A better world: What must be done to achieve it

Rev. Fr. (Dr) Leopold Ratnasekera O.M.I.

GLOBAL WAR: The fear always persists in the minds of people today that we are on the brink of a third world war with nations driven with suspicion, a false sense of superiority, mutual mistrust and poised in a militarily competitive spirit and armed to their teeth.

There are the nations already well equipped with the sophisticated war arsenal: missiles, atomic weapons, nuclear weapons and even weapons of mass destruction.

They possess rockets, tanks, war-planes, submarines with computer sharp targeting-capability, and even perhaps clandestine armed arsenal in space, thus militarizing space as well.

Some are on the way to producing such weapons, and thereby heightening the nuclear tension.

The efforts to discourage nations bent on nuclear ambitions to refrain from such pursuits are often met with great arrogance, though a country or two made cede to pressure.

Each of the protagonists who threaten war, claim their proper right to security and self-defense, their duty to respond to provocation, determination to neutralize threats and dream of creating a safer and a better world!

In some cases, a dangerous religious fundamentalism seems to inspire this military culture. But, in reality,

whatever the pretext, if a global war is unleashed today, it is bound to end up with the mass destruction of entire lands with millions of civilians facing annihilation on all sides: a harrowing scene of death and destruction of apocalyptic proportions.

What is the way out of this tragedy about to engulf humanity? It would consist in a call to sanity and to building up trust and the spirit of cooperation through the humane and rational way of dialogue.

Such a course calls for avid transparency, openness and sincerity. We all want a peaceful world with all nations, the powerful and the weak, the rich and the poor at peace with one another and poised with good will.

We would want the nuclear energy already tapped and in store, to be harnessed for the service of human needs and not triggered for unleashing a horrendous destruction, of which they are capable.

Anger, hatred and bitterness in the powers that be, can lead all of us to such a catastrophe.

To counter such a misfortune, what is needed rather is a human strategy for the aligning of hearts and their reconciliation and thus paving the way out of cultural conflicts and a clash of civilization that is shaking up our age.

We would like to see democratic rule enjoyed by citizens of all countries in whatever conducive form it is practised, where the leadership strives to tap resources both humane and natural for the greater good of the country concerned: where citizens periodically can discern through just and fair elections the ruling power they like to opt for.

In this light, there is no room for dictatorships either of a military or of a political kind which by their very nature infringe upon the people's fundamental freedoms and rights that are constitutive of democracy.

We would like to see countries involved in the production of nuclear weapons call an immediate halt to such ambitions, since they would be of no benefit to any of today's six billion world citizens for enjoying a good life!

We would like the highly developed nations of the west, that of United States, Canada and Europe to open themselves to others in trade, technology-exchange and goodwill.

Let poor nations of the third world be empowered and made to share education in technology and formation in skills to improve themselves economically.

Let the poor south be able to launch trade as equal partners with the developed nations and not be black-listed for ever as aid-seekers at the mercy of the international monetary agencies such as the IMF and the World Bank, often referred to by third-world critics as the twin-headed monster that keep poor nations at bay.

There should be more cooperation and goodwill between the World Trade Organization and the International Labour Organization: the former that wields unprecedented command over the world's capitalistic economy and the latter which is but the sole voice of the labour market.

The constant friction between capital and labor should be levelled off. The same dilemma devolves on the dialogue between World Economic Forum and the ILO.

The G-8 group of the world's most powerfully developed nations must be open to the voice of the G-77 group of countries, those that are named as the developing ones.

To our dismay, we have seen the role of the Non-Aligned Movement disappear gradually with their clout losing ground against the background of the relentless race for the manufacture, trade, deployment and stock-piling of arms.

In the coming decades a matter of urgency is to pay attention to the integrity of the environment on a global scale in order to avoid persistent ecological damage due to industrial waste that is polluting the earth's atmosphere.

Many scientists have expressed concern about the serious damage already taking place in the planet like the rising of the ozone layer and the collapsing of the ice glaciers in the north. Life is still at stake with many more possible tsunamis surging from the heated waters of the oceans.

Let the new republics of Eastern Europe enjoy the newly won air of political and economic freedom without hindrance. May that same fortune bring blessing to the nations of Latin-America.

Let the dialogue between North and South of the American Continent improve and strengthen. Let nowhere there be economic imperialism and protectionism: all countries must enjoy the opportunity of opening themselves to fair trade and gradually

liberating themselves from the dependency on the world's monetary agencies, which in reality do not seem as they should be, the agents of liberation but apparently instead, those of debilitation, economic slavery and oppression.

We would like to see greater partnership of the East and the West on a global scale regarding international economic cooperation and the strengthening of the north-south dialogue.

The Asian countries must enter into partnership by strengthening SAARC and ASEAN organizations as also the nations of Africa and those of Latin America in their respective continents.

The industrial west needs to have a brand new approach to the profound demographic changes appearing with Asia as the most populated continent. Fratricidal conflicts must be ironed out as soon as possible.

The countries on the way to development ought to be aware of the immediate need to grow into political maturity that empowers them to heal social ills and repair their economic machinery and achieve political stability.

All injustices in all their forms, perpetrated against the unborn, the children, the youth, women, the terminally sick and elderly must be shunned in the name of human dignity.

Only a moral re-armament sustained by religious values and teachings of the world religions can play a role of denouncing such structural evil and put in serious question those dehumanizing social currents and ill-fated unethical trends including those in the field of medical technology.

Only a morally upright society can truly lead people to an integral form of growth and development. Some have identified this vision of life as an integral humanism which is neither wholly materialistic and secular on the one hand, nor an extreme spiritualism that depreciates the temporal realities.

Fortunately, there is a growing trend of the world religions taking up the issues of justice, peace and integrity of creation as part of their mission in the world today: to this, the secular authorities must heed and respond.

Of recent, the social implications of the respective religious doctrines are pushing religions to be involved in social questions, thus making religious practice relevant and religion an agent of social transformation.

The nuclear race must stop with assurance that nuclear energy, if at all used, would be harnessed for peaceful purposes and economic growth and not for military supremacy or flamboyancy.

The mire of religious fundamentalism that empties religion of its true spirit and makes of it an ideological monster must cease.

The human dignity of every individual has to be held in high esteem even as human rights are respected and safeguarded for all.

The UN charter of human rights should constantly be a guiding light in world ethics. There should be no political patronizing and policing.

The rich must share with the poor and the strong must be just towards the weak and be ready to empower them in turn to be self-reliant as well.

The whole earth is the common banquet at which the entire humanity is invited to take their seats and enjoy the resources and fruits of this human planet: no grabbing, no stealing, no usurping.

The countless conflicts in different parts of the world, political, cultural as well as religious fired as they are by greed, but more specially the recent events of the war in Iraq and the continuing middle-east conflicts, are but a sad spectacle of the failure to share this banquet.

It is due to the failure in searching for wiser ways and patiently looking for long-term strategies to meet difficult situations.

Instead we see even neighbours arrayed as formidable foes tearing one another apart and pushing themselves to permanent states of hatred and violence.

All world religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and others must strengthen their bonds in constructive dialogue since the contribution they can make through this salutary venture for fostering world peace is of immense value to humanity.

Their respective moral and spiritual values when understood rightly and appreciated will facilitate cultural and social reconciliation. The pursuit of goodness and practice of virtue represent their core-teachings.

The media of mass communication that have become a means of powerfully capturing the imagination, must educate people in the higher cultural values of truth, justice, humanism and peace and be at the service of unity, truth and the truly beautiful and sublime. It has to be the moving image of truth and

beauty. Good media culture is a wholesome component of modern-day living.

The disastrous moral consequences of bad media have to be well reckoned with.

We should abhor any confrontation between Islam and the West. We must avoid the oil-ideology where oil seems stronger than blood! We do not need religious fundamentalism or unethical religious conversion. No religion needs to treat others as pagans and or as an axis of evil. Of course, all forms of terrorism have to cease so that inhumanity to man can be avoided.

Respect for life through non-violence that safeguards life from its initial stages to the moment of death of every individual has to be fostered through a culture of life. Terrorism in all its forms launched for whatever ends has no place in a civilized society and is to be condemned without reserve.

With the disappearance of the cold war and the change that blossomed into a new face of democracy and freedom in the Eastern European countries, a new world order has to be constructed through the agency of the UNO, our last best hope for the world.

We want a world of peace, security, democracy, human rights and on-going development that leads civilization to a culture of life and a civilization of love. May be, the imperative of forgiveness will be part of this peace-package and content!

Let all the wisdom flowing from the religions combine and go hand in hand with the technological feats of human ingenuity to create a new language of solidarity and inter-dependence, thus contributing positively to a new era of authentic human progress and warding off a spirit-starved modernity.

As the pedagogue of our future itinerary, there lies the formula of the eight-fold millennium goals, a down-to-earth strategy, for sure, a realistic guarantee of a practical optimism and not just an illusory utopia that never in our history has seen the light of day.

The United Nations Millennium Declaration, signed in September 2000, commits the states to: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, develop a global partnership for development.

What is significant is that the UN supports all citizens' efforts to hold governments accountable for the achievement of these development goals.

Thus, a moment of grace and a window of opportunity have dawned with our entering the portals of the 21st century and the third millennium. Letting

the horizons of the noblest of human aspirations both material and spiritual expand and broaden into a new path leading to a new history and civilization devoid of injustice and unwanted human suffering, will augur well indeed for the future generations that will people our world. It should be recorded as a new spring in the history of our post-modern world.

In this manner, may we rightly gaze at a new horizon blazing with signs of hope: a brotherhood of nations with the earth as the common home, where peace and goodwill reign; with religions tolerant towards one another and becoming partners in dialogue for moral leadership in inspiring salutary change and moulding post-modernity into a golden era.

(The Writer is Assistant Secretary General, Catholic Bishops' Conference in Sri Lanka.)