Where is the international community?

Because of its importance and relevance, I replicate below some paragraphs of the "Tribune" published by Prof. Juan Antonio Carrillo Salcedo in the Journal of Seville, on March 4, 2000. One of the most urgent tasks we have right now, urged by the possibility of reaching points of no return, is to listen now and implement the warnings so lucidly and anticipated outlined by these tower-watch persons, these lighthouse persons of which Prof. Carrillo Salcedo is, undoubtedly, one of the greatest exponents.

In the opening sentences, before the title itself, he writes: "Rich countries do not help Mozambique. If we do not wake up, no one will be saved. If suffering would remain reserved for the poor, nobody will give credence to the values that rich world say to sustain and go down in history as an example of moral cynicism and political myopia.

... Today in Mozambique, yesterday in Central America or the Philippines, a disaster causes death and desolation, hundreds of thousands of people displaced... Images of the crucified peoples of our time, that touch and encourage us to mourn their tragedy, give help by an income on a current account of Red Cross or some humanitarian NGO, and finally at the end to forget them. Until the next humanitarian tragedy repeats the cycle...

... The poor always suffer most, and natural or political disasters show their scarcities and structural problems more intensively. And to get out of this situation,  they depend on their own efforts and support... that should and could receive from the international community. But, where is the international community? Immense resources, including planes, helicopters were mobilised on behalf of the international community... for a war, such as the Gulf or more recently of Kosovo. Now, in Mozambique, the resources mobilized are limited, as if the powerful only had power to make war but were powerless to face a humanitarian catastrophe.

The people of Mozambique has suffered civil war and now the destructive effect of cyclones and floods... Like others of their condition, it seems to be there to witness the fate of the poor: suffer and, at most, receive spontaneous and insufficient support from people of good will, as well as and some aid granted by governments.

It is necessary that the international community no longer be a concept used by the powerful rhetorically when they want to legitimize their use of force, and becomes a reality that expresses a more caring and just world. A world in which the UN had the means to cope with humanitarian emergencies, whether they are due to nature as if they have other causes...

Commiseration and charity are healthy and positive, but not enough and we should ask ourselves how we could deal with these situations more effectively and with more integrity. Would it be utopian to propose that the Member States of the United Nations, including Spain, put permanently available the financial and material resources of the Organization so that the UN could act promptly and effectively in humanitarian emergencies, whatever its cause, in which the lives of millions of human beings are endangered? Would it be utopian to propose that developed countries, including Spain, were aware that poverty is the greatest challenge, forgive the external debt of the poorest countries, devote 0.7% of their GDP to official development aid and open their markets to commodities and manufactured products of developing countries?

 Many will say this is impossible and a dream.

But if we do not wake, no one will be saved ... ".

It is now convenient to repeat, 16 years later, the concern and advice of Prof. Carrillo. A radical change is urgent. We cannot remain being only a monetary union in Europe. We cannot continue without putting into practice our human duties with refugees and migrants. We cannot allow that xenophobic and fanatic outbreaks are not placed immediately outside the law. We cannot continue leaving to future generations a legacy of a planet with a deteriorated habitability.

Reading the proposal of Prof. Carrillo Salcedo, global emergency situation should lead us to convene an extraordinary session of the United Nations General Assembly, in which global civil and regional institutions will participate to duly face the potentially irreversible processes: environmental, extreme poverty, nuclear threat. Devoting part of the enormous flows engaged in "military security" to "human" security. The International Peace Bureau has launched the campaign on “Disarmament for Development”..., which will end on September 30 in Berlin.

Wise warnings and initiatives like today, after 16 years, we repeat, could solve at least the most urgent problems of humanity. Hopefully the "political myopia" and "moral cynicism" will not be now, overwhelmed by fear, the prevailing factors and, with resolve and strength,  urged by the circumstances, “We, the peoples” will be able to react effectively.

Too many things in too many places

As usual, the Journalist Soledad Gallego-Diaz performs an excellent analysis of the “glocal” situation, as it is said now.

I simply repeat it with the same title and terms because I believe that its reading can inspire many attitudes:

"It is possible that after a few years go by, any historian will refer to the months of June and July of this year as the two months that started to change the world. Surely this historian will not focus in the Spanish elections on June 26 (unfortunately, we are not in a position to influence, although some will, perhaps) but in the referendum on the exit of Britain from the European Union (23 June) and the Convention of the US Democratic Party, from 25 to 28 July. And surely will add the Austrian presidential elections, with the extreme right wing to attack and a resigned Social Democrat Prime Minister, unable to gather the left; the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff at the hands of a gang of thieves that rules the Parliament of Brazil; the election of a violent as president of the Philippines who swears to kill 100,000 criminals and, undoubtedly, the authoritarian coup of the Turkish President Erdogan, blindly supported by the European Union unable to assume its responsibility in Syria.

The point is that too many things are coming together in too many places and after a short time. It is possible that, finally, Britain does not leave the EU and that Donald Trump is not elected president of the United States, but nothing ensures, today, that will be this way. And although these two monsters do not sit at our table, it is sure that will leave their mark on the door which is already chipped by the increasing authoritarianism of central Europe, the immolation of the social model of the West in the hands of capitalism which exacerbates inequality and the crisis of immigrants, whichever way we look at it, is a logical stage of globalization.

The calendar will start next 7^th, with Democratic primary elections in California, on which the chaos can be introduced in July’s Convention. The enormous difficulty for leftist parties to reach agreements is not exclusive to Spain, not even in Europe. In its own way, the same battle is occurring within the US Democratic Party, among the two candidates for the presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

Sanders, who has made an extraordinary campaign and defines himself as a socialist outsider, is not willing to leave  before the Convention of his party, but aims to defend his positions against the Democratic delegates, in spite of reaching minority . The problem is that the attitude of Sanders does not allow Hillary Clinton to combat the Republican candidate Donald Trump, as it should be up to this point. Trump, who has got rid of his domestic competitors, finds the way nearly free, for fear of those who begin to think that is not only an intemperate and violent public character, but represents a real danger in the polls.

What makes Clinton tackles more resistance than any previous Democratic candidate? Some believe that being a woman is what makes her rival feels unable to concede defeat. Others, quite the opposite, defend Sanders and his fight for urging the Democratic Party toward more unconventional positions, even if it means having a position of extreme aggression against Clinton to the end. All these analyses are very interesting, provided that Donald Trump does not win the presidential elections. Because if it occurs, will not matter in the least what Bernie Sanders pretend. The only important thing, unbearable, will be to see Trump at the White House and Clinton, defeated ".

El País, May 22, 2016

The Women, Peace-Builders

Women, the cornerstone of the new era," as President Nelson Mandela told me in 1996 in Pretoria. "She will be the one who, with her inherent faculties, puts into practice the culture of peace and non-violence. Because women only exceptionally use force. And man only exceptionally does not use it”. 

I transcribe below a document written by Andre Sheldon, Director of the Global Strategy of Nonviolence:

“As Sumaya Farhat-Nasser and Gila Svirsky explain in a joint declaration, “the women’s peace movement in Palestine and in Israel believes that the time has come to end the bloodshed. The time has come to lay down our weapons and our fears. We refuse to accept more warfare in our lives, our communities, our nations. We refuse to go along with the fear. We refuse to give in the violence. We refuse to be enemies.”