Cadmus

Abstract

Replacing the United Nations system and large international institutions with plutocratic groups (G-7, G-8, G-20) and universal principles with the laws of the market has led to multiple crises that require immediate reaction to prevent them from becoming irreversible.

Neoliberalism has placed military, energy, economic and media power in the hands of a very few (the “great domain”). The markets – for the most part undeservedly “rescued” – are now harassing political leaders, making democracies progressively more vulnerable and even appointing governments without elections (including in Greece, the cradle!).

For the first time in history we have the means for mobilizing people and involving citizens in local and global government, which enables us to affirm that we are living in fascinating times in which radical changes are now feasible.

The possible solutions – that may render many of today’s impossibilities as realities of tomorrow – must inevitably be based on equal dignity for all human beings and on social justice. Placing ethical and democratic values at the forefront of public and private activities so that social justice rather than the markets manages the economy at all levels will enable us in a few years to rectify our present misguided direction and get back on course.

The “refounding” of the United Nations is one of the most important and urgent means of rectifying the present trends, to endow humanity with the required guidance, coordination and justice systems.

The reforms at the UN for global governance and actions to be urgently undertaken are presented. Access to food, water, health services, education and environment care is essential for the historical transition from a culture of imposition and violence to a culture of conciliation and peace. From force to word.

1.1 It is impossible to continue sticking to old conventions as we have done until now
As is to be expected, replacing the United Nations system and large international institutions with groups of plutocrats (G-7, G-8, G-20) and universal principles with the laws of the market has led to multiple crises that require immediate action to prevent them from be­com­ing irreversible:

• Food crisis
• Climate crisis
• Social crisis
• Financial crisis

Neoliberalism has placed military, energy, economic and media power in the hands of a very few (the “great domain”). The markets, undeservedly “rescued” for the most part, are now harassing political leaders, making democracies progressively more vulnerable.

1.2 We are now at a Turning Point
Although the majority of political decision-making is still in the hands of men, for the first time in history the percentage of women in decision-making positions has increased; gender equality is advancing and civil society is becoming aware of its power, heralding a rapid transition from subjects to citizens which will prompt transformations that were previously unthinkable.

1.3 The Crucial Role of Communications
Communication has increased globally and despite the huge amount of biased and partisan information emanating from the media, there are still audiovisual and print media that provide reliable and independent news. Noteworthy among them is the emergence of Al Jazeera in the Arab world, which has prompted the dissemination of information and dia­logue among other cultures and countries that until recently were virtually isolated.

But in that regard the most important change (to the extent that it will shortly prompt not only an epoch of change but also a change of epoch) is the “new beginning” proclaimed in the Earth Charter, which, thanks to cyberspace and new communications technology, will be facilitated by distant participation and will have an extraordinary impact in shaping the other possible world that humanity longs for and deserves.

2.1 The Current Great Challenges

• Attempts at world governance by the “G groups”.¹
• An economy based on greed, speculation and outsourcing of production. The result of neoliberalism, in which the market has replaced values, has been catastrophic for mankind as a whole: social inequality has increased; multinationals have not only received economic power from nation-states but political responsibility as well, which is very troubling; and the lack of regulatory and sanctioning mechanisms to address supranational transgressions promotes sinister trafficking in weapons, drugs, people, patents and capital with total impunity… The existence of tax havens is likewise one of the greatest challenges for “normalization”, which is required on a global scale.
• Immense military spending (4,000 million dollars daily) with the aggravating circumstance that the majority consists of outdated military hardware appropriate for past wars, which is useless in present-day conflicts.
• Exploitation instead of international cooperation, frequently implemented through huge consortia that blur the political responsibilities of governments and open wounds that are very difficult to heal in co-existence on an international scale.
• Untenable social inequality. Only 17% of mankind lives in the world’s “wealthy neighborhood”, the rest being distributed in progressive levels of hardship, with over 1 billion people living in conditions below poverty line. In that regard, food security² undoubtedly deserves special attention.
• Undue delays in courts, mechanisms, and legal institutions in charge of enforcing International law, resulting in numerous delinquents and offenders who act with total impunity.

The majority of these challenges began in 1989 or have increased ever since – the end of the “Cold War” – when expectations of global understanding, particularly through actions coordinated by a United Nations system duly endowed with the necessary personal, technical and financial resources, could have responded to the hope generated by the bloodless fall of the Soviet Union, the elimination of racial apartheid in South Africa and the successful conclusion of several peace processes (in El Salvador, Mozambique, Guatemala etc.).

owever, in just two decades, neoliberal “globalization” has prompted multiple (social, economic, food, environmental, democratic, ethical…) crises in which we are presently immersed; but for the first time in history we have the means for mobilizing people and involving citizens in local and global government, which enables us to affirm that we are living in fascinating times in which radical changes are now feasible.

3.1 Possible Solutions
…“to face great challenges it is necessary to surpass the limits of what is possible”.
Dilma Rousseff, Brasilia, January 1, 2011

The possible solutions – that may render many of today’s impossibilities as realities of tomorrow – must inevitably be based on equal dignity for all human beings and on social justice. Placing ethical and democratic values at the forefront of public and private activities, so that social justice, rather than the market, manages the economy at all levels, will enable us in a few years to rectify our present misguided direction and to get back on course.

• The “refounding” of the United Nations is one of the most important and urgent means of rectifying our present course, to endow humanity with the required guidance, coordination and justice systems. A transition from the current plutocracy to the “democracy” that the United Nations represents – certainly including within its scope the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for Reconstruction and Development, as well as the World Trade Organization (deliberately placed in the early 1990s outside of the System’s institutions), which along with a General Assembly with representation from member nations, international institutions and civil society – would provide the broad framework for governance and the international reference that the world needs. This multilateral framework must rapidly be adopted, if necessary through an immense mobilization of citizens, so that the power unduly ceded to the 20, 8, 7, 6… 2… 1 most wealthy countries of the world may cease. A diverse world urgently requires a plural system of governance, which must immediately be endowed with all the necessary resources.³

It is certainly true that the UN cannot be replaced by G groups that lack the institutional framework to enable them to implement any decisions taken.⁴

With all of the appropriate weighting of votes, but without veto rights, there would be three councils:

• Security Council
• Social and Economic Council
• Environmental Council

Together with BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China), other regional associations would be promoted: in addition to the United States (with Canada) and the European Union, in a few years, UNASUR in Latin America, the African Union, Central Asian and Southeast Asian organizations would become well established to facilitate world governance and the rapid formation of great alliances in the aforementioned areas, to avoid conflict to the maximum extent possible.

The capacity for foresight that must be present, especially in this type of systems, would likewise facilitate adoption of preventive measures and the means for reducing the impact of natural catastrophes.

In addition, the International Court of Justice and its associate legal institutions must be afforded greater efficiency to ensure strict enforcement of international law.

In that regard, over the years the United Nations has issued a series of essential document guides that, if implemented, would resolve many of the problems addressed.

In addition to the “classic” documents (United Nations Charter, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Agenda 21, Commitments for Social Development, Declaration and Action Plan for a Culture of Peace), I would like to mention other more recent ones that could free us from the latest “pitfalls” of neoliberal globalization, such as the Declaration of the Latin American and Caribbean Unity Summit and the Cancun Declaration (on the international financial crisis; trade; energy; science and technology; social programs and the eradication of hunger and poverty; food and nutritional solidarity; education, health and public services, migration, gender; sustainable development, climate change; natural disasters; human rights; the global drug problem; terrorism …).⁵ In that regard the Cancun Declaration addresses practically all of the great challenges of our times… The problem is that the market still dictates the guidelines for politicians’ conduct. But as I have already indicated, this undoubtedly won’t last much longer.

Regarding Spain, an excellent report entitled “Global Change for Spain 2020/2050 – Energy, Economy and Society”⁶ was recently published.

1. Carrillo Salcedo and Juan Antonio in “Las formaciones G en las relaciones internacionales contemporáneas. Entre el poder y la legitimidad: dos modelos para la gobernabilidad mundial”, November 23, 2010, Real Academia de Ciencias Políticas y Morales
2. Federico Mayor, Tiempo de acción (Granada: University of Granada, 2008)
3. Mario Soares, “Los grandes desafíos de nuestro tiempo,” Other News, 15th April 2008
4. Federico Mayor Blogs “Naciones Unidas, sí. G-8, no; G-7 à G-8 à G-13 à Gà 20 … à¡G-192!”; “Inermes frente a las catástrofes”; “¿El mundo tiene arreglo?”; “Alianza contra la pobreza”; “¡Peligro!: no hay tiempo para pensar; ¡La incontenible marea del ciber espacio ha comenzado!”; “Precio del petróleo y de los alimentos… ¿volvemos a las andadas?”
5. “Declaration of Cancun,” Cuadernos Americanos 2, no. 132 (2010): 184-208
6. Cambio global España 2020/2050. Energía, Economía y Sociedad (Madrid: Centro Complutense de Estudios e Información Medioambiental, 2011)

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