We are in Soussa, Tunisia, in the mid-1980s. I am in primary school.

One day, I asked my father a question:

  • In everything we see on TV, what is true and what is not true?

Without much thought, my father replied:

  • What they show in the news is true, the rest of the programs can be fiction.

I received his answer with a sense of suspicion, but I started paying more attention to the news on TV than to cartoons and science fiction movies.

Unfortunately, this curiosity never left me. It’s almost like a disease. In my teenage years during the 1990s, while most of my friends watched movies and listened to music, I developed the daily ritual of reading and following world news in the three languages I was fairly proficient in: Arabic, French, and English.

At 21 years old (2001), when planes crashed into the towers of New York, I spent hours switching between CNN, Al Jazeera, the BBC, and then the French channels. I began to understand that the issue was not simple because there were different words, different perspectives, and different semantics.

At 23 years old (2003), I was supposedly studying for an MBA in International Management in Quebec. But it was the beginning of the Iraq War. I spent daily hours reading and watching Canadian, European, Arab, and American news.

Things would have been much simpler if I mastered only one language and followed one or two media outlets. But no. To complicate my situation, I gradually learned three more languages: Spanish, German, and more recently, Portuguese (which involves being able to speak with more people from around the world).

On a normal day, I wake up and poison myself, as an American I met in Bali once told me: I watch right-wing and left-wing American news, right-wing and left-wing European news, right-wing and left-wing Israeli news, Arab news, Chinese news, Russian news, Iranian news, and with my travels, I always make sure to watch the news of the countries I visit while taking care to watch both right-wing and left-wing media. Everywhere, I also talk to people with all political orientations, but also very often with young people who have completely resigned from politics and news. “What’s the point?” they ask me. It’s all bad news and corruption.

I have a long list of bookmarks on my phone and computer for reference sites for scientific, technological, military information, and many think tanks from various regions of the world that I regularly consult. But in times of major conflicts or events, like the recent pandemic, and the war in Ukraine, and Gaza, I dedicate even more time to this almost obsessive activity.

Over the years, I have naturally closely followed the evolution of continuous news channels in various parts of the world, the rapid rise of social media as platforms for information dissemination, and what this might entail. I regularly contemplate how information can influence my own psyche and that of people in general. I have observed the gradual fragmentation of opinions in several countries around the world, especially in democratic countries. I have seen the mental separation that has gradually developed between people within the same country and between people from different countries.

Without even mentioning examples like the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the rise of artificial intelligence in the processing and algorithmic dissemination of information, deepfakes, or the powerful actors like China, Russia, Iran, the United States, and others, who seek to manipulate opinions and influence minds, I have come to a conclusion that will hardly surprise those who have closely observed the international political scene for a long time: All the elements seem to be in place to trigger violence within several countries, as well as conflicts between blocs of nations, potentially leading to genuine wars of civilizations.

This morning, I watched an Israeli channel in English, and then Al Jazeera in Arabic. In the first, the Earth is presented as triangular without any doubt. And in the second, the Earth is a rectangle without any doubt either. This is a small sample of the rift between the opinions that I have observed in recent years.

As barriers rise, the risk of a breakdown in communication and understanding of the other increases. And when we no longer understand the other and cannot make ourselves understood, it becomes tempting to consider the opposing side as intellectually or humanly inferior, and from there, the other becomes an enemy. After threats and insults, violence follows. This phenomenon is already occurring between right and left political parties in several democratic countries. And it also manifests between blocks of countries that share a language, a religion, or a common ideology. We are witnessing the emergence of “geopolitical tribes”: “us” against “them,” “good” against “evil,” “civilization” against “barbarism,” and so on.

We are already entering the vocabulary of global war. If we continue to prioritize trade and economic growth while neglecting human development, we are heading for disaster. If we favor the free movement of goods over the free movement of individuals, we will only increase inequalities, resentment, and hatred between global blocs.

Europe is gradually facing a serious risk of implosion and internal violence. The Mediterranean and the Middle East are already turning into conflict zones and graveyards for civilians and unfortunate migrants.

The risk of a global conflict between China’s spheres of influence and those of the United States is significantly increasing.

If we continue to build walls and divide peoples, I believe we are heading towards dangerous fragmentations of global public opinions. When these opinions are sufficiently fragmented, without the possibility of dialogue or mutual understanding, differences will inevitably be resolved through violence.