Global
Responsibility
-
New Orientation in Culture and Politics -
Reflections
on what it Means to be Human
by
Wolfgang Fischer
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Plea
for a Civilisation in Accordance with Nature that is not
Based on Money and Violence.
Environmental
crisis and war, economic and political crime, the global
expansion of multinational corporations, the impoverishment
of ever more sections of society, regression to religious
interpretations reminiscent of the Middle Ages - all these
characteristics of the present do not bode well for our
future. The spreading of misinformation by the political and
economic establishment reveals a
lack of respect for the sovereignty of the
people.
The widespread political tendency to favour 'inherent
necessities' before the finding of fair solutions, the
general denial of the effects of our way of life upon the
environment as well as the vigorous defence of the status
quo against any new ideas hinder the evolution of peaceful
coexistence among humans.
Will
we fall victim to these developments or are there
alternatives?
Is there any hope left for us?
If
we ever want to solve the problems presently endangering all
life on earth we need to reflect with an open mind upon some
so far unanswered questions as well as present abuses and
grievances. The unbiased recognition of the features common
to all life will inspire us to personally stand up and take
action to promote the establishment of universal justice.
This can then serve as a yardstick by which social systems
and ideologies can be measured.
THREE
THESES:
1.
A precondition for the development of a profound
understanding of life and the world around us is freedom
of thought, open communication and comprehensive
information unfettered by dogma or ideology. Individual
responsibility develops on the basis of a high degree of
understanding which is increasing through lifelong
experience and continuous learning. Competition serves
only to increase mutual tolerance within the eco-systems
and societies of our planet. Solidarity is conducive to
increasing personal motivation and happiness whilst
dissolving addictions and anxieties. An unbiased view of
the world will become a powerful motivator for political
action for the benefit of the entire planet. The mature
human spirit will create the material and emotional
preconditions for universal prosperity and peace. The
truth will set us free.
2.
Where there is an awareness of earth being the common
basis of us all, social disparities dissolve. The joint
utilisation and preservation of the global resources of
energy and commodities will foster the development of a
global society. By preserving ecological contexts the
surplus yields will be used for the benefit of
disadvantaged areas. Global resources and knowledge will
serve humanity to realize a sustainable
society.
3.
Social justice of social systems as well as economic
systems and industries which are compatible with the
principles of ecology are prerequisites for survival on
earth.
Reflection
The
earth, its oceans and continents, landscapes, rivers and
lakes, plants, animals and human beings, all these are
integral parts of the large-scale energy flow and
life-system of the biosphere. All things represent a natural
loan, a borrowed infrastructure of global life which needs
to be taken care of. All parts exist interdependently, each
being indispensable for the functioning of the
whole.
The
present constitutes the basis for the future. The young
generation builds upon what's been left behind by the
preceding one. Faulty developments - often wrongly believed
to be 'progress' - as well as achievements, together with
all their consequences, accompany us throughout history.
Hence, each generation bears a large responsibility for the
succeeding one. We each are responsible, not only for
ourselves, but for all others as well, and not least of all
for that 'loan item' given into our care: Nature.
Evolutionary
processes expanding the life of unicellular organisms,
plants, animals and humans beings have been going on for
more than three billion years. They are paralleled by
corresponding changes in the environment. Life and our
environment are interrelated and affect each other in a
process of dynamic adaptation. The interrelated nature of
their respective development is evident.
Everything
in nature, from the cyclical, chemical, molecula processes
and the DNA of our genes up to the galactic movements in the
universe, is governed by identical laws. The Cause of all
movement within the universe uses feedback processes
(principle of response = responsibility) to develop
forms of organisation that are closely interrelated whilst
at the same time linked to their common origin (re-ligio).
The
complex and differentiating universality of life is based
upon so-called spontaneous orders arising through resonance
phenomena within the life-system. Selforganisation, higher
grades of order and increasing complexity of life happen
against the premises of death caused by the physical law of
entropy. A synchronised connection of all forces with the
energy source of sunlight (synergy of the 'powers of light')
is the basis for the evolution of life on earth in towards
ever greater differentiation (principle of direction =
justice). Through the principles of continuously
developing justice and responsibility all life is
interconnected within an ecological context. This means that
our future depends on universal justice, full responsibility
and harmonisation with the experienced laws of
life.
Orientation
In
its blind illusion of universal feasibility and smug
arrogance as a consequence of its piecemeal scientific
discoveries, 'civilized' humanity has increasingly lost
sight of these truths. Motivated primarily by financial or
material concerns, it has largely lost any appreciation of
the whole and hence failed to develop any sense of its own
responsibility - its own role as an integral part of the
biosphere. And not having recognised its own life-sustaining
function within the universal scheme of things, it has to
this day been unable to assume this task. In its spiritual
immaturity it denies its own responsibility for self-created
threats, submitting, at the cost of the intactness of Life,
to 'necessities' that are the result of its own
actions.
Its
activities not being subject to genetically determined
limitations, humanity has, for some 25 million years, been
engaged in a physical and spiritual maturation process which
has still not been completed.
Darwin's
concept of the 'right of the fittest' fails to do justice to
Life as it is evolving.
The
point of the process of becoming human is the development of
a truly human society and culture which, acting wisely,
retains its tradition for the future. To achieve this, we
need to overcome the patriarchal principle of domination and
violence that has been dominant for centuries and we need to
replace it by the principle of solidarity and to accept our
responsibility as humanity. Only then will our cultural
evolution run parallel to, and confirm rather than destroy,
the genetical one.
As
long as humans, unimaginative and spiritually inflexible,
keep pursuing their 'happiness' in blind disregard of the
given truths and exigencies of life, they are a danger to
themselves as well as to others.
The
self-centred acquisition and use of possessions violates the
principle of wholeness and jeopardises social unity; and the
same applies to the use of scientific findings for personal
economic gain or to the advantage of an elitist group.
Wherever the gain of one is the loss of another, the result
will be a counterproductive development to the detriment of
society and the environment.
Greed
for power or possessions makes blind and insensitive. Those
who are exclusively pursuing the interest of a financially
powerful minority or a rigid ideology become unable to
respond freely and without prejudice to potential threats or
disturbances.
The
maintaining of private property requires laws and
instruments of power (=legitimised force) to protect it.
This applies to individual as well as national and
intellectual property. Stating this fact is of course not to
dispute the individual's rights to their own home, savings
account or copyright; nonetheless we must bear in mind that
in every case private property (lat. privare - to rob) is
wrenched from the totality of nature and thus lacking in the
system as a whole (1).
Where
no vital necessities are involved, this has grave
consequences. The free development of natural evolution is
disturbed. The result is a deficit, a debt - the splitting
of life, which then serves as an energy source powering
substitutional compensation processes. The corresponding
split thinking in terms of opposites felt to be
contradictory (man-woman, mine- yours, familiar-alien,
good-evil) gives rise to a discriminating potential that is
in direct opposition to life.
The
process of integration and maturing as a human being
requires coming to terms with one's own
contradictions.
It
is therefore high time for us to query our ideas concerning
the meaning and purpose of life and to liberate our minds
from the fetters of authoritarian belief systems. It is high
time for us to clarify our attitude towards life, including
the body in particular. When corporeality and sexuality are
experienced in a satisfying and natural way, the result will
be feelings of total acceptance of life. Those who love
respect their environment and will strive to keep it intact.
They are no longer so easily manipulated, nor readily
subservient to the powers that be. On the other hand, an
attitude that rejects the body, and thereby life, becomes a
fertile ground for inferiority complexes and, by way of
compensation, lust for power and greed.
A
society thus marked by oppressive authoritarian power
structures exhibits an increasing potential for disease,
social problems and growing ecological imbalance.
The
conflict between adjustment processes within nature and the
misuse of possessions in a way obstructing fair distribution
and further development is detrimental to evolutionary
growth.
As
I pointed out before: the jealous protection of property and
knowledge results in a polarisation which destroys
wholeness. The free flow of information is disturbed, which
must create tension between property and power on the one
hand and the quality of life on the other.
One
person's property may easily conflict with that of another.
By way of example, take on the one hand, the production of
'anti-cancer drugs', and then, the airport security measures
as well as the arms industry as a whole. The discovery of
the causes of cancer and its elimination would threaten the
multi-billion dollar market of the pharmacy giants in the
same way as the drying out of the terrorist swamp through
the institution of global social justice would render the
trade in armaments and the 'security market' quite obsolete.
Although these days legal agreements seek to regulate the
use of property, we must not overlook the close
interrelationship between power, its executive and the
property owners. The legislative must realise that today the
most dangerous conflict no longer concerns just the
interests of individual persons, groups, nations, or global
corporations. It is the human intellect who, as yet quite
unawares, has created an area of tension between human order
and natural perfection in paradisical unity and intactness
(primary, authentical and creative order =
cosmos).
The
term 'intactness', though, here refers to the ideal, since
in fact of course everything on earth is exposed to cosmic
influence like earthquakes or extra-terrestial catastrophes.
However my concern here are man-made threats. We need
to realise that everything is at stake: the survival of all
higher life-forms on this earth.
In
western civilization and its offsprings human property and
the power structures designed to protect it have become more
important than life. As a result, animal life remains
deprived of all rights and is being exterminated, without
this raising concern with most people, although their own
life, too, is already in jeopardy.
Yet
the massacre is crying out for termination. The faulty
developments of our social systems require correction. The
biosphere must be granted its own, formally safeguarded
legal protection. Living creatures cannot be wilfully turned
into property or divided up into possessions, for parts of
Nature and environment cannot be arbitrarily multiplied
according to the requirements of business. They only
multiply according to the requirements of Life.
Correspondingly,
human orders and systems should be constructed so as to be
able to reflect Life's goals.
In
our social and political organisations, responsibility as
well as reverence for life and the principles safeguarding
life need to be assigned the highest priority. The world
needs to be released from all man-made nationalistic,
economic and ideological limitations and impediments so as
to maintain a healthy and truly humane dimension of life.
In
terms of its usefulness for the biosphere, 'civilized'
humanity, whose social orders exploit rather than preserve
or enrich the existing contexts and energy flows, scores
very poorly. From an ecological perspective, the behaviour
of animals and plants seems much more intelligent. Even a
raven mother in the successful teaching of social behaviour
to her offspring may be an example to human parents who have
become estranged from nature.
The
alarming state of the ecological and social equilibrium on
the planet is proof that the ways of thinking and teaching
in the leading nations are gravely deficient. An education
which deprives young people of their sensitivity and
spiritual openness in favour of the ideology of their
society leads to mental rigidity, and this life-denying
attitude is reflected in a significant increase in physical
ailments.
Recent
findings in the field of psychoneuro-immunology show the
influence of mental concepts on the condition of the body.
We find that the individual constitution can be conditioned
as a matter of principle.
The
thought systems of the powerful minority world not only lack
a vision encompassing the global whole but are also
deficient in knowledge concerning healthy behaviour in
personal matters. Their creed of "progress above all",
fixated exclusively on material growth and the increase of
possessions, prevents a clear perception of the laws and
inherent connections governing life on earth. Our
industrialized and capitalized way of living obstructs the
process of increasing awareness assigned to us by nature. In
their greed for domination many of the leading nations
behave like rebellious students who refuse to study the
subject on the curriculum (Life) and, constructing a
substitute world of their own, abuse their teachers
(Nature), causing havoc in their classroom (the
environment). In this respect, an aggressively destructive
"no future" generation accurately reflects our degenerated
social reality.
The
natural development process should enable us to transform
our as yet largely destructive life potential into a general
potential for preserving life - a potential which, rather
than destroying the environment, is geared to ensuring the
survival of humanity and nature. A creative potential which
will spawn ideas concerning ways of organising global
society accordingly. Many pre-colonial peoples, sacrificed
on the altar of "progress" in the interest of power and
profit, had already developed such forms of
organisation.
Today,
by taking into consideration most simple facts, well known
since ages by indigenous people constantly in contact with
nature, we need to ensure the safeguarding of the basic
requirements for well-being and health all over the world.
This must begin with reflecting what these basic
requirements are. The use of drinking water to flush
toilets, nuclear power for luxury appliances or vehicles
guzzling unlimited quantities of petrol can clearly not
serve as a general standard, even less so since the
affluence on one side of the world must cause shortage for
those on the shadow side.
Material
security in itself is no guarantee of satisfaction and inner
harmony, as shown by the alcoholism and drug addiction
rampant in the consumerist industrialised nations. The
addictive craving for pleasure or power indicates a lack of
emotional security - escape into a world of substitutes at
the price of fear. Our societies are experiencing a sense of
futility and a crisis of values that drastically show up the
inadequacy of the structures and notions developed over the
years - and thereby the urgency of changing society into one
committed to social security and ecological sustainability.
Precondition
for the emotional security of individuals as well as nations
is a general recognition that everyone is entitled to a fair
and Nature protecting share of the earth's commodities. The
ruling classes must cease using their positions of power for
robbing those who are poor and defenceless. The purpose of a
"New World Order" cannot be to stabilise the economies of
industrialised nations. Globalization as a mere
agglomeration for the protection of the powers of capital
and industry (see MAI, the "Multilateral Agreement for
Investments") has proven to be an attempt at nipping in the
bud any potential resistance to certain ecologically and
socially dubious practices as applied globally by the
interests of finance. This clearly shows up the disregard of
globalization for the sovereignty of nations. Under the
guise of "progress and democratic freedom" entire national
constitutions, together with their inbuilt social and
ecological safeguards, are being repealed in favour of a
"right to profit" claimed by corporate investors.
However,
if we understand globalization as a growing together of the
nations through faster and freer communication, fostering
increased mutual understanding by actually getting to know
each other, then this may lead to worldwide solidarity.
Through joint efforts life on earth may then be transformed
in the direction of more humaneness and fairness and greater
environmental compatibility.
Development
aid can then foster a healthy material development as well
as the free expansion of an awareness by all "children of
the global family" that acknowledges the right to life of
all humans, creatures and regions.
Only
on the basis of free personal development without dogmatic
restraints can a universal morality take shape. A mature,
psychologically healthy individual will be intimately
connected with all forms of life on earth and aware of the
common basis of all living things.
In
order to support this awareness, religions and political
ideologies must give up antiquated dogmas which are still
creating much confusion and conflict. The true value of a
religion shows itself in its acceptance of new, fitting
responses that will cause our thinking to be in better
correspondence with truth. Killing - whether humans or any
other creatures - in the name of an imagined God or
"progress" is no longer acceptable. Only authentical
thinking that takes due account of life itself can spawn
purposive action that will change our world.
The
quality of our life is dependent upon the quality of our
thinking. As we think today, so we shall live tomorrow.
Hence the quality of our thinking requires our full
attention. If logic and reason carry too much weight in our
thinking, they will displace our playful imagination and
thereby creativity. There is hardly any space left on the
drawing boards of the calculating planners for the bird of
paradise, the sea horse or even the tropical rain
forest.
Yet
the diversity of species has not come about through rational
compulsion, but through the principle of self-supportive
freedom (= creative chaos). Such a state is
characterised by tolerance and sensitivity - attributes that
we preach but to this day fail to live up to, and which we
therefore urgently need to realise. Only when we are
prepared in a self-responsible and creative way to strive
for a common future of all living beings on earth - only
then can an unerring human instinct develop from the various
faulty ideologies.
A
non-violent climate of spiritual freedom is conducive to
global peace, generating motivation on the side of those who
are helping, and work on the other side. The vision of a
fair life within a global family having equal rights, of
jointly celebrating, working and enjoying together, is an
effective remedy against the fearful thinking in terms of
competition which today still marks our political
motivations. We need to change our ways of dealing with the
disadvantaged nations as well as with foreign workers. There
must be an end to the exploitation of those who are
dependent. It is time we stopped denying our own
responsibility for people seeking our help who are coming
from countries whose social misery is the cause of our
affluence. Instead of regarding the problems we are
confronted with as an irritating burden caused by others, we
should accept them as a challenge offering the chance to
effect real change. Through being prepared to face problems
squarely with a view to finding a fair solution, we shall
gain strength as well as authority.
This
authority carries with it the moral responsibility to point
out injustices occurring in neighbouring countries as well
as faults in the practice of our own judicial system. Human
rights violations and damage to the environment incurred
merely in the hope of low wages and high profits are simply
unacceptable. The result is ecological disaster and social
misery, indicated by the flow of refugees and asylum-seekers
all over the world. And instead of being prepared to share
our affluence with them, we consider them as outlaws and
seek to deport them!
All
these manifestations of global injustice and lack of love
will end once we focus our awareness on what we have in
common, on life and survival. Then also will we come to
understand that, in order to safeguard the right to exist of
people, animals and landscapes, we need to preserve the
natural regulatory cycles on earth. Regulatory cycles of the
atmosphere, of drinking water, of food chains, of sowing and
reaping. Such regulatory cycles are active even in the
social sphere, in our economies and bureaucracies. They are
characterised by inner causal connections and evolutionary
laws which serve to assign a just meaning and purpose to all
that happens. Wherever we deviate from this purpose of life
- either from ignorance or because of corruptly refusing to
acknowledge certain connections already perceived -, we'll
have to pay a high price in the form of crime, terrorism or
natural disasters.
As
yet our recognition of those simple and inevitable feedback
mechanisms of Nature (actio=reactio) has been limited
by certain concepts about God and the world which lead us to
regard the possibility of absolute justice as a utopian
fantasy. Much rather we would believe in certain Gods
passing judgment and sons of God redeeming us whom we have
linked with governmental authority and pressed into our
service - Gods we are making use of to spread fear and
threats whilst pursuing our dubious unfair practices under
their cloak.
Whereas
originally any surplus produced by ancient societies was
kept as seed for the next year, it was later used to
maintain a caste of priests and civil servants. Today it is
serving to support the giants in banking and industry. The
increase in surplus value has been gained at the cost of
fair distribution. With the principle of money earning
interest, Mammon was invested with a power that is
threatening life today everywhere: exponential capital
increase on the winner side of the financial speculators -
gigantic destruction of money and material on the side of
the losers among those involved in the countless economic
wars.
The
increasing failure of our monetary systems and economic
orders clearly throws up the question of what is wrong with
our policies. If we are to find a meaningful answer, we
should first be willing to admit that it is a potentially
deadly mistake to subordinate Life to dead values and
sacrifice it to financial interests. The funds for
environmental protection and social justice will continue to
be inadequate for only as long as vast sums are being
misused as investments in power politics (e.g. for military
purposes), nuclear energy or interest payments, thus
becoming unavailable for meaningful purposes. It is to be
hoped that we will be prompted by loving insight to become
ready to change, radically questioning and giving up
familiar ways of thinking and acting, before destructive
catastrophes will force us into doing so. For Life, if we
continue to attack it, is surely going to turn against us.
In
the hectic bustle of our industrialised world we have
totally lost the radiant happiness and inner peace still
exuded by many of the poorest in the underprivileged
countries. Driven by a growing inner emptiness, we are
rushing through life constantly haunted by a feeling of
missing out on something. The lies concerning life, which
have proliferated in a society solely geared to performance
and profit, are causing a loss of honesty and alienation
from our own nature. Love for life is being suffocated by
conflicts of interests, as we've experienced with
environmental legislation, with laws regulating the food
industry or with the criminal reality of our secret
services. It may be true that the result of our hectic way
of living is material affluence and the illusion of
security, yet our senses are numbed, chronic illnesses
abound and our environment is dying. Is this kind of
civilisation really worth us pledging our lives to it?
Our
politicians could stop supporting global death by protecting
special interests, could put an end to the increase in
destruction and its fusing into an uncontrollable giant.
Today's biblical dragons bear the names of multinational
corporations and banks, whilst the present-day mythological
monsters are the secret service institutions serving the
political structures that depend on them.
We
might overcome our destructive way of living by openly
questioning the ruling ideologies and belief systems.
Non-violent, hence fearless communication will enable us to
heed our feelings and confidently to listen to our inner
voice. In so doing, we will trustingly gain access to a
world not based on causal connections, a world where new
things may happen at random: to the sphere of ideas and
solutions.
As
we become aware of our own responsibility we cease to hold
fate responsible, thus becoming free to fulfil what is our
task within the framework of evolution: to serve
Life.
Adopting
the slogan "Wealth through economic growth" as a basis for
political action, we have been sacrificing life on our earth
and the creative powers of humanity for the sake of a "free
market economy" - one that is in truth free only to serve
specific interests. Here lies a limit set to us by Nature.
The life of countries and nations is dependent upon the
ideas and his own initiative of their people. It is true
that, since our lack of orientation still admits all
possibilities of destruction, a certain amount of control is
required to realise these ideas. Up until now such control
has been exercised solely with a view to supporting a
certain group or specific commercial or ideological
interests.
Today
however it has become evident that a superpower's right to
veto decisions representing the interests of a majority is
unjust, and that we need to develop a form of control that
is conducive to the functioning whole. The controlling of
people's ideas and initiatives is acceptable only where it
leads to a sound functioning of the natural and social
environment in its totality.
The
living context on this planet begins in the local and
communal sphere and ends in the dimensions of the
atmosphere. The concept of the nation state represents an
immature interim product of man's social development which
we have forcibly imposed upon entire continents. In the
reality of life on earth there are no nation-state borders:
nature does not adhere to such constructs of man's
incomplete development. Instead, the biosphere knows of real
boundaries: boundaries set by life itself - e.g. in
the lives of the Indians, of trees, fishes etc. - which in
the interest of power and profit we have so far completely
ignored.
Although
the effects of this neglect are becoming ever more apparent,
we remain self-righteously entrenched behind the boundaries
of our thought systems and ideologies. If we want to
survive, we must stop this and dare to step forward. We must
learn to own up to our mistakes and face the consequences.
Through the formation of private lies in an attitude of
stubborn defiance and prejudice, our private emotions, fears
and misconceptions do have a huge effect upon certain
decisions which in turn produce results in the sphere of
socio-politics. Hence it is most important to openly
confront and talk about our fears and insecurities.
Frankness
and openly expressed feelings create closeness and trust.
Therefore, too, politicians, journalists and other prominent
figures affecting public opinion ought to always speak
truthfully in public. For only through courageously dealing
with truth in responsible dialogue can we save the
foundations of all life on earth from being totally
destroyed.
Christian
politicians, too, share responsibility for the development
of such injustice. Like the Church in Rome, which claims to
be the guardian of the message of redemption and shepherd of
mankind, the clergy of other religions as well have been
supporting the structures of suppression, and thereby death
for a large spectrum of life. Notwithstanding the severe
problems we are facing globally, programmes and notions that
aggravate these very same problems are still being adhered
to. In view of all the misery, the poverty and the ensuing
trail of death they entail, the arrogance, stupidity and
lack of humane sensibility on the part of those responsible,
are quite incomprehensible.
Subservient
to the domination and profit motive, technological
perfection must lead to spiritual emptiness. However, if we
focus our attention on the principle of honesty and global
cooperation based on emotional security, people's creativity
will be able to develop naturally in a way conducive to
public welfare. The greed engine will be stalled and the
ride into the dead-end alley of substitute pleasures come to
an end. Meaningful development "in the service of the whole
of society" will be the outcome. This kind of development
regulates itself according to the requirements of Life. In
contrast to destructive technological progress development
in this sphere will slow down to a healthy degree, thus
enabling the development of metaphysical insight to keep
pace.
A
parallel development of material world and human
understanding will result in cultural development. Such a
development is aware of the boundaries of living space and
will remain within the system of the biosphere that is
designated for life. This realisation is conducive to inner
orientation and sovereignty. A meditative integration of
calculating reason and sensitivity can now take place, which
will enrich us emotionally: we are gaining understanding and
losing our fear, feeling secure. Thus we are no longer able
to be manipulated, but attaining an autonomy supportive of
the Whole. Spreading peace and love, our individual lives
become meaningful to life on our planet.
As
soon as human society starts to focus on reality of life, it
will be able to promote the standards of peace and
tolerance. The development in the realm of the material,
spiritual and essential runs parallel and coherent, keeping
our awareness attached to the true quality of life without
which we are lost. The culture of the future again will be a
culture of healing with a love for life, or else there will
be none.
This
idea corresponds to the views of many religions concerning
our goal. The goal is indeed Paradise, a nest of love -
however, set in the Here and Now. That's what is new and old
at the same time, as we all derive from there. Once we
comprehend that the biblical 'beyond' is nothing but the
present waiting for us, to be politically realised by
ourselves, the human psyche can develop a spiritual
framework for action conducive to life. Any metaphysical or
pseudo-religious embellishments of traditional frameworks
will then come to a natural demise. We'll obtain a truly
human orientation which will put an end to the creation of
benefits for the few to the detriment of others.
Intellectuals
might then begin, apart from pointing out current flaws and
grievances, also to clarify historical lies and errors of
the past, specifically keeping in view the religious leaders
(not only in Rome), so as to clean up the trail of death
left by intolerance. Past political mistakes as well as
religious errors are still affecting us today. Latin
America, Africa, India and many other countries are still
being adversely affected by developments imposed upon them
by European colonisers.
Still
not really having come to terms with our history, we are
suffering from the effects of unclear religious ideas and
future perspectives. This applies to the Christian, the
Jewish and the Islamic world, as well as the Eastern world -
we are all suffering from our non-compliance with the
requirements of nature due to fanatical schisms and
self-righteous overestimation.
We
are suffering from a lack of trust in the power of
pluralistic dialogue. We are suffering from the negative
effects of suppressed human history. We are mutually
suffering under one another because, in spite of all
religions, we
lack a common orientation that would be conducive to
peace.
Things
are simpler for plants and animals whose instinctive
behaviour patterns are genetically determined and have
socially developed. Thus for us, too, the golden key to a
hopeful future lies in a process of maturation of humanity -
leading to a comprehensive awareness of responsibility along
with general patterns of behaviour that are supportive of
life rather than destroying it. Worry about our personal
security and affluence needs to give way to trust, in the
certainty that each of us has a contribution to make to the
further development of life.
Our
ways of relating, both on a personal level and in the field
of international politics, will then be imbued by a new a
spirit of healing. Open and honest communication will create
a culture of supportive togetherness on all levels of being.
Together we'll learn from the mistakes of the past. Weapons
as a political instrument will be laid to rest, alongside
the intimidatory trappings of power, in the graveyard of
history.
In
future, war will no longer be an acceptable method of
conflict resolution. The media will contribute through
courageously disclosing the motivation of opposing sides
whilst the individual will be personally involved by
scrutinising the issue of the conflict. Power-political
interests will no longer gain any kind of support: all those
forces who failed to learn the lessons of history and are
continuing to subscribe to the principle of domination
through violence will be treated as pariahs and subjected to
political isolation and economic sanctions by the
international community. Nonetheless the concerns of each
party to the conflict should be taken seriously and our
hands held out with the offer of support so that without
resorting to violence a bridge to peaceful coexistence can
be constructed. A decision for peace is being made among
enemies who will become friends. International peacehelpers
will replace military forces to solve conflicts in a
peaceful way.
The
sowing of violence, naively considered 'harmless' as
portrayed in children's comics, computer games and other
entertainment media must also come to an end; only then can
an atmosphere of mutual respect and reverence for life be
created in which we'll learn how to stave off the
threatening global disaster. By making available the capital
today still earmarked for military purposes or frozen in
countless dormant bank accounts, we shall obtain the means
to redress the current social problems and environmental
damage.
The
infrastructural potential of our armies can be meaningfully
utilized in the fields of health, transport and
communication in the as yet disadvantaged countries. The
problem of hunger can be solved by giving up animal
production - absurd as it is in terms of energy use alone -
in favour of an agriculture in harmony with natural
conditions. If we use the food provided by nature without
industrially refining and chemically polluting it, we'll
gain twofold: through a decline in the number of civilized
ailments and by having enough to feed all.
Through
giving up our fixation on profit maximisation we'll be able
to achieve a clearer view of the consequences of our
actions. We'll put an end to the waste of WoMan Power,
material and energy also in the area of the virtual
battlefield of the stock market. We'll accept the integrity
of genetic information as it developed in the course of
evolution and will thus be very careful and restrictive in
the field of human manipulation of genetic structures. We'll
regain our potential for averting the growing danger of
self-destruction.
One
of the marks of culturally mature populations is a life
lived in the awareness of responsibility. People who are
physically and spiritually satisfied will be immune to
irresponsible advertising designed to coax them into
increasing consumption of all kinds of merchandise. If
demand is not artificially stirred up, the existing
resources will also benefit future generations.
Clean
industries will use production systems and processing
principles in accordance with nature, thereby ensuring an
effective and unpolluting circulation of energy and material
resources. Utilizing the natural power sources of sun, wind
and water, we will be copying proven laws of life as
provided by Nature. Imitating life we will recognise that
the centuries-old search for a perpetuum mobile has not been
in vain. Not being the inventors of life we can never lay
legal claims to patent rights, but as participants in life
and in Nature we are surely allowed continuous use of what
they provide.
Due
to its inherent dynamics and organisation, life on earth
represents a miracle which, when allowed to move without
restraint, is able to augment the degree of order on our
planet to the benefit of us all. Pursuing a policy of
ecological compatibility and social justice, man-made
systems, too, can work in a way conducive to a minimisation
of entropy - i.e. so as to preserve rather than destroy. In
this way our work will contribute to the maintainance of the
world as the haven of peace, embedded in ever nourishing
Nature.
We'll
transform our dreams and longings into ideals concerning
life which we will then formulate as political objectives -
thus laying the groundwork for an equitable social system, a
compatible economy and a culture unfettered by ideology or
religious dogma. So as in the interest of survival to adapt
the constitutions and legal foundations of all nations ever
better to the requirements of global unity, we'll subject
them to ongoing adjustment processes. To the extent to which
compassion for the global life community becomes the focus
of our awareness, the working of a unified humanity in
synergy with Nature will be regarded a matter of course and
accelerate the re-organisation of the international
regulatory systems.
The
current processes of social change evident all over the
world offer new opportunities of coping with existing
problems. Yet certain social excesses can be healed only
through the creation of a climate of therapy.
Every
individual can contribute to this by assuming a conscious
behaviour based on a willingness to learn. We need to
develop an unbiased social awareness so as to be able to
recognise reactionary, domination-serving trends in the
organs of government and the churches, and to put an end to
them through dissident behaviour, i.e. withdrawing our
personal support. Only in this way can we protect ourselves
from certain counter-evolutionary obstructions and their
"fateful" consequences which keep raising their ugly head.
An
active spiritual sharing in the personal sphere and
courageous commitment to the social and ecological goals
will lead to the sensitivity and flexibility of our social
institutions that are prerequisite to meeting the challenges
of the future. It is my hope that a continuing discussion of
the causal connections and theses here presented may prepare
the groundwork for fora whose statements will serve as
pointers to an evolutionary future.
1) Privatization serving without alternative as an
alleged general remedy of neoliberalism is more than a
deception of the public. Privatized common properties do not
fall into private hands within democratically controlled
areas of jurisdiction in favour of public welfare. On the
contrary, they enrich global corporations, which factually
write their own law and which use their monopoly for further
plunder of the planet. Neoliberalism is nothing but a global
raid of those in power who indisputably try to expropriate
life itself. Neoliberalism reveals by commercial reasoning
and acting the apocalyptic character of a world order where
violence, hypocrisy and cynicism flourish: alternative
solutions are being negated or ridiculed and even
criminalized when the desired effects fail to appear.
Actually without alternative are the results of neoliberal
policy: environmental destruction, perpetuated terror and
war and further social decline on a global scale.
here
is more on the subject: http://emanzipationhumanum.de/english/titels.html#1
(german
version)
(spanish
version)
-
Belen Balanya, Ann Doherty, Olivier Hoedeman, Adam Ma' anit
& Erik Wesselius, EUROPE INC: Regional & Global
Restructuring and the Rise of Corporate Power. London,
Pluto Press, 2000
- Veronika Bennholdt-Thomsen, Nick Faraclas und Claudia von
Werlhof (Hg), There is an Alternative. Subsistence and
worldwide Resistance to Corporate Globalization, London,
zed press, 2001
- Saral Sarkar, Eco-Socialism or Eco-Capitalism? A
critical analysis of humanity's fundamental choices, Zed
Books, London 1999
see
also: Globalization
And Responsibility,
Alexander N. Yakovlev
Emanzipation Humanum,
version 02. 01, criticism, suggestions as to form and
content, dialogue, translation into other languages are all
desired
http://emanzipationhumanum.de/english/responsibility.html
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