OPINION…From ‘First World’ to ‘Third World’: Observing Current trends in Europe and America and what is at stake

Recently the Foreign Policy Magazine began a project it called ‘Letter to the Next President of the United States’, in which experts were sought to write to the next president of the United States what they think his next line of action should be if he or she is elected.
At the end nine letters were curated from these experts about what they think the next president should do. One said, the next president should ‘Invest in Soft Power’. Another said, he or she should ‘Muster Global Majorities’, and another said, ‘Strategic Autonomy is nothing to Fear’, just to mention a few.

All learned men and women giving their ideas on what they think the next president should do. But then I thought, if I was to write a letter to the next president of the United States what would that be? And it is this. “Be careful you are Thirding, for Third World or Third Worldness isn’t so much a place as it is about what they do”.

Just after the independents and the post independent era in Africa, an African thinker had began to study the events that soon began to unfold again in the continent. That phenomenon he dubbed “neo- colonialism”. To this thinker he’d found it wasn’t so much as it is known, it was something else, it took another form – a rather more invisible one unlike its visible predecessor which had engulfed the continent for over 5 decades. But he noticed even as much the same effects.
It is common to write or imagine a topic like this: “From Third World to First World”. At least, not less than four books have been written which captures the glories of nations which have risen, either directly or indirectly. Beside the popular known stories of the Chinese, contemporary works on Singapore which tells the story about a nation moving from a poor economic country to one of economic strength, and of the UAE which captures the story of events that turned a desert to a developed City and center for tourist attraction, both written by their visionary leaders, are both insightful. Infact generally the Asian tigers have made significant strides in this shifting or what we should call this ‘transitioning’.

But what is uncommon is to imagine a topic as this. And it is not difficult to figure why. Over the years (decades & centuries) we (and also scholars and thinkers) alike have developed or imagine what this concept may mean or what we think it should mean. To the most we have seen them as or have been told about them around Economy, Infrastructure, Urbanization, and even Military. So when we talk about first world we are quick to think about the skyscrapers, the electric trains, the nuclear programs, the space programs, and of late invading A.I technologies over the last two centuries sparked by the industrial revolution and economic diversification nations have raced toward this directions.

But if there is a thing as ‘First World’ or ‘Third World’ what is this thing? What should we look at most dominantly? Or where do this typically hatch from or have hatched from? And I can tell you. First World or a First World isn’t so much a place as it is what they do; it is not so much about a colour of people, or form of government, or a geographic location as it is what they do, the culture that drives it, and their desire to uphold the law. In all it is not much a place but the people who live in them and their behaviour. So when we say Third what makes it Third is what happens there. The fact that people (citizens) live in one fear or the other, the fact that elections and election processes are not or are no longer trusted, that it has been engulfed by a massive divide along ethnic and tribal lines which have spurred nearly 80% of conflict crisis in these regions and still do, that unaccountability and corruption holds and have deprived these populations of its destiny, and many more. This is what is Third in this places and the disheartening fact that this practices are beginning to find its way into First World societies.

This work stems from my recent observation of the recent change cutting across Europe and America. It seeks to remind us that First World or being First World isn’t static or immortal. Just as our begining story have shown that the other, Third, have not been. That as nations can rise from Third World to First World so too nations may fall or slope from First to Third.
Only recently Elon Musk wrote that Democracy in the US would be over if Trump loses the November Presidential Elections. Fingering the recent spate of illegal migrants into the Country of late. He said if even one in 20 migrants became US citizens yearly, something the Democrats are expediting as fast as possible, that would be about 2 million new legal voters in four years. According to the tech billionaire “Very few Americans realize that if Trump is not elected this will be the last election. Far from being a threat to democracy, he is the only way to save it”. Beyond anything else musk expresses the fears of majority of Americans who believe the coming election sits on the edge. This does not include families leaving home towns for fear of their once known community being taken over by crime and illegal New comers; nor does it the deep divide cutting through party lines, or of increasing suspicions of so-called ‘White privileges’ by black populations; nor of persecutions against Christians; nor does it the anti-semitic awakening sweeping across campuses and colleges.

To say the least, of over 100% protest that have erupted on American streets between the last 2-3 years not up to 0.02% have risen from issues of national values or interest: veteran welfare or better education, for example, rather of issues of genderism and identity, Palestine or Hamas war, planned Parenthood, or Antisemitism, the very thing alien to its culture. Away from America, in Germany, children being scared to go to school for fear and threats of forced conversion from Muslim migrants; nor does it include those of these new comers who believe they see the koranic law as more important than German laws or that Islamic theocracy is the best form of government; nor does it of recent survey by John Mac Ghlionn, which shows the recent changing demography in Ireland. Where he said nearly 1 in 5 people living in Ireland weren’t born there, and that in Galway, a city a stone throw from where he grew up, Muhammad nearly surpassed Michael and Martins as the most popular name for new born boys; nor does it of increased Antisemitic postures; nor of increased persecutions against Christians on its very birth soil (Europe) or, at least, its horn bearer from where it has spread to other parts of the world, including Africa.

In all, within the last 6 years there have been a significant culture shift in the west, and while they look at institution they are about culture infiltration. When there are now fears over elections, over election processes, over election outcomes, these were not the fears and feelings in America or Europe 20 years ago, these were the fears of the Third Worlds. It is this transitioning we question. Amidst this ponderous buildings and technology, it is this transitioning we question. In 2023-2024, the United States has witnessed such magnitude of protest, to say the least, less patriotic as never seen in 80% Third World States within this period in view. And while this may be viewed as some events unfolding, it is more than that, it is rather a phenomenon: a de-worlding.
And this is the problem, which I believe Musk also tries to show: alien invasion. But beyond alien occupation what we do not see is, 20 or 20 million illegal migrants, migration isn’t just a movement of people it is also a movement of minds and behaviours, and, the uncontrolled version of the process which has persisted and now putting the future of these societies to the downward spiral.

So you want to ask, why is this important and why is this timely? Simple. That first World is not a place but an existence. That being First World is not a given nor is it immortal but that nations to which it is bequitted must work to uphold, and that this nations, leaders and citizens alike must ask, what does it mean to de-world, how is it playing out. But most importantly what must we do to avoid it, to preserve a culture and a civilization Western enough for coming generations to recognize as one.

AUTHOR: Jerry O. Jonah

Articles published in our Graffiti section are strictly the opinion of the writers and do not represent the views of Ripples Nigeria or its editorial stand.

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