Change of era

By Federico Mayor Zaragoza*
In my book “La nueva página” (The New Page), published in 1994, I started the chapter on “Culture of War and Culture of Peace” as follows: “A new page in the history of mankind is being written, especially concerning the relationship between our species and the planet Earth.  We are building a new vision of the temporal rhythm of history, because there has been a swift sequence of political, social, cultural and environmental facts that have changed the perception of ourselves as individuals and as members of the community, something that represents a challenge to our capacity to manage worldwide trends”.

At that time yet, the great majority of human beings were born, lived and died in a few square kilometres, and they knew nothing about what was going on beyond their immediate environment. Placed under the dominance of male absolute power since the dawn of time, they were fearful, obedient, silent…  to such an extent that in the Preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights mention is made to the fact that if those rights are fully exercised they “will free humanity from fear”. On the other hand women only had an elusive and mimetic presence on the power scenarios. In the last three decades -owing largely to the digital technology- human beings have both become aware of what is happening at a worldwide scale and capable of freely expressing themselves, and it is only now that the first sentence of the Charter of the United Nations, created in 1945, has acquired its true meaning:  “We, the peoples…”, because everybody is aware today of the equal dignity of all human beings who are -as established in UNESCO Constitution (1945)- the essential pillar on which all other human rights stand. Equal dignity for everybody, irrespective of our gender, beliefs, culture, race… All equal without any discrimination or exclusion.
At last in only a few years women have managed to be in the forefront; at last “We, the peoples” have a voice of our own and the capacity to take control of our own destiny; at last, people are what matters, when it has become more pressing than ever to redirect erroneous trends and do it fast because, in the anthropocene, we must deal with potentially irreversible processes. There can be no delay, because our legacy for future generations cannot be a deteriorated habitability of the Earth, lack of solidarity, indifference.
It’s time for action.  We can neither accept to continue to be distracted, impassive spectators, blinded by totally unimportant issues, nor that the reason is replaced by emotion thanks to the huge power of the mass media.
These are some of the most important issues to be taken into account in the new era:
Mass media are particularly influential and it is of the utmost importance to put an end to the overabundance of fake news spread by journals, audiovisual an internet media that have sadly become “his master’s voice”. He who pays the piper calls the tune. Since we’re bewildered by too many news about almost everything, we tend to forget the news that we should really pay attention to. The “markets” overwhelm us with unverified one-sided and/or irrelevant news.
We must respond firmly, being aware that the reason of force will only be replaced by the force of reason if we have a clear idea of which are the unique capacities of human beings: thinking, imagining, foreseeing, innovating… creating! Every human being capable of creating, of orientating his own life in a meaningful way, there lies our hope.
In his introduction to the book mentioned above, the great scientist Ilya Prigogine says that “Since many centuries ago our world is divided in independent states which have been pursuing their own interests with every mean at hand, including war. However, the philosopher Immanuel Kant and the American President Woodrow Wilson already conceived in the past the idea that this situation could be modified through the foundation of international organizations. These should contribute to replace war by negotiation based on mutual understanding”.
Democratic Multilateralism and providing UN with all requested personnel, financial, technical and defence resources are both indispensable to be able to shed some light on current bleak horizons and to allow the transition from force to word, from the era of absolute power to a genuinely democratic era.
The need to have at hand an Organization with great prestige and globally respected is currently evidenced by what is happening in Iran, Nicaragua, Syria, Libya,… and by the neoliberal drift in big countries in South America… Governance cannot be entrusted to a few oligarchic and plutocratic groups such as the G6, G7, G8, G20 who have not only proved to be totally inefficient but have also led humanity to a situation where the quality of life itself in the planet is at risk, and where there are new and extremely dangerous outbreaks of xenophobic fanaticism, supremacism, racism… which clearly prove that the adequate lessons have not been drawn from the facts that led to the two great wars of the XXth century.
It is essential to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which actually represents a new vision of the world. The directives it contains for a new era are aimed at “Transforming our World”, this being the title of the important Resolution approved by the General Assembly on 21 October 2015. The first paragraph reads as follows: “We recognize that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions is the greatest global challenge that the world is facing today and an indispensable requirement”…
It is of the utmost importance for young people to understand the wonder represented by something as incredible as human life. All human beings different, but equal.  Isolationism is not an option when joint action is more essential than ever.  “There is no challenge that is beyond the reach of the creative capacity inherent to humankind” said President John F. Kennedy in 1963.  The time has come -before it is too late- to invent the future.
The time yet to come is still to be made, and -in the face of processes with no return- a new world must be built without delay. We must change our civilization and ways of life, but  always preserve the ethical principles which according to the Constitution of UNESCO should “guide humanity”. The “peoples” now have a voice and they can play the leading role in a genuine democracy (justice, liberty, equality and solidarity) that shall expel forever from the power scenarios imposition, absolutism and “kleptocracy” according to the appropriate expression used by Moises Naim.
One of the most pressing actions that should be taken in the anthropocene and urbanocene -I must insist on this- is to promote a new concept of security, that takes into account not only territorial security but also human security, resorting to mediation and negotiation to solve conflicts. Food, health, environment, educational security… aimed at ensuring that the standard of living of individuals who live in those areas and within those protected borders is maintained.
The conspicuous lack of solidarity, which against all expectations is becoming profusely expanded in Europe, must be overcome without delay, and assistance must be provided to immigrants and refugees who come to our coasts not to indulge themselves but rather to survive because development aids have been radically reduced, and people cannot live under minimally acceptable standards in their own countries. When the threat is to starve from hunger, the wealthier should understand that they have to open their hands, also in their own interest, instead of “closing it dark” as mentioned by José Ángel Valente in one of his poems.
Pope Francis himself said some months ago at the end of the Tenebrae, bearing in mind with deep sadness immigrants and refugees, “la vergogna di aver perso la vergogna”. We do need a general mobilization so that a change of era can happen on time, once the requested actions have been taken with both wisdom and determination. “Sapere aude”… but then we must know how to dare, so we can get involved, commit ourselves, to put into practice the most pressing solutions regarding climate change, nuclear weapons and extreme poverty.
This mobilization -whose aim is a rapid evolution- must be led by the academic, scientific and artistic communities, who are aware of the fact that the alternative to an adequate evolution is revolution, something that should be avoided because it implies violence.
We have at our disposal great directives -the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, the 2030 Agenda…- and also great models, some still on active service, but all alive in our memory, such as Edgar Morin (complexity), Stephane Hessel and José Luis Sampledro (involvement), Paulo Freire (global citizenship and education which should not be confused with vocational training, such as knowledge is not to be confused with information.. nor information with news!).
Education for a social change, for a critical, responsible and active citizenship, capable of sharing and coexisting, of actively participating in the context of a new era.
In a paper entitled “The military-industrial complex strikes again” (Othernews, 29/06/2018) details are given about the production costs of the undetectable bomber B-2SPIRIT: 2,100 million dollars! This is why the first step that must be taken to enable a change of era -while ensuring that human beings will not be deprived of any of their self-esteem, liberty and capacity for action- is to reduce the huge military and armament expenses, in such a way as to make it possible -without any prejudice to an efficient defence- to financially meet the needs of a dignified life in a fully habitable planet.
In conclusion, the new era will not wait until mankind is ready to face global threats. It is up to humanity to anticipate events and act accordingly. Citizens of the world capable of organizing big demonstrations at a worldwide scale with a democratic multilateralism that is in favour of an economy based on knowledge and on a global and sustainable human development, by fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals. Let nobody say that it isn’t possible. The main responsibility today of all human beings is to make it clear for the future generations that they behaved such as they should given their astonishing intellectual faculties.
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*Spanish scientist, scholar, politician, diplomat and poet. President of the International Commission against the Death Penalty. Chairman of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace. He served as Director-General of UNESCO from 1987 to 1999.