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)
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