Statements From the Trinity Community

United Nations: Time for a Paradigm Shift?

Dhanarat Yongvanichjit , Librarian

"Here is the twenty-hundredth hour news from the Communications Center of the Pacific Virtual Nations. The United Nations today received a proposition from the Governance of the Pacific Virtual Nations with respect to an ambitious and innovative peace plan for all nations on earth. Basically, it purports to provide humanitarian aids and humanity re-education program for the world populace with a view to enhancing goodwill, mutual understanding and respects, tolerance, as well as meaningful dialogues in humankind. ..."*
*A fictitious news broadcast set in a not too distant future.

On October 24, 1945, freshly after World War II, 51 countries jointly proclaimed in the Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations: "We the peoples of the United Nations" determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, to reaffirm fundamental human rights, to maintain justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties, and to promote social progress and prosperity.

Over half a century later, sadly, the world has seen war after war with no ending sign in sight while many of the "peoples" have been farther and farther away from prosperity.

The U.N. has been playing two main roles: peacekeeping and socioeconomic development. Although peacekeeping is not one of its original goals, it has been busily acting as a peacekeeper in several international conflicts since its inception.

Lacking not only an adequately armed force under its direct command, but also professionalism in its deployment of whatever armaments contributed by its member states, it has demonstrated that its peacekeeping role has sometimes produced disastrous results to the point where some member states began to wonder if their membership contributions were worth it all. For example, its peacekeeping mission to Bosnia has raised questions about its mandate and led to political crisis in Washington.

As for its socioeconomic development role, it has yielded many though lack-luster accomplishments.

Adding to the relatively disappointing U.N. role in peacekeeping, we, unfortunately, are finding ourselves living not only among increasingly hostile and belligerent "peoples," but also in an increasingly life-threatening physical environment.

As science progresses, and new technologies are discovered, the human capacity for creation or destruction increases. For instance, nanotechnology, which manipulates individual atoms and molecules to transform structures into complex, atomic specifications, offers potentials for benefits as well as harms. It can render us not only medical miracles, but also weapons of mass destruction.

In addition, artificial intelligence, simpler methods of starting nuclear reactions, and biotechnology likewise offer similar outcomes.

Moreover, information technology has made it possible for individuals who are bound by a common, passionate cause, or a set of beliefs, and not necessarily by common geographical boundaries, to form a virtual nation.

This so-called v-nation, like Al Qaeda, by using its global electronic networks and tapping into its plausible colossal assets, contributed by its extremely wealthy and resourceful individual members worldwide, has the potentials to bring about great or grave consequences upon any nation on earth, depending on the cognitive map of its leadership.

Under such precarious circumstances, are we all bound to end up like the Giant Elk whose antlers became so large that they were unmanageable and led the gorgeous animal to extinction?

Unlikely, provided that the U.N. of the future timely shifts its operations strategy from the incessant rebuilding of international relations among its member states to the relentless cultivation of interpersonal relations among its "peoples" while improving on its socioeconomic development activity.

The member states will not be ready for peace until their leaders and citizens are. Let us all take a realistic perspective and put the horse before the cart.

The U.N. can save us from "the scourge of war" by helping us become re-educated in humanity. Then we will be able to rid ourselves of ignorance with respect to humankind, and liberate our hearts and minds from being caged in a glass wall.

Mr. Kofi A. Annan, Secretary-General of the U.N., alluding to the glass wall that bars us from reaching into peace, observed: "The idea that there is one people in possession of the truth, one answer to the world’s ills, or one solution to humanity’s needs has done untold harm throughout history--especially in the last century..."

"We the peoples" need to resolve, first and foremost, to share with one another the treasury in humanity. We need to empower ourselves to utilize our own internal cognitive power and to reach into the feelings as well as the thinking of our ancestors. We need to develop a sense of commonality amidst diversity.

"We the peoples" also need to come together and engage in dialogues, as suggested in Mr. Annan’s assertion: "... Today, however, even amid continuing ethnic conflict around the world, there is a growing understanding that human diversity is both the reality that makes dialogue necessary and the basis for that dialogue."

We all need to rid ourselves of delusions, open our minds, confront total human reality, and engage in meaningful dialogues. We had better communicate with one another using the greatest invention of humankind, the human language, and not weapons of mass destruction.

In simple terms, the U.N. of the future needs to shift its emphasis on peacekeeping to peace building. Instead of relying on international politics, it needs to build the infrastructure for human co-existence with new quality human bricks. Where necessary, its peacekeeping role, once improved, can be retained as a secondary, short-term remedy for unrest.

Such a U.N. of the future will aptly serve as the bridge connecting humankind to humanity. The old books of humanity, enriched with insightful and awakening messages, have now become the new key to international peace and prosperity.

We all have inherited meaningful messages from our great ancestors. Separated by cultures, time, and geographical areas, these messages reflect underlining commonality amidst diversity.

"I will show you what some one is like who comes to see me, hears my words, and acts on them. That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when flood arose, the river burst against his house but could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, immediately it fell, and great was the ruin of that house."
Bible, Luke 6:47-49

"... certainly a masjid founded on piety from the very first day is more deserving that you should stand in it; in it are men who love that they should be purified; and Allah loves those who purify themselves."
Quran, Al-Tawba 009.108

"As rain leaks into a poorly roofed house, so does passion invade an uncultivated mind. As no rain leaks into a well-roofed house, passion does not invade a cultivated mind."
Buddhist Scriptures, Dhammapada 1.13-14