Giri at 1700 hours on 08th May 2011
What does one write about at the end of a week that saw round-the-clock coverage of the killing of Mr Osama Bin Laden? Has justice been done to avenge the dastardly killings of thousands in New York about 10 years back? Is the world going to be safer now?
Is there a lesson in this for politicians, government bureaucrats, military strategists, intelligence establishments, terrorists, and perhaps, all of civil society interest groups across the world? I firmly believe that there are indeed several lessons, but lessons can be learnt only if there is humility in accepting (by most members of these groups) that ignorance and arrogance still permeate their thoughts and actions. If such humility does exist, then, I do have a vision for a probable outcome of such lessons:
Can we think of creating a NUN (a New United Nations) who can guide the destinies towards prosperity of the vast majority of the world through a multilateral system of sharing opinions, aspirations for fair justice, human and environmental rights, religious and cultural tolerance, shared opportunities for creation, distribution and enjoying the fruits of wealth? Can we have the forethought to ensure that this NUN is young and gender-balanced (to reflect the realities of the world’s population), has equal representations of not just countries with established borders and governments, but also of regions that have seen chronic geo-political struggles and of regions that are facing the gravest problems of extinction because of climate change? Can we have the courage and the equanimity to equip this NUN with a year-round programme of active-debates, research, international people-people engagement and a very strong influential (veto power) strength over the decisions that the current UN body takes? The NUN will need to live “her life” under the public glare of the media who will also help the NUN shape up the annual programme agenda.
Are there takers for my NUN? I look forward to reporting on this next Sunday. Till then, cheers.
1 comment:
Dear Giri,
Humility after apparent triumph would indeed be refreshing.
Forming an enlightened NUN, while the OUN (Old UN) remains a cartel of/by/for veto-power nations, will be a challenge. So the NUN will have to originate external to the OUN, and that will lead to a new conflict. So it comes back to your first point - humility in a superpower nation that is willing to make concessions even while it feels on top of the world.
-Krishnan
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