| by Mahboob A. Khawaja
“The hell of human suffering, evil and oppression is paved with good intentions. The men who have most injured and oppressed humanity, who have most deeply sinned against it, were according to their standards and their conscience good men; what was bad in them, what wrought moral evil and cruelty, treason to truth and progress, was not at all in their intentions, in their purpose, in their personal character, but in their opinions.” - (Robert Briffault. The Making of Humanity, London, 1918)
Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;
The proper study of Mankind is Man.- (Alexander Pope “An Essay on Man”)
( March 26, 2013, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The mankind stands at its most tormenting crossroads - a time fraught with insane tragedies, man seeing man as a wild beast to be haunted and sadistic leaders and decadent superpowers forging bogus wars, planned massacres and environmental disasters all in a knowledge-driven, information age global culture of citizenry participation and political activism wanting to co-exist in peace and harmony within the encompassed and Living Universe. Throughout history men of power and influence commit horrible crimes against the humanity of which they are an essential part. Why? The answer lies with their individualistic absolutism and mindset. Is it part of the human nature that man should be cruel against man? The primitive scope is now enlarged to encompass crimes against all the living things, the universe and whatever it contains. We are at a RISK of Extinction. Global warriors are the elite class born to rule - the men of king, who are most often hated and feared and always dream of glory and triumph to achieve at a cost of ruthlessness, triviality and success leading to degeneration and viciousness across the human societies. They are influential to defy accountability for their crimes. George Bush and Tony Blair despite being indicted by an International Tribunal for crimes against the humanity in Iraq are free and untouchable. Greg Felton (“1936 and the illusion of progress -- Part I”: Mediamonitors.net: 3/31/2011) takes us to an historical insight - the aggression by a fascist regime against a helpless neighbor - a viewpoint very much intact in the contemporary global peace and security context:
“The lessons of history are lost because we are careful to compartmentalize them to the time they happened and treat them as museum pieces. Our governing myths of progress and the perfectibility of man instill in us the conceit that whatever happened “back then” could not have any meaning today because we know so much more and the world is so much different……..The criminals and victims may have changed in 75 years, but the polite rationalizations we offer up to appease international crime today are pretty much the same.”
Recently, a global Think-Tank gathering at Davos, Switzerland showed the organizing muscles of affluent bankers, politicians and billionaires and some ruling elite taken from the painful tragedies of the poor and left-over human beings in other parts of the world. It is unknown who invites who and what criterion is implied to select the rich and 1% affluent ruling elite under questioning in functional Western democracies. They have no legitimacy from the democratic masses to talk about their future. Does this mean only rich and most powerful entities are presumed intelligent and capable of change and future-making? This is naive historical thinking lingering on to this day. If so, it will undermine Reason and defy the logic of moral and intellectual advancements up to the 21st century. Bankers and few ruling elite are part of the problems, not solutions. Bankers would be obliged to save the banks, not the humanity as appears to be the case of Cyprus financial bankruptcy under the EU discussion this week. To them mankind is just numbers and digits and the same is viewed by the warmongers. Time and history have articulated new paradigms of change and future-making. Nobody is sure, how to imagine the future except some assumptions of the few affluent whose business will be at stake if future turns out to be problematic and uncertain. Charles A Kupchan (“From the American Century to the Competition Century- Problem of Grand Strategy” ISN- International Security Network: 11/19/2012) attempts to imagine the contextual framework:
While most emerging powers agree that we are entering a post-Western world, there is little consensus on what this world will actually look like. As a result, the grand strategies they develop will confront alternative and competing visions of what constitutes the new international order. “If the world's emerging powers enjoyed a consensus among themselves about the nature of the post-Western world, they could drive the debate about the shape of the coming era. But rising powers are far from arriving at a shared view of the rules of the next order….. They know what they do not want — a world under the continued hegemony of the West. But they do not have a coherent vision of what should replace the Western order. Indeed, with the exception of China, which has well-funded ministries and think tanks tasked with mapping out the country's grand strategy, other rising powers are just getting in the game. “
To many conscientious scholars, there are serious problems amongst the most powerful nations and political leaders about the future-making. They are bankrupt in ideas and practice and failure in the present, how could they be a moving force for the future? It is no longer the world of 1945 after the German defeat that allied will be unchallenged. The new emerging powers and viable trading nations such as China, India, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Taiwan and Indonesia and few other could well be active participants in making a promising future irrespective of the former big powers. There is no end game in dealing with the challenges of future. One could imagine of increasing interactive inputs from the thoughts and priorities of the informed global citizenry to be a decisive force in future-making.
Many theoreticians focus on competitive market strategies to change and societal development. Free markets and stock exchanges do not change human thinking and behavior nor do they create anew moral and intellectual future for the mankind. Markets are subservient to the will of the 1% whereas 99 % are outsiders - the oppressed species. Global bankers and financial strategists work in curves- patchwork – the work of hourly paid media jockeys to convince human conscience that something good will benefit the deprived and denied 99% out of the economy of the few- 1%. Those accumulating massive wealth and material resources will never share it with the neglected ones. If past and present are any reference point, a different future is highly contentious.
Adam W. Parsons (“Why We Should All Be Talking About Global Sharing.” Dissident Voice: 11/7/2012) attempts to outline a new foresight to make sharing – a global phenomenon:
It’s as if the age-old practice of sharing is being recollected, re-learned and re-invented in innovative new ways to deal with the multiple crises of the 21st Century. Far from being a primitive behaviour practised only in traditional societies, sharing presents a new field of study and a new way of life as well as being a simple, everyday practice among families and friends. There is much talk now of the exciting promise of the gift economy, barter systems, mutual aid societies, time banks and many other modes of exchange that are outside of the mainstream monetary system……… a wealth of literature has recently emerged that emphasises how human beings are hardwired to cooperate and share, with far-reaching implications for how we organise our political and economic systems. Together, these findings challenge many of the core assumptions of classical economic theory, in particular, the firmly-held notion that people are inherently selfish, competitive, acquisitive and individualistic by nature – assumptions that have long been used to justify an unfair economic system. Meanwhile, the resurgence of scholarly and public interest in ‘the commons’ is helping to design new systems for sharing and conserving the resources of both society and nature, including natural resources, cultural traditions and knowledge. As many people from all of these diverse fields are saying, the principle of sharing is a concept around which we can restructure our societies and use to help guide us in the urgent process of world rehabilitation.
Shamefully to many leading Western leaders, the concept of “Sharing” and “Hope” are not the practical political manifestations for people-oriented change and globalization. One wonder, how would the so called militarily powerful but financially bankrupt nations – the Europeans, America and Asian and Africans-the poorest one surviving on borrowed time and money could be equal partners in sharing with the rest of the world. Everywhere nationalism and national political interests are the corner stones of policies and practices. The 21st century age of knowledge and human expectations offer a grim picture of the present and future in-waiting. The so called civilized nations failed to produce intelligent and responsible leaders to serve the mankind. Many hourly paid intellectuals aligned with the mainstream news apparatus would not dare to touch such vital societal issues. Most politicians embracing leadership role are inept, greedy, self-centered who heavily rely on hired advisors and strategists to win the election campaigns, but not to lead the nation. Once in power, they become irrelevant, problematic and paranoid to see the people’s interests. They lose sense of reality and awareness and most importantly, consciousness of the self and the environment around them. People who become psychopath and who baffle with time and tides of political mismanagement and destroy culture and civilizations to overrun those who challenge obsessed ignorance and viciousness.
Charles A Kupchan (“From the American Century to the Competition Century- Problem of Grand Strategy” ISN- International Security Network: 11/19/2012) explains the contextual synthesis:
“As power becomes more broadly distributed across the globe, the diverging interests and strategic visions of emerging powers will ensure that the next world will be "no one's world." The global turn will bring to an end the era of the West's material and ideological dominance. But what comes next will not be the Chinese century, the Asian century, or anyone else's century. Rather, "no one's world" will exhibit striking diversity. Alternative conceptions of domestic and international order will compete and coexist on the global stage. For the first time in history, an interdependent world will be without a center of gravity or global guardian. Previous eras were, of course, home to a multipolar landscape and a broad array of approaches to governance and commerce. But prior to the advance of globalization during the 19th century, centers of power rarely interacted with one another.”
Peace is an integral part of Man - the Chief Creation of God on Earth. Man, the embodiment of moral, intellectual faculties and reasoning synchronizing ideas and ideals within the physical construct to feel, think and to live. Man will be disconnected with the Nature of Things if he fails to establish and maintain a balanced relationships within the Universe in which he exits. Man is humanity, humanity is Man- the organized grand network of natural processes which facilitate us to co-exist with the Nature of Things - the revealed enriched moral-spiritual Universe and of the inseparable natural bonds that the most hated and most feared contemporary political warlords of the globe are set to undermine for the self aggrandizement of the few. Those who violate the sanctity of this natural relationship, ultimately become egomaniac, fearful of the self to rundown others. How to safeguard the interests of the mankind and to ensure its survival from the known and unknown conspiracies, onslaught, and extinction of life and be able to live in harmonized global culture of peace, understanding and civilizations? The immense challenge and its on-going emerging critical implications deserve serious Thinking and moral and intellectual pondering role and responsibilities from the Thinking HUBS of the concerned global mankind.
The planet Earth is not created or built by the Nation States claiming membership at the UN. The comprehensive system of splendid and encompassed Universe and its resources on the planet Earth are God-given gift to mankind, and its violation and exploitation will be checked by God as it happened to many in the past only to be found as artifacts in museums and history books. History offers a learning role but nations and people denying the role of history ultimately cannot escape the wrath of history. Winning the wars was not part of the American aims and strategies but killing and destabilizing the poor nation was, and it has achieved that aim. All actions have reactions. The consequences are yet to come.
The Nation State is an abstract phenomenon existing on the 20th century rotten paper now on visible screen, words filled with dry ink to ensure governance of the few - the 1%. The net outcomes are political agents managing politics - a game of pretension but humanity is real and so are its rights, dignity, liberty and stance for justice. The gulf between the two is widening into conflicting time zones separating the rulers and the ruled being at odds. As if this political treason was not enough, the humanity is wired by man-made weapons of mass destruction from Planet Earth beyond to space. Nobody wants to talk about it to maintain indifference and pretension of the unknown. The ultimate aims appear to be to drive the most intellectual creation of God on the Planet Earth- the human being to a dogmatic outlook of life – into the lasting darkness of ignorant and absurd, evicting the moral conscience out of the mind and soul, torturing the body and intellect by sophisticated means of lies and deception, exhausting moral and spiritual values that distinctively characterize the human makeup and existence and coercing them to THINK and ACT in animalistic behavior. The military build-ups, sophisticated war machines and the on-going global wars in Iraq and Afghanistan expanded onward to Pakistan are the net products of this imposed tyranny. Where do you draw the defining pulse between rationality, and political tyranny surging into insanity all over the globe? Rick Rozoff (“Global Grandiosity: America's 21st Century International Architecture” MediaMonitors.net: 9/16/2010), out of the composite dictionary provides a context to the afflictions in question, ones which are symptomatic of the two most severe forms of mental illness: Bipolar disorder and schizophrenia: Rozoff further explains that: “Delusions of grandeur are associated with the manic phase of bipolar disorder and frequently with other delusional content typical of schizophrenics, especially delusions of persecution - paranoia. …….The reason the two are frequently linked and mutually reinforcing ….A normal person - or nation - doesn't entertain that degree of self-importance in either respect.”
Fran Scott (“Who are we?” Mediamonitors.net 09/1/2010): Wonders - Who Are We? A real identity crisis the US political psyche faces but often denies its implication:
“Under assault by a consciousness control system that insists we are doing quite well even when evidence shows we’re on the critical list………If we, the people of these United States, are ever to be a united nation we have to penetrate the lead curtain of misinformation…....... We have a serious social identity crisis and cannot save ourselves by making war against ourselves. But if we want a peaceful world and safe environment, we need to break out of the mental prison in which we’ll remain as long as we are kept separate, and unequal, by the controllers of what goes into our minds under the false label of information.
To introduce Abb Pierre (1912-2007), French founder of Emmaus International, Ita Marguet wrote (Diva International):
“Acknowledging this Man of Humanity, Abb? Pierre received the Balzan Prize for Humanity, Peace and Brotherhood amongst peoples … "For having fought throughout his life for the defence of human rights, democracy and peace, For having entirely dedicated himself to helping relieve spiritual and physical suffering, For having inspired - regardless of nationality, race or religion - universal solidarity with the Emmaus communities”
Surely, he was not a politician to perform staged pretension but a moral and spiritual being dedicated to the cause of mankind. Politics is increasing becoming a self-centered cycle of orchestrated cynicism of need and greed, implying civic norms and wickedness to rob off the people from their inborn rights, dignity and power to harmonize the socio –political culture of the society. But Ita Marguet points out that Abb Pierre had a unique character: “As social activist and militant, he was vociferous in his rebellion against political and social injustice and openly disagreed with the Church and Vatican on some issues. He was received by many of the world’s political, social and spiritual leaders, including three Popes.” But in the 21st knowledge-driven century there are no leaders- role models of political imagination for peace and the future. Likewise, the global institutions are a failure in offering a credible sense of intellectual security to the mankind. If Dr. Martin Luher King Jr. was alive, he would have been an excellent role model for the humanity and so is Professor Noam Chomsky of the MIT- a man of vision for peace and future-making, and so was late Professor Edward W. Said of Columbia University – a Palestinian, an embodiment of moral and intellectual hope for the mankind.
One wonders about the moving time span and recorded history in which people of conscience lived, shared imagination and reasoned. Why and what Shakespeare must have entailed and expressed his ingenuity to stage the politics “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” But is it a spring of our discontent or as to Shakespeare “Now is the winter of our discontent.” The global snapshot appears terribly cruel, horrifying and dehumanized, there is no man or the humanity co-existing with sense of originality, passion for the self- actualization – self awareness and realization who we are and our role and responsibility in the bigger picture of the globe, knowing oneself knows the mankind. Ones own forgetfulness with body and soul (the real person - Man) is to discord the value and bonds to the humanity.
Alexander Pope (“An Essay on Man”) it seems, had an in-depth knowledge, vision, and understanding of the human nature, spiritual values and search for truth and peace in quest for Change and Reason:
Of Man what see we, but his station here,
From which to reason, or to which refer?
Thro' worlds unnumber'd tho' the God be known,
'Tis ours to trace him only in our own.
Then, in the scale of reas'ning life, 'tis plain
There must be, somewhere, such rank as Man;
Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;
The proper study of Mankind is Man.
Wars kill people and destroy the human habitats. Yet, the paranoid and most hated maniacs put up the show of war celebrations – a success achieved by strangulating the humanity - cost of ruthlessness, human degeneration and lack of imagination. So what is there to celebrate for the tragedies of the WW1 and WW2? Not so, the modern genius , no matter how wicked and ignorant it is, camouflaged the scene by pumps and parades as if the wars were the blessings in disguise to manage the ever growing human herd by the few sadistic and egomaniac Draculas. Felicity Arbuthnot (“Remembrance Day: Let this Silence be a Scream for Peace” Dissident Voice: 11/14/2011) traces out the glued wrong thinking of the warmongers celebrating the acts of savagery by man against man and points out that:
“…Hypocrisy does not come more astounding than this. There has not been a single bloodless year since. More often than not, the US, Britain and European countries has been involved. …..the pain of others should surely be, and have been, of concern, distress and subject of mediation and conflict resolve.”
Those who dream of glory and triumph by having invincible armed forces are not new to the history. They use vicious strategies to poison the human mind with fear and hatred against others. George Bush and Tony Blair and their accomplice were masters of lies and deceptions using the 9/11 events to wage bogus wars on terror. Robert C. Koehler (“Soul Poison” Common Dreams : 3/22/2013) is well known Chicago-based journalist, author of Courage Grows Strong at the Wound and nationally syndicated writer, attempts to put the focal issue in a rational context:
“We’ve lost a war without being able to surrender — and thus divest ourselves of the consciousness that got us into it. We are unable to look honestly at what we did and why, and determine not to do it again……How do we get the poison out of our system? As long as it’s present, we’ll go to war again. The shame and remorse that should be borne collectively are scattered among a million isolated souls: the soldiers and vets who bear, alone, the moral consequences of what they did and what they were a part of. Some of them speak out, and many of us hear, but their voices don’t reach the centers of political power, where future wars are being plotted.”
The knowledge-driven intellect and civilizations know-how to make the Man perform better for change and unto a promising future. But prevalent ignorance and systematic arrogance of the 1% FEW needs formidable intellectual and political challenge to make them RETHINK for a Navigational Change. The global humanity must RISE to challenge the few ignorant and egomaniacs –the modern Ivan the Terrible to stop blood lusted passion against the mankind. It is just these FEW have no sense of humanity or accountability even in Western people’s democracies. The pulse of time and highly sophisticated sense of Man and humanity look for men of new ideas, rational visions and enriched moral- spiritual leadership to lead the people out of the forced economic and political bondage of the few. The failure of the Western industrialized democracies is observable.
The passion and instinct of Man in search of Humanity does not pause nor end here. But despite living in a knowledge-driven global culture of the 21st century and widespread awareness and active participation of the global citizenry, be it through the internet, cell phones, facebook, twitter or other means of know-how and social networks, the human instinct of killing goes unabated. How to THINK to stop and change this perpetuated animosity and political vindictiveness of the few warlords and to start living as Chief Creation of God – the Man and Humanity – equipped to be rational being and interacting in a universe revealed as moral, spiritual and living entity, pursuing objective values and adaptation to the world of Reason, Human Dignity, Freedom of Thinking, Justice and Equality, not in a utopian construct but a proactive visionary world of CHANGE for MAN and the HUMANITY to be different and optimistic from the coerced, broken and sadistic present.
Eric Bogle wrote “The Green Fields of France” and it was sung by Fureys:
Did you really believe, when they told you the cause,
Did you really believe that this war would end wars?
Well, the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame,
The killing and dying it was all done in vain
Oh Willy McBride it all happened again -
And again, and again, and again, and again.
(Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in global security, peace and conflict resolution, and comparative Western-Islamic cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest one: Global Peace and Conflict Management: Man and Humanity in Search of New Thinking. Lambert Academic Publishing, Germany, May 2012)
