Humanosphere: The end of the new age of humanitarianism: Insights from the Skoll World Forum
Tom Paulson, Humanosphere founder and executive editor, presents his insights from the Skoll World Forum, which took place in Oxford last week. Paulson discusses what he feels are changes in humanitarianism, writing, “There’s clearly a global sense that something’s gone off the rails, at least insofar as the world appears to be moving away from what might be labeled traditional humanitarian values. Extreme forms of nationalism, isolationism, xenophobia, and us-vs-them hate speech are some of the behaviors indicative of this anti-humanitarian trend on the rise worldwide. These disturbing trends may explain why, at the Skoll forum this year and in stark contrast to last year’s celebration of progress, so many attendees devoted to bettering human welfare and believing in progress looked a bit shell-shocked. … [M]aybe there’s a need for this community to engage in some self-critical analysis, to re-evaluate and reboot humanitarianism…” (4/11).