocracy", based on solidarity networks, participative democracy, "responsible companies", NGOs, micro-credits and collective intelligence.

Weapons of Mass Destruction

Attali's words filled me with dread; "Now pointed at Japan, North Korea's missiles will one day target the United States and China. The missiles of Pakistan fallen into the hands of fundamentalists will threaten first India, then Europe. Those of Hezbollah — in other words, Iran — that now target Israel will one day be pointed at Cairo, Riyadh, Algiers, Tunis, Casablanca, Istanbul, then at Rome, Madrid, London and Paris. Should the battle lines harden and the country be threatened with annihilation, China's missiles could one day target Japan and the United States."

Okay, maybe the Nigerian bits were clearly minuscule and not as cheery as I previously suggested, but hey, bite me! Any mention of Nigeria in a future world order, has to be comforting. There are times when things have gotten so bad, most of us have thought the country will not last the night. So every little bit of news helps.

As for Attali's book, to read more, you will need to get a copy at all good bookstores.