(Address to International Philosophers for Peace)

Glen T. Martin

Colleagues,

For more than one hundred years many world citizens with vision and understanding, from Albert Einstein to Jawaharlal Nehru, have been stating that the unworkable system of “sovereign nation-states” must be replaced by democratic federal world government.

Neither the charter of the League of Nations nor that of the United Nations gave us anything resembling the rule of democratically legislated law on Earth. Both charters are based on the principle of “protecting the sovereign independence” of member nations.

Both charters are based on assumptions about nations formulated in the 16^th and 17^th centuries, long before the Earth faced a globalized economy, supersonic guided missiles, space based weapons, weapons of mass destruction, immanent global environmental collapse, world wide militarism, or a population of six billion and growing.

The United Nations was formed by the victors in the Second World War to ensure their continued dominance in the world. It is based on a General Assembly that has no decision making authority, and even if it did it would not reflect the people of Earth in any remotely democratic fashion. The Security Council with its five veto’s prevents all effective action, and when there is to be action “for peace and security,” the action is always against the people of an entire nation for the perceived crimes of a few. The U.N. reached its nadir when it committed genocide against the people of Iraq from 1991 to 2003, with its murderous sanctions killing one and a half million people.

When such murderous economic attacks on an entire people are not effective, the UN charter mandates the Security Council “preserve the peace and security” by going to war. Are we so inured to an insane world that we do not see the madness here? The Security Council preserves the peace by going to war.

Now people want to “save the UN” by tinkering with its unworkable and illogical structure. They want a “third generation UN [that is] democratic and also includes representations of the world’s people and NGO’s, and “with some corporate responsibility.”

“Some corporate responsibility”? The world today is run entirely by the powerful G-8 nation-states and the corporations that control the governments of these nations. This is the central problem. It is the basis of the nightmare of our world order of domination and exploitation. “Representation of people”? What can this mean if not real democracy under a real Constitution for the Earth? Some corporate responsibility? This is a prescription for the suicide of the human race on planet Earth.

Even if the UN Charter were substantially modified, the imperialist governments and corporations that control their governments would never be controlled. We would have another disaster of empty rhetoric, hypocritical ideals, and impotence before the global crises that are destroying our planet. According to the UN delegate from Ecuador, the UN “means environmental sanitation, agricultural production, telecommunications, the fight against illiteracy, the great struggle against poverty, ignorance and disease.”

Perhaps this delegate has not noticed that the UN has failed in all these areas. The world is losing its precious agricultural lands at an alarming rate. It is losing the battle against poverty, ignorance, and disease. The planetary environment is on the very of collapse. None of these problems can be addressed without democratic federal world government with the authority to demilitarize the world, to save the environment, to provide health care and education to every citizen of Earth. Only the authority of authentic world government can end the exploitation and domination of the poor by the rich worldwide.

Many prominent world citizens worked for three decades through a process of four constituent assemblies to create a real Constitution for the Federation of Earth. Under this constitution all the viable agencies of the UN would be included within the Earth Federation. Whatever is valuable about the UN would be preserved. But for the first time history, the world would begin democratically legislated and enforceable law for all citizens of the Earth. Parliament would include the House of Peoples representing every citizen on Earth from 1000 electoral districts worldwide, and the House of Nations representing every nation on Earth.

The World Courts, World Executive, World Police, and World Agency for Human Rights (Ombudsmus) would enforce the laws made by the World Parliament. For the first time in history, the world could be disarmed, the global environment protected, poverty eradicated, and human rights respected. There is no way to do this without real democratic governmental authority.

Nothing the UN does is enforceable over “sovereign nation-states.” Nothing the UN does can effectively control the corporations raping and exploiting our planet. Nothing the UN does can protect unique Cuban society from being destroyed by its hostile imperialist neighbor. Nothing the UN does can eliminate the horrible weapons systems being developed by many nations of the world (because these nations are “sovereign” and have the “right to defend themselves.”).

It is time we grew up. Either we create real democratic federal world government for our planet, or we will perish in global wars or environmental collapse. “Saving the UN” is a prescription for suicide. A real Constitution for the Federation of Earth is our only practical and realistic hope. The Earth Constitution has been translated into twenty-two languages. You can find the Constitution on the web sites below.

Dr. Glen T. Martin

President, International Philosophers for Peace (IPPNO)

Vice-President, World Constitution and Parliament Association (www.worldparliament.org)

Vice-President, Institute on World Problems (www.worldproblems.net)