Posts
“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.
