Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered yesterday a speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos that can only be described as the 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺 not because of its eloquence or lyrical flourish, but because of the message it delivered: a stark and unflinching assessment of today’s global reality.
In critiquing today’s geopolitical dynamics, the Carney made clear that what lies ahead is not a smooth transition, but the breakdown of the post–World War II rules-based system that many countries have long relied upon.
The prime minister described a rupture in the global order taking place in a broad daylight.
He was spot on. Today’s great powers increasingly operate without constraint, using economic and political tools not to preserve order, but to extract advantage, to take what they can and get away with what they want.
Two parts of the speech resonated with me deeply. The first was his blunt reminder that “the old order is not coming back,” and that “nostalgia is not a strategy.” Rather than lamenting the past, Carney framed this moment as an opportunity, one that requires honesty about current realities and collective effort to build a system that is “better, stronger, and more just.”
The second point I found particularly striking was his call for “middle powers” and the powerless to stop accommodating dominant powers simply to avoid conflict. What stood out to me was not just the call itself, but the truth-telling behind it. Carney invoked Václav Havel’s powerful 1978 essay 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 and the idea of “living within a lie.”
As Havel argued then, and as the prime minister reminded us, hegemonic systems endure not because they are true, but because people continue to behave as 𝘪𝘧 they are. Power persists through performance. This is what Havel called “living within a lie.” Carney urged a pragmatic shift: for middle powers and the powerless to begin “living within a truth,” and to stop the performative acts of accommodation meant only to avoid confrontation.
What a refreshingly candid and realist speech to wake up to one that combines a sharp critique of today’s global power dynamics with a pragmatic call to action.
By Dr.Abdirizak Warfa
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