Sending Hope in The Age of Coronavirus - Op-ed

The world has witnessed the tragedy of coronavirus. We are going through a time of crudeness, disunity of vision, pergent efforts, and declining international cooperation.

Economies and communities are struggling under the epidemic outbreak. What seven billion people most certainly need now is a glimmer of hope. They hope that this painful stage can one day be crossed.

Life will go on anyway. But we all need to see something clear at the end of the road. We want to know that there are those among us who are thinking and making plans for post-coronavirus.

In a word, humanity needs new inspirations to lead it on the paths of the future and to overcome the impact of this ordeal. The Arab peoples are perhaps those most in need of a positive spirit. They need to free their societies from the bleak atmosphere that reigns almost everywhere. Arabs more than others need a moral boost. The present pandemic has aggravated their worries, exacerbating the crisis of self-confidence, and the ability to emerge from this depression.

It is easy, then, to catch this high degree of suspicion and mistrust with any Arab statement of efforts to develop a vaccine or treatment for the victims of COVID-19. Many social media skeptics even scoff at any statement of an Arab effort in this global scientific competition to find a cure to help save humanity from the rampant pandemic as if Arabs don’t have capabilities to deal with the problem, or don’t have a long history in medicine, health, and other areas.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Prime Minister and leader of Dubai, fully understood the need to “resume” Arab civilization at the government summit in February 2017. Taking back the road on the path of human civilization is a historical necessity.

It was with optimism that I learned that the UAE Space Agency had assured that the Hope space probe would be launched on time in the coming weeks. This is the first probe sent by an Arab space agency to study the planet Mars and its climate.

The Hope Probe marks a scientific milestone in the exploration of Mars because it not only studies the planet’s areography but also the layers of Mars’ atmosphere to uncover the causes of hydrogen and oxygen gas loss on the first space mission that provides the international scientific community with integrated imagery of the Red Planet’s atmosphere.

The Mars mission also marks a major change in an industry long dominated by major powers and space agencies such as NASA and ESA. The mission gives a good expression of the real relaunch of Arab civilization from the UAE. The country had invested in its citizens to lead and implement this pioneering scientific project, which bears the slogan “Nothing is impossible.”

More than 150 Emirati researchers, scientists, and engineers involved in the Hope Probe project overcame significant challenges to complete the project on schedule. Their efforts were successful despite the coronavirus epidemic and the containment applied around the world. The probe was successfully launched from the space launch site on Tanegashima Island, Japan.

The project itself means that Arab scientists are in a position to restore the splendor of their predecessors. The launch of this project comes at a crucial moment when scientific progress has proved to be the key to the progress of nations.

The world, after failing to contain the coronavirus pandemic, indeed needs to devote new efforts to scientific research. Fresh ideas are always coming from young minds, and they come from perse cultural, educational, and historical backgrounds that provide them with perse perspectives that allow them to develop innovative visions. Their visions certainly bring new impetus to global science and research efforts to protect humanity from epidemics and disease.

In the current phase, the world needs, I am convinced, the Emirati entrepreneurial spirit. This spirit stems from the visions of our wise leaders, who aspire to a better world based on cooperation and understanding, justice and equality, tolerance, and coexistence. This spirit is especially relevant in these times of crisis. The crisis that has plagued the world has been faced by the UAE with great determination on the part of the leaders and the people.

Today, the UAE is looking at strategic planning to overcome the implications of the crisis and define a vision for the future. The UAE government organized a teleconference in mid-May 2020 on the theme: “Preparations for the post-coronavirus, COVID-19, period” to develop the government’s working system in this phase.

The meeting conveyed an important message: the fight against the epidemic must not distract us from thinking and planning beyond. The positive dynamism radiating from the UAE offers a source of hope for a bright future.

By Dr. Salem Al Ketbi, the UAE writer and analyst.