Elections in the United States, global responsibility. The future belongs to everyone.

 Elections will soon be held in the United States. Much is at stake not only for that country but for world governance and the global future in such essential aspects as peace, climate change, international solidarity... It should not be forgotten that when Donald Trump was elected President of the United States in 2016, he immediately announced that he would not implement the Paris Climate Change Agreements and the 2030 Agenda “to transform the world”, which constituted an intolerable threat to the quality of the Earth's habitability and, therefore, to the intergenerational legacy...

Due to the potential irreversibility of many social and environmental processes, we live in times that require quick and imaginative actions. A rapid turnaround is urgently needed in order not to disappoint the generations that are just a step behind us.

The U.S. must now become a leader in the respect and full exercise of human rights, democratic principles and multilateralism. At the end of the Second World War, when Nazism and fascism were defeated - at what a price! - the President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, not only created the United Nations with an excellent democratic multilateral design, but also appointed the Commission which, chaired by his wife Eleonora, lucidly drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The country that in 1948 was the standard bearer, by President Roosevelt's own widow, for the drafting, dissemination and adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration, cannot now follow the policy that President Reagan so strongly advocated and that the very powerful Republican Party has continued and encouraged ever since: alienation from the United Nations System, with the imposition of plutocratic groups (G7, G8... G20); undervaluation of Human Rights; and not being part of the countries promoting and signing institutions of international justice, such as the International Criminal Court.... 

Duty of memory to remember that the political disaster of the Second World War is due to the fact that the Republican Party of the United States prevented the great country whose President created the League of Nations from deciding not to belong to it!

It is a duty of memory to remember the courageous proclamation of President Eisenhower at the passing of presidential power in the United States on January 20, 1961 when he communicated to his successor John Fitzgerald Kennedy and to the American people that the power was not in the hands of the President, but in the hands of the US war industrial complex.

The progressive decline in voter turnout is a matter of great concern, revealing the disaffection of citizens and the fragility of democracies whose governments and parliamentary representations have so little popular support.

A great majority of citizens, conscious but silent, see how pre-electoral situations are taking place that could lead to the triumph of a plutocratic and supremacist governance that, once again, would prevent “We the peoples” from being those who, as established in the lucid first sentence of the United Nations Charter, “must save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”.... 

A global call is needed from the major institutions, from countries all over the world, without nuances, to facilitate the advent of democratic multilateralism on a global scale. We need a global call for the elimination of the current plutocratic and supremacist governance. Today, after 78 years, the wise Charter of the United Nations has never been applied and, in recent years, the aggravation that the veto represents for world democracy has also been extended to the European Union, which requires unanimity in the adoption of decisions, precisely the antithesis of democracy.

Given the possibility that the same anti-democratic guidelines will be applied in the next elections, the best solution would be for the world to clamor for the elimination of the veto and the progressive implementation of a world governance based on words and not on force. 

Memory duty of the meeting between President Reagan and the new Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev in Reykjavik in October 1986, in which Gorbachev proposed to the American the total elimination of 17,000 warheads for each of the two powers at that time. When 6,000 warheads were reached for each country, President Reagan argued that for reasons of “global security”, he could not follow the total elimination that had been proposed. It is not only regrettable to remember those dates for this reason, but also because President Reagan then created the G6, an unfortunate precursor of today's governance. At the end of the “cold war”, in the 1980s, when it was finally possible to give multilateralism the necessary breadth, stature and effectiveness by providing it with adequate personal, security, technical and financial resources, President Reagan, with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as his obedient acolyte, left UNESCO and created the plutocratic groups (G6, G7, G8...) composed of very prosperous countries, to marginalize the United Nations, by not subscribing to the Convention on the Human Rights of the Child in 1989 - it is the only country in the world that has not subscribed to it -, by placing the World Trade Organization directly outside the system... And neoliberalism has been decreasing, to the point of cancelling it, development aid, thus increasing the number of emigrants because in their countries of origin they are starving to death. It is an unacceptable fact, from all points of view, that every day more than 4,000 million dollars are invested in military expenditures and armaments while thousands of people die of starvation and helplessness, most of them children from 1 to 5 years of age.

Duty to remember that the U.S. Supreme Court has a majority of “Trumpist” judges, which is a reality of anti-democratic action of enormous significance. The impartiality of judges must be something that is once again absolutely indisputable. The representation of a judge are those of the balance pans at the same level. There cannot be “progressive” judges, “conservative” judges... This is one of the first decisions that must be taken on a global scale: the impartiality of justice.

The unpostponable moment of “We the Peoples” has arrived. We must proclaim the implementation of the Charter of the United Nations, without veto, because we must note - it is a duty of memory - that it has never been possible to implement the Charter due to the veto granted to the five victorious countries of the Second World War. For centuries the terrible “dictum” of absolute male power has prevailed: “Si vis pacem para bellum”... Now, at last, we recognize the equal dignity of all human beings who, moreover, can express themselves freely. Now, at last, we can, voices and hands united on a global scale, make possible the transition from “bellum” to “verbum”, from war to the word!

It is urgent to correct the enormous incongruity of the United States being first in strength and last in fundamental issues for Humanity.

The time has come for democratic multilateralism on a global scale, starting with a country of special importance, the United States of America, whose elections will take place in the coming days. It is the unpostponable moment of the word, of democracy, of peace, of equality, of solidarity, of full recognition of equal dignity. Finally, “We the peoples”.

At last, democratic multilateral governance without vetoes

With real satisfaction and hope we have read that "the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, demanded in the UN Security Council that the possibility of veto that some countries have in decision-making in this United Nations body be eliminated... Faced with this situation he considered it essential to react and therefore proposed a reform that would duly transform the system, conserving what works and modifying what has become obsolete". (EFE, 26/09/24).

At the end of World War II, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created a perfect design for democratic multilateralism. The first sentence of the United Nations Charter is the great present duty: ‘We the peoples have resolved to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war’.

He did more: he created a Commission to draft Human Rights chaired by a woman (his own wife, Eleonora) whose first article proclaims the equal dignity of all human beings... And UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, which must forge ‘free and responsible’ people, whose training will enable ‘the defences of peace to be constructed in the minds of men’.

In 79 years (since 1945) it has NOT been possible to implement the Charter, to fulfil the will of ‘We, the peoples...’, always silenced by the veto, by plutocratic and supremacist governance. It was Eisenhower, President of the United States, who had the courage, on 20 January 1961, to convey to his successor, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and to the American people, that it was not the President but the ‘war-industrial complex’ who was really in charge in America. From President Wilson's creation of the League of Nations at the end of World War I to Roosevelt's founding of the United Nations, the opportunities for the transition from the force to the word progressively faded. ‘We the peoples...’ decisions were successively ignored by the veto of the five victorious countries of the Second World War.

The current state of global governance remains disabled by the veto. It is now urgent to recognise without further delay that it is ‘the peoples’, as stated in the UN Charter, who must assume their responsibilities with future generations in mind. It is now ethically imperative to avoid irreversible situations in many areas. For example, in the area of climate, affecting habitability on a planetary scale. Now there is no excuse. We can no longer accept to be told that the proposals made by the COP (how shameless!) are not ‘binding’. The scientific, academic and artistic community must, hand in hand and on a global scale, implement appropriate measures, rejecting the veto of the G7 and military institutions.

It has been 25 years since the United Nations General Assembly adopted a Declaration and Plan of Action on the Culture of Peace to replace force with words. The time has come to overcome so much resistance, to put into practice, for the New Era, the main proposal of the United Nations Charter: ‘We the peoples... have resolved to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war’. Duty of memory. It is our unpostponable duty to change, at last, the ‘bellum’ for the ‘verbum’! The Resolution and Plan of Action for a Culture of Peace could not be adopted at UNESCO because of the strict vigilance of the G7...

There is an urgent need for many voices to mobilise, aware that now - equal in dignity and able to participate - they must act immediately. Yes: now, for the first time in history, ‘We the Peoples ....’ can get the veto abolished in the United Nations ... and in the European Union, also disqualified from decision-making by the requirement of ‘unanimity’, the antithesis of democracy.

Faced with the terrible situation that thousands of children are currently living and suffering, citizens should react and finally stop being impassive spectators of what is happening and become active actors. Whether those who still have hegemonic ambitions want to admit it or not, the only solution is, as I have insisted so many times in recent years, to re-establish the United Nations, giving full validity to the 1945 Charter: with a Security Council without the right of veto... Citizenship aware that it can mobilise the media and many institutions and individuals for a great popular outcry capable of replacing the veto with democratic, multilateral action... The ‘war-industrial complex’ must cease to be the representative of force and become on a global scale the great protector of the word, allowing the reason of force to be transformed into the force of reason, inspired by the preamble of the UNESCO Constitution: ‘You shall act in accordance with the principles of democracy'.

It is clear, therefore, that the solution will not come from the current drift and marginalisation of multilateralism but from the full implementation of a truly United Nations.

Sapere aude’, “dare to know”, exclaimed Horace. Yes: dare to know... and then dare to know how to dare so that knowledge can unfold its immense potential. To know and to unite in order, forming a global network of great proportions, to be able, as a first historic step towards a new era, to remove the veto that disables the proper functioning of the excellent democratic design of the United Nations.

And then do the same with Organisations such as the European Union, which today are totally unable to proceed democratically because of the ‘unanimity’ requirement. 

I was personally involved in the 1992 ‘Earth Summit’, whose Agenda 21 (guidelines for the 21st century) was carefully drafted... and yet roundly rejected by the G-7. Ten years later, at the 3rd Summit in Johannesburg in 2002, the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) were also quickly scaled down by plutocratic governance, despite the fact that they indicated very precise guidelines for behaviour, the adoption of measures of great urgency for the proper conservation of the environment.

In 2015, there was a new hopeful break: the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, signed the climate change agreements in Paris in September. And two months later, at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, he signed the excellent ‘Resolution to Transform the World’ on the 2030 Agenda. At last, a conscious citizenry could breathe a sigh of relief...! But it was only possible for a very short time: President Obama was replaced a few months later by the unusual President Donald Trump who, on the very day of his election, announced that he would not implement the agreements approved by his predecessor... 

And since then, the climate outlook has become even bleaker. Since then, the United Nations' veto has been joined by the European Union's veto, because of the “unanimity” requirement... and because - as we have already pointed out - the agreements reached at COP meetings... are not “binding”!

Today, 79 years later, we must note - a duty of memory - that it has never been possible to implement the Charter because of the veto given to the five victorious countries of the Second World War.

In the encyclical ‘Pacem in Terris’ in 1963, His Holiness Pope John XXIII, a lucid forerunner in so many dimensions of humanity, stated that ‘since today the common good of all peoples poses problems which affect all nations, and since such problems can only be faced by a public authority whose power, structure and means are sufficiently broad and whose range of action is worldwide, it follows that, by imposition of the world order itself, a general public authority must be constituted’. Indeed, both for the maintenance of international peace and security and for a politically and legally controlled, and therefore more humane and social, organisation, our main asset is the multilateral system of the United Nations.

In order to face common problems that even the most powerful cannot solve in isolation, States need permanent and institutionalised cooperation through International Organisations, i.e. in the framework of entities with their own organs and their own will, distinct and separate from that of the Member States, for the purpose of managing their cooperative relations in a given field of affairs. 

The first paragraph of the UN Charter is so prescient that it contains the three pillars which, today, could initiate the new era of humanity for a life of dignity for all human beings without exception. (1) The reins of destiny are in the hands of the ‘peoples’, which makes it clear that it is not up to absolute power but to citizen participation to govern at local, national, regional and global levels. (2) ‘Avoiding the horror of war’, which would mean ‘building peace’, and (3) it is up to the coming generations to inspire the great changes.

Let us give wings to the human species so that, without vetoes, it can act democratically for the great transition from the force to the word, each unique human being capable of creating, our hope. Now, at last, we can. Now we must act without delay. Duty of memory. Crime of silence.

Urgent change in global governance

(This article was originally published in Spanish by Other News)

 

‘No challenge is beyond

of the creative capacity 

of the human species’.

J. F. Kennedy, June 1963.

 

The turning point is when situations of an irreversible nature are reached. It is important to ensure that circumstances do not arise that inevitably require new solutions. And let there be no despair. It is a citizenry conscious of equal dignity and capable of expressing itself that must finally put into practice the lucid Charter of the United Nations: ‘We the peoples... have resolved to save succeeding generations from the horror of war’ —war and any other ‘horror’, such as the deterioration of the environment and thus of the habitability of planet Earth—.

 

The time has come to act, to move from being impassive spectators of what is happening to being very diligent actors. Not a day more of being ‘silent listeners’. It is time for action, for us not to be mere recipients of often biased information, but actors who participate, each in his or her own sphere, bearing in mind Burke's maxim: ‘No one makes a greater mistake than he who does nothing because he thinks he can do very little’. All the seeds, without exception, are necessary. Every grain of sand. Every drop.

 

There are moments, very few, when change is suddenly possible. The radical change that is required can only be imagined as the result of a great global outcry of ‘We, the peoples’, at last able, with a resolute attitude, to make the transition from force to word, from imposition to joint reflection.

 

There is an urgent need for many voices to mobilize in the knowledge that now —equal in dignity and able to participate— they must act without further delay. Yes: now, for the first time in history, ‘We, the peoples ....’ can get the veto abolished in the United Nations ... and in the European Union, also disqualified from decision-making by the requirement of ‘unanimity’, the antithesis of democracy.

 

It is imperative to address the major challenges on a global scale, before their possible solution is no longer effective.  The major priorities of food, access to drinking water, quality health services, care for the environment, education, emigration... are challenges to which we must respond together. 

 

Inventing the future. Through modern technology, the best expression of the voice of the people, of global solidarity, can take place. Civil society now has, in addition to its undeniable leading role in solidarity aid, the possibility not only to make itself heard, but also to make itself listened to.

 

The human species longs for, dreams of, a ‘new beginning’, where instead of preparing for war, it can achieve peace by listening, understanding, joining voices and efforts.

 

In 79 years (since 1945) it has NOT been possible to implement the Charter, to fulfill the will of ‘We, the peoples...’, always silenced by the veto, by plutocratic and supremacist governance. It was Eisenhower, the President of the United States, who had the courage, on 20 January 1961, to convey to his successor, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and to the American people, that it was not the President but the ‘war industrial complex’ who was really in charge in America. From President Wilson's creation of the League of Nations at the end of World War I to Roosevelt's founding of the United Nations, the opportunities for the transition from the force to the word have progressively faded. Now, as I have already stressed, the time has come for ‘We the peoples...’

 

And what should we do immediately for the generations to come? It is not a question of economic, political, social provisions... It is above all a question of inventing a different future. In this respect, I will never forget what Professor Hans Krebs, Nobel Prize winner in Biochemistry, said to me in his laboratory in Oxford: ‘The solution does not lie in these sophisticated instruments, nor in the collection of data... The solution is to think what no one has thought of’... Yes: each human being, unique and capable of creating, our hope.

 

Let us give wings to the human species so that, without vetoes, it can act democratically for the great transition from the force to the word.

 

The world is entering a new era. We have many things to preserve for the future and many things to change decisively. At last, the people. At last, the voice of the people. At last, citizens' power. At last, the word and not force. A culture of peace and never again a culture of war.

 

Inventing hope everyday...

 ..... said to me María Novo, professor of art and philosophy, a few hours ago on the phone. Every unique human beings capable of creating, their supreme and distinctive faculty, can face the challenges of all kinds that beset them and can come to overwhelm them.

 The first condition is to get involved, to stop being impassive spectators of what is happening and become determined and tenacious actors. A citizenry that is aware of the extreme seriousness and potential irreversibility of some of the threats to humanity is the first and unavoidable link to move from inaction and dismay to wise and inspired action.

 Appropriate and timely action can come from knowledge or invention. The power to invent! This is the great capacity, the hope. Action and participation for the urgent transition from global governance based on force and imposition to democratic multilateralism, to the enlightened action of ‘We the peoples....’, as the UN Charter so aptly begins.

 The willingness and confidence of those who know that they know what they need to know or are capable of creating it is a source of trust and solidarity. Only in this way, can the eagerness to collaborate, to contribute to illuminating today's dark horizons, be transmitted to many fading and distracted potential collaborators, especially to the youth.

“Sapere aude”, “dare to know!”, exclaimed Horace. Yes: dare to know... and then dare to know how to dare so that knowledge can unfold its immense potential. To know and to unite so that, forming a global network of great proportions, we can, as a first historic step towards a new era, eliminate the veto that disables the proper functioning of the excellent democratic design of the United Nations.

 And then to do the same with organizations, such as the European Union, which today are totally incapable of proceeding democratically because of the ‘unanimity’ requirement. Until very recently, absolute male power and discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity, belief and ideology did not allow for a democratic multilateral system. In recent decades, the equal dignity of all human beings has been progressively recognized and digital technology has made it possible for them to express themselves freely, to participate.

 Now we can, now we must. It is urgent to bring together institutions from all over the world, academic, scientific, artistic, etc., in order to be able, in the short term, to carry out a world governance based on words —at last— and not on force, on the force of reason, on mediation and diplomatic negotiation.

 We must make it possible on a planetary scale for education, as stated in the first article of UNESCO's Constitution, to be ‘inspired by democratic principles’ and to form ‘free and responsible’ human beings. In this way, the current territorial security could be rapidly transformed into ‘human’ security... The action plans drawn up by Garry Jacobs, President of the World Academy of Art and Science, would rapidly enable peace to be achieved, above all, on a personal level and in terms of food, health, education... Only in this way would it be possible to achieve, in a few years, governance on a global scale based on solidarity, justice, social justice, equal dignity... Only in this way would it be possible for natural intelligence to always prevail over so-called ‘artificial’ intelligence so that a large majority of human beings can reinvent hope every dawn.

 

Prevention of irreversible brain damage in newborns, a human right.

 Since the 1960s, my scientific activity has focused on the diagnosis and treatment of metabolic diseases, rare pathologies which, in some cases, cause irreversible brain damage. "Irreversible" is the word that should trigger all preventive efforts and ensure widespread screening. Its prevention implies early diagnosis and treatment. The fundamental objective was to detect avoidable hereditary diseases in newborns, which generally lead to irreversible mental retardation. In a short time, accompanied by the "luck of the bold", we detected a first case of phenylketonuria and the pilot plan was set up, which led to its successive implementation throughout Spain and participation in specialised international meetings was initiated, as well as biochemical and genetic research, to contribute to scientific knowledge of such an important aspect of preventive medicine.

As with any social, environmental or clinical phenomenon, it is necessary to apply treatment in time before the alteration that is to be avoided occurs, particularly when irreversible situations are involved. On several occasions I have referred to the need to act in a timely manner in order to stop the process at stages prior to the point of no return (ethics of time).

Every day I feel more and more strongly, and I try to express it in this way, that the search for, dissemination and application of knowledge is the most beautiful task offered to man's terrible perplexity, astonishment, doubt and fear. I remember that a few months after finishing my degree in Pharmacy, when I was starting to work in Prof. Santos Ruiz's laboratory, I visited an institution for the mentally handicapped.  There, on that day, many things in my life took root. Other things were erased by the force of that memory. And the feeling that it is necessary to contribute to alleviating and making the life of man, the only being aware of the great gift of life, more bearable, became more intense and urgent.

In 2023, on the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, I proposed to the United Nations, through its High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Volker Turk, the recognition as a human right of the prevention of diseases that cause irreversible neurological damage and requested their help in the processing of this new human right. We then asked all governments, institutions and scientific societies to support the proposal to declare as a human right the prevention through neonatal screening of pathologies in which irreversible damage can be avoided through early treatment.

It is now necessary to promote a conscious citizenship that is not a spectator of what is happening, but an actor for the progressive and urgent elimination of risks that affect humanity without further remedy. At last, human beings are gradually recognising that they are equal in dignity and can express themselves freely. Now we can. Now we must. The creative capacity that distinguishes the human species encourages us and gives us hope.

Infanticide? Let us unite all voices, all hands

It is now imperative not to forget the lessons of the past. Remember what happened in Europe and Asia to make it possible to unleash the horrible historical wrongs of slavery, colonialism, supremacism... and the holocaust, because the value of each life was not taken into account, because the foundation of all human rights —equal dignity— was omitted.

At the end of the two great ‘hot’ wars, in 1918 and 1945, two prominent American Presidents, Wilson and Roosevelt respectively, had attempted to establish a world order based on the force of reason rather than the reason of force. On both occasions, unfortunately, the perverse adage ‘if you want peace, prepare for war’ was applied unrestrainedly, always driven by the big arms producers, and security prevailed, as it had for centuries, over peace.

I think it is important to note the immeasurable damage caused by the US Republican Party's failure to support the League of Nations —created by US President Wilson! —Germany's war revival was made possible... and Hitler, in 1933, wrote in his book My Struggle that ‘the Aryan race is incompatible with the Jewish race’.

The seeds of fascism also bore fruit in the leadership of Benito Mussolini and in the fertile soil of Japan's Empire of the Rising Sun, with the Tanaka Plan and Emperor HiroHito..... This confluence of great supremacist movements gave rise to the Second World War, atrocious, with millions of victims, at the end of which President Franklin Delano Roosevelt established, with a perfect design, the United Nations, which, once again, could not take off the flight so well planned and so necessary, The United Nations was again prevented from taking off by the arms race of the two superpowers and by the animosity —as at the end of the First World War— of the Republican Party which, at the end of the Cold War, did not accept President Mikhail Gorbachev's proposal (Reykjavik, October 1986) to eliminate all nuclear warheads and placed the governance of the world in the hands of the G6.

There is an urgent need for a genuine re-founding of the European Union, on the ethical foundations of 1950.  In order to know where we want to go, to establish a precise ‘road map’ and never again start the construction of the European edifice from the roof (as has been done by implementing a monetary union without a prior economic union and, worse still, without a prior political union), it is essential to review where we have come from: look at the foundations of the Coal and Steel Treaty,... read the declarations of its architects and re-read the agreements they signed...

What did Robert Schumann, Jean Monet, Konrad Adenauer... proclaim? Well, that if conflicts were never again to be resolved by force, it was necessary to seek areas of understanding, of conciliation... always inspired by the democratic principles which, from that time onwards, would guide Europe.  ‘We will have to be able to invent new forms of governance’, exclaimed Schumann... Today, the veto prevents the democratic functioning of the great multilateral organisation of the United Nations and the European Union.

Faced with the terrible situation that thousands of children are living and suffering today, citizens should react and, at last, stop being impassive spectators of what is happening and become active actors, resolutely preparing to remove the veto that has prevented, for 78 years, the implementation of the United Nations Charter, whose first sentence expresses the long-awaited, urgent solution that cannot be postponed: ‘We the peoples... have resolved to save succeeding generations from the horror of war’ and which also prevents the European Union from speaking out and denouncing it.

On 5 February 2012 I wrote: ‘And it was the gaze of that child, in that war, that changed the course of my life at a stroke’... Since then, with my grandchildren and great-grandchildren and all the children of the world always in my sights, I have never ceased to cry out for peace, for justice, for equal dignity, for sharing, for living together.... To proclaim that, if we are able to look into the eyes of children, we will be able to embark, without hesitation, on the path of a culture of peace and non-violence, of a culture —the ultimate definition of daily behavior—of peace and harmony.

Citizenship aware that, without further delay, it can mobilise the media and many institutions and individuals for a great popular outcry that is capable of replacing vetoes with democratic, multilateral action... The ‘war-industrial complex’, which Eisenhower himself pointed out as the real American power, must cease to be the representative of force and become on a global scale the great protector of the word, allowing the reason of force to be transformed into the force of reason, inspired by the preamble of the UNESCO Constitution: ‘you shall act in accordance with democratic principles’.

The mobilisation of academic, artistic, scientific institutions... in favour of a new era in which plutocratic, supremacist governance is properly replaced by democratic governance, with mediation and speech well protected and secured, cannot be postponed. Garry Jacobs, President of the World Academy of Arts and Science, has forged the concept of ‘human security’ so that peace, on a territorial scale and in military terms, becomes peace on the scale of every human being (nutrition, education, environment, equality in dignity...).

Suddenly, wrote Leonardo Da Vinci, there are no longer on board rich or poor, young or old, black or white... only passengers toiling away, working together to survive, to avoid shipwreck.

This is the advice we should now be spreading by all means to make the ‘peoples’ aware of the situation in which, for the first time in history, humanity finds itself. Indeed, in recent years, a number of global threats have emerged as potentially irreversible processes, which need to be addressed and dealt with in time, before it is too late.

The more alert we should be, the more reactive we should be, the more we should consider tomorrow... the more we consider the present, the more self-absorbed we are, the more short-sighted we are... and we accept the unacceptable without remorse.

Hunger, helplessness, submission.  We need to engage resolutely and boldly against all kinds of violence.  Pope Francis once said that ‘it is not easy to know whether today's world is more or less violent than before, or whether the modern media and the mobility of our age make us more aware of violence or more accustomed to it’. I remember how impressed I was to hear Prof. Juan Antonio Carrillo Salcedo warn us, with his characteristic foresight, about the ‘globalisation of indifference’.

We continue to be impassive spectators, ‘distracted’, indifferent, silent... Crime of silence...! Until when?

In Paris, on 20 January 1990, I wrote these lines at the end of a poem:

‘We know / and therefore / we have no excuse / How can we / fall asleep / being accomplices?’. Until recently we didn't know what was going on.  Now we do.  Now the indifference is guilty.... 

The cry

 

The situation is so serious on a global scale, so complex, that it gives the impression that it is not possible to redress the current bleak situations: war conflicts that remain unresolved in the midst of extreme poverty; immigration in intolerable conditions, while we are perplexed by the very costly preparation of trips to space and other planets instead of for the better knowledge and care of the Earth. The proposals of the 1960s (UNESCO, "Man and the Biosphere"; Club of Rome, "The Limits to Growth") were, as was later the case with the two Earth Summits (1992, Rio de Janeiro, and 2002, Johannesburg), completely ignored. Economic interests have continued to prevail and it is particularly regrettable that in the conclusions of the COP meetings on the environment, general agreements are announced... but "non-binding". What a disgrace!

On some infrequent occasions, attempts have been made to substitute force for words: Wilson in 1919, creating the League of Nations; Roosevelt, in 1945, establishing the United Nations and promoting the Declaration of Human Rights; Obama, at the end of 2015, signing with vision and courage the Paris Agreements on Climate Change and the Resolution "to transform the world" of the 2030 Agenda....

But then, as has been the case for centuries, the force of arms prevailed over mediation and ceasefire. "Si vis pacem para bellum” has been the invariable response of the great powers. The time has now come, given the situation we are facing, to replace bellum with verbum, the weapons of war with words, with diplomacy.

It is essential to recall here President Eisenhower's courageous speech when, on handing over the presidency of the United States in January 1961 to John Fitzgerald Kennedy, he had the courage to state that in the United States power is not in the hands of the president, but in the hands of the "war industrial complex"!

It is therefore very important and urgent to convey to the public the need to act without delay, given the potential irreversibility of certain processes. The word "irreversible" should be one of the main reasons for reflection in this respect.

Added to all this is the intolerable risk of the possession of nuclear warheads, which were reduced at the Reykjavik meeting between Donald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in October 1986 from 17,000 each to 6,000. When this number was reached, President Reagan cited "global security reasons" for not pursuing, as was desirable, total elimination. Clearly, the war-industrial complex remained, and so we continue. Shortly afterwards, Reagan created the G6 (G7...) which still represents plutocratic and supremacist global governance.

Alongside such dangerous prospects, there remained and remains today the immense capacity of the conscious citizenry to bring about the transition to a new era through scientifically sound action.

It is imperative to act not only with a strong will, but without further delay, to stop the genocide of some and the infanticide of others, as well as terrorism. The time has come to regard remembrance as a duty and silence as an act of unacceptable irresponsibility.

As if these challenges and problems were not enough, it is now necessary to add the challenge posed by so-called "artificial" intelligence, so that instead of favouring human creativity so that the invention of a desirable future can prevail and take root, dehumanisation is taking place.

It is clear that there is now an urgent need for a citizenry that is fully aware of reality and of the possibilities of intervention on a global scale, no longer spectators of what is happening, but actors in the new destiny.

Now, at last, "We the peoples",

to make possible the urgent transition from the present governance to democratic multilateralism, without veto. Roosevelt's design of the United Nations, adopted in San Francisco in 1945, is perfect... but it was immediately disabled by the veto of the five victors of the Second World War. The European Union, which opened doors of hope for a democratic system, was also collapsed by the absurd condition of "unanimity".

The UN Charter stated in its first sentence that "We the peoples" are to spare our descendants the horror of war... It was a great challenge and a great hope. Now we have to recognise that it could not be implemented because of the veto, as I have already indicated, but also because "peoples" did not exist until a few decades ago. Most human beings were born, lived and died within a few square kilometres and could not express themselves. But in recent decades, we have recognised our equal dignity and are now able to express ourselves freely.

Today, and I insist on this because it is very important, "the peoples" now exist and can participate. Now, yes, the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is beginning to become a reality. Now, yes, "We the peoples" can demand a model of democratic governance on a global scale, with a new concept of security (human security, led by the President of the World Academy of Arts and Science, Garry Jacobs). Numerous institutions (Other News, Roberto Savio; World Peace Forum, José Félix Benz; Impulsa Talentum, Brú Recolons;...) are already joining together in a large global network to mobilise a conscious citizenry in favour of a new era with enlightened horizons.

In addition to the aforementioned governance actions, an immediate ceasefire must be put into effect in the current open conflicts, putting an immediate end to the sacrifice of the civilian population, especially children. The elimination of nuclear warheads and the promotion of nuclear fusion as an energy source is another issue that needs to be addressed resolutely. The regulation of large fortunes and of migrants and refugees is another issue that must be addressed globally without delay.

In the light of the very serious social situation that characterises the world today, the many endless wars, the climate emergency... it is essential to reach a great global pact for the proper redirection of current trends.

It is necessary to promote prevention, both of diseases and of very serious situations of social justice, and to eliminate those anachronistic aspects that still exist today, such as the application of the death penalty.

This is the 75th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights. Its implementation is essential for the implementation of the agreements that "We the peoples" must reach without delay. The first article of the Universal Declaration ends by saying that we must be united in brotherhood. Yes: only fraternity could lead, at this time, to a solution on a global scale, to a new era. A great global network of academic, scientific and artistic institutions could make itself heard. And the force of reason would finally prevail over the reason of force.

Published Other News

Pressing global problems, global responses without delay

 

Now, already urgent, as the Charter of the United Nations begins, "We the peoples... have resolved to save succeeding generations...".

To this end, it is necessary to resolutely and far-sightedly rethink the actions —a duty of memory— that could redirect present trends and provide fully effective forms of governance on a global scale in the Anthropocene. It is therefore imperative to remove the veto in the United Nations (78 years without being able to implement the Charter) and in the European Union (disabled by the unanimity requirement). Andrea Rizzi published on Tuesday 10 October in El País a very interesting and timely article entitled "An explosive front in a world sinking into global disorder".

Only if democratic multilateralism allowed the European Union to take decisions without the absurd requirement of unanimity (the antithesis of democracy), could very rapid and scientifically based global action be taken on the environment, citizenship education and awareness, culture of peace and non-violence, care for the most needy, migrants and refugees, drug traffickers... which would prevent the current decline.

Europe was the hope for safeguarding democratic multilateralism, for strengthening capacities for global understanding and action. It is clear that the historic and urgent moment for action has arrived. Further delay could increase the risk of irreversible processes. It would be the resounding failure of humanity, endowed with distinctive faculties that allow it, properly used, to create, invent, solve, in the fascinating context of the universe.

In recent decades, the good news has been that discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, belief, ideology... is gradually disappearing and equal dignity and the ability to express oneself freely is being established thanks to digital technology. Despite the insurmountable limits of progressive irreversibility, there is still time. Young people must be the main protagonists of the changes that must be undertaken without delay.

The immense ressources made available today to the plutocratic and supremacist governance of the G7 must be transferred to an efficient democratic multilateralism to transform the world as a whole. The adoption of a Universal Declaration of Democracy can be the turning point towards the new era. It is the conscious citizenry that must, with solid knowledge of the cause, lead the transition from the governance of merchants to that of equal human beings in dignity.

Pope Francis himself, in his recent apostolic exhortation on the climate crisis (4 October 2023) proposes "Reconfiguring multilateralism. Action must be taken with the commitment of all".

Artificial intelligence must always be guided by natural intelligence. Progressive dehumanisation would be nonsense. Every human being able to rebel, to argue, to imagine new paths and bridges, our hope. Neuromorphic chips must be used to the extent that they can favour the expansion of knowledge, and not detract one iota from the distinctive faculties of the human species.

Any reflection undermined by ideological or sectarian impositions must be quickly countered by knowledge and wisdom. The migration crisis, the climate emergency and the digital transformation are essential points that must be addressed quickly and with knowledge for new political and ethical guidelines. An example of real solutions to the climate emergence is nuclear fusion, an inexhaustible source of energy without waste.

Now it is the voice of scientists, intellectuals, philosophers, writers..., of the generations threatened by the overflowing economic and military power that must be raised and heard. President Eisenhower himself highlighted the supreme power of the "war-industrial complex" in the United States.  Now is the time for democracy, for the force of reason, for mediation... to be established on a global scale in order to move from plutocracy and supremacism to the new era.

Now a culture —i.e. everyday behavior— of peace and the invention of new directions. It cannot be postponed: the very habitability of the Earth is in danger.

I insist, the various current armed conflicts, the climate emergency, the digital transformation, social inclusion... these are the major issues that must finally be tackled on a global scale. And there is only one way forward: to finally make it possible for "We, the peoples" to assume the responsibilities that have not been exercised for so many years. A large global coalition of universities and institutions of art and science could be the mobilising voice for a conscious citizenship.

Prevention must become the supreme objective of the new governance. We are currently proposing a very concrete and urgent example for national and international consideration: to prevent the development of pathological alterations that cause serious and irreversible neurological deterioration in newborns, so that, as a human right, the actions to be taken are placed at the level of the State.

We must all work together to ensure that citizens are not impassive spectators of what is happening, but very active participants in the actions that must be taken to address global problems that in some cases have already reached —despite the many warnings of the scientific community and the "Earth Summits", always ignored by the G7— the limits of no return: "We the peoples", united in a global Network of universities, artistic and scientific institutions, will act swiftly and wisely to address, before it is too late, the present threats to humanity as a whole. Territorial security must henceforth include human security (food, drinking water, health, education and environment) and give priority, at all levels, to the effective implementation, on its 75th anniversary, of the Declaration of Human Rights.

Let everyone reflect on the unacceptable irresponsibility we would be incurring if we do not react firmly to redirect current trends. Let us not forget: the people now have a voice.  Let us try to ensure that they do not have to resort to shouting.

Global emergency situation: urgent action is imperative

The global situation has reached an unprecedented and pressing level of complexity, and the current trends that need to be urgently addressed are greater in number and magnitude than in the past. With a world population of 8 billion human beings, the solutions applied so far to provide adequate food, efficient health services, quality education for all and, above all, "humane treatment" for all, have progressively shown their wear and tear and their inadequacy... The outlook is very bleak if we continue to think that "no one can fix this" and we are spectators of what is happening instead of actors fully involved in discovering and inventing solutions.

Yes: for the first time in history, the human species is progressively recognised as equal in dignity, whatever its gender, ethnicity, ideology, beliefs, sexual sensitivity, etc., and, moreover, it is able to express itself freely thanks to digital technology. Citizens, aware of global threats, particularly those that are potentially irreversible, can now act in favour of effective multilateralism on a planetary scale, can now fulfil their urgent intergenerational duties, can now ensure the preservation of the habitability of the Earth, can now exchange force for words...

For all this it is necessary to know, to remember and to act. Duty of memory... Crime of silence..., I have written it many times and I repeat it now. To invent the future and overcome inertia, it is imperative that "We, the peoples..." dare to know and know how to dare. If we remain spectators, impassive, distracted, abducted by social networks and "artificial" intelligence, we will not be able to "change course and ship" as Professor José Luis Sampedro advocated.

Now we can. We must act now, thinking of the generations to come. Otherwise, we would deserve that terrible sentence of Albert Camus, which I often quote: "I despise them because they dared so little when they could do so much".

Otto Schermer, in his recent splendid article "Protecting the flame", showed that we now, at last, have well-established guidelines and benchmarks, such as the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs to guide our daily behaviour. "We need to know what is happening, to respond creatively.... and to mobilise collectively", he writes. Know... and do! Science, conscience and the full use of the distinctive faculties of the human species...

As I have commented on other occasions, it is urgent to change confrontation for mediation and dialogue. Moving from "para bellum" to "para verbum" implies intergenerational alliances and alliances with the media to make the democratisation of multilateralism possible, starting with the United Nations System - adopting a Universal Declaration of Democracy, with the elimination of the five disqualifying vetoes since its very creation - and continuing with the European Union, incapable of deciding since it fell - or was pushed - into the trap of "unanimity".

Science and conscience for the benefit of the human species, ensuring that political decisions will in the future have the scientific basis that is essential to carry out the radical transformations demanded by the current situation on a planetary scale. As José Manuel Morán, Vice-President of the Spanish Chapter of the Club of Rome, underlined, "it is not only a question of being very clear about what should be done, but also about how".

I have already noted that one of the great challenges that must be addressed without delay is that of migration on a global scale. From 1 January this year to 9 March, 4 500 migrants have arrived on British shores alone. All human beings are equal in dignity and deserve equal treatment. It is a real disgrace, I never tire of repeating, that every day 4 billion dollars are spent on arms and military expenditure, while thousands of people die of hunger, extreme poverty and brutal uprooting... thousands of people die. The solution lies in a global pact on migration and the extension of the UN Convention on the Rights of Refugees. We must once and for all put an end to raised and armed hands and make open and outstretched ones proliferate. Now, in addition to territorial security, there is also human security, the security of the human beings who live in such well-protected territories.

It is particularly urgent to ensure that the Mare Nostrum ceases to be an unfortunate necropolis for so many immigrants, instead of agreeing - as the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have recently done - to place several nuclear submarines in the Pacific Ocean, each of which costs around 3.5 billion dollars...

It is necessary to take advantage of the extraordinary development of digital technology, but to ensure that robotisation never exceeds its limits and produces a very dangerous dehumanisation, especially when it comes to making decisions that must always make maximum use of the fantastic and hopeful faculties that distinguish the human species. It is a matter of improving the quality of life and productive capacity, with a conscious and responsible citizenship, and the fundamental pillar is, and always will be, full freedom, transforming data into knowledge and knowledge into wisdom.

Now, at last - and this is our hope - we can finally put into practice the first sentence of the United Nations Charter: "We the peoples ... have resolved to save succeeding generations from the horror of war". Until recently, "the peoples" did not exist... and male power was absolute. Now, at last, we recognise ourselves as equals and can express ourselves freely. Now we can stop being spectators of what is happening and participate now, without delay, in moving from a culture of confrontation, imposition, domination and war, to a culture of encounter, dialogue, mediation and peace, so that all conflicts, active or latent, are resolved by word and not by force.

There is an urgent need to replace plutocratic and supremacist G-group governance with democratic governance. The first step is to achieve a European Union without the blanket veto of "unanimity" and a renewed and fully multilateral United Nations. On the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we must activate great popular clamour for its validity and widespread respect while resolutely implementing the Climate Change Agreements and the 2030 Agenda. "The windows to ensure a sustainable future are closing", the United Nations has just announced... and "We, the peoples" continue to ignore the pressing appeals about the very habitability of the Earth..., we continue to postpone our essential duties concerning the future of our children and descendants... Social networks and the media keep us obedient, silent, distracted... while "the windows are closing"!

The visible irruption of the university students could initiate this process. "The silence of the intellectuals": this is the title of the excellent article by Boaventura de Sousa Santos in Other News on 28 February, which lucidly warns us about the attitude to adopt.

The duty to remember. "Let us remember in order to continue to make a better life possible", added Oscar Arias (Dec.2022)... "The lessons of our history, with the experiences they have taught us, show us that peace is achieved neither by weapons nor by war, neither by death nor by hatred, neither by forgetting nor by indifference... Peace is achieved by placing the human being at the centre of our concerns. Peace is achieved by defending life. Peace is achieved by investing in our peoples and not in our armies; by exchanging ideas and not bombs; by preserving forests and not prejudices. Peace is achieved by changing the culture of war to a culture of peace in our societies.

Now we know. Now we can. Now we must!

Europe can no longer remain a self-absorbed spectator

 

Now, "we the peoples” can. Now, we must.

Now, when, at last, we all recognise each other's equal dignity, a fundamental pillar of human rights, and can express ourselves freely thanks to digital technology, we can, at last, actively participate in favour of democratic multilateralism;

we are now, at last, aware of global threats on a world scale, some of them potentially irreversible, which call for an urgent redirection of current trends;

now, at last, we could get involved in global governance in order to change, as Professor José Luis Sampedro said, "course and ship";

now, at last, the awareness of human talent and its capacity to invent the future allows us to react with hope in order to shed light on the horizons that are so bleak today...

Now also, as it was done in 1945 with the United Nations by the veto of the five victorious countries of the Second World War... it is the European Union, the most important entity on a global scale, which has been disqualified from decision-making by the requirement of unanimity, which amounts to a veto of all the States that make it up! What nonsense! The most qualitatively relevant organisation on Earth, skilfully removed from global governance...

when nuclear fusion appears on the scientific horizon as the great solution for the unlimited production of energy without pollutants;

when the insane possession of nuclear warheads that could end the sublime mystery of life appears with particular forcefulness;

when the habitability of the Earth is deteriorating due to climate change, with plutocratic governance having ignored all the proposals that have been made, some as important as those of the "Earth Summits" (Rio de Janeiro 1992 and Johannesburg 2002), and the Resolution "to transform the world" (United Nations, 2015) on the 2030 Agenda...

when 8 billion human beings —each unique human being, capable of creating, our hope— should be the only socio-economic point of reference...

We must mobilise, conscious of our collective responsibility, and promote the takeover of the G7, G8... and the immediate adoption of a Universal Declaration of Democracy... while ruthlessly eliminating tax havens and regulating the consumption and trafficking of illegal drugs...

For the first time in history, we are in a position to invent the future of humanity's prodigy, with the collaboration of the experience of the elders and the verve of the youngest, to illuminate with special care the paths of tomorrow.

This great mobilisation in favour of a culture of peace could save "succeeding generations" —in the words of the United Nations Charter— many mistakes, many horrors...

Looking ahead with hope

                                                                                               Teacher, help me look ahead!”

Eduardo Galeano (a pupil who saw the sea for the first time).

We are living in times of great confusion, which instead of clearing things, rather cast a shadow over them; times of accelerated revision, dehumanization, confrontation and violence... Times of artifice and oblivion, of fear and disregard for the huge human capacity... The COVID-19 pandemic has been followed by great natural catastrophes and ecological modifications, some of which have an irreversible nature... And straightforward wars have been added to the “hidden” ones; the social gap on a global scale has become even greater, and thousands of migrants are constantly claiming, while moving and living in unacceptable human conditions, that the global governance takes care of them, in full compliance with the essential principle of equal dignity.

 
The neoliberal plutocracy, aided by multiple tax heavens, has replaced political guidelines by merchandising; and justice, which was the cornerstone of coexistence and supportive progress, has lost its essential independence in favour of ideological links - "conservative" or "progressive" - which are radically intolerable....
 
And as happened with the veto of the five victors of the Second World War in the case of United Nations, an organisation that was deprived since the beginning from the possibility to take any decision, it is now the European Union, due to the absurd request of unanimity — which is the antithesis of democracy— who may not play the essential role it should be playing, thus leaving the world as a whole in the hands of the reason of force of unsuitable “democracies” … The current “global disorder” (title of the Dossier from the Spanish journal La Vanguardia from January to March 2023) requires the unpostponable construction, - that could not be imagined up to now, of a  new multilateral democratic system. The adoption of a great Universal Declaration of Democracy could become the big global reference enabling this crucial renewal of global governance.
 
José Enrique de Ayala has recently dealt with great success with these issues (“La crisis geopolítica de un mundo multipolar”) in La Gaceta Sindical from December 2022, where Francisco Aldecoa deals with the urgent need to go further in the construction of a European federal project.
 
We human beings “are” not in the world, but “are” rather the world, stresses Emilio Lledó in his excellent chapter entitled “Education for democracy” from his book Identity and friendship (Taurus 2022): “The human look” -writes the author- “is simultaneously a vision and an interpretation.  A vision that may understand what it sees (...). The possibility to understand has to feed itself continuously with freedom and light (…).The light of words is what creates the universe of what is human”… I will repeat here two concepts that are essential for a new beginning: the duty of memory and the crime of silence. Yes: now “We, the peoples”  can finally put into practice the third paragraph of the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ”compelled to rebellion”. A general mobilization for a democratic multilateralism that requires —as indicated by Roberto Savio and Giuliano Rizzi (OtherNews, 13 October 2022)— “re-establishing a compass to identify the new paths of change”. Pressing changes in order to put into practice, at last, the first sentence of the Charter of the United Nations: “We, the peoples are determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”.
 
Until a few decades ago, “We, the peoples” did not exist. Under the absolute masculine power, 90% of the citizenry was born, lived and died in a few square kilometres. They only knew what happened in their immediate environment. And they were fearful, obedient, silent, muted. Whereas now “the peoples” can at last take action, if we succeed in making them abandon the inertia of being impassive spectators to become diligent makers of the future we long for. Now, at last, with a conscious citizenry, capable of reacting, knowing that hope lies in human creativity, the boundless faculty of each of us to design his own future. Desperate migrants will continue to pour in, at the risk of their own lives, as long as a few ones continue to cling to a speculative economic system with huge military investments, a productive relocation to the East - anything goes, regardless of working conditions - and managerial and innovative relocation to the West, which favours only 20% of humanity and widens social rifts. There is enough place for everyone and we are all equal in dignity. The big challenge for the future we dream with is to share more equally. And to do so we only need to take a look at the world in general to be able to understand what we fear comparatively. It is only when we “see” the world that we suddenly feel we are brothers and sisters (as established, by the way, in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). The solution is development.  With a big global sustainable development plan, the right conditions for habitability and progress would be created, allowing immigration to become a freely taken decision that would benefit everyone.
 
“Democratic” Europe, Europe of the human rights -described in year 2000 in one of its most precise and precious “Charters”-, while “developed” and prosperous Europe... is looking elsewhere. Europe of the markets has forgotten “democratic principles” which were so lucidly written in the UNESCO Constitution at the end of the Second World War. 
 
The most relevant lesson of the global crisis produced by the coronavirus is that knowledge is the essential pillar of the new era. In just a few years deep changes of a very different nature have occurred that should now allow us -if we remain tied to memories and do not accept, once again, that a few ones distract and intimidate the many ones- to reach the following great objectives: the equal dignity of all human beings whatever their gender, ethnicity, ideology, beliefs, etc.; the participation of the citizenry at a national (real democracy) and international scale (democratic multilateralism) to fully exercise a governance excluding the plutocratic artifices (G7, G8, G20) of neoliberalism and ensuring a fine intergenerational legacy; the popular mobilization in presence and in the cyberspace because, for the first time in history, everybody has the capacity to express and communicate themselves thanks to digital technology; set up without delay a new concept of security to deal not only with territorial conflicts but also with natural or provoked catastrophes; a new concept of work, that will liberate humanity of many tasks that do not require the use of its distinctive faculties, always with the machine at its service and never the other way round; education during the whole life - not to be confused with training - developing personal autonomy, reflexive and creative faculties...; The implementation of the 2030 Agenda (Sustainable Development Goals) cannot be postponed, taking into account the indisputable priority of potentially irreversible processes...
 
In an article about artificial intelligence (“El País”, Ideas, 8.3.20 20), José María Lasalle wrote the following: “We are about to penetrate in a scenario where the negative externalities that AI may unleash - if not developed within an appropriate regulatory framework - can lead to dystopia, exclusion and inequality... The European Commission approved on 19 February 2020 a White Paper on AI that outlines an ethically based AI... which must be human-centred. The aim of this proposal is to try to improve democracy and the market without giving up the responsible autonomy of citizens and consumers..."
 
Environmental regulation and the implementation of the objectives of peace with the Earth and on Earth can already be glimpsed. It is now possible for “the peoples” to accomplish the mission that was entrusted to them by the United Nations on 1945. It is in the creative capacity that our collective hope lies because, for the first time in history, human beings, equal in dignity, may freely express themselves thanks to digital technology. This is why it is so urgent that as many people as possible become aware that the future is finally in their hands...  And that they must overcome the temptation to "let themselves go", to be abducted by irrelevance and irresponsibility. The first article of UNESCO Constitution defines the “educated” as those who “are free and responsible”. The moment has come for liberty, the supreme gift and responsibility, starting by always taking into account the next generations.      
 
A new beginning is imperative in which, aware of the big challenges we have ahead, but also of the reasons for hope, we can raise big popular clamours that shall eliminate the plutocratic governance and contribute to a diligent democratic multilateralism.
 
Educated within liberty and responsibility, the future must be cleared out by virtue of the distinctive faculties of the human species: reflecting, imagining, anticipating, innovating, creating!, excluding forever force and money from the government institutions.
 
With the leadership of intellectual, scientific and cultural communities, represented by people who have reached a great notoriety, and by those who have a great knowledge and public recognition (I am thinking of Leo Messi and Joan Manuel Serrat...) we would be able to gather many followers, especially young people who will allow the transition from force to a culture of peace and non violence, from irrelevant and easily manageable multitudes to people who “direct their own lives”, according to the wise definition of Francisco Giner de los Ríos in reference to the objective of the educational process: to educate sowers of solidarity, capable of sharing, of living together, of going out of their way for others.
We must remember today in the first place the war in Ukraine but also other wars (such as mentioned by Andrea Rizzi, José Naranjo and Antonio Pita in El País of 21/12/2022 in their article “The war in Ukraine is terrible. Also these other wars”) where most of the information is modulated by big oligopolies, in order to put into practice the great mission “We, the peoples”, a formula that was premature in 1945 but has now become possible. And this is a big hope, which has recently become sounder with other good news: first of all, the energy of nuclear fusion which - contrary to what is happening with nuclear fission - leaves no radioactive residues and is an inexhaustible source of energy. Although the ITER project was languishing since many years, now finally the US Department of Energy (National Ignition Facility) has succeeded, with laser energy of 3 million degrees Celsius, in transforming hydrogen into helium plus neutrons.
 
Now it is possible to comply with the ecological requirements of 8 billion people who may - thanks to democratic multilateralism without vetoes - successfully steer the common destiny.
 
At last “the peoples”, the genuine democracy, at the helm of the ship Earth!... to keep away the plutocratic groups from the global governance and be able to face unacceptable ravings, such as that of the tycoon Elon Musk, who has announced that "in six months he will put a chip in the human brain". “We, the peoples” shall not consent to dehumanization, the loss of freedom and creativity, which are the two big pillars of the human species. Critical moments are approaching... but also great opportunities for change that cannot be postponed... for a new beginning.

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.