In 1965, Bob Dylan released one of the most influential songs in history. The Times They are A-Changin’ was a comment on the war in Vietnam, the Civil Rights movement in the US, and a call for people to embrace the change necessary for society to survive the upheavals it was facing.
The Vietnam War ended in 1975 as much due to the civil unrest in America as the unflagging resistance of the Vietnamese people. Flash forward fifty years and we have wars in Ukraine, Syria, and Yemen with over 100 million refugees and displaced people fleeing conflict.
Why do we keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again?
Change, Revert, Repeat
Winston Churchill exposed the truth when he said “Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it.” He was trying to awaken people regarding the real threat of another war, but his warnings ultimately fell on deaf ears when just five years after World War II, conflict erupted on the Korean peninsula.
Is war inevitable? Are we doomed to persecute each other just because of skin colour or choice of religion? Societies must progress to become just and equitable, yet here we are forgetting the past while Winston rolls in his grave.
What Happened?
What does it take to effect real change in society? Bob Dylan tried to rouse the population through song and he was remarkably successful in many ways, but ultimately fell short of his goals of peace and equality. The war in Ukraine has shown that we’re far from our goal of harmony, but that doesn’t mean we stop trying to change things for the better.
As a person of Ukrainian heritage, this war is personal to me. Rather than sit on the side-lines and watch it unfold on TV, the team and I have decided to get involved and try to make a difference. For that reason, we’ve put Manyone aside for a while to focus on helping the people of Ukraine through our non-profit initiative, the Peer Social Foundation.
For years we’ve focused on delivering technology to enable people to self-attest their own digital identity and share it with others in a totally private, safe and secure manner. As it turns out, this same technology can be re-purposed to help the Ukrainian people document their lives and the destruction of their homes, land and property. This will help them rebuild as quickly as possible once the war ends and the reconstruction of Ukraine begins.