Arab News | The Christmas of politics is here again

I have always called the UN General Assembly the Christmas of politics. Not only because many politicians assume people still believe in Santa Claus when they deliver their speeches, but also because of the growing commercial ecosystem around it. Over recent decades, the nondiplomatic side has become even more important than the political meetings. UNGA has become a commercial meeting place for think tanks, corporates looking to lobby and the entourages of these businesses.

There were perhaps, from the 1960s through to the 1980s, a few breakthrough moments, seeing the likes of Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro using the assembly podium to attack US policy and what the latter described as American imperialism, plus Muammar Qaddafi and, a few years later, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivering their speeches in New York. This was the point. It was not simply the fact that they spoke to political representatives but also that they were in the US, the leader of the free world, openly criticizing it and freely walking around the city. There was, in the speeches of Yasser Arafat and the diplomatic efforts, a real will for change and desire to make use of the possibilities. Today, it no longer has the same impact and, in fact, no one cares. The comedic act is over. It is about business.

The 2026 UNGA ecosystem comprises 577 events, expanding to more than 1,800 when the wider Climate Week and adjacent New York program are included. The money spent on some of these events by nonprofit institutions could probably be better spent addressing the causes they are supposed to advance. There is a clear disconnect between this ecosystem and the broader reality.

This year, a perfect symbol of the irrelevance and disconnect of this ecosystem was seen at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, was speaking about the risks of artificial intelligence and its potential impact on children when his teleprompter malfunctioned, forcing him to leave the stage while the technical issue was resolved. The problem this ecosystem is facing is that it cannot even build awareness around important causes because its stakeholders are now seen as presenting an inauthentic display of goodness and care with a pinch of irrelevance.

Speech after speech, meeting after meeting where the most important thing is to look busy, not to solve major crises

Khaled Abou Zahr

The music goes on because the impact is not measured by solving the crises but by how their virtue signaling resonates within their own environment. The same applies to climate, poverty, health and every important cause that has needed urgent and important solutions for decades and that has been turned into a festival during the UNGA and beyond.

The real issue is that the sector is mostly nonprofit, so it relies on donations and subsidies and, as we all know, when it is nobody’s money, no one cares how it is spent. The reality is that the Christmas of politics serves as a backdrop to the emptiness that dominates the official UNGA track. Speech after speech, meeting after meeting where the most important thing is to look busy, not to solve major crises. If you add social media to it, you have the perfect loop.

The capacity to talk to the other side is no longer there. It is all about gestures — and perhaps Khrushchev’s 1960 shoe banging was a sign of things to come. All we hear are speeches without consequence that have become like white noise to the people. Anti-Israeli or anti-Palestinian, anti-Russia or pro-Russia, it is about recording a stance and nothing else. There is no will to find solutions and, moreover, there is no capacity to find a solution.

There is a big divide between what is meant for domestic consumption and what takes place in reality backstage

Khaled Abou Zahr

How many meetings and speeches have there been since Arafat spoke at the UNGA? What has changed? Nothing. In fact, it is quite the opposite: the Palestinian cause has been hijacked by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. How many speeches and meetings have there been to confront their hegemonic plans in the region? What has changed? Nothing.

So, we can listen to the speech of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian just as we did to Ahmadinejad without seeing any change. And they can state: we stood in the heart of the so-called enemy and said our piece. There is a big divide between what is meant for domestic consumption and what takes place in reality backstage.

The circus around the real objectives and goals of these meetings is convenient and, when it becomes a commercial activity, it is even better. I know many will leave the UNGA stating it was successful. Don’t be fooled: this is not because they were able to make this world better but because their media output looked good or their events were successfully managed. It starts with politicians and ends with the nongovernmental organizations and other institutions that gravitate around them. In a sense, I don’t blame them. New York is a great city with great people and, if you add in Brooklyn with a few important lunches and dinners at Peter Luger, I mean, this is a winner week.

There is a need for such side events but when we lose focus on the real issues and goals — and these events become the main attraction — then something is definitely wrong. This all seems pointless, except for those benefiting from the commercial side.

This coincides with the growing debate about the UN’s relevance. Major geopolitical and economic decisions are increasingly being made outside the UN system. This is why the UNGA, which brings together a huge number of leaders, businesses, investors and NGOs, looks more and more disconnected from the broader reality. It is increasingly an ecosystem talking to itself and looking after itself rather than carrying out its real mission of positively shaping the world.

Funnily enough, it is something all politicians from all sides seem to agree on. We should nevertheless remember that the League of Nations was also seen in this manner before the Second World War, after which the UN was formed. For now, Santa will keep visiting New York in September.

Khaled Abou Zahr is the founder of SpaceQuest Ventures, a space-focused investment platform. He is CEO of EurabiaMedia and editor of Al-Watan Al-Arabi.

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