Global Governance is at risk : the time has come to implement at once a democratic multilateralism

Friday, November 20, 2020

Today, at last, everyone is aware that it cannot be tolerated any longer that the common fate of humanity be placed in the hands of the hegemony of the United States, which has been preserved at all costs by the Republican Party.

Everything has been based up to now on the reason of force. On investing thousands of millions on huge arsenals and military bases. United States still has nuclear arsenals: I myself closely followed -in October 1986- the proposal to totally eliminate warheads made by President Mikhail Gorbachev to President Reagan in Reykjavik.  Only the reduction of nuclear weapons was approved.

Despite being the country on Earth that has more and better qualified scientists, the United States stands against all arguments and recommendations made by specialists on irreversible climate change, who say that -if the appropriate measures are not taken- the Earth’s habitability will suffer an irreparable damage, something that would be a historical error (and horror), as well as an affront to future generations. There was a short period for hope when -thanks to President Barack Obama- the Paris Agreements were signed in the Autumn of 2015 in order to avoid an ecological disaster and, shortly afterwards, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Resolution on the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs “For transforming our World”. It then seemed still possible to redirect the situation created by neoliberalism -which had rejected control by the United Nations and had entrusted world governance to oligarchic and plutocratic groups G6, G7, G8, G20... (globally G1!)- and, after joining forces with the "great powers" (military, financial, IT, media, energy), it had pushed the world into an ethical, social, ecological and economic disaster.

Thinking about all this during the COVID-19 confinement... about immigrants and refugees... the inability to cope with natural disasters (fire, floods, earthquakes...)... human trafficking, drugs... harassment perpetrated by powerful media placed under the control of “their master’s voice”... the resurgence of fanaticism, supremacism, dogmatism... the globalization of indifference and ignorance... an economy based on speculation, relocation of production and war (I must once more insist on the thousands of people -most of them girls and boys aged one to five- who are dying from hunger each day, while more than 4,000 million dollars are invested in weapons and military expenditure)... the democratic disaster we have witnessed during the United States elections... and the European Union where decisions must be unanimously adopted (!)... we become aware of the duty we have to remember, as well as of our essential duties towards future generations that compel us to promote through great popular clamours (now that we have no excuse because “We, the peoples” have our own voice and are equal in dignity) the transition that cannot be further postponed from a culture based on domination, imposition and war to a culture of encounter, dialogue, conciliation, alliance and peace, from the reason of power to the power of reason, from authoritarianism to a genuine democracy.

Yes: the time has finally  come for a peaceful though firm rebellion of all countries that are part of and are involved in democratic multilateralism; the time has come for a renewed system of the United Nations that must have at its disposal the adequate personnel, technical, financial and defence resources.

The duty to remember and to take action.  As early as in 1919 the United States Republican Party prevented the League of Nations, set up by President W. Wilson, from having an adequate support... thus giving rise to the emergence in a few countries in Europe (Germany and Italy) and Asia (Japan) of movements such as the Nazi, Fascist parties and the Empire of the Rising Sun that led to the Second World War.

When this was over, it was the turn of the “Cold War” between superpowers, with unacceptable operations aimed at gaining political control such as the “Operation Condor” in Latin America with thousands and thousands of victims... And, when the Soviet Union became, thanks to the work and grace of Mikhail Gorbachev, a Community of Independent States, and this gave a new opportunity to Roosevelt’s multilateral scheme, President Reagan -backed by Prime Minister Thatcher- invented the G6, and in 1989 the “Republican” United States did not endorse the Convention on the Rights of Children put forward by UNICEF ( (as of today it is the only country not to have signed it)... and the International Trade Organisation was created outside the frame of the United Nations. Over the past four years, United States has again withdrawn from UNESCO, together with Israel, and only three months ago it stepped back from the World Health Organisation... and again, on November 3rd, coinciding with the last presidential elections, it also withdrew from the Paris Agreements on Climate Change....

The current European leadership has not been able to counteract President Trump’s relentless arbitrary actions. 

Wherever you look at, people are crying out for a joint, effective and urgent effort in the face of global threats -most of which are irreversible- that currently represent a big menace and which it is our supreme duty to tackle in a firm and rigorous way.

There is only one solution: democratic multilateralism, the union of all peoples, fully responsible citizens who are no longer mere spectators and finally take action. 

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