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| Illustration by YAK, source http://www.un.org/en/udhrbook/ |
For the UN's "World Refugee Day", 20 June 2016
The human mind, among other things, is a great
killer. There
is a war in Syria. People are killing each other for ideas. “My idea is better
than your idea, therefore you die.” “Your idea is wrong, therefore I kill you.”
Lack of human understanding leading to
bloodshed is a grave problem. And no one seems to be able to solve it. Locals fight,
and other big fighters come into the picture and the fight gets bigger –
supposedly highly complex and difficult to understand for us simple common People…
Sorry, it’s easy for some to understand. What else can participants and supporters
do? If human relations break down so much, spreading anger, hatred and
violence, and examples of good international conduct are few are far between,
and receive no prime time TV coverage, how can these unfortunate People do
anything other than kill each other? That is unfortunately the normal outcome of
a dispute: neighbouring regions do it; anxious nation-states do it; different
religions do it; different political factions do it; economic interests at cross-purposes
do it; drug cartels do it; pirates do it; hey, why can’t we do it, too?
But if we all killed someone because of a
disagreement, we wouldn’t be here writing and reading about it. We’d all be
dead. So there is some hope. Why does man have to become totally uncivilised
and brutish, worse than animals, as Tolstoy said. Animals don’t kill each other
off for “ideas”. Humans do, and if they do, despite all the fine suits, nice ties
and cool talk – oh yes, don’t worry: lots of talk – they are uncivilised inside.
It is their minds that are to blame, nothing else. And that’s where the
eventual solution will have to come from.
Then of course, the unfortunate People
who want to escape the big fight are accused of going and creating an “immigration
crisis”, “migrant crisis” or a “refugee problem”. Are we crazy? There is no
such thing. There are only People trying to get away from horror,
killing and the destruction of their homes and children. This shows lack of
understanding, acceptance and compassion. It is a shameful situation in 2016. Why?
Because I’m an emotional person? No, let’s get objective. Because a total of 132
nation-states signed and ratified The International Covenant onEconomic, Social and Cultural Rights entering into force on 3 January 1976,
based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which originally
received the votes of 48 states in favour way back in 1948, yes 1948,
when intentions were of course very good in the aftermath of WW2, what with
over 60 million killed in that “misunderstanding”. The signatories of the 1976 Covenant
include – get this –: Syrian Arab Republic, United States
of America, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russian Federation, Iran (Islamic
Republic of), Iraq… So why are these countries killing People
in Syria?
Obviously today’s diplomats and leaders must
think the “common People” are stupid. It is they who, in the name
of politics, disobey International Law and make excuses for their inability to
solve the problem – to quote the preamble of the UDHR, of acting “towards
one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” In case you’re in doubt, brotherhood
means not killing. Instead, they foment conflicts, send covert missions,
finance rebel groups one day, then turn around and support others the next, send
in materials like pick-up trucks (oh dear, they’ve mounted guns on the back,
how terrible!), train insurgents, then sell weapons to make money, and finally send
in the bombers, missiles and ground troops. These diplomats and leaders would
do better to immediately resign so that replacements can be found who can actually
solve the problems at hand in a peaceful way. The solution, of course, may take
one or two generations, after such hatred and mistrust, so it will take able,
good-hearted persons to lay the foundations for a peaceful future that respects
and obeys International Law.
So Art. 13 of the UDHR says anyone can move
across any frontier at any time and settle anywhere. It doesn’t say except
in a refugee crisis. It says every person in the world has this
right. Especially in a war situation. If it is not true, please let’s have the
UDHR repealed and return to the Dark Ages and feudalism. Because that is what
the nation-states are doing, being feudalistic. If it is true, please let’s oblige
our statepersons and brothers to obey the Law. Aren’t we supposed to obey laws
for the common good?
But no, on the contrary, frightened
nation-states are now using “fear” and “terrorism” to inflict injustice on both
their citizens and those of other countries – making freedom of movement
impossible, building either permanent or make-shift walls and fences,
tightening customs controls, only accepting certain quotas of refugees via
“pledges” and promises that never materialise. Using institutionalised fear to
restrict liberties is an old story… Research it and see. And little by little,
little encroachments become permanent deepening abysses of injustice, and thus
they People are deprived of their innate, inborn, inherent rights.
How many states obey International Law? None
of the above in this conflict. And the untruths and disobedience of
nation-states are not lost on the People, and so the People think
it is either alright to do overtly what governments do covertly and/or openly,
or alright to draw their own arbitrary discriminatory lines and worsen the
problem. But refugees are People and have their rights nonetheless, all
excuses aside.
So the question remains, how do we bring “good
intentions” from 1948 into realities in 2016, 68 years later? Isn’t there an increasingly
global awareness of humanity’s problems? “We, the People…” are not in the
same position as in 1948, when travel was difficult and communication slow. Today
we are globally connected, with broader outlooks, and faster communications. So
what’s the excuse?
Art. 28 says “Everyone is entitled to a social
and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this
Declaration can be fully realized.”
The solution starts from frame one and works
upwards. This article’s first solution is to capitalise People, as the
United Nations has done in some of its writings (but not in all, as “State” is
capitalised more, although there are also inconsistencies there), and to
relegate “government”, “nation” and “state” to lower case. None of the small-lettered
words shall have more importance than the People of the World. No more
capitalised president, leader, government, nation
until they really deserve it, if ever, and certainly no more upper case military
forces, dictator, or boss. It is People who have inherent
rights that must be respected. Upper-case People always!
And apart from that, mediate on the human
mind: you live inside one. See how thoughts and ideas separate us, and
inquire as to how this can be overcome to promote the spirit of brotherhood.
It’s the only solution. Peace can never be imposed on a human being, it has to
come about naturally through the right use of the mind. And it starts with
yours and mine, not with… his, hers or theirs.
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