Mikhail S. Gorbachev / Imagination, the Unexpected (1931 - 2022)

 

"Politicians alone cannot address all the challenges of today's world. Politics must interact with civil society and the intellectual community. Consequently, dialogue is absolutely indispensable, a high-spectrum dialogue to help us develop bold and feasible approaches to be able to solve the challenges of our globalised world. The world needs a vision oriented with the will and perseverance to turn it into reality. We need to cultivate a new culture and foster new approaches, because the world needs a culture of peace”.

With these words Mikhail Gorbachev opened the third meeting of the World Political Forum, held in Bosco Marengo, Italy, on 8 July 2002. At that time, the former President of the Soviet Union had already become one of the most important figures in history. Once again, as I listened to him, I thought of the mistake Western leaders were making in disregarding the words of someone who had set an example, with extraordinary imagination and skill, of resolving one of the most important challenges of the contemporary world without the use of weapons, without a single drop of blood. Obsessed with their accounts and dividends, they followed the guidelines of their specialisation: to look the other way. This failure to look in the right direction has led humanity to the current systemic crisis.

On 15 December 1984 Gorbachev arrived in London at the head of a delegation from the Supreme Soviet. It was the first visit by a Soviet delegation to Britain for some 15 years. His speech to the House of Commons was extraordinarily bold: the nuclear age demanded new "political thinking"; the danger of war was a reality; the cold war constituted an abnormal state of relations conducive to the danger of warlike confrontation; in a nuclear war there could be no victors; no state can build its own security by threatening that of others; in the limitation and elimination of armaments, and in particular of nuclear weapons, the Soviet Union was prepared to go as far as its Western interlocutors wished... In his speech, one phrase was particularly widely used: "Whatever else may separate us, we live on the same planet. Europe is our common home; a home, not a battlefield". It is clear that Mikhail Gorbachev was already speaking a different language.

On that occasion he displayed a large map on which all the major nuclear arsenals were marked. "Each one of these small squares is enough to wipe out all life on earth... Thus, with the accumulated stockpile of nuclear weapons, we could annihilate our civilisation a thousand times over.  His address to the British Parliament on 18 December had a major impact in both the UK and the US.

In October 1986 the Issyk-Kul Forum met. Mikhail Gorbachev himself described it as follows: "In October 1986 an event had taken place which was to be of considerable importance in the years of perestroika. I am referring to the meeting at the ISSYK-KUL lake, which brought together leading artists from all over the world, including Arthur Miller, Alexander King, Alvin Toffler, Peter Ustinov, Zulfu Livanelly, Federico Mayor and Afework Teklé... Its initiator was the writer Chinguiz Aitmatov. They spoke of nuclear dangers, ecological catastrophes, and the progressive lack of dignity, including in politics. My meeting with the participants of that Forum took place on 20 October, a week after Reykjavik...".

It was after the meeting by the Issyk-Kul lake that that distinguished group of intellectuals and creators  —to which must be added James Baldwin, Augusto Forti, Rustem Khairov, Yaser Kemal, Lisandro Otero and Claude Simon— had an extraordinarily interesting meeting with the Secretary General. I was entrusted with the chairmanship and it was a memorable occasion for me to hear the vision and approaches of people who spoke not only of freedom but also of responsibility, and of how we could best advise the General Secretary of the Soviet Union so that he could bring about the necessary transformations. How could we help to implement perestroika?

In order to give a better understanding of the context in which the first Issyk-Kul Forum meeting took place, I would like to highlight President Gorbachev's statements at a press conference he gave on 14 October 1986 following the Reykjavik Summit. Gorbachev underlined all the proposals made to President Reagan on the reduction and elimination of nuclear armaments, with extensive verification facilities; total elimination by the Americans and the Soviets of "medium-range" missiles; the situation in Asia and the difficulty of establishing forecasts... Gorbachev openly described that, at one point, a "real battle" of the two approaches to world politics —including the termination of the arms race and nuclear warheads— had begun... "I realised," Mikhail Gorbachev said, "that the American President is in thrall to the US military-industrial complex”.  This statement is particularly relevant and had already been made by President Eisenhower at the end of his term in office.  "I believe that the President of the United States and I must come to an agreement on my next visit to Washington.  Otherwise, a great historic opportunity would have been lost".

In October 1989 Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  He was unable to attend the ceremony in Oslo because he had urgent duties to attend to.  For this reason, he delivered the "Nobel Lecture" in Oslo on 5 June 1991 in which he spoke extensively and profoundly about the need for peace to prevail over all other conditions.  He expressed his confidence that solidarity and change had been accepted by the "whole world to meet global challenges". 

How formidable! Who would have thought that a politician from the Soviet Union would, with great imagination and skill, be able to end the "Cold War" without a single victim, peacefully... when President Reagan was talking about the "Star Wars"...?

Mikhail Gorbachev, very concerned about preserving the quality of human life, created in Geneva, a "Green Cross International" which has as its objectives the global challenges of security, eradication of poverty and environmental degradation. Alongside the Green Cross, President Gorbachev founded "The World Political Forum", accompanied by Andrei Grachev, in this case, as well as Alexander Likhotal in the case of the "Green Cross". 

I would like to mention the emotion I felt at the event held in the great Albert Hall in London  —filled to overflowing— on Gorbachev's 80th birthday in 2011. "The man who changed the world", stood in the centre of a great arch in the huge Hall. The man who redirected so many erroneous trends unfortunately found himself confronted by impassive, short-sighted and irresponsible leaders and men, incapable of benefiting from such unexpected historical inflections. And, amidst the cheering, I thought of what I had written in 1991: "The Berlin Wall crumbled because a system based on equality had forgotten about freedom. Now, the alternative system will also crumble because, based on freedom, it has forgotten about equality. And both of justice”.

On the first day of October 2016, Moscow joined the "Disarmament for Development" campaign sponsored by the International Peace Bureau in Geneva, led by Ingeborg Breines and Colin Archer, to achieve 10% of the colossal daily investments in arms and military expenditure. In Berlin, the symbolic city, we paraded in large numbers "unter den Linden". We counted on the support of Gorbachev and that of Pope Francis. But, as it is now the norm, in the media, "his master's voice" did not give it the slightest importance. But there have been and will be many more who will be inspired by Gorbachev's fabulous record. His imaginative and unexpected proposals have been and will continue to be very relevant guidance in my daily behaviour.

Gorbachev is a giant, shining star to guide the courses of tomorrow. His legacy will remain, as glimmers of hope for a future that is yet-to-be-made.

Faced with global threats, “We the peoples”

Faced with global threats that are today looming over mankind -some of them of an irreversible nature- and looking into the eyes of our descendants and the forthcoming generations, it is inevitably up to “Us, the Peoples” to fulfil our essential duties, now that we are aware of the seriousness of the situation and we know, at last, that we are equal in dignity and able to express ourselves freely. Joining our voices in a big popular clamour we shall firmly promote: 

-   The immediate cease of fire in Ukraine and other ongoing conflicts, with the corresponding peace processes being started immediately after,

-  The immediate change of the supremacist plutocratic governance (G6, G7, G8, G20...) -that has led the world as a whole to an extremely risky situation (environmentally, nuclearly, socially...)- by a democratic, multilateral governance, with a reformed and broadly extended United Nations willing to adopt, in a first extraordinary meeting a Universal Declaration of Democracy, aimed at redirecting the gloomy trends we are facing now and making possible the transition from a culture of imposition, domination and war to a culture of encounter, dialogue, conciliation, alliance and peace,

-  The total elimination of nuclear warheads, because it is  unbearable from all points of views that the Sword of Damocles of total extermination should cast a shadow over the destiny of human species,

-  the immediate review of justice institutions, in order to put an end to the ruling of  “conservative” or “progressive” judges, which are bad judges whose sentences are dictated by virtue of their own ideology instead of administering impartially the law such as is required by the quality of a “fair” justice.

-  eradicate without contemplation the “tax havens”, which are a big obstacle to reducing the social gap that is constantly growing ,

-  the current Security Council,  deprived of its veto capability, would be reinforced both by an Environmental Security and Economic Security Council,

-  also on the scale of other local, regional and worldwide institutions, the obstacles that have always for the same reasons of absolute power hindered the democratic function would be removed: the most clear and urgent example is represented by the European Union, which cannot continue to accept that specially relevant decisions are adopted unanimously, which is the antithesis of democracy,

-  The new concept of security[1] shall take very much into account the quality of the environment and the adequate conservation of the sea, the earth and the air. The unacceptable recycling of waste, with accumulations and dumps designed to satisfy disproportionate economic ambitions instead of preserving the quality of the earth and its aquifers as well as the sea bed -lets never forget that the water of the sea occupies 2/3 of the earth’s skin- that slowly fills itself with toxic substances thus reducing the carbon dioxide recapture capacity of the phytoplankton,

-  Having also into account that summer fires may be prevented with the adequate action during winter (firewalls, space limitations...) , and with the availability of devices and technical media of all type that allow a swift and adequate action  when a fire occurs. Yes: the world citizenship is claiming for less bombs and more firemen, less war planes and more media to look after the Earth, less soldiers in the garrisons and more military emergency units... and more health workers...

Everything mentioned above has been a part of multiple projects whose aim was to move from the reason of force to the force of reason. But it couldn’t be put it into practice -I must insist on this- because the “peoples”did not exist: 90% of mankind was born, lived and died in a few square kilometres and a radical discrimination was made based on gender, sexual sensibility, beliefs, ideology, ethnicity... In only a few years, the progressive equality in dignity has opened new scale future perspectives and -what is important for human beings -now fully equal!- may be freely said. Now it has become possible to participate and, “We, the peoples”can and must raise our voices to face those menaces that could otherwise  reach points of no return. Now we can finally leave war (“bellum”) and chose word (“verbum”). Now we can fulfil our unavoidable intergenerational responsibilities.

My mother -I have never forgotten it- always told me: “Never accept what you find unacceptable”.  Well: it is unacceptable that due to the veto of the five victor countries and due to unanimity, respectively, the United Nations and the European Union cannot fulfil the important role they should be playing in order to open a new era in which the culture of peace and non violence could finally supersede confrontation and force, in which democratic multilateralism would allow the agreements that are not possible in the context of a supremacist plutocracy.

Today, the citizenship who has become aware, equal in dignity and capable of expressing  herself freely, could allow humanity -“the eyes of the universe”- to start a new period of grandeur making use of the unlimited distinctive creative capacities of the human species. Today, the time has come: “We the peoples” can invent the future. We cannot remain silent any longer. Let us raise our voice so that hope and joy of living are again possible.

---

[1] Mayor Zaragoza, Federico (2021): Inventar el futuro, Córdoba, Ánfora Nova.

Compelled to rebellion

The moment has come for the citizenship, who has progressively become aware of the threats that are looming over mankind, to react, to take action against a global plutocratic governance (G6, G7, G8, G20) that has led the world as a whole to a situation of progressive deterioration of the habitability of the planet -with a few irreversible processes for the first time in history- and an irreducible social gap and military and weapon expenses of more than 4,000 million dollars, while thousand million people are still dying from hunger and extreme poverty...

Different institutions and responsible persons have been alerting since many years ago how urgent it is every day to cope, with all our knowledge and available media, with the terrible ecological and socio-political threats. I never get tired of repeating it: since the 70s of last century, the UNESCO and Club of Rome already alerted how urgent it was to look for new paradigms of economic growth and development. There was no reaction.

In 1992, in Rio de Janeiro, in a big “Summit of the Earth” an excellent document was drafted —the 2021 Agenda — in order to redirect these sombre trends… Nothing happened. The G7, led by George Bush senior, disregarded the document as has been the usual behaviour of US Republican Party when confronted with multilateralism, with the anxious appeals.

We don’t give up our change projects. On the contrary, spurred by the scientific community, alI Summits of the Earth was prepared in Johannesburg, in 2002, followed by a Declaration and Action Program on a Peace Culture (1999) and the Charter of the Earth  (2000). The Milenium Development Objetives  were approved with very high expectations… Nothing happened. On this occasion it was President Bush Junior who not only rejected the proposals of joint action... but who decided one year later to invade Irak, based on trickery and false information.

And what did Europe do? She remained silent. And what did the remaining 192 countries do? They remained silent. With the veto of the five victors of the Second World War, the United Nations could not apply Roosevelt’s splendid design. We had to wait for Barack Obama to arrive to the White House -I insist on this occasion because it was a cause of great hope- and to sign on the shiny autumn of 2015, the Paris Agreements on Climate Change and, two months later, the Resolution of United Nations General Assembly on the 2030 Agenda and the SDO “to transform the world” It was a short period because only a few months later, the uncanny Republican President Donald Trump said with arrogance the same day he was nominated that he would not respect the Agreements on Climate Change nor the 2030 Agenda.

At that time I thought there would be an immediate reaction from the European Union, who cannot have a quantitative influence but can have a qualitative one over the events at a global scale. But there was silence... Why? Because requesting unanimity to approve important decisions is equal to the veto. Unanimity is the antithesis of democracy. With the abominable and intolerable invasion of Ukraine by Putin it has become clear that the prominence in the dialogue with Russia does not correspond to the European Union but rather to the NATO, a military organization whose aim is to put into practice the North Atlantic Treaty.

In the USA, President Biden tries to set some order in the social, military, economic and legal situation which is becoming more confusing every day due to the interference of  the “conservative” Supreme Court -we should have never accepted the difference made between “conservative” and “progressive” judges, which is a total incoherence from all points of views- and an accommodating follower of the ex-president Trump, that not only concerns the federal level, what a nonsense!, but rather the worldwide sphere as was the case of the recent decision on climate change.

Pandemics, war, economic crisis, habitability on the Earth put in jeopardy... And we, “the peoples” -who only recently acknowledged the equal dignity and can, at last!, express ourselves and participate to put into practice the democratic multilateralism-remain distracted. I like to quote Soledad Gallego’s wise saying when she refers to the “massive distraction” that is brought about by the media and digital power interfering with our lives...

It is precisely now that it would be more dangerous to still confuse education with training. Education is “directing our own life” according to the excellent definition of Francisco Giner de los Ríos, to be “free and responsible” according to article 1 of the Constitutive Charter of the UNESCO. We must, without further delay, listen to the voices that are asking for a citizen mobilization, who believe that the democratic multilateralism can count, now at last, with us, the peoples, as quoted at the beginning of the Charter of United Nations: “We the peoples,... are determined to save future generations from the scourge of war".

Now, yes, “the peoples” can finally express themselves freely. Now yes, equal in dignity, they may ask the cooperation of the citizens who are conscious of the effective fulfilment of their intergenerational duties: now yes, they can feel “compelled to the supreme recourse to rebellion”, as established in the third paragraph of the Preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Now hope is possible again. Only thus can we imagine -with great popular clamours- the swift transition from a culture of imposition, dominion and war to a culture of encounter, dialogue, mediation, conciliation and peace, from a plutocratic supremacism (military, financial, energetic, digital, media dominion) to the quick adoption, within the duly reformed United Nations, of a Universal Declaration of Democracy,

Compelled to rebellion! We must be many to start this essential transformation from force to word, from bellum to verbum, from a culture of confrontation to a culture of understanding.

Against the globalization of indifference and ignorance, let’s bet for democratic multilateralism.

Compelled to rebellion!

Henning Zierock

Dear Heike Haensel,

Dear members of the Gesellschaft Kultur des Friedens

Dear family,

Dear friends and colleagues of Henning Zierock,

Henning was a champion of the culture of peace and non-violence. Henning was in Tubingen the founder of the concept of a culture of peace. Henning was the voice with Mikis- of all those who firmly believe that the solution is the transition from the reason of the force to the force of the reason, the transition from bombs to words.

Henning has now become invisible but he will be always present in our lives. He will inspire action and not be a spectators but actors to put rapidly into action a quality, solidarity, love. Yes: Henning, as happens with the stars, has left us physically but his light will permanently illuminate the parts of the new era. 

Please, keep in contact.

With highest esteem,

Federico Mayor

_______________________

United for the sake of peace and democratic multilateralism, to avoid a new international chaos

Let’s take urgent action, now that we may express ourselves freely through great popular clamours, and let’s request:

- an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and the outset of a sound and open peace process,

- the urgent elimination of unanimity as a voting rule in the European Union, so that the EU may fully assume the role as interlocutor which it is supposed to play and that the NATO has now taken over,

- the implementation of Roosevelt’s excellent design of the United Nations: “We the peoples,... are determined to save future generations from the scourge of war”

- through the eradication of the veto and the replacement of the current supremacist plutocratic governance (G6,G7,G8,G20), thus avoiding a new world chaos

- based on military power, on the reason of power instead of the power of reason

- and finally to stop being impassive spectators of what is happening and become conscious and responsible citizens who fulfil their unavoidable intergenerational duties.

- in order to ensure compliance both with the Paris Agreements on Climate Change and the United Nations Resolution on the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals to “transform the world”, which were signed by President Obama and later declared null and void by his successor President Donald Trump on the same day he was nominated, without any reaction -a crime of silence- from the remaining 192 countries.

Yes: united for the sake of peace, now at last all equal in dignity, so we can look our children in the eyes and tell them that we will do whatever it takes to prevent the culture of war from imposing itself over and over again on the culture of peace and non-violence, and the interests of the "great dominion" (financial, military, energy, media, digital) from continuously prevailing over those of the citizenry.                                                    - to totally eradicate nuclear weapons and implement a new concept of security, allowing both the defence of the territory and of the people living in those well protected areas (food, drinking water, quality health services, environmental care, education for all throughout life),

- in summary, to ensure that the human species -an unbelievable superabundance of intellectual and creative capacities- can live and coexist fully on a well-preserved land.

United for the sake of peace, for the sake of word, for the sake of democracy.

Let’s always bear in mind the wise preamble of the Charter of the Earth: "We stand at a critical moment in the Earth's history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future poses greater risks and at the same time greater promises... We are one big human family and one big community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society based on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace”.

We must make sure that no one feels excluded in this choice, so that a new beginning is made possible. We need to put an end to a system that from time immemorial has been based on absolute male power. A few men, a bunch of them, have exercised command in such a way that even life itself had to be sacrificed for the sake of their own purposes, without any possible discussion.

Since they were territorially and intellectually confined in very limited territorial spaces, the inhabitants of the Earth were silent and obedient subjects. In two occasions, at the end of the two great wars of last century, attempts were made to progressively replace the unrestricted use of force with words, negotiation and diplomacy.

But every time security prevailed over peaceful coexistence. At the end of the two great “hot” wars, in 1918 and 1945, two prominent American Presidents, Wilson and Roosevelt respectively, tried to establish a world order based on mediation and multilateralism. Unfortunately, on both occasions the perverse adage “If you want peace, be prepared for war” was applied without restrictions, always driven by the big weapon manufacturers and, as it had for centuries, security prevailed over peace.

It is essential not to forget the incommensurable prejudice caused by United States Republican Party’s failure to support the League of Nations created by Wilson. This is what made possible the resurgence of Germany as a belligerent power... and what pushed Hitler to write -in 1933- in his book “Mein Kampf” that “the Aryan race was incompatible with the Jewish race”.

The seeds of Fascism gave rise to Benito Mussolini’s fascism and they found a fertile soil in Japan's Empire of the Rising Sun, with the Tanaka Plan and Emperor HiroHito..... This convergence of a few great supremacist movements led to the Second World War, an atrocious war with millions of victims, at the end of which President Franklin Delano Roosevelt established a perfectly designed organization, the United Nations. The first sentences of the Charter clearly summarise the broad outlines of global governance: “We, the peoples... are determined to save future generations from the scourge of war"... Based on the relevance they could still have today, It may be worthwhile highlighting the three pillars of what could have been a new era: i) it is the peoples who are entrusted to take the reins of destiny into their own hands; ii) peace must be built in order for humanity to escape from the “scourge of war”; iii) intergenerational solidarity is the supreme commitment of every human being.

The design of the United Nations as established in 1945 - complemented three years later with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - is unbeatable. But at that time, “We, the peoples” had nothing to do with reality: 90% of human beings were born, lived and died within a few square kilometres. They were fearful, submissive, obedient, silent... and women were highly discriminated against.

In the late 1980’s, when thanks to Nelson Mandela and Mikhail Gorbachev many detrimental trends could have been redirected, supremacism and fanaticism managed again to cast a shadow over the world as a whole. The great dominion regained its absolute power. The sects - some of them promoted by intelligence services themselves - were once again countering the efforts of genuine democracies...

It has been frequently said that the “Universal” Declaration was in fact a mere reflection of Western vision.  I must point out in this respect that it was subject to extended consultation with the main representatives of the different civilizations and cultures. When I was Director-General of UNESCO, I found in the archives of the Organization the letter written in February 1947 by Mahatma Ghandi to Julian Huxley, the first Director-General. He thanked him for sending the draft, and explained that he had discussed it with the “most intelligent person I have ever known, an illiterate woman, my mother, who has pointed out...”. Among the suggestions, it was indicated that it might be advisable to include a few duties along with the rights that were declared...

Two quotations from the preamble are particularly relevant: at the end of the first paragraph it is stated that these rights are deemed to ensure that “human beings shall enjoy... freedom from fear". This promotion of self-esteem and of the need to express dissent where it exists is endorsed in the second paragraph of the preamble when it is said that it is essential that human rights be protected by the rule of law "if man is not to be compelled to have recourse... to rebellion". Now, when finally “We, the peoples” can express ourselves freely, it is essential to bear in mind that we must.

In order to take due and timely action we must prepare ourselves with great rigour, and have a sound knowledge of the sources and roots of violent attitudes and conflictive reactions. Supremacism is the origin of many conflicts and acts of violence.  The best way to counteract supremacism is to be aware that all human beings are equal in dignity, regardless of their sex, skin colour, beliefs, ideologies, cultures...  Another important source of terrorism is extreme poverty and hunger.  Cultural diversity is a valuable asset. Xenophobia, hatred and rejection are ethically intolerable and represent a threat to peace.

Europe, in particular, must be a benchmark for the full exercise of human rights. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, from year 2000, is much more important, far more important than the risk premium. The crisis is not only economic. It is above all an ethical crisis. It is the breakdown of a system based on greed and short-sightedness. A system that has replaced ethical values with stock market values, and the United Nations with plutocratic groups. A system that dared to invade another country, causing thousands of casualties, mutilated and displaced people, based on false arguments to justify its geo-economic ambitions.  A system that has not been able to mobilize “the peoples” and force Putin to put an end to his intolerable decision to invade Ukraine, nor to respond with millions of voices from all continents.

Plutocratic groups do not have the capacity to confront the threats that are looming on a planetary scale. Such a difficult mission can only be carried out by a United Nations endowed with the adequate human, technical and financial resources, and which integrates all countries, so that it is truly "the peoples" who "build the defences of peace" and ensure a dignified life for all.

Peace for everyone. Peace on Earth. This is the deepest human longing since the dawn of time, unreachable for a power based on imposition and force.

Let’s react. Let’s stop being impassive spectators. Let’s raise our voice, Millions of voices so that, once and for all, we can free ourselves from the colossal ecological and war threats that cast today a shadow over our common destiny.

 

United for the sake of peace and democratic multilateralism!

Published in Other News (Spanish)

War in Ukraine: diplomacy with a veto?

Without the least intention to decrease Putin’s responsibility, we should consider - with as much urgency and stamina as possible - which have been the causes of this war and other conflicts, of the existence of nuclear weapons, plutocratic governance, global threats that are potentially irreversible... We should ask ourselves why Europe - that was deemed to play an important qualitative role on a global scale - was not even present as a speaker, because it was absorbed by the NATO... the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation... which extends eastwards and speaks in the name of European citizenship... We have the duty to remember.

We must remember which were the reasons that gave rise to the Second World War - the Aryan, Roman and Japanese supremacism, because the League of Nations had been abandoned by the United States from the very beginning- ... We should take into account that it was the veto of the victors which made Roosevelt's excellent multilateral design of the United Nations to be considered useless...  “We the peoples... are determined to save future generations from the scourge of war"...

We have just had a new evidence of the irrelevance of the United Nations, because 196 countries are fully dependent on the will of five countries... And the same can be said of the European Union that must adopt all its decisions unanimously, a rule that leads to 27 vetoes because unanimity is the antithesis of democracy... And this is why it is the NATO who speaks in the name of Europe.

All crises may potentially become an opportunity for change. The current crisis, whose origin was the reason of force, could become an incentive for a great global movement in favour of the force of reason, of mediation, of word, of democratic multilateralism at a global scale, allowing - once the possibilities for action have been exhausted when faced to global irreversible threats - to the effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Agreements on Climate Change.

Yes: now, for the first time in history, the recognition of the equal dignity of all human beings is about to be achieved, without any discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, ideology, belief, sexual sensitivity... Now, for the first time in history, human beings can express themselves freely, now thanks to digital technology and they can therefore participate, which is the basis of democracy... Now, at last, when we are finally aware of the present situation and trends - “We, the peoples” may raise our voice and fulfil our essential responsibilities towards future generations... We can no longer be abducted by the immense power of the media - "a weapon of mass distraction", according to Soledad Gallego's accurate definition and warning-. We shall never again be mere spectators, but rather actors of the great transition from a culture of imposition, domination, violence and war to a culture of encounter, dialogue, conciliation, alliance and peace.

It is a duty of memory to take resolute action. It could become a crime of silence. The time has come for a great global coalition, led by women and youth, for the sake of peace and non-violence, of conflict resolution within the context of a democratic multilateralism that shall supersede the governance of the G6, G7, G8 and G20.

A global coalition whose aim is to achieve the great transition from force to word, by reshaping the United Nations through a change in the composition of its General Assembly, so that “the peoples” are truly represented with 50% of its representatives belonging to the civil society, and the rest of its members (the other 50%) representing the States, and with the veto being replaced by well-weighted and balanced percentages... 

Yes “We, the peoples” shall at last be able to look into the eyes of our descendants and tell them that we shall not leave behind a Planet whose habitability has been deteriorated; that nuclear warheads shall be immediately disposed of; tax heavens shall disappear and the huge amounts currently devoted to territorial defence shall also be used to ensure human and food security, water, health, education, environmental protection - of the inhabitants of these well-protected territories...

To achieve these pressing transformations, it is essential to eradicate imposition and establish democracy: democracy on a personal, local, national, regional and international scale. Just as in 1948 the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the renewed United Nations could adopt a Universal Declaration of Democracy ([1]) to address and to solve the problems of the new era.

We consider Putin’s decision as the main reason, but we don’t neglect other issues that are regrettable or the need to redirect Ukraine’s conflict. We can turn them into an opportunity for change if the awareness of what has happened in the past pushes us to quickly change so that it is, at last, "We the peoples" who take the reins of our common destiny into our own hands.

---

[1] https://declaraciondemocracia.wordpress.com/declaracion-democracia-2/

Democracy, the only solution

 

“The only way to reach a peaceful international order

 is to promote democracy”

Fernando Vallespín

“El País”, January 23rd 2022.

 

The cornerstone of all human rights is equal dignity. This is already stated in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union of year 2000, which has seemingly not been read carefully by most of today’s European leaders. In 1945, at the end of a horrendous war during which the most abominable methods of extermination were used, the United Nations was founded –“We the peoples”…”- and, just a few months later, the UNESCO whose Constitution states that "democratic principles" - justice, equal dignity, freedom and solidarity - should guide governance, and education should contribute to the breeding of "free and responsible" people. Educated people, that is, people who act by virtue of their own reflections and not based on the dictates of someone, and are neither bound nor terrified by dogmas, threats, blind obedience....

The essential objective of education should be to breed a “free and responsible” citizenship which - as stated in the first paragraph of the Universal Declaration of Human - “shall get rid of fear”. Cease to be subjects and become citizens. Individuals who are able to fully exercise the unique capacities of human beings: thinking, imagining, foreseeing, inventing their future, which should never be accepted as irreversible. Fanaticism and dogmatism must be eradicated so human beings may soar high in the endless space of spirit, once their wings are released from every attachment or burden.

The equal dignity of all human beings has progressively been achieved, but the global hegemony of large oligopolies and the war-industrial complex still remains.

Until very recently, mankind had always been dominated and tamed by absolute male power. A few men held the reins of our common destiny in their hands. We have been impassive spectators instead of actors; mere recipients of often biased information, instead of issuers; witnesses afraid to intervene. Muted, silent. Since they were territorially and intellectually confined, human beings lived in subjugation, and had no option but to offer their own lives to fulfil the plans of the most powerful. Without any possible discussion.

Now, since a few decades ago, "We the peoples” - at last men and women on an equal footing - have progressively earned the right to demonstrate, to express our objections and proposals.  We are facing multiple and urgent transitions which for the first time in history may be tackled with some prospects of success: global awareness, free expression and, particularly, a progressively higher percentage of women in decision-making.

The solution is a true democracy at a personal, local, national, regional and international scale. This is why it is of the utmost urgency to quickly proceed to the refoundation of the United Nations System, and the eradication of the G7, G8 y G20… One of the worst omens that are threatening today us is the return of racism and xenophobia. I have said many times -bearing in mind particularly years 1936 to 1939- that supremacism gives rise to hate and confrontation. And it kills. This is why I’m in favour of zero tolerance and active citizens -instead of impassive spectators distracted by the huge power of the media- because “tomorrow might be too late”. It is most disturbing to see how supremacism, racism, fanaticism, dogmatism are sprouting everywhere... without anyone seeming to recall what happened not so long ago... We cannot tolerate this new outbreak of the same scourges because they are the greatest source of confrontation, the greatest source of victims throughout history, a history that must not be repeated. All human beings are equal in dignity; this is the foundation for peace and justice.

Given the neo-liberal drift towards the same attitudes of the 1930s, a great popular mobilisation in the streets and in the cyberspace is needed to eradicate the plutocratic groups and strengthen the United Nations, as a genuine multilateral organisation whose Charter begins with these wise words "We, the peoples...". Faced with current perspectives of various kinds (ethical, political, economic) the speedy re-foundation of a United Nations System endowed with the necessary personal, technical and financial means would be excellent news.

Concerned, committed, undaunted citizens, who know how to overcome the fear that grips so many wills, could make come true - through a “global movement” - a United Nations General Assembly soon supported by 50% of civil society, which would then adopt a Universal Declaration of Democracy (https://declaraciondemocracia.wordpress.com/). Democracy is the sole context where it is possible to imagine a “new beginning”, the new era of a world in which  governance shall be inspired by justice, equality, liberty and solidarity, that is by the “democratic principles” so wisely set out in the UNESCO Constitution, rather than by the markets, by the great military, energy, financial and media powers that still try today to satisfy, through the "great dominion", their ambitions for power, which have produced so many negative results.

Today for the first time in history, remote participation is possible thanks to modern communication technology.

Let us put into practice without any further delay the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. Let us all demand that 2022 be the beginning of the reduction of armaments, of the culture of force and violence, in favour of the culture of encounter, conciliation and dialogue.

The time for silence and submission is over. The duty to remember and the duty to take action: implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, in order to further reduce the ecological degradation whose effects are becoming more intense and more frequent; swift global agreement on the elimination of nuclear weapons; immediate regulation of military organizations who actually represent the hegemony at a global scale in some countries, as well as the huge networks of military bases all over the world; regulation of trafficking and consumption of illegal drugs; elimination of tax havens and plutocratic groups...; a new concept of "human" security, so that the inhabitants of territories that are so well “protected” by defence mechanisms may have access to the five priorities of United Nations: food, drinkable water, quality health services, caring for the environment, and education for everyone during the whole life; promoting science and the advice of those having the required expertise; reinforcing preventive measures, especially in the field of health, with the immediate example of vaccination for everyone and not only for the inhabitants of the most prosperous countries; ensuring the independence of justice; personal commitment to invent the future and, resorting to our boundless resilience, never again accept impositions, dogmatism, supremacism... Every unique human being capable of creating, there lies our hope.

Urgent change in global governance

 

                                    A duty of memory. The memory of oblivion. The duty to take action and speak out.

A crime of silence.

New Year’s Eve 2021 calls for a very careful reflection and for decisions that should be taken without delay. The year that has just ended has been unusually rich with events and tendencies that must be kept in mind and corrected to avoid points of no return from being reached. For the first time in history, some of the threats we are facing at a global scale are of an irreversible nature and the Earth’s habitability could be put in jeopardy already in the Anthropocene, if we forget once again what was agreed and we fail to assume our intergenerational responsibilities.

Until very recently we were unaware of what was happening in the world and we couldn’t express ourselves. Additionally, an age-old discrimination prevented us from acting together. After Roosevelt created in 1945 the United Nations, setting up a new wisely designed multilateral frame, the reason of power prevailed once again over the power of reason, and weapons succeeded again over words. “We, the peoples”, the protagonists of the first sentence of the Charter of the United Nations, did not yet exist at that time, and the General Assembly was then composed by state representatives -all of them male- ... Until three decades ago, 90% of human beings were born, lived and died within a few square kilometres, dominated by absolute male power. They were fearful, silent, unequal, obedient, submissive... Now, when it is more urgent than ever, the peoples may at last participate and they do so actively -that is, they live democratically- because, thanks to a great extent to the digital technology, they can express themselves freely. And equal dignity for everyone has been gradually acknowledged -this being the greatest recent triumph of mankind.

When recalling the major features of year 2021 - plutocratic neoliberal governance, pandemics, climate change, emigration, hunger and extreme poverty... - we must be aware that, after remaining silent since the dawn of time, the time has come for democratic multilateralism which is now possible thanks to citizen participation. Our lives should no longer be secured by military bases and highly expensive war weapons, but rather by the new solutions offered by the duly renewed United Nations - with a General Assembly having a weighted vote instead of veto, and comprising “We, the peoples”, the civil society, alongside the representatives of the governments. These new solutions should allow us -as so wisely advised by José Luis Sampedro- “to sail in a different direction in a new ship”.

In order to ensure the participation of all citizens, we must all be aware of the current challenges we have ahead and of how we should cope with them. We must have a “memory of oblivion” and, all together, all equal, all aware, actively participate, knowing at all times what we should do so that human intelligence always prevails over “artificial intelligence” and not the other way around. An “informed and diligent” citizenship should be able under such crucial circumstances to fulfil the purpose entrusted to "the peoples" in 1945: “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”... the scourge of an exhausted planet, the scourge of a small number of formidable consortia that are leading the world as a whole towards the abyss... In this respect, it is worthwhile recalling Aurelio Peccei when, in the 1960s, with as much anticipation as wisdom, and acting as a sentinel of the future, he already warned of "the chasm ahead of us”.  And, with him, all those who have since then endlessly repeated the same alerts and warnings which have always gone unheeded. The role of the scientific, academic, artistic, intellectual communities... has become much greater today when there are so many “peoples” that have realized that a response must be given to their calls and not those of the “market”... UNESCO, the US Academy of Sciences, the "Earth Summits" (Rio in 1992; Johannesburg in 2002...)... have invariably been neglected due to the hegemonic ambitions of those who, since the 1980s, have gathered together in plutocratic groups (G6, G7, G8, G20).

With President Barack Obama in the White House, it became possible to sign -in that shiny Autumn of 2015- the Paris Agreements on Climate Change and the United Nations Resolution to “transform the world”, both related with the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. But when after a few months -I must insist on it- Donald Trump imposed once again the hegemony of the United States and announced unequivocally that he would not implement the agreements signed by his predecessor, the response was silence. Silence all over the world. Silence in the European Union... because, in the meantime, the EU capacity to take action had been substantially decreased when unanimity became a requirement for the approval of some of the most relevant decisions... and unanimity is the very antithesis of democracy!

To achieve the urgent change in global governance and promote the United Nations I have briefly described above, the first solemn act should be the endorsement of a Universal Declaration of Democracy, because only a genuine democracy at all levels (local, national, regional and global) - and this is the main belief that must serve as a premise - will allow to straighten up the current wreckage and to start walking towards a future worthy of the immense faculties that distinguish the human species: thinking, imagining, anticipating, innovating, creating! Every unique human being capable of creating, of inventing, there lies our hope.

A duty of memory... and a crime of silence - now that we may, and we therefore should express ourselves-. The memory of immigrants from countries rich in natural resources... which are exploited by international oligopolies... Only three days ago, on 28 December 2021, the press reported that 188 migrants had drowned off the coast of Libya... Libya! What a great value is given to the resources found in Libya's soil and subsoil... and what a small value is given to the inhabitants of this country... The memory of Yemen with more than 70% of its population living in extreme poverty, a population placed "under the caring custody" of the great Saudi economic power... And let´s not forget the Syrians, after seven years of endless suffering caused by a war that those who were supposed to prevent or solve in a context of multilateral mediation have been unable to stop... And the memory of Afghanistan... And of so many African countries -Africa, a source of wisdom and human solidarity-... And the memory of Haiti, a country that should be always taken into account because, after all kinds of suffering, "it has run out of tears", according to "El País" from 22 August... The memory of the past consequences of supremacism in Europe and Asia, in order to prevent intolerable actions such as the invasion of Iraq from happening again... or "Operation Condor" in Latin America... which opened wounds that will be difficult to heal... And a special duty of memory to solve once and for all the coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis. In June 1995, with Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin an agreement was reached... which was immediately ruined due to the assassination of the Prime Minister... The memory of the autocracies that in many countries allow corrupt governance, drug trafficking and intolerable abuses of power... The memory of the assault on the Capitol of the United States... The constant memory of the abused Nature... The memory of the Arctic pole that, when melting, releases methane gas with an ecological effect far greater than carbon dioxide... And let us not forget the huge military expenditure that is made while the inhabitants of these well-protected territories often starve and live in extremely precarious conditions... I cannot stop repeating that it is intolerable to spend every day more than 4 billion dollars on weapons and military expenditure while thousands of people are dying of starvation, most of them children between the ages of one and five...

A new concept of security must be implemented without delay to provide citizens with more resources of all kinds in the event of natural disasters, health problems, etc., always bearing in mind the five priorities of the United Nations: food, drinking water, quality health services, care for the environment and lifelong education... The duty of memory of more than 4000 feminicides in 2020 in Latin America, as revealed in an article published in Other News on 25 November 2021... The duty of memory of the recent authentic "fraud" of Glasgow COP 26, where it turned out that the "commitments" reached were not "binding"! (And, therefore, were not “commitments”).  And, only 48 hours later it was made public that the NATO's capacity for action had to be extended "for geostrategic and defensive reasons"... As always!

As always, the language of weapons, of strength, of the culture of war instead of the culture of encounter, dialogue, conciliation, words, peace. Against authoritarianism, a democratic multilateralism...

A duty of memory of those who violate the human rights of their fellow human beings by refusing to be vaccinated, and in doing so also act against all scientific recommendations. But above all the duty of remembrance of those who have had no access to a vaccine due to the reprehensible greed of the most prosperous.  Now that we are aware of what is happening on Earth as a whole, we must get to the root of the problems... and no longer accept the social gap which gives rise to so much affliction that cannot be solved by resorting to force but rather to words and justice.

A duty of memory to avoid going back to the “pre-pandemic normality”, with huge drinking parties that are highly infectious... Let’s not get back to the globalisation of ignorance, with thousands of people acting irresponsibly, instead of being aware of the essential role they must play in the redirection of the ecological and social situation, and being ready to actively participate... If “going back to normality” means going back to plutocratic governance, being ruled by the intentions of huge, omnipresent and omnipotent consortia, the current challenges on a global scale will become even worse. Some years ago we had no guidelines to follow. Now we do: the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs... And the democrat President Joe Biden in the White House.

If only the extremely rich did pay their fair share of taxes! I was recently shocked to learn in the press that in Spain 2/3 of the fortunes over 30 million euros will not have to pay wealth taxes... All equal -supremacism and racism must disappear in the near future-, all united, let us raise our voice and participate in the reconstruction, the invention of the future that we owe to the generations that are just a step behind ours... Albert Camus' sentence “I despise them because they could have done so much and dared so little” encourages me, more than ever in the past, to act with urgency. There would be no excuse for us today if our descendants were to blame us for not having duly prepare ourselves to face current challenges, some of them of an irreversible nature.

“The supreme duty is to go on” said Pedro Salinas. Yes: failure occurs only when we stop trying.  Let’s transform the world, according to the title of the UN resolution on the Agenda 2030 and the SDGs. A duty of memory. A duty of action. A crime of silence.