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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

United for the sake of peace and democratic multilateralism!

Published in Other News (Spanish)

When the vessel is sinking

suddenly -said Leonardo Da Vinci- there are no poor and rich, no young and old, no white and black on board... only a bunch of passengers toiling, working together to survive, to avoid a shipwreck.

This is the advice we should convey today through all media so that the “peoples” become aware of the situation humanity is facing for the first time in history. In recent years a series of global threats have been recognized as potentially irreversible processes that need to be confronted and dealt with on time before it is too late.

The climate change has become an undeniable truth. The Arctic Ocean has nearly disappeared and the Antarctic is starting to crack. We have not succeeded in our effort to reduce the emissions of “greenhouse” gases... and the habitability of Earth is experiencing a consistent deterioration. The implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) -wisely established by the United Nations Assembly in October 2015 “to transform our world”- has not been carried out because it is not efficiently supported by big countries... and citizens are under the pressure of the gigantic media power that makes them confused and turns them into impassive spectators instead of responsible actors.

Neoliberalism -stubbornly lead by the United States Republican Party- has weakened the nation-State and has replaced the democratic multilateralism of United Nations by the governance of a few plutocratic oligarchic groups (G6, G7, G8, G20) responsible for the current drift that has placed GDP and international trade in the forefront... together with President Trump’s discretionary power which no one dares to confront.

The most disturbing consequence is the way supremacism, racism, fanaticism, dogmatism are sprouting everywhere... without anyone seeming to recall what happened in 1933 and 1939... The vast majority of citizens are stunned and obsessed supporters of football teams, and are only worried with their immediate past and their present life; their demands -which are mainly based on the mistakes made by those who have ruled on one side and another- would be reasonable in less pressing situations, but they do not realize that today young and future generations are the only ones who deserve our attention if we want to keep the world afloat and bequeath these generations a dignified life.

Despite the fact that there is reason to dream with and fight for new ways of governance, that we are about to conquer at last what always seemed an impossible quest, the only true thing is that the time has come to join our hands and voices, instead of breaking up; the time has come for an efficient multilateralism with a planetary scale authority; the time for genuine democracy... Because otherwise devastation will be the irremediable consequence.

The time has come for mass media to convey accurate information about the Earth’s sustainability and to alert the world, and to keep away from ill-meaning commercial and political news that urge them to do the opposite.

The time has come for major financial corporations to become aware that it is their historical responsibility, in no-return situations, to promote and encourage awareness instead of favouring confusion and overacting.

For peoples -”We, the peoples”, as we were so wisely referred to at the beginning of the Charter of the United Nations- to take control, now that we are aware of what is going on and we can freely express ourselves, now that we have become men and women, of our common destiny.

The vessel is sinking because we have not paid attention to any of the recommendations made during the last decades. As in Leonardo’s tale, it is now essential and urgent for all of us to react, because we are all concerned, and otherwise we will not succeed in our intent of keeping safe in all its fullness the mystery of human existence. “Everything is still possible… but who will do it if not all of us?” said Miquel Martí i Pol.

I am quoting once again, because reading them was a crucial experience for me, the lines of José Ángel Valente’s poem “On the present time”:

“I am writing from a wrecked vessel,

I am writing about the latitude of pain,

about everything we have destroyed

above all within ourselves...

I am writing in the midst of the night,

in the midst of the roar of the hungry and the dead.

with the perspective of a hand that becomes a gloomy fist

...with the eyes of infinitely dead children,

...with the pain of a tree with wounded roots...

But I also write in the midst of life,

with its powerful cry

...with the voice of the suffering crowd...

I am writing, my brother, about a time to come”.

Let’s find inspiration in Leonardo Da Vinci, Miquel Martí i Pol and José Ángel Valente, and let’s abandon all hostile attitudes against an adequate and peaceful navigation. In the new age what will prevail will not be the power of force but rather the power of reason, not weapons but words, not herd instinct but the capacity of each human being to create, to think and to take his own decisions.

If we manage to keep the ship afloat, with all passengers, humanity will have the opportunity to usher in a new era.

From force to words

From mere subjects to citizens. From spectators to protagonists who participate and who commit themselves daily to achieving the great transition from a secular culture of imposition, violence and war to a culture of dialogue, conciliation, alliance and peace.

These are the fundamental elements that make this radical change possible: a knowledge of reality on a worldwide scale, which enables us to make comparisons –one of the principal bases of ethics- to appreciate what we have and to understand our shortfalls and those of others; the increasing percentage of women participating in decision-making processes (presently less than 7%, in a society in which men are still predominately in power); and for the first time in history, the capacity for distance participation, thanks to modern communications technologies (SMS, Internet).

There are no longer any excuses for remaining silent. The time for silence is over. Citizen power, used wisely, can now express itself freely and without passively accepting the unacceptable.

From force to words.

Paraphrasing Kundera, from the unbearable lightness of many of the present democracies to democracies in which citizen participation is far-reaching and constant.

From the plutocracy of G7, G8, G20… to efficient multilateralism, with a worldwide re-founding of the United Nations.

In most cases the diagnosis has already been made. It is now time for action.

It is time to restore social justice and Human Rights to their place at the center of economic policy from which they were erroneously displaced by the laws of the market, with the tragic results reflected in the present financial, environmental, nutritional, democratic and ethical crises.

It is time for an urgent transition from a war economy (3 billion dollars spent daily, while 60,000 human being die from hunger) to a sustainable global economy (renewable energy, food, water, health, and housing).

In summary, we cannot miss this opportunity to embark on a new beginning.