Earth Government for Earth Community
A grassroots process
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Earth Government for Earth Community A grassroots process |
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NEWSLETTER Newsletter Volume 3
Issue 1, September 2002
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Table of Contents
Global Dialogue 20002, Earth Management - All Peoples together with a theme
Earth Government for Earth Community
- A grassroots process - has come to a final conclusion.
It was held August 17-22, 2002, in Toronto and August 1-31, 2002, on Internet. It was sponsored by the: * Earth Community Organization (ECO), We had a total of 350 research papers to take into account. Along with dialogues, hundreds of brain-storming exercises were held all over the world, vision statements were prepared and countless discussions have brought together all peoples from 130 nations. For the first time in human history, and the first time this millennium, humanity has proposed a benchmark: * formation of global ministries in all important aspects of our livesHumanity has now a Vision of the Earth in Year 2024 and a sense of direction. May the DIVINE WILL come into our lives and show us the way. May our higher purpose in life bring us closer to the Soul of Humanity and God. Cordially, Germain Germain Dufour Project Officer and Chairman Earth Community Organization (ECO) and Interim Earth Government gdufour@globalcommunitywebnet.com gdufour@telusplanet.net
Global Dialogue 2004
New Age Civilization of the 3rd Millennium: the age of global co-operation and symbiotical relationships theme a Vision to Caring for Life and Earth Call for Papers This Call for Papers contains all the information needed to submit a paper to be considered by Earth Community Organization (ECO). We welcome proposals for individual papers, presentations, traditional
panel discussions and workshops. We encourage non-traditional formats including
facilitated groups, photographic, poster and dramatic displays dealing
with pertinent themes. We are extending a special invitation to community
groups, community activists and others directly involved in the challenges
of community and home development. Please submit your proposals for individual
papers, panels, workshops or displays using the enclosed forms.
Paper topics include all aspects of sustainable development, Earth governance and management, plus all issues related to the formation of new symbiotical relationships on Earth and as defined
in Issues 2004. We are asking members of Earth Community and participants in the global dialogue to submit any of the following work: * A research paper(s) as per scientific criteria described in the Call for Papers; your paper is a publication and will appear in the Proceedings to be published shortly after the conference in August 2002. Abstracts are now published in the Preliminary Program. * Your Vision of Earth in year 2024
* Results of brain-storming exercises
on issues.
* The design of an Earth flag;
a campaign to create an Earth flag is going on right now and I call upon
and encourage students from all over the planet to participate in the design
of the Earth flag. It will be their first unified achievement. Children's
education is also part of the theme for this global dialogue. There is
a need to train the next generation in the skills of collaborating in the
future management of global change, which will be vital to survival. Students
of all levels (school, college, technical, university) are invited to participate
in Earth Community projects. They are asked to produce any creative work
of their vision of what Earth Management - all Peoples together
can accomplish ~ in the fields of zoology, biology, on history, on geography,
on social and political sciences, on agriculture, energy, earth sciences,
forestry, communications, wilderness, pollution, on the water supplies
of the world, poverty, employment, social justice, human rights, universal
values, global concepts, business and economy, availability of resources
and so on.
* Comments and recommendations on ideas
proposed so far and on research papers to be submitted; we want to hear
your opinion and views.
* Positive and constructive actions
in sustaining Earth. These are actions learned from the previous Global
Dialogue or new ones. Participants from all sectors of life will describe
and explain actions that they have performed in their own homes, communities,
business places or in any other places on the planet.
* Articles for publishing in future
Newsletters and making them available on the Internet. Newsletters will
be posted on Earth Community website (to be made available soon). Make
sure you specify that it is an article for the Newsletters and not a research
paper.
a) The establishment of the Scale of Human and Earth Rights as a replacement to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Scale of Human and Earth Rights * Primordial human rights * The ecological rights, the protection of the global life-support systems and the primordial human rights of future generations * Community rights and the right that the greatest number of people have by virtue of their number (50% plus one) and after voting representatives democratically * Economic rights (business and consumer rights, and their responsibilities and accountabilities) and social rights (civil and political rights) * Cultural rights and religious rights
b) The formation of global ministries to manage the world affairs in several aspects of our lives: energy, agriculture, environment, health, Earth resources, Earth management,
security and safety, emergencies and rescues, trade, banks, speculation on world markets, peace, family and human development, water resources protection, youth, education, justice, science and technology, finance, human resources, ethics, human
and Earth rights, sustainable development, industry, and manufacturing products, etc. Global ministries will be given power to rule
themselves in harmony with each other. The WTO will not be the only global ministry that can rule on cases related to trade. The Earth Community Organization, the Human Family, is calling for the immediate formation of the Earth Ministry of Health. The globalization of trade, the extensive
mouvement of people all over the world, the increase of poverty and diseases in developing countries and all over the world, have caused pathogens and
exotic diseases to migrate over enormous distances and now, are an increasing threat to local ecosystems and communities, economies and health of
every human being and all life. The Earth Community Organization, the Human Family, is calling this threat of the upmost importance and
must be dealt with immediately by every nation. We must manage health in the world. We are calling for the immediate creation of the Earth Ministry of Health.
Formation of a Global Ministry of Environmental Health 1. Must be non-profit, grassroots, and at community level. 2. Finances: drug companies and governments. 3. Global Declaration a) very strict and mandatory 4. The functioning of the NGO is as per Manifesto. c) The formation of the Earth Court of Justice to hear cases and to prosecute those nations, corporations, communities, individuals who commit crimes such as:
The Court will also be asked to decide on * the formation of a new nation in the world, The Court decides in accordance with: * the Scale of Human and Earth Rights, d) The debt of the poor nations to the rich nations was in actuality a form of global tax and therefore the poor or 'developing' nations dont have to pay it back. In fact poor nations should expect way more money as tax by the rich nations and not as loans. The state of the world today is the result of a specific set of interlocking institutions: the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO. These institutions are designed to generate massive wealth for the few and poverty for the rest. The same people who make the decisions in government and corporation make the profit. They create a tight concentration of power. Together they are a form of anti-government whose only goal is profit. The IMF, through Structural Adjustment Programs, now directly runs the economies of over 70 countries. That means that about 1000 economists and bureaucrats control the economic policies for 1.4 billion people in these countries. That is a form of anti-government. The people that profit most from the global economy are white people. The people who are most oppressed by the global economy are people of colour. Racism and sexism have become the norm. The entire planet is in a state of low intensity civil war. The ruling elite profit off of the exploitation of the rest of the world. The Earth Community Organization was looking for a method of raising global taxes, of redistributing incomes to the poorest communities, of providing debt-free technical assistance to non-industrial and developing countries to help them out of poverty and to meet environmental and social standards, but there it was all along right on our eyes. The Earth Court of Justice will be asked to decide on the debt be changed into an actual tax to be paid by the rich nations to the poor nations, and to decide on the amount of tax to be paid. Developing nations will then be able to start rebuilding their communities as per the Scale of Human and Earth Rights and the Charter of the Earth Community. They will not have to satisfy the economic needs and wishes of the rich nations. The Earth Court of Justice will also be asked to rule illegal the activities of the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO unless they become a part of a greater whole such as the Earth Ministry of Financial Institutions, a part of the future Earth Government. These institutions will be controlled by the greater whole. e) Reforming the structure and the voting system of the United Nations to reflect democracy. Democracy of the New Age Civilization will blossom out of the Scale of Human and Earth Rights. f) Establishing the foundation of Earth Government to govern the world affairs and protect all life, g) The new and natural evolution of democracy towards a democracy based on the Scale of Human and Earth Rights and the Charter of the Earth Community, h) Including moral responsibility and accountability in our ways of life; national governments and large corporations have taken the wrong direction by asserting that free trade in the world is about competing economically without any moral safeguards and accountability to peoples and the environment. The proper and only way is for free trade to become a global cooperation between all nations. ECO is proposing a solution that the process of trading within the planetary trading blocks be changed from a spirit of global competition to that of global economic cooperation. This is the new way of doing business, the new way of life. Earth management is about "a sound balance among the interactions of the impacts (positive and/or negative), or stresses, on the four major quality systems: People, Economic Development, Environment and Availability of Earth Resources" with the idea that free trade and the planetary trading blocks are serving the Human Family and not the other way around for self-interests and the benefits of a few people on Earth, and that is a sound SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT of the world. i) The spirit of global competition be changed to a spirit of global cooperation; over its long past history trade has never evolved to require from the trading partners to become legally and morally responsible and accountable for their products from beginning to end. Now trade must be given a new impetus to be in line with the global concepts of the New Age Civilization. You develop, manufacture, produce, mine, farm or create a product, you become legally and morally responsible and accountable of your product from beginning to end (to the point where it actually becomes a waste; you are also responsible for the proper disposable of the waste). This product may be anything and everything. j) The global economy can be affected by the deregulation in the movement of capital and thus by speculation. Money is made off tiny fluctuations in the relative prices of currencies. Speculation makes it possible for huge amounts of money to be transferred half-way around the world in a matter of seconds. Whereas world trade associated with actual goods and services is estimated at $7 trillion a year, speculation is estimated at $1.5 trillion a day. If a country's economy starts to slow, billions of dollars can be transferred out of the country instantaneously, which can significantly affect its economy and the people. This has been the case in 1997 of a number of East Asia countries. They were bankrupted by speculation. The people were enormously affected for the worst. Speculation can exert tremendous pressure on the internal politics of a country. It can bankrupt a country's economy. Speculation should be de-institutionalized. Humanity has no real need for speculation, and it does way more damage than good. Speculation is a form of gambling and is evil. It is a horrible thought that we would want 'developing countries' or Moslem nations such as those of the Middle East, to accept our institutions, and we are telling them that our institutions are for their own good and that they would be in step with progress or the rest of the world. Speculation is an evil institution. We have many other institutions just as evil. The state of the world today is the result of a specific set of interlocking institutions: the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO. These institutions are designed to generate massive wealth for the few and poverty for the rest. The same people who make the decisions in government and corporation make the profit. They create a tight concentration of power. Together they are a form of anti-government whose only goal is profit. The ultimate goal of our institutions is to colonize other nations, destroy their economies, bring poverty to the people and destroy the global life-support systems. The Earth Community Organization is asking the United Nations and all Peoples of the world to build sustainable communities in their own nations without considering "help" from the West. Your best chance to survive is to create symbiotical relationships with other nations you can truly trust. Dont believe that their can only be global relationships such as the WTO. There are no advantages in being a member of the WTO. You can create your own global relationships with partners of your choice and to fit your real needs. No more, no less! k) Religious leaders and their followers be acquainted and asked to participate in Earth management as per the Scale of Human and Earth Rights and the Charter of the Earth Community; how can you not participate knowing that life is the building block through which you can have a relationship with God, Allah. You must become an activist for the protection of life on Earth. l) Promoting and establishing more new, diversified and meaningful symbiotical relationships between nations, communities,and people of the world. ECO has begun to establish the existence of the New Age Civilization, the age of symbiotical relationships and global cooperation. An economically base symbiotical relationship exists between nations of the European Union. Other types (geographical, economical, social, business-like, political, religious, and personal) may be created all over the world between communities, nations, and between people themselves. There has always been symbiotical relationships in Nature, and between Souls and the matter of the universe to help creating Earth and life on Earth to better serve God. m) Promote Peace in the world as a way of life and shelve the war industry forever from humanity. n) In the light of the U.S.A., Canada, Japan and Russia refusal of taking actions to avert certain global calamity in regard to global warming, the Earth Community has decided to try these nations for their crimes against humanity. We have asked them to ratify the Kyoto Protocol as it is. Greenhouse gases are accumulating in the Earth's atmosphere as a result of human activities, and temperatures are rising globally due to these activities. There are plenty of observable effects of the global warming. And certainly this ridiculous and false solution of buying environmental credits from each other should not be considered as a way out of resolving the problem. The ratification is only a beginning to protect the global life-support systems. There is much more to do! But those four countries are not even coming close to a first start in resolving the problem. And they are amongst the worst polluters on the planet. The Earth Court of Justice has listed America as the first nation to be prosecuted for a global environmental crime. Because the leader of the USA was responsible for not ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, and because his leadership is questionably believed to be base on his religious believes, President George W. Bush will be first to appear in Court. The reality here is that every American is on trial here. Every consumer producing the deadly gas causing global warming is on trial. The same goes for every person on Earth producing the deadly gas. The gas is just as deadly as the gas that murdered millions of Jews during World War II. It is even more deadly as it is destroying the global life-support systems of all life on Earth. We are killing billions of human beings and countless life species. Americans have closed their conscience to the reality of life on Earth. They are showing a bad example to the other nations of the world. Even Canada is following in their steps. Justice must prevail to stop the "killing fields". And therefore they are guilty as charge. It is a crime against humanity and all life on Earth not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. It is a terrible crime against the global life-support systems, against the very existence of the next generations. On the Scale of Human and Earth Rights, the crime is of maximum importance. o) The Global Community Assessment Centre (GCAC) is the assessment Centre for the Earth Community, the Human Family. It was created to give individuals or organizations help and/or advice about negative events happening in their communities which cause concern to people, resources, industry or the environment. GCAC is also the Centre of assessment of local/global indicators about the four major quality systems: Environment, People, Economic Development and the Availability of Resources. The assessment of these indicators will result in giving the Earth Community a sense of direction as to ensure a sound future for Earth.In order to do this GCAC will continue to amass a body of scientific information based on formal assessments such as those on Biodiversity, Climate Change, Human Development Report, World Development Report, struggle for Human and Earth Rights, life species Conservation, Health, Economic Analyses, Commission on Sustainable Development, etc., which have bridged the distance between incomplete science and contentious policy. Local and global indicators developed by the Earth Community will also be used as basic scientific information.Furthermore, no one really understands what assessment processes have been most effective in the past, or why others have failed. GCAC’s goal is to explore how assessment of local/global indicators can better link scientific understanding with the progressive implementation of effective policy solutions to global changes. Achieving this integration is fundamental. The Earth Community needs this annual assessment to effectively manage global changes. Nowadays we are living in the quite new life-state – in the STATE OF CHANGE. It is the result of big science-technology progress. We are not adapted to live and develop in such new life-conditions. The main cause of global crisis is rapidly pacing moral degradation of existing forms of life not fitted to the new, rapidly changed conditions of life of human and nature. For avoiding global catastrophe and achieving of sustainable development it is necessary to substitute intellectual evolution for social Darwinism. Computer simulation should be in state of change a basic method of selection of developmental undertakings – in "virtual reality", instead of in practice.. Continuation in state of change of old patterns of development through very expensive "trial and error" and putting to the pieces forms of life not fitted to the new life-conditions - in era of globalization lead us to global catastrophe. For avoiding the global catastrophe we ought to change patterns of development. We - humankind - ought to achieve ethical maturity and symbiotical skill to develop "together with environment (social and/or natural)". For this end we should incorporate into our socioeconomic infrastructure quite new developmental mechanisms – FEED FORWARD and ECOHUMANISTIC value system. We should change patterns of consumption. Consumption of developed parts of world society should be used as a drive of their intellectual, especially innovative, activity. Consumption of weaker parts of world society should allow them reach maturity - education and possibility of their creative partnership cooperation in sustainable development activity. Nowadays, the approaching dangerous must be eliminated in anticipatory way. Without Earth community partnership and cooperation for common good it is impossible to get access to adequate information and generate big intellectual, innovative creativeness that is indispensable for anticipatory elimination of negative effects of rapidly pacing moral destruction of existing forms of life. For life in state of change we need efficient and SUBSIDIARITY multilevel GOVERNANCE. This governance must be based on world integrated information system - for aiding sustainable development policy. For sustainable development we especially have to: 1 - create the possibility of prediction and measurable valuation of complex effects of socioeconomic activity and other changes in life-conditions of human beings and nature,As a result of it we could reach an opportunity to create new economy – ecohumanistic economy (eco-economy) - based on common good (egoaltruistic, ecohumanistic) value system and complex, long-term calculations of profits and costs (including social and environmental components). To this end we ought to create, by the UN, the professional World Center for a Strategy of Sustainable Development The main tasks of this Center ought to be creation of: 1. world integrated (and distributed) warning forecasting system, 2. world information system for prediction and measurable valuation of complex effects of socioeconomic activity and other changes in conditions of life. 3. ecohumanistic economy (eco-economy), 4. system of accumulation of intellectual and material resources that could be necessary for avoiding non predicted dangers. The creation of World Information Basis for Sustainable Development is essential for avoiding global catastrophe through Inclusive Globalization, eco-economy, sustainable development, multilevel governance and partnership for common good cooperation of world society and Earth community. p) During the past decades various changes have taken place in political, economic and social institutions. Economic reforms, changes in national policies, and global concerns have contributed to redefine the roles of these institutions for Sustainable Development. The 'New Age Movements' are social, political and religious movements in the sense of having a broad organizational structure and an ideology aimed at governing. The environmental movements within the New Age Movements express the concerns of groups of people regarding depletion of water, climate change aspects, degradation of land and other changes in ecosystems affecting traditional patterns of natural resource exploitation. The Earth Community has taken the role of helping these groups in protecting and managing the environment by coordinating efforts. Earth Environmental Governance is the most importance and urgent challenge of the Earth Community. The Earth Ministry of the Environment is proposing a meeting of all the Ministers of the Environment. Each country in the world will send their Minister of the Environment to meet during the global dialogue on Earth Management - all Peoples together. The roundtable discussion will also include experts from interested groups, environmental institutions, policy specialists from non-governmental organizations, and the public. There is a need to centralize and coordinate efforts into one Ministry of the Environment: the Earth Ministry of the Environment. Discussion about the financial support will be a priority. A comprehensive and reliable system will be proposed to coordinate efforts from all over the world. Anyone willing to participate in the discussion roundtable may send an abstract/research paper now. Other topics for discussion: a) Involvement of major groups in monitoring, assessment and early warning Earth Environmental Governance can only be achieved successfully within the larger context of Sustainable Developent and Earth Management. All aspects are inter-related and affect one another. A healthy environment is essential to long term prosperity and well-being, and citizens in Earth Community demand a high level of ecological protection. This is the 'raison d'etre' of the Scale of Human and Earth Rights. Primordial human rights are those human rights that individuals have by virtue of their very existence as human beings: to live, eat, drink fresh water, breath clean air, and have shelter. These rights are separate categories than ecological rights, the right of the greatest number of people, economic rights, social rights, cultural rights and religious rights. Ecological and primordial human rights are the only rights that have existed unchanged throughout the evolutionary origin of our species. Any major change would have threatened our very existence. All other human rights listed here are rights created by human beings and can be changed depending of new circumstances; they are not stagnant but are rather flexible and adaptive, and they can evolve. Ecological and primordial human rights of this generation and of future generations are therefore much more important than any other human rights existing now and in the future. In this way the Scale of Human and Earth Rights gives us a sense of direction for future planning and managing of the Earth. Earth management is now well defined and becomes a goal to achieve. We no longer waste energy and resources in things that are absolutely unimportant. q) Global consumption is a very important aspect of sustainable development. Consumers should be concerned with the impact of their decisions on the environment but also on the lives, human rights and well-being of other people. Since one of the key functions of families as a social institution is to engage in production (selling their labour in return for wages) and consumption (using those wages to buy goods and services), then the role of families has impacts on sustainable consumption and development.Just as corporations have social responsibilities and so do consumers in societies. Consumers are socialized to improve the quality of their lives. Quality of life is a multi-dimensional, complex and very subjective concept. For instance, someone who has changed their consumption habits to better ensure that their choices will make a better quality of life for themselves, the environment and future generations, may be seen by others as having a lower or inferior quality of life since they have removed themselves from the materialistic mainstream characteristic of our consumer society. Someone may feel that an absence of violence and abuse in their life leads to a higher quality of living even though they have fewer tangible resources, money, or shelter; peace of mind and freedom from abuse has increased the quality of their daily life relative to what it was like before. There are universal quality of life values which lead to "human betterment" or the improvement of the human condition. In addition to the value of species survival (human and other living organisms), they include: adequate resources, justice and equality, freedom, and peace or balance of power. A better quality of life for all people of Earth Community is a goal for all of us and one of our universal values. The Earth Community Organization is recommending that global education of all consumers be a primary goal to Earth Environmental Governance. r) Fighting against terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. s) Establishing a global regulatory framework for capitals and corporations that emphasizes global corporate ethics; corporate social responsibility; protection of human and Earth rights, the environment, community and family aspects, safe working conditions, fair wages and sustainable consumption aspects. Designing, monitoring, and implementing checks and balances for corporations. t) Requiring that the FTAA, the EU and the WTO be governed by the Scale of Human and Earth Rights and the Charter of the Earth Community. The debt of the poor nations to the rich nations was in actuality a form of global tax and therefore the poor or 'developing' nations dont have to pay it back. In fact poor nations should expect way more money as tax by the rich nations and not as loans. The state of the world today is the result of a specific set of interlocking institutions: the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO. These institutions are designed to generate massive wealth for the few and poverty for the rest. The same people who make the decisions in government and corporation make the profit. They create a tight concentration of power. Together they are a form of anti-government whose only goal is profit. The IMF, through Structural Adjustment Programs, now directly runs the economies of over 70 countries. That means that about 1000 economists and bureaucrats control the economic policies for 1.4 billion people in these countries. That is a form of anti-government. The people that profit most from the global economy are white people. The people who are most oppressed by the global economy are people of colour. Racism and sexism have become the norm. The entire planet is in a state of low intensity civil war. The ruling elite profit off of the exploitation of the rest of the world. The Earth Community Organization was looking for a method of raising global taxes, of redistributing incomes to the poorest communities, of providing debt-free technical assistance to non-industrial and developing countries to help them out of poverty and to meet environmental and social standards, but there it was all along right on our eyes. The Earth Court of Justice will be asked to decide on the debt be changed into an actual tax to be paid by the rich nations to the poor nations, and to decide on the amount of tax to be paid. Developing nations will then be able to start rebuilding their communities as per the Scale of Human and Earth Rights and the Charter of the Earth Community. They will not have to satisfy the economic needs and wishes of the rich nations. The Earth Court of Justice will also be asked to rule illegal the activities of the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO unless they become a part of a greater whole such as the Earth Ministry of Financial Institutions, a part of the future Earth Government. These institutions will be controlled by the greater whole. u) Promoting moral responsibility and accountability in the ways of dealing between nations. v) Requiring that the creation of a new nation and problems between nations be handled by the Earth Court of Justice. w) Establishing the Earth Resources Ministry that will be assessing, compiling, managing and protecting Earth resources, and the Earth Court of Justice prosecuting cases involving crimes related to the relentless misused of the Earth resources. x) Promoting and establishing a worldwide framework for the restoration of the planet, our home. y) Establishing freshwater and clean air as human and Earth rights. Both are a part of the ecological and the primordial human rights, and therefore are the most important rights on the Scale of Human and Earth Rights. z) Abolition of Nuclear Weapons: security, sustainability and justice in a nuclear free future. aa) For their relentless exploitation of the Moslem nations of the Middle East and of Afghanistan to make an immoral profit and obtain power at all costs, for having abused and killed and being the cause of the deaths of millions of Moslems in that region, for having invaded Moslem nations which itself is a horrible crime against humanity, against all human rights, and against democracy and freedom of a people to exist, and for the hate they have created in the heart and mind of every person in the Moslem Civilization, it is recommended that America, Israel, Great Britain, Germany, France and Russia pay eight trillion dollars(American) toward building sustainable communities in the region. The Earth Community shall administer the amount paid and manage the project. It is also recommended that the people from America, Israel, Great Britain, Germany, France and Russia who have been involved with the exploitation and invasion of the Middle East and surroundings be try for their crimes against humanity by the Earth Court of Justice. ab) Immediate withdrawal of all invading troops from the Middle East and Afghanistan. ac) Free trade and the Way of Life of the West that is, the way of doing business, have been given a bad reputation in the world, especially in the Middle East where oil and arms sales have always been strategic interests of several Western nations. The West has relentlessly exploited the oil producing nations of the Middle East. By their behavior and ways of doing things, America and the European Union nations have shown that free trade and globalization meant the absence of ethical and moral values, the absence of responsibility and accountability to products and people, abuses of human rights, cause for terrorism, social and economic injustice, poverty, and pollution. They have given to trade a bad name. The Earth Community is requesting all members of the World Trade Organization(WTO) to change their ways by: 1. building social and environmental concerns into the WTO trade rules; 2. including ethical and moral values, responsibility and accountability in all situations and places; 3. developing a global regulatory framework for capitals and corporations; 4. making a transition from global competition to global co-operation which allows communities the freedom to pursue social and environmental objectives; 5. assuring that globalization and planetary trading blocks serve the Earth Community, the Human Family; and 6. developing a method of raising global taxes, of redistributing incomes to the poorest communities, of providing debt-free technical assistance to non-industrial and developing countries to help them out of poverty and to meet environmental and social standards. ad) The war industry is the "mother of all evils" of our world. It must be shelved. War products and equipment from all nations must be decommissioned. Join the Peace Movement of the Earth Community. Today the war industry is exploiting the issue of terrorism for profit. Everyone knows terrorism cannot be fought by conventional warfare but that would not deter the industry from saying it is the best way to get rid of terrorists. Our governments are now spending tax dollars used for social and environmental programs and services to pay for more war products and equipment. Terrorists have committed the horrible acts of september 11 because the war industry brought terror in their homeland and is continuing to do so today in Afghanistan and in Palestine. In the "Letter to the people of the Middle East", the Earth Community has asked Muslims not to buy war products and equipment from the West or from any country in the world. The only way to fight evil is by not buying its products. The industry should die eventually, hopefully. But now the war industry is organizating a massive international media campaign to make taxpayers pay for their expenses. More illusions about protecting the humble people from nuclear war heads being sent from one continent to another. The terrorist act of September 11 has shown that if terrorists wanted to use war heads they would not use intercontinental missiles. Throughout the 20th Century, the war industry has created the worse evil humanity has ever encountered: the business of conflicts and wars. It is a business that has made trillions of dollars (American) and will continue to do so. It is the "mother of all evils" created by human beings. It has no moral value, no understanding about Life, no respect for anyone or anything, no law except the ones that it makes for itself, and all its products are meant to kill and destroy. It has sold its products to the enemies for the purpose of making more profit. It has subdued governments all over the world to make them buy its products. It has given trade and way of doing business a bad reputation and, therefore, it is a threat to the establisment of business. Although the war industry has a good public image, it does not really matter who is the buyer as long as he pays good money. The proof of this reality was easily verified by finding out what war products and equipment were being used by Iran, Irak, Afghanistan, and other Middle East countries. Over 90% of all war products and equipment were made in the USA, Great Britain, Germany, France and Russia. Four out of five of these countries are Permanent Members of the United Nations and that means they have almost a 100% control on any proposal submitted to the organization. The fifth Permanent Member missing here is China. Shortly after the September 11 event, the UN Security Council has approved war against the people of Afghanistan. To get China to vote YES they gave China a membership in the World Trade Organization(WTO). ae) Terrorism must be stopped by using means other than war. af) All religions are required to conduct positive actions for peace, join the Peace Movement of the Earth Community, and re-examine their scriptures, precepts, practices, ethical and moral values in light of ecological concerns. The global community is facing a global environmental crisis. It is very important that every person on Earth accept of being part of the process in protecting the global life-support systems. The ecological crisis is as much about saving children as it is about saving other lifeforms on the planet. Our objective is to find statements from all religions that promote the respect, stewardship, protection, ethical and moral responsibility to life and of the environment, the Earth global life-support systems, and statements that promote a responsible earth management. We are also asking for specific statements on environmental conservation such as those expressed by the Islamic religion. ag) It has become a necessity to implement a total embargo on all US, Russian and European Union nations mass destruction chemicals, nuclear war heads, weapons, war products and war equipment. These are the countries that have developed and manufactured the weapons of mass destruction. They are also the countries that have been exploiting the developing countries everywhere in the world and especially in the Middle East, and without due respect to human rights and democracy. They are also the countries that have sold weapons of mass destruction to the poor nations of the Middle East for the purpose of making a profit. The "war industry" throughout the world must be put to a complete halt and shelved forever from humanity. The Earth Community is asking all peoples never again to buy there products. The war industry is the "Mother of all evils in the world". All persons working, directly or indirectly, for the war industry, are responsible and accountable to humanity and to God for anything happening to their products after they are sold. Even here in Ontario, Canada, we manufacture weapons and war products. Workers go home happy after a good day of work. They have to pay for their mortgages and make car payments and others. They are mostly Christians. When they go to work, they leave their religious beliefs at home. Ethical and moral values no longer touch them. They dont think that are actually responsible and accountable for spreading evil all around the world. They think they are "good people", good citizens. Every single bullet you manufacture you are responsible and accountable for it, all of you from the President of the company to the employee on the industrial line. Our Society holds responsibility and accountability as well. And if that bullet happened to be a nuclear war head then it becomes even more imperative to held the manufacturer and the people involved responsible and accountable. It is the same idea for any consumer product in any industry. You manufacture, produce, mine, farm or create a product, you become responsible and accountable of your product from beginning to end (to the point where it actually becomes a waste; you are also responsible for the proper disposable of the waste). If a person does anything consciously to damage or destroy the life-support system of the Earth, the ecosystem, and if that person creates or is involved directly or indirectly with conflicts or wars, the Soul of that person is facing the Soul of Humanity. Right now! That Soul is facing the Soul of Humanity right now where all Souls are. God creates particles in places in the Universe, and there is a need for a Soul to serve God in all of those new particles. There is also a need to replace the Souls living in particles between the oldest galaxies and have them come to Earth to taste life. These Souls have been in those particles for more than fifteen billion years and yes, they will be pleased to replace these old Souls on Earth who have gotten too fat for their bellies (a figure of speech) and would rather not bother about the Earth ecosystem and the survival of life on Earth. All Souls within the mineral and plant domains on Earth will also be asked to move up to a higher level, that of the lifeforms. This process has already started a short while ago. In less than a generation a very large number of Souls will be leaving Earth forever and new Souls eager to learn about life in all forms will be replacing them. These new Souls will learn to manage with the living. The merging of all Souls to form the Soul of Humanity may affect significantly this entire process. God prohibits killing, and no exception at all ought to be made to the commandment that it is always wrong to kill. The sanctity of human life is unconditional. A short while ago God, Allah, has spoken to humanity once more. The New Age Revelations are His Word. His Revelations are to be added to previous ones revealed thousands of years ago. Together they are God's Word, and they will guide humanity for the thousands of years to come. His Word reinforce His compassion and love for humanity and His care for all living inhabitants on Earth and of Earth itself. God has said: "Thou shall banish war as a solution to problems between communities. All Souls involved with war, directly or indirectly, shall face the Soul of Humanity to be purified. All Souls involved in the making of weapons, war product and equipment shall be facing the Soul of Humanity." To be purified means a Soul loses all of its attributes as a Human Soul. Then the Soul will be asked to leave Earth forever and to serve God in a particle in the empty space between the oldest galaxies of the Universe. There will be no interaction with an other particle. The Soul will never see the light again. ah) The United Nations are to restructure their organization or start rebuilding it from scratch. The United Nations must reflect the needs and aspirations of the New Age Civilization: all Peoples together, the Human Family, the Earth Community, the Global Community, Global Economic Cooperation, Global Governance, Earth Governance, Earth Environmental Governance, and the Earth Government. It must become a democracy. Join the Global Dialogue on Earth Management to be held on August 2002 in Toronto. ai) Reforming the structure and voting system of the United Nations; the annulment of the special privileges of the Five Permanent Members, and the establishment of a voting system that give to each nation one vote per million people. Earth needs urgently a world system of governance. The United Nations fail to satisfy the needs of the people of the 21st Century. They have never improved upon the old ways and thinking of the middle of the 20th Century. Its voting system no longer satisfy the 6.157 billion people on Earth. The challenges are different and require a world organization up for dealing with the needs of all these people. During the past several years, the Earth Community has been pleading the United Nations leaders to make changes in the UN organizational structure and ways of doing things. There has been an urgent need for fundamental changes in the United Nations organization. The world wants a true democratic world organization. The UN is not! Should we start from scratch? No! There are a lot of good things within the UN, and they need to be protected. The Earth Community is requesting that the United Nations change its voting system to have one vote per million people. This way the rich North will have to deal with the poor in the South in order to obtain votes for decision-making. The eradication of poverty in the world will be achieved. Thousands of other good things will be achieved. The most fundamental requirement of a world organization is a democratic voting system. Democracy must be a priority. The right that the greatest number of people has by virtue of its number (50% plus one) is a human right. It should be respected. Surely, no one believes that organizations such as the European Union and the Free Trade Area of the Americas, or the like, are a substitute to a democracy. They are driven by profits only and are a form of "world anti-government". In the Preamble of the Charter of the United Nations, it says "WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS " but in fact any of the five permanent members of the UN has the power to overthrow a proposal brought forward by any member. The Earth Community is proposing a voting system based on democracy: one vote per million people. In total there are 6104 votes. Taken apart the actual five permanent UN members would have a total of 1810 votes i.e., less than 30% of the total number of votes of 6104 votes. A basic democracy requires a 50% plus one vote for ruling. The above calculations were counting all five permanent members together but in fact any of the five members has the power to overthrow a decision brought forward by any of the 190 Member States of the United Nations. This means 1/190 or 0.5% of the membership is more powerful than the remaining 99.5%. If that is not a dictatorship, what is it? It does not say much about democracy at the UN. More like a dictatorship of the five permanent members. In actual fact, the general philosophy of the UN indicates that the more money a country has the more power that country has at the UN. Basically it is all about money. The disrespect of democracy by the United Nations reflects on other worldwide organizations and their thinking with regard to Earth Management. For instance, leaders of the 34 member nations of the Organization of American States (all the independent nations in North and South Americas and the Caribbean, except Cuba) have met in Quebec City, Canada, to discuss hemispheric free trade which would eliminate trade and investment barriers on goods and services between member countries by 2005. They proposed to create the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) which would represent the world’s largest common market. Again here profit is the goal to achieve at the expense of democracy. And that is a form of world 'anti-government'.
The 'OVERVIEW' of the Proceedings of Global Dialogue 2002 is now ready. All information concerning Global Dialogue 2002, Proceedings, participants, recommendations, explanatory notes,
issues, and the front page, all can be read at the following location http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/gdufour/Proceedings2002.htm.
May the DIVINE WILL come to humanity and show the way. The Soul of Humanity
May the DIVINE WILL come into our lives and show us the way. May our higher purpose in life bring us closer to the Soul of Humanity and God. Cordially, Germain Germain Dufour President Earth Community Organization (ECO)
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A) Global co-operation and symbiotical relationships but not colonization B) A membership in the WTO is not needed and nations should instead seek relationships with few other nations C) The symbiotical relationship between Canada and the United States D) Global symbiotical relationships in the world E) A symbiotical relationship for the developing countries F) The Peace Movement of the Earth Community, the human family G) About the Mangrove Action Project (MAP) H) Midsummer Night's Massacre: Controversial 304-page 'Trade' Bill Few Have Read Is Rammed Through Congress at 3:30 AM by Razor Thin Margin I) The WTO and the UN are two international institutions where a global tax can be collected and used to finance the Earth Ministry of Health, Earth Ministry of the Environment, and the Earth Court of Justice J) To-day's children evoke a VISION of the New Age Civilization of the 3rd Millennium K) Justice for all, and not the political-military solution, as a solution to the problem in the Middle East | ||||||||||||
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Throughout human history there have been leaders of nations who wanted more land and power over people of other nations. They wanted to conquer the world to satisfy their own needs and interests and, often, just for power itself, no other reason. They forced their own people to go to war and the people of other 'friendly' nations to fight on their behalf. Sounds familiar! This is happening today as well! The United States and NATO! Ever since the end of World War I the British tried to colonize the arabs and Moslems of the Middle East and surroundings. Over the past two years, we have proven in articles of several of our Newsletters that the British and American peoples have tried to invade and colonize the Arabs and Moslems of the Middle East. Israel is the Trojan Horse to achieve their goal. Back in 1947, the US have coerced the United Nations to create the State of Israel. It was an illegal and arbitrary process (or the lack of it) that created the State of Israel. There was never a Referendum conducted in the region to find out if there were any reason at all for the creation of Israel (at the time there were only a few Jews in the region) against the will of over one billion Arabs and Moslems. The reason was colonization and invasion of the Middle East for profit and self-interests. Brut and simple exploitation of the people of the Middle East and of their resources. Another invasion but different than the invasion of Vietnam and of other Peoples by the same invaders. After World War II, at the UN, it was easy for the US to get all the allies on their side. The Five Permanent Members of the UN (Great Britain, France, China, US, Russia) had no objection and all passed the resolution that created the state of Israel. That was all that was required. No process! All political! Politicians created the State of Israel without any reason except preparing grounds for a systematic invasion of the Middle East and the exploitation of the Arabs and Moslems and of their resources. In Canada, every province have jurisdiction over their resources. Ask to the Premier of Alberta what he would say if Ottawa was to create a new agency to manage or take over the resources within his province. He would probably seperate from the rest of Canada and join the US. So why would it be any different in the Middle East? Dont people from other nations have the rights to own and control their resources? The US do not think so. We are asking the US to justify their action in the Earth Court of Justice (not in the news media which they own and control). We want Justice for all and universal. We want a process for the creation of new nations. We want the Earth Court of Justice to be an independent and impartial body that will create the process and verify it for the case of the creation of the State of Israel. Today the colonization of the world by rich nations is more subtil. Rich countries manipulate trade agreements in order to ensure profitability. Their governments insist on tariffs and protectionism in areas in which they are weak. Free trade opens up a poor country's economy to competition with strong, developed, well-financed, multinational corporations. In consequence, most of the local producers and manufacturers go out of business thus leaving a poor country's economy entirely in the hands of the transnational elite. It is a form of colonization and of world anti-government. Rich countries force poorer countries to open up their markets, and then take them over. It is obvious that trade is what drives powerful nations to use their military to control other nation's economies. Profit is what counts! That is what really drives the West to war in the Middle East and surroundings. If the US counld get away with it they would use nuclear bombs over every nation of the Middle East to grab their oil reserve. We will not discuss here whether or not Osama bin Laden and his group have perpetrated the terrorist act of September 11. They never claimed having done it and there were never solid proof showing that they were guilty. If they are caught we will leave it to the Earth Court of Justice to decide if they are guilty or not. However, we will show that, after the Ottoman Empire was defeated during World War I, the British have had a Love-Hate relationship with the Islamic Civilization and, after the birth of Israel, America also had such a Love-Hate relationship with the Islamic Civilization. What we see happening today in the Middle East and in America is the clash of the relationship between America and the Islamic Civilization. Historically, the West has manipulated individuals, terrorist groups, and governments of the Middle East for the sole purpose of making a large profit that is estimated to be eight trillion dollars(American). That is the Love part, the love of money, in the Love-Hate relationship. During the Iran-Iraq War, the Love-Hate relationship between America and Israel on one side and Khomeini and Hussein on the other side was erratic and contradictory. Money could buy anyone in the Pursian Gulf, even Israel and America as they were selling arms to both sides at the same time just to keep the war going and thus, making more money. America's policy toward Iran and Iraq was incoherent, inconsistent, dishonnest, erratic, and mostly aimed at making money. Strictly business! A profit-making international policy! This kind of policy created hate of the West in the heart and mind of every person of the Islamic Civilization, and America's credibility in the eyes of the Moslem allies was seriously damaged. After World War I, following the destruction of the Ottoman Empire, the European powers created states and appointed officials to administer them. A lot of what was created had no legitimacy for the people of the Moslem Civilization, and Western domination brought much of the same kind of hegemony in the region as with the British. Moslems have had enough of outsiders exploiting them for profit and power, of being used and killed, and their communities destroyed. The September 11 attack on America may very well be a small outburst of this hate. This is what Israel, Great Britain and America have to deal with, and they are morally responsible and accountable for creating this hate in the Middle East and in Afghanistan. It is the Free Trading of arms in the Middle East, the business deals, and their complete lack of ethical and moral responsibility and accountability that are at the root of the September 11 attack on the USA. The Afghans were wonderful friends to America during the America-Soviet Cold War but now the USA considered them expandable and merely social and religious barbarians. Afghans were already struggling to survive under severe war-ruined, drought conditions. Poverty is widespread in Afghanistan. This Love-Hate relationship is very much the same today. Americans are now selling arms to the people of Pakistan, and it is only a matter of time before Americans change their mind and called the people of Pakistan the evil enemies, the terrorists, and then invade Pakistan. America assume all Moslems are guilty. Moslems have had more than enough of the American and British imperialism in the Middle East. The act of terrorim was the result of an entire Islamic Civilization telling America, and any new outsiders, to butt out of the Middle East and of Afghanistan, or else they will come to our land and do the same to us. The United States, Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany, and Israel were the countries that sold arms to the people of the Middle East and to Afghanistan. They have shown no ethical and moral values in the activities of their trade. They have made trade a despicable act of dealing with one another between human beings and between nations. No laws! No regulations! No ethics! No moral responsibility and accountability! Everyone has the "freedom" of destroying the global life-support systems! Everyone has the "freedom" of human rights abuses! Now pollution, diseases, terrorism, poverty, social and economic injustice have no boundaries. The Earth Community requires that those six nations to provide massive financial aid to the amount of eight trillion dollars (American) to the countries of the Middle East and to Afghanistan to help them overcome the ravages of war they have brought to them by the selling of war product and equipment. The financial aid will be administered by the Earth Community Organization. The first priority of the organization will be to build sustainable communities in all of the Moslem nations of the Middle East, including Afghanistan. Several times in the past the Earth Community has requested the United Nations to restructure its organization to be in touch with the problems humanity is facing in this millennium. They have never replied. Four of the five UN Permanent Members, the United States, Great Britain, France, and Russia, are those countries that, not only control the UN, but they are the same countries that have brought disgrace to humanity by their selfish, immoral, unethical, incoherent, inconsistent, dishonnest, erratic, and mostly aimed at making money behavior in the Middle East and towards Afghanistan. They have given to trade a bad name. Because of them free trade has become a danger to the extinction of life on Earth. They even got China, the fifth Permanent Member of the UN, to vote YES to invade Afghanistan (without that vote the UN could not have approved), in exchange of China got its membership into the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Earth Government will do everything possible to give free trade the proper guidance for humanity. Free trade will become a global co-operation between all nations. The kind of behaviour that happened in the Middle East and in many other parts of the world will not be allowed again. Historical Background What is known of the Middle East includes many countries: Iran, Irak, Libya, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, and also the Israeli occupied territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The Islamic State of Afghanistan is geographically located in Southern Asia, north and west of Pakistan, and east of Iran. Afghanistan is included here in the discussion . The different groups of people living in the region are passionate about defending their territory and bodies of water. Religious beliefs strongly influence their politics. The Middle East is the home of the world's most ancient civilizations and the birthplace of the three great monotheistic(one God) religions: Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Islamic believers, or Muslims, follow the teachings of the prophet Muhammad as recorded in the Quran; the Quran prescribes common laws, a written language and a universal Muslim culture. Jews follow the Torah which describes their early history and is the basis for several of their cultural practices. Christians learn about the history of Christ's life and teachings in the New Testament of the Bible. It is unfortunate that the various interpretations of these Holy Books often cause disagreement and war rather than peace and healing. Historical aspects of the great Moslem's civilization and the birth of the Islam Religion have been described in the September 2001 Newsletter. They represent the beginning of the Middle East saga. This historical perspective spread from the Greek civilization to modern days. It was after World War II that the Middle East became the principal source of oil for industrial nations and a place of ever-growing strategic importance for the global economy. Because of the oil, the Middle East has become a region for conflicts and wars between the Western Civilization and the Moslem Civilization. Furthermore, the old conflict between Jews and Arabs in Palestine has accentuated the tension and made the Middle East one of the most volatile place on the planet. The politics of the Middle East are very complex. The region is the seething with political extremism and religious fanaticism most often caused by outside powers. Starting in the nineteenth century these outsiders were the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, czarist Russia, Germany, France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and now the United States of America. There were always two or more outsiders competing for control and influence. The local governments, rulers, warlords or tribal chiefs have often sided with one of the outsiders or the other to advance local needs or their own personal political power. The Ottoman Turks were Islamic and multiethnic. They ruled a large part of the Arab land for a period stretching from early fifteen century to the end of World War I (they were defeated because they took side with Germany) at which time Great Britain and France played the major roles as colonial powers until the 1956 Suez crisis. After World War II the influence of the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, was exerted through alliances, economic assistance, and the supply of arms, war products and equipment, and not through direct political control or prolonged military occupation. The superpower phase ended in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1991 at the end of the Cold War between the USSR and America, America demonstrated dominance in the Middle East and Russia was transformed from a powerful adversary into a junior partner (global economics are at the roots of this new partnership). Today the United States with Israel are the only outsiders invading the Middle East countries. These outsiders are shaping the political evolution of the Middle East and the destinies of every Moslem country and Afghanistan. Everything, including oil prices (OPEC really have not much saying in this matter), are ruled by the United States. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein predicted that this would happen, and he warned his fellow Moslems. In 1990, he invaded Kuwait (the region of Kuwait used to belong to Irak during the Ottoman Empire period but was made independent by the British in 1922) but America, the Soviet Union, Great Britain and France ejected Irak from Kuwait. Ever since that time, the status quo in the region has been kept by America. The New World Order now reflects the interests of the victors rather than any universal principles of justice or morality. America has emerged as the principal guardian of Gulf security and the Moslem Civilization was, once more over its history, pushed back into a position of dependence, weakness and subservience, and that is really the old regional order (not the New World Order) in the Middle East. Since World War II, America along with junior partners, Great Britain, France and Russia, have refashioned the Middle East in their own image, building a new political and territorial order on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. Despite the efforts of secular and religious local forces who rejected the West's intrusion, America and the junior partners formed states, chose people to govern them, and drawn frontiers between them. But this new order never worked because to Arab nationalists it meant betrayal of wartime promises made by the Allies, military occupation, and the exploitation of resources and of the Moslem people. The Jewish National Home in Palestine further fueled hostility toward the West. The post war order imposed by Great Britain and the Allies created instabilities and disorder (the Ottoman Empire was stable and had order) throughout the Moslem world. On November 29, 1947, the United Nations passed a resolution partitioning Palestine into two independent states, one Jewish and one Arab. The Jewish accepted the resolution and called their land Israel, but the Moslem states rejected it and sent their armies to regain the land but lost the war against Israel. The Palestinians lost their land and have been without a homeland ever since. They became refugees on their own land. Israel's occupation of Moslem land and refusal to recognize the national rights of the Palestinians were the fundamental problems. The State of Israel made its entrance into history in a war against the Moslems. Throughout this period America was a major support in lobbying the UN partition plan and in the birth of the State of Israel. In the aftermath of World war II there were numerous Arab-Israeli wars namely the: a) 1948 Palestine war; b) 1956 Suez war; c) June 1967 Six-Day war between Israel and Egypt/Syria/Jordan; d) 1969-70 War of Attrition between Israel and Egypt; e) October 1973 Yom Kippur war between Israel and Egypt/Syria; and f) Israel's June 1982 invasion of Lebanon. g) In 2001, the Jews of Israel declared war against the Palestinian refugees. After each war America became gradually committed to the security and well-being of Israel. America maintained Israel's superiority over Moslems through regular infusions of money and arms. During the Cold War America had a strategic interest in containing Soviet influence and its expansion in the Middle East. The money and arms given to Israel was used to fend off challenges to American interests from radical, Islamic, and Soviet-backed forces. The American support of Israel was criticized by the Arab Middle East and the Islamic world and has fed the radical Islamic fundamentalist movements. Another strategic interest of the United States was the need to preserve access to two-thirds of the world's known petroleum reserves. In the late 60's and during the 70's, America's defeat in the Vietnam War had profoundly disillusioned the American people about the necessity of always being upfront to the defense of their strategic interests in the Middle East. They chose to rely on friendly local powers as regional policemen: Israel, Iran and Saudi Arabia. They sold arms(at some point in time America agreed to sell anything to the shah of Iran but not nuclear weapons) to Iran and Saudi Arabia and provided them with technical assistance (at costs of course). In Iran, the arms sales increased tremendously as American companies scrambled for lucrative contracts. The overspending on arms led to inflation and corruption as American company officials offered "commissions" in return of government contracts. The increased exposure to Western ideas contributed to Iranian domestic problems, disturbed Islamic fundamentalists and alienated the Iranian people from their rulers. America used the shah to weaken the Soviet Union and its allies, especially Irak, in Central Asia. In the mean time, the Soviets sold arms to Irak. For the White House, the Kurdish people in northern Irak, and the people from Iran and Irak were all pawns in a geopolitical game, supporting them only as long as they were useful. America tilted first toward Iran but will tilt in favor of Irak when circumstances change and when it deemed such a tilt advantageous. This strategy built suspicion and resentment of America on all sides and the long-term consequences were not understood (as we have seen what happened on September 11 2001). In 1979 the Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini overthrown the shah of Iran, the Pahlavi dynasty. With the collapse of the shah's regime, a decade of efforts to develop a viable Gulf strategy ended in failure. America lost a close friend but also prestige and credibility. It also lost its links to the Iranian military, its monitoring stations near the Soviet frontier, and a very important arms buyer. The oil-price also want up to $34 a barrel. Khomeini had criticized the shah's subservience to America and its alliance with Israel, potraying them both as evils to Islam. The Islamic Revolution turned America and other former allies into enemies. Khomeini regarded both the Soviet Union and America as equally guilty of imperialism. Khomeini wanted to spread the Islamic system of government to the corrupt pro-Western and anti-Islamic countries of the Gulf. Khomeini call to Iraqi Shiites to overthrow the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and establish an Islamic state. In December 1979, the Soviet invaded Afghanistan. America feared that the invasion was a prelude to Soviet expansion in the Gulf. On September 22, 1980, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein launched a massive attack on Iran. It was believed that America was an accomplice in the Iraqi attack on Iran. Iraq had a military advantage as Iran was missing its principal source of arms and spare parts. In November 1979, followers of Khomeini seized American hostages. In October 1980, for no apparent reason, Iran announced the release of the hostages. A short while later the embargo on arms to Iran was reversed and Israel was allowed to sell several billion dollars' worth of American-made arms, spare parts, and ammunition to Iran. Money made enemies good friends. The Love-Hate relationship between America and Israel on one side and Khomeini and Hussein on the other side was erratic and contradictory. Money could buy anyone in the Pursian Gulf, even Israel and America. Eventually, Israel made its own arms sell deals without America's permission. America and Israel wanted the Iran-Iraq War to continue forever. There was plenty of money to make from both sides. The Soviet Union condemmed Iraq for starting the war and suspended arms supplies. In 1982 Iran invaded Iraqi territory. Moscow resumed arms supplies to Iraq. At the same time America feared the Iranian military victory which would mean the expansion of Islam. America tilted towards Irak. America also resumed arms sales to Iraq and restored diplomatic relations. Now the Love-Hate relationship between America and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was very real. Once again money made old enemies good friends, and bought Israel and America. Both Israel and America were selling arms to both sides at the same time (the Iran-Contra scandal in the US) just to keep the war going. America's credibility in the eyes of the Arab allies was seriously damaged. Because of pressure at home, America intervened actively in the Iran-Iraq War by tilting on Iraq's side. America established an arms embargo against Iran. On July 1988 Iran capitulated. America's policy toward Iran and Iraq had been incoherent, inconsistent, dishonnest, erratic, and mostly aimed at making money. Strictly business! A profit-making international policy! And Saddam Hussein ended up becoming a junior partner with the US in preserving the status quo in the Gulf. The war did not resolve anything. The threat each regime presented the other was still existing after the cease-fire. In 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait, its former land. The Americans launched Operation Desert Storm to remove the Iraqi forces from Kuwait, and hoping to create a "New World Order" where the rule of law governs the conduct of nations. This New World Order was meant to rally support from local powers but it turned out to be much of the same thing to the Moslem population: status quo, stability, based on the same states and frontiers, and it recognized only state rights and not that of individuals or group rights. It showed that Islamic fundamentalists were not welcome and would never succeed in a democratic framework. Democracy and human rights were not even mentioned, just as if Moslems were not evolved enough as human beings and could not possibly understand the higher thinking of democracy and that of human rights. Maybe Americans thought that, because of their non-Christian religion, Moslems were barbarians and could not be considered as part of the Human Family, the Earth Community. The New World Order was an illusion for covering American hegemony in the Middle East. It allowed Saddam to defeat the Kurdish and Shiite uprisings as a pre-condition to ending the war. The New World Order also allowed the Jews in Israel to occupy Arad lands in Palestine which is something unacceptable to the Islamic Civilization. Americans committed themselves to provide Israel with an unlimited economic, monetary, technological, diplomatic and military assistance. They wanted Israel to maintain its military edge at all costs. America also provided Israel with aid for large-scale housing projects on the West Bank. America remained hostile to the PLO. After understanding these historical events, dont you think Americans and Jews should say me-aculpa for the September 11 events in the USA ? In some ways I feel responsible as well as I should have criticized the American policies in the Middle East and may be they would have changed. Are we responsible adults or are we going to hide behind hate and revenge like irresponsible children? When are we going to look within ourselves and examine our Way of Life, our values, and start to take some responsibility of the September 11 events? All of us. The West is responsible for countless territorial disputes in the Middle East and in other parts of the world, and has denied several countries' very right to exist, and caused numerous wars and struggles for national liberation. Current conflicts in the Middle East are between Moslems and Jews, and Moslems and America. By making an astronomical profit through the selling of arms, war products and equipment to all of the Middle East countries, including Iran, Irak and Afghanistan, and by sucessively calling these old friends their new enemies and terrorists, and destroying their countries, America and Great Britain have shown that they could never be trusted. Since the Cold War is over, the only American interests in the Middle East are the cheap crude oil and the protection of Israel. The Jews come first even if it mean to fight and annihilate the entire Islamic Civilization with nuclear war heads. If you have any doubt that they would do such an atrocious crime, ask the people from Japan and also, ask the Russians as they have back off from rubbing their noses with those of the American and the British. They are looking for an excuse big enough for doing it. The September 11 event was not big enough. And it would not matter whether or not they have solid proof of who is guilty of the attack. No one has claimed responsibility of the September 11 event and, therefore, there are no solid proof of who could have done such a terrible act. If there had really been a solid proof it would have been easy to prove it in the Earth Court of Justice. America assume all Moslems are guilty. Moslems have had more than enough of the American and British imperialism in the Middle East. There is no such thing as one person, Osama bin Laden, being guilty of the September 11 event. It is ridiculous what the News Media Controlled Industry of the West is trying to make us believe. The media was told "Look for the leader and throw all you have got at him, and if there is no leader we will make one". Americans once again are invading a country in the region of the Middle East, Afghanistan, to look for the leader and his "gang of terrorists". We say that they are not people like we are, and they should be stopped. The reality is that they are Moslems people, more than a billion of them. After World War I, following the destruction of the Ottoman Empire, the European powers created states and appointed officials to administer them. A lot of what was created had no legitimacy for the people of the Moslem Civilization and Western domination brings much of the same kind of hegemony in the region as with the British. They have had enough of outsiders exploiting them for profit and power, of being used and killed, and their communities destroyed. The act of terrorism of September 11 was not caused by a group of lawless people with Osama bin Laden as their leader. No! The act of terrorim was the result of an entire Moslem Civilization telling America, and any new outsiders, to butt out of the Middle East or else they will come to our land and do the same to us. Killing Osama bin Laden and his people will not solve anything. It will make the American people feel better for a while. The News Media Controlled Industry of the West will make sure that the American feel good about having caught and punished the guilty ones. The American people are way more intelligent than this. They know something is not right! Something right has to be done and invading Afghanistan is not the answer. Invading the entire Moslem world is not the answer either. The only strategic interests America has in the Middle east are the oil, selling arms and Israel. We can buy the oil like we have done in the past. Better even we should find an environmentally friendly source of energy. Oil is creating global warming and will bring about the extinction of Life on Earth. Selling arms is evil. We know that so why are we doing it? Money? I certainly never got a penny off selling arms so who is making all those trillion of dollars? There were astronomical amounts of money made by the war industry ever since World War I. We have armed the Moslem people, and then we have destroyed them. The war industry is evil and should be shelved for good. America has an obligation to promote a meaningful Israel-PLO settlement in the Middle East. There is too much instability, violence and bloodshed in the region. As for Israel, if the problem was just the small piece of land that they took away from the Moslem Civilization then we could offer the Jews to relocate somewhere else where they could participate positively as members of the Human Family, the Earth Community. There is plenty of space North of Canada. But we would have to ask permission from the Canadian Government and the neighborhood communities (by referendum) if they would accept the people from Israel as neighbors. We would not ask the United Nations to break all the rules of human rights and democracy and approve the creation of the state of Israel in Canada. One thing is for sure Jews would have to leave their guns and war heads behind. They would have to decommission all of their war products and equipment. But the problem with Israel in the Middle East is not about the small piece of land that they have taken from the Moslem world. It is about religion: Judaism and Christianity (from America) versus Islam. Actually it is not so much Christianity as Americans have another religion, they have money or the dollar sign as their religion. In a way, the West is jealous of the Islamic Faith, and followers of the Faith, moderates, fundamentalists and extremists. Much of our Western philosophy is related to science and its applications, and about the Universe, the evolution of Life, and it has its roots in the Islamic Faith and that is totally opposed by Christian believers as they believe in Creation. It is like the Islamic Faith is intruding in a major way into the Christian Faith. This was amply shown during the Iran-Irak War. The Love-Hate relationship with either regime was based mostly on the love of profit-making from the part of America and hate of Americans and Jews by Iraqis and Iranians. This Love-Hate relationship is very much the same today. Basically what Americans have showed is that, given enough money, America can be bought. No need to destroy America, just buy it. It is not right for Canada to be driven to war just because of the American self-interests in the Middle East. Canada should get out of NATO. It is an archaic institution just like the war industry. America brought terrorism to their country because of their profit making self-interests in the Middle East. I certainly do not approve of Canadians being asked to give their lives for such meaningless reason. The days of the great wars for great reasons are over. We live in the New Age Civilization. We are the Human Family, the Earth Community, the Global Community, and we dont want greedy people to govern our lives. There are 6.1 billion of us. We will rise up and tell to that small group of greedy people who rule the world where they can go. They can go to Jupiter. What goes around comes around! If we truly want peace, safety and security, than we have to invite every Moslem of the Middle East to become a part of the Human Family.
Of course it is a bad idea to be a member of the WTO. We have shown that in several articles of our Newsletters. There are no advantages! It just does not work for anyone except when you have an army to knock down any member who does not do your five wishes and plus. A membership in the WTO is not needed and nations should instead seek relationships with fewer other nations only if needed. Certainly it is better to seek an economic relationship with another nation we can trust than with a hundred nations we have no control on and everyone of those nations has a say in the governing of our nation, its environment and social structure. The WTO only offers illusions to profit the few wealthiest people on Earth. They say become an industrialized nation as we are. But that is the biggest illusion of all. To become an industrialized nation is far from being the best solution. The best way and solution for any nation is to follow the Scale of Human and Earth Rights. Right on top of the scale are the ecological rights, the global life-support systems, and the primordial human rights of this generation and of the next generation. Economic and social rights come next and are not the most important. That makes a lot of sense! The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was first signed in 1947. The agreement was designed to provide an international forum that encouraged free trade between member states by regulating and reducing tariffs on traded goods and by providing a common mechanism for resolving trade disputes. GATT membership now includes more than 110 countries. GATT is really the watchdog, the 'enforcer' that makes trade a law, a way of life, a way of doing business between nations. It is a form of world anti-government that do not respect life and the environment. GATT (now replaced by the WTO), along with bedfellows such as the IMF and the World Bank, are actually a small class of about 1000 people (bureaucrats, technocrats, economists, government officials) who rule over one billion people in the world. Over the years, the IMF and World Bank interacted with one another and still do today. The IMF looked after the new systems of fixed exchange rates by making exchange easy between different currencies thus making trade easy between countries. The IMF provided short-term emergency loans (5 years maximum to repay) to governments. The World Bank was to focus on long-term loans at low interest rates to allow European nations to rebuild and restore. Later on in the 1950s, after European nations had recovered from the war, the World Bank continued to exist by lending to the governments of poor nations especially in Latin America, Africa and Asia. In 1973, US President R. Nixon decided to take America off the gold standard to devalue the US dollar. This US policy destroyed the system of fixed currency exchange rate. After this action, the effect on the global economy was felt positively by the rich nations of the world, currencies could no longer 'float' relative to each other and the debt of the poor nations increased as they were all created in US dollars. Then the World Bank loaned more dollars to the poor nations. Often the money was used for war purposes such as in the Philippines and Argentina. War equipment was bought from America, and this had a positive effect on the US economy. Poor nations saw their debt grow astronomically and were forced to make new loans just to pay for the interests. The IMF supplied more loans under the condition that the poor nations undergo "Structural Adjustment Programs". This had the effect that a poor nation's economic policy would be dictated by the IMF. The IMF simply said to the poor nations: do all you can to attract business and pay off your debts. The IMF and the World Bank are a form of anti-government gone bad as their policies brought poverty to more than half the population on Earth and are causing a major threat to the global life-support systems. Poor nations started to privatize many services and reduce spending on others so that they would have more money available for debt repayment. The overall effect was that governments were cutting on education, healthcare and subsidies to keep food prices affordable. Governments had to promote 'free trade' and to devalue their currency. Now in a nation whose currency is worth less, all the costs of doing business are less and prices for imported goods increase. The IMF basically forced poor nations to focus their economy toward exports, especially cash crops such as coffee, sugar, cotton, etc. and raw materials such as copper and timber. In consequence of this, several nations produced the same products all at the same time and thus prices for those products went down enormously. The overall effect of the US policy within the IMF and the World Bank was to increase poverty and ecological destruction in the poor nations while the rich nations got richer. The effect of IMF and World Bank policies in the world caused the destruction of the economies of the poor nations (now we call them 'developing' countries). They impoverished the people by taking away basic services and devaluating their currency. They opened up the national economy to be ravaged by competition with richer nations. Poverty lead to other problems causing the ecological destruction of a poor nation. Environmental spending was diminished under a Structural Adjustment Program. More rainforest land had to be cleared to grow crops just to survive. The overall effect of the US policy within the IMF caused the famine in Somalia, the war in Rwanda, and many other international catastrophes. In the mean time the debt of the poor nation increased enormously. The longer a nation was under a Structural Adjustment Program, the more its debt increased. In 1999, the debt of the poor nations has reached $3 trillion dollars. While 'developing' countries receive loans and aid from sources such as the World Bank, the IMF and other banks in 'developed' countries, they pay back much more just to pay off the interest on their debts. The banks in 'developed' countries are doing very well and cashing in at the detriment of the poor nations. And so are the multinational corporations as the cost of doing business in poor nations gets even cheaper. Governments of rich nations benefit from what is happening as they gain power over governments of poor nations. The elite in poor nations benefit as well. Today, the personal wealth of Ferdinand Marcos, the former dictator of the Philippines, is estimated at $10 billion. All around the world there is a small elite class of officials, bureaucrats, technocrats and economists who make the decisions about the economic policy for most of the world, and they are also the ones who benefit from those policies at the expense of the rest of the world. The effect of IMF and World Bank policies created poverty and inequality in the world. Since 1950, the total dollar value of the world economy has increased 5-fold, while the number of people in absolute poverty has doubled. The 3 wealthiest people on the planet are now wealthier than 48 poorest countries. The total wealth of the 200 richest people in the world has more than doubled to a $1 trillion. Today about 1.3 billion people survive on less than a dollar a day, and about the same number do not have access to clean drinking water. Approximately 3 billion people live on less than 2 dollar a day; and 2 billion people are suffering from anaemia. The state of the world today is the result of a specific set of interlocking institutions: the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO. These institutions are designed to generate massive wealth for the few and poverty for the rest. The same people who make the decisions in government and corporation make the profit. They create a tight concentration of power. Together they are a form of anti-government whose only goal is profit. The IMF, through Structural Adjustment Programs, now directly runs the economies of over 70 countries. That means that about 1000 economists and bureaucrats control the economic policies for 1.4 billion people in these countries. That is a form of anti-government. The people that profit most from the global economy are white people. The people who are most oppressed by the global economy are people of colour. Racism and sexism have become the norm. The entire planet is in a state of low intensity civil war. The ruling elite profit off of the exploitation of the rest of the world. Because governments of poor nations had to promote 'free trade', this situation cause barriers to trade to be eliminated and now we are seeing the globalization of 'free trade'. Poor nations are now asked to produce only the products they are good at producing and buy from other countries the products they are not as good at producing. This way the economy of a nation will function at maximum efficiency. So now governments are told to open up their borders and to stop meddling in markets, so that competition will be free internationally. Often what is called trade is really moving of resources across borders between subsidiaries of the same corporation. Nothing to do with free competition. Economic activity is centrally-managed and planned by the corporate elite. Capital move freely across borders as restrictions on the flow of money have been removed. Corporations can relocate their operations to the countries with the lowest wages, the least active unions and the lowest environmental standards. The reality is that more polluting industries are encouraged to relocate to poorer countries. A polluting industry tends to increase the chances that people in the surrounding area will have health problems. If pollution kills someone or makes them unable to work, the cost to the economy, or to the industry in the case of a law-suit, would be roughly equal to the projected wages that the person would have earned in the rest of their life. In a country with low life expectancy and low wages, this cost will be lessened. It costs less to dump a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country. 'Free trade' now means the removal of: a) tariffs and similar restrictions on the easy flow of capital (and that includes no global tax on transactions stemming from speculation), and Today the watchdog, the 'enforcer' for 'free trade', and also the bedfellow of both the IMF and the World Bank, is the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO is responsible for monitoring national trading policies, handling trade disputes, and enforcing the GATT agreements. The World Trade Organization (WTO), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) encourage the privatization of public services and the settling of international disputes their own way. Any government, acting on behalf of a corporation, can challenge the acts of another government if they "interfere with trade." Complaints are taken to a WTO dispute resolution body which then make a binding decision. The WTO has forced governments to lower their environmental standards in favour of a corporation to allow more pollution into the environment, and that is a form of anti-government gone bad with absolute no respect or care for life and the global-life support systems. Corporations can sue governments if they harm their profits through any unfair barriers to trade. NAFTA and WTO tribunals usually rule in favor of corporations. So now we really have a new definition for the word 'property' to mean both what is currently owned and profits that could potentially be made. To compensate, we propose a new definition for 'pollution' and 'human destruction' to mean the pollution and human destruction that the policies of the IMF, World Bank and WTO are causing now in the world plus the pollution and human destruction that they will cause in the future to the next generations. By providing corporations with a mean to override governmental decisions, NAFTA and the WTO (and the proposed FTAA) shift power even more into the hands of the elite. And that is also a form of anti-government. The global economy can be affected by the deregulation in the movement of capital and thus by speculation. Money is made off tiny fluctuations in the relative prices of currencies. Speculation makes it possible for huge amounts of money to be transferred half-way around the world in a matter of seconds. Whereas world trade associated with actual goods and services is estimated at $7 trillion a year, speculation is estimated at $1.5 trillion a day. If a country's economy starts to slow, billions of dollars can be transferred out of the country instantaneously, which can significantly affect its economy and the people. This has been the case in 1997 of a number of East Asia countries. They were bankrupted by speculation. The people were enormously affected for the worst. Speculation can exert tremendous pressure on the internal politics of a country. It can bankrupt a country's economy. Speculation should be de-institutionalized. Humanity has no real need for speculation, and it does way more damage than good. Rich countries manipulate trade agreements in order to ensure profitability. Their governments insist on tariffs and protectionism in areas in which they are weak. For instance, Canada and the USA are now going through the process of an economic war in the softwood industry. The imposition of a 29 percent tariff on softwood lumber by the U.S. Commerce Department shows that Canadians were duped by the Free Trade Agreement(FTA) and NAFTA. The U.S. Government protectionism is itself aimed at reducing the value of the Canadian companies just long enough for American competitors to acquire them. Many Canadian industries have already been bought by US competitors. The energy sector is one of them. Free trade opens up a poor country's economy to competition with strong, developed, well-financed, multinational corporations. In consequence, most of the local producers and manufacturers go out of business thus leaving a poor country's economy entirely in the hands of the transnational elite. It is a form of colonization and of world anti-government. Rich countries force poorer countries to open up their markets, and then take them over. Governments can try to improve the economy by given: a) governments funds to rich corporations to bail them out when they are in trouble, and The military is used against domestic dissidents, like a police force. It is also used to expand markets and keep international dissidents in line. Governments of poor countries that try to take control of their own resources and develop their own economies (instead of remaining areas of cheap labour and raw materials for rich countries) are declared enemies, terrorists, and attacked, officially or otherwise. Nicaragua and Yugoslavia are examples. U.S. military is "to protect U.S. interests and investments" and that includes making other nations safe for U.S multinational corporations. And that exactly what is happening in the Middle East where the U.S. military is protecting its strategic interests especially the continue flow of oil. How will the military be part of the FTAA? Are we seeing here in the Americas a scenario that has occurred in Europe before the Second World War when the German Nazis try to take over the world? The FTAA should entrench a strong statement that says that military should not be an option as a solution to any situation arising in the hemisphere. The Earth Court of Justice was created to deal with any situation and, therefore, the military is not needed. The military should also be subjected to the Earth Court of Justice for any violation of human rights including environmental rights as defined by the Scale of Human and Earth Rights. The argument for 'free trade' states that countries should specialize in certain products that they are good at producing and buy from other countries what they are not good at producing, so that the economy is more efficient. What kind of efficiency is it, when the pieces of a product are sent half way around the world to be assembled in a country with cheap labour, then shipped back to be sold? It may be profitable, but it is a waste of time and energy as well as resources, and moving products this way is not environmentally friendly and is a threat to the global life-support systems. What kind of efficiency is that? Huge amounts of money are spent on marketing to get people to buy things that they don't need. Where is the efficiency in that?
There is no such thing an honest 'free trade' with the U.S. It is only free for oil, gas and electricity, which they desperately need and not free for products where American voters demand protection. U.S. protectionist policies are applied at the very moment when President George W. Bush is bullying the world to open its borders to American products and investment. The U.S. Government protectionism is itself aimed at reducing the value of the Canadian companies just long enough for American competitors to acquire them. Canada must abrogate NAFTA and replace it with a fair trade treaty which would restore the bargaining chips we gave away to the Americans. The US government and the American corporate people are protecting their own people at the cost of deteriorating significantly the Canadina-USA relationship. We, as Canadians, certainly have the right to take the problem to the WTO and to retaliate in other commercial and industrial sectors. This creates the illusion that the trade body and its tribunal are protecting a fair trade. But it is just that an illusion. While everyone is appreciating the good words President Bush said about corporate responsibility and punishing the corporate people who do not present an honest annual business report about their business, at the same time he himself was pushing for passing a 'Trade' Bill throungh Congress (see article Midsummer Night's Massacre here by Razor Thin Margin). The 'trade' bill which has as its main agenda promoting massive global corporate deregulation just hours after crowing about passage of new regulations aimed at the corporate crime wave caused by the very sort of deregulation this bill promotes globally. The trade package included authorization to negotiate a 31-nation Free Trade Area of the Americas NAFTA expansion, new limits on enforcement of labor or environmental standards in trade agreements, a modest Trade Adjustment Assistance program, and an expansion to more nations of the investor-to-state lawsuits of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which allows foreign corporations to challenge domestic regulatory standards before trade tribunals if they limit future expected profits. This new Bill, and the power of the WTO, and the US military to protect US investments and corporations abroad, so what is the good about being a member of the WTO? What about good governance of the Earth to sustain all life and protect the global life-support systems? Once you become a member of the WTO , you lost all you had. But what is the WTO? Is it the Earth Government? A higher Court? The Earth Court of Justice? None of that! The World Trade Organization(WTO), is an international organization established in 1995 as a result of the final round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations, called the Uruguay Round. The WTO is responsible for monitoring national trading policies, handling trade disputes, and enforcing the GATT agreements, which are designed to reduce tariffs and other barriers to international trade and to eliminate discriminatory treatment in international commerce. In an effort to promote international agreements, WTO negotiations are conducted in closed sessions; many outsiders have strongly criticized such meetings as antidemocratic. Unlike GATT, the WTO is a permanent body but not a specialized agency of the United Nations ; it has far greater power to mediate trade disputes between member countries and assess penalties. In the Uruguay Round, agreement was reached to reduce tariffs on manufactured goods by one third. Under the WTO, subsidies and quotas are to be reduced on imported farm products, automobiles, and textiles, which were not covered by GATT; there is also freer trade in banking and other services and greater worldwide protection of intellectual property. Negotiations to eliminate subsidies and protections for agricultural products, however. have proved to be a stumbling block. After a contentious meeting (1999) in Seattle (and concurrent public protest about WTO policies and operations), the WTO's leadership announced a reevaluation of the organization's structure. The WTO is headquartered in Geneva and also holds international ministerial conferences; it has 144 members. Since international trade needs an international organization such as the WTO then why not an international organization to protect the global environment, the global life-support systems? Why not one for other global aspects such as:
* Earth Court of Justice
* Health * Justice * Terrorism * Employment * Agriculture * Human and Social Development * Communications * Finances and Banks * Protection of the global life-support systems * Energy * Resources * Water Resources * Trade * Forestry * Rescues and Emergencies * Global taxes * Tourism * Technology * Arts * Poverty * Education Why not have ministries, global ministries, for each one of these sectors of life? And yes, why not one for global politic? The Earth Government? We are excluding here the United nations(UN). We have already shown that the USA has manipulated the UN for its own self-interests. The UN is truly a dictature by the Five Permanent Members(0.05% of the membership) and not a democracy. The voting system allows 0.05% of the membership to overthrow any proposal. The USA is truly dictating to the rest of the world. The Earth Community Organization has proposed that each nation should have one vote per million people. No need to restructure nation governments. Just give one vote per million people to each nation member. That is as close to democracy one could get. What to do about this situation? Here in the Americas, we are planning to do just the opposite of a democracy: choosing an economic model totally based on profit making. The Summit of the Americas (see Article The Summit of the Americas, the FTAA and Earth Management) in Quebec city gave green light to the corporate sector with no checks. If the corporate sector was truly willing to honestly do such checks and balances then it should not matter to them to have the system put in place before they sign such an agreement. The Earth Community Organization (ECO) is proposing to oversee such a system be put in place to the satisfaction of Earth Community. The Summit of the Americas was a meeting of the 34 National Governments of every country in North, Central, South America and the Caribbean (except Cuba). The meeting was held April 20-22, 2001, in Quebec City. There was a discussion to extend the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) throughout the Americas to form the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) by 2005. The FTAA will follow the World Trade Organization (WTO) guidelines for settling disputes. The Organization of American States (OAS) manages implementation of this process. Member countries are encouraged to change their economic infrastructures to be in line with the free trade policies of the FTAA. Many member countries have already prioritised economic growth over social aspects and human rights. The FTAA has been shown to be: A) heavily supportive of privatization of health care and education B) in favor of complete trade liberalisation C) using unsustainable and exploitative production contributing to global deforestation, air pollution, climat change, desertification and loss of topsoil D) guaranteeing less control over: * the management of natural resources * environmental and safety standards E) giving more control to profit driven multinational corporations and investors leading to environmental degradation and human right abuses especially of women The Earth Community Organization (ECO) is aware of what the 34 National Governments are trying to achieve
and decided to help them designing an agreement between themselves in line with the Earth Charter of our organization. Several articles
in our Newsletters were written especially to help you find sound solutions. Trade and globalization Globalization and the trade blocks intensify all aspects of human life and are at the roots of the Peoples Revolution of the New Age Globalization is a process interaction which involves growing economic interdependence of countries worldwide with implications and impacts on social, cultural, political, environmental and familial aspects and rights. Geographical and political limits become less and less significant. Economic globalization is seen by the growing interaction and interdependence of the world's different nations and corporations. Interactions include capital flows, flows of material goods, and labour. Markets, technologies and consumption patterns gradually let go their national or local character and become international and global. Economic globalization leads to globally more standardized sets of products. The globalization of consumption can be observed. Market analyses can prove the existence and the demand of certain products worldwide and the presence of corporations in different countries of the world. A globalization of consumption is actually taking place because we observe that certain products are sold with success all over the world. Globalization of consumption represents an environmental danger. The consumer society is blamed for causing the largest part of environmental problems through resource depletion, emissions and wastes. Trade with developing countries In multilateral trade, developing countries have three major concerns: * The Uruguay Round has not done much to improve market access for their exports of goods and services. * World Trade Organization(WTO) rules were found unbalanced in many important development related areas including the protection of intellectual property rights and use of industrial subsidies. * Inadequate or inexistent human and financial resources have rendered impossible the use of opportunities offered by WTO to developing countries. These concerns are not likely to find sound solutions within the FTAA. People living in developing countries find no interest to enter into negotiations with wealthier trading partners. The increasing gap between rich and poor nations will make it even unlikely of successful multilateral trade negotiations. The effects of globalization and the creation of planetary trade blocks give rise to global problems such as:
* unemployment in industrial nations
* poverty increases world-wide ~ entire countries in a state of starvation * environmental degradation * national interests of a country changing and becoming more trade oriented and trying to go with the wave of global trade * international interests of a country take prime importance * in developing countries, national debts constrict the institutions of the national state and contribute to the destruction of the economic activity which, in turn, as the effect of creating unemployment * national currencies of many countries are affected by national debts and contribute in destroying social life, creating ethnic conflicts and civil wars * the large corporation is becoming larger and getting more power and control falls into the hands of a few people * globalization is another way of keeping control on our lives in the hands of a few people * with globalization we have no control and no say in our future and the world becomes a game played by a few people just as it has always been throughout history, leading to revolutions and war * with globalization there is no sense of direction and meaning, no security for the individual, just a few people getting richer and controlling us all Trade and the world economic system The globalization of the world economic system is proceeding at a very rapid pace, and is wrongly promoted as being welfare-improving. This phenomenon is also present in the arena of international finance. In this area, however, the presumed virtues of globalization are far from being materialized. Trends show that developing countries in the global economy are faced to achieve a stable economic growth by a faster growth. The global economy is unstable. Serious biases against the underprivileged exist. It was found that in the world's poorest countries the interactions between trading and financial systems have had significant negative impacts on their growth. Global capital movements have kept poverty and unemployment on the rise in developing countries. The gap between the rich and the poor is widening. This shows a failure of the new economic system of the world in building an equitable system of global economic governance. Most developing countries show a trend of widening trade deficits and falling or stagnant growth rates. Their efforts to close the payments gap through increased exports to developed countries have failed. An increase in exports required growth in world demand but world growth has been low. Export earnings were not sufficient in financing the debt. A sound solution to trade issues New approach to trade and development issues was suggested: business leaders are to conduct their affairs with responsibility, cooperation and compassion. A larger flow of private foreign investment would accelerate further growth and bring stability. Progress on access to markets in industrialized countries is the key to overcoming the payments facing developing countries. The international trading system needs to be fair to all global economies. Their are aspects leading to unfair competition. Protectionism is at its highest in developed countries. For example, the heavy subsidization of agricultural output in the industrial countries cuts out imports from developing countries. Protectionism was also observed for industrial products such as clothing and textiles, low-tech and high-tech products. The industrialized countries were found to make use of antidumping procedures and health and safety standards against successful exporters in the developing countries. Trade vs consumption Perceiving and understanding the human population in its role as a consumer is very important because consumers collectively spend two thirds of a country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). They buy and influence the purchase of an increasingly wide array of products. Despite the fact that we are making consumer decisions in an emerging global community, people are still being taught how to be "good consumers", when actually the word consume means, "to destroy, use or expend". The enormous productive capacities and market forces of the planet have been committed to satisfying human needs and desires with little overall regard to the short-term or long-term future of life on the planet, or life in other nations or in future generations. There are many different types of consumers and they all need to be taken into account separately: teen, young adult, elderly, low income, disabled, illiterate, and ethnic. Each type of consumers need to be understood from the point of view of a global perspective; a global perspective that challenges materialism and promotes ecological responsibility, humanitarianism, well-being, consumer ethics and the Earth Community concepts. These concepts were developed to sustain Earth and they include world conditions, global problems and issues, global citizenship, stewardship of the ecosystem of the Earth, a moral and a spiritual community, universal values, and global interconnections. Consumption in developing countries has risen much faster over decade than in the industrialized countries due to their high rate of population growth, fast urban development, increased motorization and industrialization. In the OECD countries, a decline in world prices does not usually stimulate consumption because taxes on oil products account for most of the price to end-users. The Earth Community Organization is concerned with the sustainability of current levels and patterns of consumption and with the economic, political, personal, environmental, availability of resources, societal and spiritual impact of excessive, run-away consumption. About 20% of Earth’s people account for 80% of the world's total consumption. We have assigned ourselves the task of finding ways to make consumption, consumer rights and responsibilities:
* Fair to the well-being of others
* Socially responsible and sustainable to future generations * In line with the universal values * In line with human rights and responsibilities Consumers' rights impinge on the rights of other humans living in Earth Community. The right to choice is the consumer right that refers to the right to have a range and variety of goods and services at competitive, fair prices and variable, satisfactory quality. In order to assure choice in the developed country markets, governments have implemented trade laws to facilitate cross border transactions and transnational corporations (TNCs) have set up business off shore so they can lessen the cost of the production process. The goods that are available in the developed country markets are provided by slave labour, child labour, sweatshops or in countries that allow the TNCs to forego adhering to pollution or ecological concerns and human rights in pursuit of profit. Labour rights are abused in efforts to earn more profits. This leads to abhorrent working conditions, job insecurity and low living standards (all human rights). Consumers in developed countries have been socialized to want more and more things to consume but have not been socialized to appreciate the impact of their consumption choices on the human rights of other people; that is, they are not being responsible for their decisions. Responsible consumption within the Earth Community means:
* Awareness of global dynamics, the state of the planet, and the differences of other cultures
* Being concerned with the impact of consumption and production on the environment * Acceptance of notions of voluntary simplicity and conservation * Knowing the consequences of resource management decisions * Living a sustainable life style * Be aware of the impacts of new and different technologies * Be aware of the impacts of economic development on the integrity of both developed and developing local indigenous communities, infrastructures and natural environments * Be aware of the impacts on human rights, political stability, societal well-being, cultural sustainability, familial well-being, quality of life and standards of living of other nations * Be aware of the impacts of a decision made by a family living in developed country to consume a particular good on the household subsistence, production and community activity of a family living in a developing country; and be aware if that decision would affect poverty, potable water, food diversity, arable land, security from war, education, communications Consumers operate in an impersonal market economy where they make choices unburdened by guilt or social obligations; they just have to be able to pay. But a typical global community consumer see himself/herself as part of a larger whole that is affected by a collectivity of individual consumption decisions and has to question the global integrity of purchasing a product, and will decide not to purchase at all if the integrity is being challenged. Sound trade solutions within Earth Community Earth Community has initiated a global dialogue to discuss a sustainable development as a widely-discussed alternative to currently unsustainable economic development patterns. It is all the more attractive because it may be cast in terms compatible with the market economy. However, there must be a social dimension to the concept, a vision, for it to become a viable alternative to unrestrained economic growth. The Earth is no longer a self-regulating planetary system. Its future will depend on human action and the continuation of natural ecosystems will be achieved because people want them to be preserved. Acceptance of sustainable development by society may depend on cultural values and even spiritual notions about the relationship of humankind to the Earth. People will not accept a view of sustainable development that recreates a technologically more advanced version of a basic peasant society, especially if they have only recently developed economically. For societies to accept a sustainable development and to continue to grow within, the new way of living must accept cultural diversity, encourage individual expression, allow social change, offer opportunity, and examine values. There must be ways to permit opportunity and growth without ecological compromise. Achieving sustainable development may therefore be linked with policies emphasizing community, the value of information, originality in ideas, and the arts. Humanity embarks on a new path in history, the inevitability of World societies living, sharing, and creating economic partnerships interactively is, beyond doubt, that which we must confront. Our creativity today may influence tomorrow's socio-economic strategies and contribute to the evolution of human societies - an evolution directed towards a global partnership with each other, and, most importantly, with our natural environment. Many socio-political infrastructures created for global industries neglect the environment and do not promote environmental sustainability. It is proposed the restructuring of knowledge that governs society, a strategy aimed to change the focus of the capitalist economy and considered Indigenous peoples and their nurturing of spiritual and environmental partnership with nature - a valuable and integral part of their socio-economic structure. A corporation will now be required to operate its business as per global ehtics: * Be concerned with issues such as climate change, bio-diversity, pollution prevention and adopt high standards * Minimize environmental degradation and health impacts * Be responsible for the environmental impact of its products and services throughout their cycle * Adopt a wide environmental code, and policies, health and safety practices and procedures aimed at reducing resource and energy use in each stage of a product or service life-cycle * Set up appropriate management systems to implement policies * Conduct annual checks and balances and provide reports to the community * Respect the political jurisdiction of national communities * Respect human rights, social and cultural rights * Recognize its political and economic impact on local communities * Contribute to the long-term social, cultural, environmental and economic sustainability of the local communities * Respect the rights of indigenous peoples, their culture and land, and their religious and social customs; provide employment and training opportunities * Ensure that each employee is treated with respect and dignity and is not subjected to any physical, sexual, psychological or verbal harassment or abuse * Respect employees' right to freedom of association, labour organization, and free collective bargaining * Provide equal pay for work of equal value * Recognize the responsibilities of all workers to their families, and provide for maternity leave, and paternity leave * Ensure that their be no barriers to the full participation of women within the company * Participate in the creation of child care centres and centres for the elderly and persons with disabilities where appropriate * Ensure no discrimination on grounds of race, ethnicity, or culture * Ensure that persons with disabilities who apply for jobs with the company receive fair treatment and are considered solely on their ability to do the job; provide resources and facilities which enable them to achieve progression in employment in the company * Provide training to all employees to conduct their activities in an environmentally responsible manner * Work with organizations concerned with children's rights, human rights and labour rights to ensure that young workers are not exploited * Ensure that a mechanism is in place to address ethical issues of concern raised by employees * Make sure that the company's policies balance the interests of managers, shareholders, employees, and other affected parties * Adhere to international standards and protocols relevant to its products and services * Adopt marketing practices which protect consumers and ensure the safety of all products * Conduct or support research on the environmental impacts of raw materials, products, processes, emissions and wastes associates with the company and on the means of minimizing such adverse impacts * Make a sustainable use of renewable natural resources such as water, soils and forests * Conserve non-renewable natural resources through efficient use and careful planning * Conserve energy and improve energy efficiency of internal operations and of the goods and services being sold We have explained in previous articles and newsletters that the United States, Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany, and Israel were the countries that sold arms to the people of the Middle East and to Afghanistan. The Peoples of those countries have shown that: * they have never applied ethical and moral values in the activities of their trade. They have made trade a despicable act of dealing with one another between human beings and between nations. No laws! No regulations! No ethics! No moral responsibility and accountability! Everyone has the "freedom" of destroying the global life-support systems! Everyone has the "freedom" of human rights abuses! Now pollution, diseases, terrorism, poverty, social and economic injustice have no boundaries. They have brought disgrace to humanity by their selfish, immoral, unethical, incoherent, inconsistent, dishonnest, erratic, and mostly aimed at making money behavior in the Middle East and towards Afghanistan. * they have given to trade a bad name. Because of them free trade has become a danger to the extinction of life on Earth. The Earth Government will do everything possible to give free trade the proper guidance for humanity. Free trade will become a global co-operation between all nations. The kind of behaviour that happened in the Middle East and in many other parts of the world will not be allowed again. The Earth Community Organization(ECO)was first in defining and promoting the meaning of concepts such as "a global community", "the Global Community", "globalization", "global governance", and in developing a model of Earth Government to handle the planetary problems within the spirit of a global co-operation. There are no such thing as an anti-globalization movement as we have defined and developed the concepts of the New Age Civilization. National governments and large corporations have taken the wrong direction by asserting that free trade in the world is about competing economically without any moral safeguards and accountability to peoples and the environment. The proper and only way is for Free Trade to become a global co-operation between all nations. Surely, if we can cooperate in fighting against terrorism, then we should also be able to cooperate in fighting against the effects of the type Free Trade and the emergence of the planetary trading blocks as applied by national governments members of the World Trade Organization(WTO). It has already been shown that these effects will be desastrous socially and environmentally and are a direct threat to the existence of Life on Earth. The Earth Community is proposing a solution that the process of trading within the planetary trading blocks be changed from a spirit of global competition to that of global economic cooperation. The Earth Community has made clear that globalization and planetary trading blocks should be serving the Earth Community and not the other way around, the people around the world serving the very few rich people. The September 11 event was the result of bad trading of arms and oil in the Middle East. By applying proper moral safeguards and accepting responsibility and accountability of all products (arms and oil in this case), we would make free trade and globalization serving the Human Family. The Earth Community Organization recommends to implement a total embargo on US products. Free trade cannot proceed at the expense of the environment, labour rights, human rights and the rights of a community. Free trade leads to an increase in poverty by giving investor rights priority over government decision-making. Employers will be looking for more concessions from workers. Small businesses will find it more difficult to grow and compete against large corporations. Free trade encourages countries to change their economic infrastructures to be in line with the free trade policies of the World Trade Organization(WTO). Many member countries have already prioritised economic growth over social, environmental and human rights aspects. The WTO, foreign corporations and world business leaders claim that free trade brings sweeping democracy to all. They claim trade globalization is a forerunner of democracy in nations where it is non-existent. The Earth Community Organization does not believe that democracy will automatically succeed in a global free market. In fact, free trade is itself a flagrant abuse of democracy. Free trade entrenches corporate power at the expense of democratically elected officials from local communities, municipal governments, provincial governments, national governments and states. It is a form of "world anti-government" (such as the European Union block) as citizens lose the ability to act in their best interests and find sound solutions to their own problems. Citizens become disconnected with the decision-making process. Their lives are then driven by the desire of making profits. Fear is used to force people to behave with the dollar sign as their god. In such scenario, democratic principles lose meaning and no longer prevail. All that we have worked for over the past decades to build sustainable communities is gone with free trade. People were never asked to discuss and were never invited in its development. The principles of a sustainable development are let go and replaced by the desire of the world business leaders to make larger profits. A well known proof that free trade and our way of doing business have been degraded to the most despicable act of dealing with one another as human beings has been observed in thousands of instances in the world and was especially obvious in the Middle East. Free trade and the Way of Life of the West that is, the way of doing
business, have been given a bad reputation in the world, especially in
the Middle East where oil and arms sales have always been strategic interests
of several Western nations. The West has relentlessly exploited the oil
producing nations of the Middle East. By their behavior and ways of doing
things, America and the European Union nations have shown that free trade
and globalization meant the absence of ethical and moral values, the absence
of responsibility and accountability to products and people, abuses of
human rights, cause for terrorism, social and economic injustice, poverty,
and pollution. They have given to trade a bad name. Over its long past history trade has never evolved to require from the
trading partners to become legally and morally responsible and accountable
for their products from beginning to end. At the end the product becomes
a waste and it needs to be properly dispose of. Now trade must be given
a new impetus to be in line with the global concepts of the New Age Civilization.You
manufacture, produce, mine, farm or create a product, you become legally
and morally responsible and accountable of your product from beginning
to end (to the point where it actually becomes a waste; you are also
responsible for the proper disposable of the waste). This product may be
anything and everything from oil & gas, weapons, war products,
to genetically engineered food products. All consumer products. All medicinal
products! All pharmaceutical products! In order words, a person becomes
responsible and accountable for anything and everything in his or her life.
After organizing two global dialogues: A) the World Congress on Managing and Measuring Sustainable Development - Global community Action 1,held in August 2000, B) on Earth Management - all Peoples together with a theme "Earth Government for Earth Community, a grassroots process", held August 17-22, 2002, in Toronto, the Earth Community Organization is now planning ahead for the future. Our results so far indicate new creative ways for helping humanity. We will focus our next global dialogue, Global Dialogue 2004, on promoting and establishing more new, diversified and meaningful symbiotical relationships between nations, communities,and people of the world. ECO has begun to establish the existence of the New Age Civilization of the 3rd Millennium, the age of symbiotical relationships and global cooperation. An economically base symbiotical relationship exists between nations of the European Union. Other types (geographical, economical, social, business-like, political, religious, and personal) may be created all over the world between communities, nations, and between people themselves. There has always been symbiotical relationships in Nature, and between Souls and the matter of the universe to help creating Earth and life on Earth to better serve God. Global ministries are a very specific and useful type of symbiotical relationships on Earth. There are urgently needed. The Earth Community Organization has been promoting the formation of 51 global ministries for the proper governance of Earth. Global ministries are world wide organizations just like the WTO for trade and therefore should have the same power to rule on cases as that of the World trade Organization (WTO). The Earth Community Organization has already created several global ministries. The most obvious ones are the Earth Ministry of Justice, the Earth Ministry of the Environment for Global Environmental Governance and the Earth Resources Ministry . We have the responsibility of managing Earth. The partnership of government, civil society, and business is essential for an effective global governance based on global concepts and the Scale of Human and Earth Rights. The Earth Community Organization (ECO) has created the Earth Resources Ministry for Earth Governance. ECO is also proposing the creation of several other global ministries for the management of Earth (energy, agriculture, environment, health, Earth resources, Earth management, security and safety, trade, peace, family and human development, water resources protection, family and human development, water resources protection, youth, education, justice, science and technology, finance, human resources, ethics, human and Earth rights, sustainable development, industry and manufacturing products, etc.). Each ministry would have a similar power to rule as that given to the WTO organization. The creation of global ministries is a part of the "Belief, Values, Principles and Aspirations of the New Age" (see the Charter of the Earth Community on our website). The Earth Court of Justice will prosecute cases stemming from the global ministries. Prosecuting is based on: a) the Scale of Human and Earth Rights ECO has summarized the rights of every person on Earth by developing the Scale of Human and Earth Rights. The scale will eventually be replacing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Earth Court of Justice will be hearing cases submitted the Court by the Global Ministries. Earth needs urgently a world system of governance. The United Nations fail to satisfy the needs of the people of the 21st Century. It has never improved upon the old ways and thinking of the middle of the 20th Century. Its voting system no longer satisfy the 6.157 billion people on Earth. The challenges are different and require a world organization up for dealing with the needs of all these people. During the past several years, the Earth Community has been pleading the United Nations leaders to make changes in the UN organizational structure and ways of doing things. There has been an urgent need for fundamental changes in the United Nations organization. The world wants a true democratic world organization. The UN is not! Should we start from scratch? No! There are a lot of good things within the UN, and they need to be protected. The most fundamental requirement of a world organization is a democratic system of voting. Democracy must be a priority. The right that the greatest number of people has by virtue of its number (50% plus one) is a human right. It should be respected. The actual UN system of voting is undemocratic, unfair and noone likes it. It does not work! The Earth Community Organization (ECO) has proposed a voting system based on democracy. The system was described in the past and is again showing its functioning in two articles of July 2001 Newsletter: Earth Governance vs the United Nations and The Democratic Voting System for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). It is very simple and democratic. Surely, no one believes that organizations such as the European Union and the Free Trade Area of the Americas, or the like, are a substitute to a democracy. They are driven by profits only and are a form of "world anti-government". Of the 189 Member States of the United Nations, it takes only one of the five permanent members to overthrow any decision or proposal during a meeting. This means 1/189 or 0.5% of the membership is more powerful than the remaining 99.5%. If that is not a dictature, what is it? It does not say much about democracy at the UN. More like a dictature of the five permanent members. In the Preamble of the Charter of the United Nations, it says "WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS " but in fact it should say "WE THE FIVE PERMANENT MEMBERS". The Earth Community is requesting that the United nations change its voting system to have one vote per million people. This way the rich North will have to deal with the poor in the South in order to obtain votes for decision-making. The eradication of poverty in the world will be achieved. Thousands of other good things will be achieved. Earth has long been waiting for a truly global governing body based on universal values, human rights, global concepts and democracy. We might as well start this creating process now, there is no longer any reason to wait. There is a lot to be done. Creation of Ministries (see listing) will be a priority. Since international trade needs an international organization such as the WTO then why not an international organization to protect the global environment, the global life-support systems? Why not one for other global aspects such as:
* Earth Court of Justice
* Health * Justice * Terrorism * Employment * Agriculture * Human and Social Development * Communications * Finances and Banks * Protection of the global life-support systems * Energy * Resources * Water Resources * Trade * Forestry * Rescues and Emergencies * Global taxes * Tourism * Technology * Arts * Poverty * Education Why not have ministries, global ministries, for each one of these sectors of life? And yes, why not one for global politic? The Earth Government? Divine Will has caused the event of the New Age Civilization, the age of symbiotical relationships and global cooperation. ECO has begun to establish the existence of the New Age Civilization all over the planet. An economically base symbiotical relationship exists between nations of the European Union. Other types may be created all over the world between communities, nations, and between people themselves. They may be geographical, economical, social, business-like, political, religious, and personal. There has always been symbiotical relationships in Nature, and between Souls and the matter of the universe to help creating Earth and life on Earth to better serve God. National governments and large corporations have taken the wrong direction by asserting that free trade in the world is about competing economically without any moral safeguards and accountability to peoples and the environment. The proper and only way is for free trade to become a global cooperation between all nations. The Earth Community is proposing a solution that the process of trading within the planetary trading blocks be changed from a spirit of global competition to that of global economic cooperation. This is the new way of doing business, the new way of life. Just like for other global ministries, we are also proposing that the Earth Court of Justice is the only higher Court to prosecute criminals stemming from trade. In the light of the U.S.A., Canada, Japan and Russia refusal of taking actions to avert certain global calamity in regard to global warming, the Earth Community has decided to try these nations for their crimes against humanity. We have asked them to ratify the Kyoto Protocol as it is. Greenhouse gases are accumulating in the Earth's atmosphere as a result of human activities, and temperatures are rising globally due to these activities. There are plenty of observable effects of the global warming. And certainly this ridiculous and false solution of buying environmental credits from each other should not be considered as a way out of resolving the problem. The ratification is only a beginning to protect the global life-support systems. There is much more to do! But those four countries are not even coming close to a first start in resolving the problem. And they are amongst the worst polluters on the planet. The Earth Court of Justice has listed America as the first nation to be prosecuted for a global environmental crime. Because the leader of the USA was responsible for not ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, and because his leadership is questionably believed to be base on his religious believes (see Article in May 2002 Newsletter: Leadership of a nation and religion), President George W. Bush will be first to appear in Court. The reality here is that every American is on trial here. Every consumer producing the deadly gas causing global warming is on trial. The same goes for every person on Earth producing the deadly gas. The gas is just as deadly as the gas that murdered millions of Jews during World War II. It is even more deadly as it is destroying the global life-support systems of all life on Earth. We are killing billions of human beings and countless life species. Americans have closed their conscience to the reality of life on Earth. They are showing a bad example to the other nations of the world. Even Canada is following in their steps. Justice must prevail to stop the "killing fields". And therefore they are guilty as charge. It is a crime against humanity and all life on Earth not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. It is a terrible crime against the global life-support systems, against the very existence of the next generations. On the Scale of Human and Earth Rights, the crime is of maximum importance. There is no need to wait for the election of the Earth Government to create the Earth Court of Justice. The Court can be formed now and incorporated to the Earth Government later. Prosecuting criminals on the basis of universal jurisdiction regardless of a territorial or nationality nexus required a solid commitment of political will from national governments and Earth Community. Once in effect, the Earth Court of Justice will become the principal judicial organ of the Earth Community. The Court will have a dual role: to settle in accordance with international law the legal disputes submitted to it by national governments, local communities, and in some special cases by corporations, non-government-organizations and citizens, and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by duly authorized organs and agencies. The Court will be composed of judges elected by the Elected Representatives Council and Earth Security Council. It may not include more than one judge of any nationality. The Members of the Court do not represent their governments but are independent magistrates. The judges must possess the qualifications required in their respective countries for appointment to the highest judicial offices, or by jurists of recognized competence in international law. The composition of the Court has also to reflect the main forms of civilization and the principal legal systems of the world. The Earth Court of Justice will hear cases involving: * nation states The procedure followed by the Court is defined in its Statute. The Court decides in accordance with: * belief, values, principles and aspirations of the New Age, The Statute of the Earth Court of Justice will be established later. The Earth Court of Justice established by the Charter of the Earth Community as the principal organ of the Earth Community shall be constituted and shall function in accordance with the provisions of the Statute.
The Earth Community Organization is recommending to the developing nations not to make deals with the developed countries. Do not accept money as loans from the IMF and World Bank. Do not become a member of the WTO. Your best chance for survival is to build sustainable communities in your country. If you do need to make a deal with another nation, a symbiotical relationship based on economics, make sure it is for the interests of both of you. You have no need of a global membership on any kind. It would destroy you. The debt of the poor nations or 'developing nations' to the rich nations was in actuality a form of global tax and therefore the poor or 'developing' nations dont have to pay it back. In fact poor nations should expect way more money as tax by the rich nations and not as loans. The state of the world today is the result of a specific set of interlocking institutions: the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO. These institutions are designed to generate massive wealth for the few and poverty for the rest. The same people who make the decisions in government and corporation make the profit. They create a tight concentration of power. Together they are a form of anti-government whose only goal is profit. The IMF, through Structural Adjustment Programs, now directly runs the economies of over 70 countries. That means that about 1000 economists and bureaucrats control the economic policies for 1.4 billion people in these countries. That is a form of anti-government. The people that profit most from the global economy are white people. The people who are most oppressed by the global economy are people of colour. Racism and sexism have become the norm. The entire planet is in a state of low intensity civil war. The ruling elite profit off of the exploitation of the rest of the world. The Earth Community Organization was looking for a method of raising global taxes, of redistributing incomes to the poorest communities, of providing debt-free technical assistance to non-industrial and developing countries to help them out of poverty and to meet environmental and social standards, but there it was all along right on our eyes. The Earth Court of Justice will be asked to decide on the debt be changed into an actual tax to be paid by the rich nations to the poor nations, and to decide on the amount of tax to be paid. Developing nations will then be able to start rebuilding their communities as per the Scale of Human and Earth Rights and the Charter of the Earth Community. They will not have to satisfy the economic needs and wishes of the rich nations. The Earth Court of Justice will also be asked to rule illegal the activities of the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO unless they become a part of a greater whole such as the Earth Ministry of Financial Institutions, a part of the future Earth Government. These institutions will be controlled by the greater whole. The effect of IMF and World Bank policies in the world caused the destruction of the economies of the poor nations (now we call them 'developing' countries). They impoverished the people by taking away basic services and devaluating their currency. They opened up the national economy to be ravaged by competition with richer nations. Poverty lead to other problems causing the ecological destruction of a poor nation. Environmental spending was diminished under a Structural Adjustment Program. More rainforest land had to be cleared to grow crops just to survive. The overall effect of the US policy within the IMF caused the famine in Somalia, the war in Rwanda, and many other international catastrophes. In the mean time the debt of the poor nation increased enormously. The longer a nation was under a Structural Adjustment Program, the more its debt increased. In 1999, the debt of the poor nations has reached $3 trillion dollars. While 'developing' countries receive loans and aid from sources such as the World Bank, the IMF and other banks in 'developed' countries, they pay back much more just to pay off the interest on their debts. The banks in 'developed' countries are doing very well and cashing in at the detriment of the poor nations. And so are the multinational corporations as the cost of doing business in poor nations gets even cheaper. Governments of rich nations benefit from what is happening as they gain power over governments of poor nations. The elite in poor nations benefit as well. Today, the personal wealth of Ferdinand Marcos, the former dictator of the Philippines, is estimated at $10 billion. All around the world there is a small elite class of officials, bureaucrats, technocrats and economists who make the decisions about the economic policy for most of the world, and they are also the ones who benefit from those policies at the expense of the rest of the world. The effect of IMF and World Bank policies created poverty and inequality in the world. Since 1950, the total dollar value of the world economy has increased 5-fold, while the number of people in absolute poverty has doubled. The 3 wealthiest people on the planet are now wealthier than 48 poorest countries. The total wealth of the 200 richest people in the world has more than doubled to a $1 trillion. Today about 1.3 billion people survive on less than a dollar a day, and about the same number do not have access to clean drinking water. Approximately 3 billion people live on less than 2 dollar a day; and 2 billion people are suffering from anaemia. The state of the world today is the result of a specific set of interlocking institutions: the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO. These institutions are designed to generate massive wealth for the few and poverty for the rest. The same people who make the decisions in government and corporation make the profit. They create a tight concentration of power. Together they are a form of anti-government whose only goal is profit. The IMF, through Structural Adjustment Programs, now directly runs the economies of over 70 countries. That means that about 1000 economists and bureaucrats control the economic policies for 1.4 billion people in these countries. That is a form of anti-government. The people that profit most from the global economy are white people. The people who are most oppressed by the global economy are people of colour. Racism and sexism have become the norm. The entire planet is in a state of low intensity civil war. The ruling elite profit off of the exploitation of the rest of the world. Because governments of poor nations had to promote 'free trade', this situation cause barriers to trade to be eliminated and now we are seeing the globalization of 'free trade'. Poor nations are now asked to produce only the products they are good at producing and buy from other countries the products they are not as good at producing. This way the economy of a nation will function at maximum efficiency. So now governments are told to open up their borders and to stop meddling in markets, so that competition will be free internationally. Often what is called trade is really moving of resources across borders between subsidiaries of the same corporation. Nothing to do with free competition. Economic activity is centrally-managed and planned by the corporate elite. Capital move freely across borders as restrictions on the flow of money have been removed. Corporations can relocate their operations to the countries with the lowest wages, the least active unions and the lowest environmental standards. The reality is that more polluting industries are encouraged to relocate to poorer countries. A polluting industry tends to increase the chances that people in the surrounding area will have health problems. If pollution kills someone or makes them unable to work, the cost to the economy, or to the industry in the case of a law-suit, would be roughly equal to the projected wages that the person would have earned in the rest of their life. In a country with low life expectancy and low wages, this cost will be lessened. It costs less to dump a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country. 'Free trade' now means the removal of: a) tariffs and similar restrictions on the easy flow of capital (and that includes no global tax on transactions stemming from speculation), and Today the watchdog, the 'enforcer' for 'free trade', and also the bedfellow of both the IMF and the World Bank, is the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO is responsible for monitoring national trading policies, handling trade disputes, and enforcing the GATT agreements. The World Trade Organization (WTO), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) encourage the privatization of public services and the settling of international disputes their own way. Any government, acting on behalf of a corporation, can challenge the acts of another government if they "interfere with trade." Complaints are taken to a WTO dispute resolution body which then make a binding decision. The WTO has forced governments to lower their environmental standards in favour of a corporation to allow more pollution into the environment, and that is a form of anti-government gone bad with absolute no respect or care for life and the global-life support systems. Corporations can sue governments if they harm their profits through any unfair barriers to trade. NAFTA and WTO tribunals usually rule in favor of corporations. So now we really have a new definition for the word 'property' to mean both what is currently owned and profits that could potentially be made. To compensate, we propose a new definition for 'pollution' and 'human destruction' to mean the pollution and human destruction that the policies of the IMF, World Bank and WTO are causing now in the world plus the pollution and human destruction that they will cause in the future to the next generations. By providing corporations with a mean to override governmental decisions, NAFTA and the WTO (and the proposed FTAA) shift power even more into the hands of the elite. And that is also a form of anti-government. The global economy can be affected by the deregulation in the movement of capital and thus by speculation. Money is made off tiny fluctuations in the relative prices of currencies. Speculation makes it possible for huge amounts of money to be transferred half-way around the world in a matter of seconds. Whereas world trade associated with actual goods and services is estimated at $7 trillion a year, speculation is estimated at $1.5 trillion a day. If a country's economy starts to slow, billions of dollars can be transferred out of the country instantaneously, which can significantly affect its economy and the people. This has been the case in 1997 of a number of East Asia countries. They were bankrupted by speculation. The people were enormously affected for the worst. Speculation can exert tremendous pressure on the internal politics of a country. It can bankrupt a country's economy. Speculation should be de-institutionalized. Humanity has no real need for speculation, and it does way more damage than good. Rich countries manipulate trade agreements in order to ensure profitability. Their governments insist on tariffs and protectionism in areas in which they are weak. For instance, Canada and the USA are now going through the process of an economic war in the softwood industry. The imposition of a 29 percent tariff on softwood lumber by the U.S. Commerce Department shows that Canadians were duped by the Free Trade Agreement(FTA) and NAFTA. The U.S. Government protectionism is itself aimed at reducing the value of the Canadian companies just long enough for American competitors to acquire them. Many Canadian industries have already been bought by US competitors. The energy sector is one of them. Free trade opens up a poor country's economy to competition with strong, developed, well-financed, multinational corporations. In consequence, most of the local producers and manufacturers go out of business thus leaving a poor country's economy entirely in the hands of the transnational elite. It is a form of colonization and of world anti-government. Rich countries force poorer countries to open up their markets, and then take them over. Over the years, the IMF and World Bank interacted with one another and still do today. The IMF looked after the new systems of fixed exchange rates by making exchange easy between different currencies thus making trade easy between countries. The IMF provided short-term emergency loans (5 years maximum to repay) to governments. The World Bank was to focus on long-term loans at low interest rates to allow European nations to rebuild and restore. Later on in the 1950s, after European nations had recovered from the war, the World Bank continued to exist by lending to the governments of poor nations especially in Latin America, Africa and Asia. In 1973, US President R. Nixon decided to take America off the gold standard to devalue the US dollar. This US policy destroyed the system of fixed currency exchange rate. After this action, the effect on the global economy was felt positively by the rich nations of the world, currencies could no longer 'float' relative to each other and the debt of the poor nations increased as they were all created in US dollars. Then the World Bank loaned more dollars to the poor nations. Often the money was used for war purposes such as in the Philippines and Argentina. War equipment was bought from America, and this had a positive effect on the US economy. Poor nations saw their debt grow astronomically and were forced to make new loans just to pay for the interests. The IMF supplied more loans under the condition that the poor nations undergo "Structural Adjustment Programs". This had the effect that a poor nation's economic policy would be dictated by the IMF. The IMF simply said to the poor nations: do all you can to attract business and pay off your debts. The IMF and the World Bank are a form of anti-government gone bad as their policies brought poverty to more than half the population on Earth and are causing a major threat to the global life-support systems. Poor nations started to privatize many services and reduce spending on others so that they would have more money available for debt repayment. The overall effect was that governments were cutting on education, healthcare and subsidies to keep food prices affordable. Governments had to promote 'free trade' and to devalue their currency. Now in a nation whose currency is worth less, all the costs of doing business are less and prices for imported goods increase. The IMF basically forced poor nations to focus their economy toward exports, especially cash crops such as coffee, sugar, cotton, etc. and raw materials such as copper and timber. In consequence of this, several nations produced the same products all at the same time and thus prices for those products went down enormously. The overall effect of the US policy within the IMF and the World Bank was to increase poverty and ecological destruction in the poor nations while the rich nations got richer. The Earth Community Organization is calling for the creation of the Earth Court of Justice to rule that the debt of the poor nations or 'developing nations' to the rich nations was in actuality a form of global tax and therefore the poor or 'developing' nations dont have to pay it back. In fact poor nations should expect way more money as a tax by the rich nations and not as loans.
The Earth Community Organization is promoting the settling of disputes between nations through the process of the Earth Court of Justice. War is the greatest violation of human rights that one people can inflict on another. It brings deaths and injuries, starvation, diseases, millions of people losing their homes and livelihoods, and massive destruction of property. Children and teenagers are placed in internment camps, and several are often forced to serve as soldiers. War not only corrupts the morals of soldiers, it leads to a decline in the morality of the whole nation. Political and military leaders are always convinced that their particular war is justified. From their point of view, there are several reasons to go to war: loyalty to allies, religion, a thirst for power, greed, ancient grievances to be settled, or the desire to alleviate suffering among their people. A nonviolent settlement to a conflict would always be more advantageous. War is self-defeating because it cannot secure what it sets out to achieve, protection against attack. The hatred for the enemy whipped up by war and the desire for revenge among the losers leads to an accursed vicious circle from which there is no escape. The difference between agressive and defensive, or just and unjust wars, is ridiculous. They are tags each side adopted to suit its interests. War and militarism destroy civil liberties within a nation. What happens to a person's conscience when he/she wears the uniform of the soldier? It is enslaved to the state. He must kill when ordered. No government, whether democratic or despotic, can allow the soldier to decide what to do according to his conscience. That would undermine discipline and the power to fight. The Earth Community claims that everyone on Earth should be able to live in peace. This peace mouvement is about courage. Not the courage it takes to go into battle but the courage to organize resistance to war when a bloody taste for it inflames the world, and the threat of prison in a nation where the human rights and freedom of expression have diminished significantly. It is about the courage to say NO to the war industry. It is an industry that destroys life on Earth, corrupts society, and violates morality. Military intervention in the affairs of other nations is wrong. There are other ways, there are peaceful ways, ways that are not based on profit-making and the gain of power for itself. We are conscientious objectors, "nonresistants". That word comes from Jesus, opposing the use of violence: "Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." The evil is the war industry. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus develops the ethic of nonviolence and love of the enemies. Early Christians were probably the first individuals to renounce participation in war unconditionally. "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." And he told Peter, "All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." Christ has taught us to show mercy, to forgive enemies, to put up patiently with oppression, to return only good for evil and love for hatred and, therefore, war is inconsistent with the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This shows that a Christian should take no part in war, never, in any way. This all means that violence is futile in the long run. To respond to violence with violence is only perpetuating a vicious cycle of violence. God prohibits killing, and no exception at all ought to be made to the commandment that it is always wrong to kill. The sanctity of human life is unconditional. A short while ago God, Allah, has spoken to humanity once more. The New Age Revelations are His Word. His Revelations are to be added to previous ones revealed thousands of years ago. Together they are God's Word, and they will guide humanity for the thousands of years to come. His Word reinforce His compassion and love for humanity and His care for all living inhabitants on Earth and of Earth itself. God has said: "Thou shall banish war as a solution to problems between communities. All Souls involved with war, directly or indirectly, shall face the Soul of Humanity to be purified. All Souls involved in the making of weapons, war product and equipment shall be facing the Soul of Humanity." There are several reasons for objecting to war: religious, moral and political. People have different degrees of refusal to go to war. Absolute pacifists such as the Earth Community will not cooperate with any preparation for war as decided by the war industry, let alone war itself. Others will accept some kinds of service so long as they are not forced to fight. And others are willing to fight in "just wars." The idea of the "just war" began with St. Augustine. Late in the fourth century he argued that the good Christian, barred from doing violence on his own behalf, could take arms in a war that was just. Several theologians now say that the standards for a just war are: a) War must be the last resort and used only after other means have failed. b) War must be declared to redress rights actually violated or for defense against unjust demands backed by the threat of force. It must not be fought simply to satisfy national pride or to further economic or territorial gain. c) The war must be openly and legally declared by a legal government. d) There must be a reasonable chance of winning. e) The means used must be in proportion to the ends sought. f) Soldiers must distinguish between armies and civilians and not killed civilians in purpose. g) The winner must not required the utter humiliation of the loser. It can be debated whether any war has ever satisfied all these reasonable conditions. There werer always Christians who rejected violence. They believed Christ's way was the pursuit of peace. During the Crusades, from the eleventh to fourteenth centuries, Christians fought to recover the Holy Land from Islam, and the Church plunged into extreme violence and cruelty. Even then there were some who had the courage to criticize the theory and practice of their time. They were like the early Christians in denouncing war. Only now they were not rebelling against a heathen empire but against the wordly Church. In their opposition they formed sects, separate from the official Church. Their pacifist convictions found their source in a return to the Bible. These awakened Christians went back to the fundamental ideas of Christianity, to the New Testament, and took the Sermon on the Mount as their ideal. The people of the Earth Community are dedicated in using our resources to resolve conflict, promote democracy, and fight hunger, terrorism, disease, and human rights abuses. In order to bring about the event of peace, the Earth Community is offering other good organizations around the world to work together to bring warring parties to peace. We can accomplish this task by concrete actions such as: a) Tracking armed conflicts within and between nations around the world and offering assistance in dispute resolution; b) Promoting human rights and democracy; c) Monitoring democratic elections;and d) Educating the public about the advantages of a peaceful solution to any conflict. The Earth Community Organization (ECO) has given back responsibility to every citizen on Earth. Everyone shares responsibility for the present and future well-being of life within Earth Community. We will work together in working out sound solutions to local and global problems. It would be wrong and dishonest to blame it all on the leader of a country. Most problems in the world must find solutions at the local and global community levels (and not assume that the leader alone is responsible and will handle it). There is a wisdom in the ways of very humble people that needs to be utilized. Every humble person deserves to have ideas respected, and encouraged to develop his or her own life for the better. Sound solutions to help manage and sustain Earth will very likely be found this way. Everyone can help assess the needs of the planet and propose sound solutions for its proper management, present and future. Everyone can think of better ideas to sustain all life on Earth and realize these ideas by conducting positive and constructive actions. When there is a need to find a solution to a problem or a concern, a sound solution would be to choose a measure or conduct an action, if possible, which causes reversible damage as opposed to a measure or an action causing an irreversible loss; that is the grassroots process. The Earth Community Organization can help people realized their actions by coordinating efforts efficiently together. The responsibility of a peacemaker is to settle differences through compromise and negotiation before they erupt into violence. Conflicting views do not have to bring about fighting. War is an irreversible solution to a problem. War is never an appropriate solution to resolve a conflict. The worst environmental degradation happens in wars. Farm products in fields and livestock are abandoned, there is no more control on toxic wastes, and water, air, and land are polluted. People are displaced and feel no longer responsible for the quality of life in their communities. Historically, the industrialized nations have caused the most damage to the environment, with their careless technology and policies. Emissions from factories and vehicles have caused ozone depletion and acid rain. Leaders of the wealthier nations must be willing to accept responsibility for past mistakes and to help pay the financial burden for environmental protection of the developing nations. This is the most damaging conflict of interests between the rich industrialized countries and those that are poor and struggling just for existence. The Earth Community must help wealthy and poorer nations reach a better understanding of each other's needs. All aspects are interrelated: peace, human rights and the environment. The poor is more concerned with ending starvation, finding a proper shelter and employment, and helping their children to survive. Environmental issues become meaningless to the poor. In reality, all concerns are interrelated. As soon as the environment is destroyed beyond repair, human suffering is next. Ecology has no boundaries. All nations suffer the effects of air pollution, global warming, loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, acid rain, ozone depletion, silting of streams, and countless of other environmental problems. This was the reason for proposing to the Earth Community the Scale of Human and Earth Rights. The Earth Community wants to provide a forum where international conflicts could be argued and resolved peacefully. Because of hatred and mistrust, disputing parties always find it difficult to express constructive ideas or proposals. A face-to-face meeting may not even be possible. The Earth Community offers to be a trusted third party that would carry ideas back and forth, put forward new proposals until both sides agree. When both parties feel they have gained more than they have lost from the process, the outcome is a win-win settlement for peace. Declaration of Beliefs of the Earth Community We utterly deny all outward wars and strife and fightings with outward weapons, for any end or under any pretence whatever, and we do certainly know, and so testify to the world, that the Spirit of Allah, God, which leads us to all truth, will never move us to fight and war against any human being with outward weapons, neither for the kingdom of Allah, God, not for the kingdom of this world. The Will of God is for life to reach God in the best possible ways. Life is the most precious gift ever given by God to the Universe. Life allows Souls to be conscious of God in as many different ways as possible. Life is the building block through which Souls can have a meaningful relationship with God. By observing the Universe, the galaxies, we are observing and studying God. We are seeing His magnificence, His greatness, and His complex making. There is more to the Universe we observe today, that is there is more to God, much more. God is self-existent, eternal and infinite in space and time Follow God's Word. God's Plan was revealed to humanity a short while ago. The Divine Plan for humanity is: a) for everyone to manage Earth responsibly, and b) about to reach the stars and spread Life throughout the universe and thus help other Souls to evolve and serve God in the best possible ways.
ABOUT MAP Mangrove forests are one of the most productive and biodiverse wetlands on earth. Yet, these unique coastal tropical forests are among the most threatened habitats in the world. They may be disappearing more quickly than inland tropical rainforests, and so far, with little public notice. Growing in the intertidal areas and estuary mouths between land and sea, mangroves provide critical habitat for a diverse marine and terrestial flora and fauna. Healthy mangrove forests are key to a healthy marine ecology. However, in many areas of the world, mangrove deforestation is contributing to fisheries declines, degradation of clean water supplies, salinization of coastal soils, erosion, and land subsidence, as well as the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In fact, mangrove forests fix more carbon dioxide per unit area than phytoplankton in tropical oceans. Mangrove forests once covered 3/4 of the coastlines of tropical and sub-tropical countries. Today, less than 50% remain, and of this remaining forest, over 50% is degraded and not in good form. There needs be greater protection of primary or high quality mangrove sites knowing that the total remaining area will continue to decrease. Also, effective and ongoing restoration of degraded mangrove areas is imperative at this time if we are to restore the health of our planet's coastal regions to some level of former productivity and bio-diversity. Many factors contribute to mangrove forest loss, including the charcoal and timber industries, urban growth pressures, and mounting pollution problems. However, one of the most recent and significant causes of mangrove forest loss in the past decade has been the consumer demand for luxury shrimp, or "prawns", and the corresponding expansion of destructive production methods of export-oriented industrial shrimp aquaculture. Vast tracts of mangrove forests have been cleared to make way for the establishment of coastal shrimp farm facilities. The failure of national governments to adequately regulate the shrimp industry, and the headlong rush of multilateral lending agencies to fund aquaculture development without meeting their own stated ecological and social criteria, are other important pieces to this unfortunate puzzle. Meanwhile, the previous destructive patterns-- both environmental and social-- continue to be repeated in "new frontier" shrimp countries of Latin America, Africa, the Caribbean & the Pacific Islands. The great earnings of shrimp culture are short-lived, while the real costs in terms of consequent environmental ruin and social disruption are long-term and astronomical! While the immediate profits from shrimp farming may satisfy a few, vast numbers of coastal residents, once dependent on healthy coastal ecosystems for fishing and farming, are being displaced and impoverished. MAP is dedicated to reversing the degradation of mangrove forest ecosystems worldwide. Its central tenet is to promote the rights of local coastal peoples, including fishers and farmers, in the sustainable management of coastal environs. MAP provides four essential services to grassroots associations and other proponents of mangrove conservation: 1) It coordinates a unique international NGO network and information clearinghouse on mangrove forests.; 2) It promotes public awareness of mangrove forest issues; 3) It develops technical and financial support for NGO projects; and 4) MAP helps publicize within the developed nations the basic needs and struggles of Third World coastal fishing and farming communities affected by the consumer demands of the wealthy nations. (This we do through our newsletter, bi-weekly news bulletins, action alerts, and published articles, as well as planned public forums and presentations.) MAP's international network has grown to include over 600 NGOs and over 400 scientists and academics from 60 nations. MAP is currently expanding the effectiveness of its coalition work by solidifying ties with other major environmental and activist groups in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres. Through its wide network, MAP is stimulating the exchange of ideas and information for mangrove forest protection and restoration. Also, MAP promotes effective regulations and enforcement to ensure sustainable shrimp aquaculture practices which include participatory coastal resource management, responsible consumer choices, and strategies for the implementation of these and other solutions. Since its founding in1992, The Mangrove Action Project has grown steadily to become a respected member of the global environmental movement. MAP has effectively put the internet to best use in helping to establish international links and action-oriented plans. MAP has been involved in mangrove restoration projects, advocacy work and public educational events. When MAP first started, we tried to spotlight the problems affecting both the coastal ecology and local communities. To do so, we had to effectively become whistle blowers against the shrimp aquaculture industry, spotlighting the destructive expansion of this thus far unsustainable enterprise which has been responsible for thousands of hectares of mangrove loss and ruin of valuable coastal zones. MAP has recently intensified its conservation work by beginning to address other serious problems affecting mangrove forests, such as the logging,. oil, charcoal and tourism industries, as well as other developments which threaten the mangroves and coastal communities. Our ongoing networking efforts are bearing good results in that now more than ever before a more widespread awareness exists as to the importance of mangrove forests and the seriousness of their loss. No longer is it a common held view that mangrove forests are smelly, mosquito infested wastelands. Now, more and more people are calling for effective conservation and restoration measures. To meet this new challenge, MAP has in the last few years begun looking for viable, long-term, equitable solutions. For instance, we are supporting and initiating small-scale mangrove restoration programs worldwide. In 1996, with funding support from the Cottonwood Foundation, MAP organized a community based mangrove replanting project in Ecuador, followed in 1997 by an eco-study tour in Thailand. In 2000, MAP organized another volunteer replanting plroject in Ecuador, and in 2001 another in Malaysia and Thailand. We have also supported mangrove restoration efforts in India, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. Though those efforts we have supported have been small-scale--in fact tiny when compared to the huge programs supported by World Bank loans and government bureaucracies-- our efforts are unique in that they place the local community at center stage in the restoration and management process. We support the bottom up approach which we feel will make a more effective and lasting difference. Last year, MAP released its Mangrove Educational Curriculum which has been developed in the Cayman Islands for school children from kindergarten to 9th grade levels. With funding support from Biolabs Foundation, RAMSAR, CORALINA, the Divers' Association of Bunaken National Park, and the IUCN, Wetlands Project of the Netherlands, MAP is now taking this curriculum to other parts of the world, modifying it to fit the local regions and translating it into the local languages in Honduras, Colombia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. This will help to raise both awareness and appreciation of the mangrove ecosystem among those local youths who later must make the decisions to conserve and sustainably manage their coastal forest areas. In 1999, working closely with the Yadfon Association in Thailand and the Small Fishers Federation of Sri Lanka, and with funding support from ICCO and the IUCN, TRP of the Netherlands, MAP helped launch what we consider our premier program--In The Hands Of The Fishers--which is a series of workshops bringing together grassroots NGOs and fisherfolk from two or three Developing nations which contain mangroves. These workshops offer an innovative format for information and skill sharing among local stakeholders, while also offering a toolkit of working alternatives to help enhance Community Based Coastal Resource Management which is truly in the Hands of the Fishers. In addition to the workshops, followup projects will be undertaken at the participating villages, and these then will serve as sites or nodes for modeling sustainable, low-intensity development alternatives. In 2000, MAP formed a working partnership with the Small Fishers Federation of Sri Lanka to establish the MAP-South Asian Resource Center which is based in Pambala, Sri Lanka, near Colombo. This functioning resource center offers us a stage from which we can further enact solutions by joining forces with local grassroots NGOs. A second MAP-S. Asian Resource Center was opened up at K i r a l a k e l e in southern Sri Lanka with the help of a grant from Seacology Foundation.. The existing Mangrove Resource Centers based in Sri Lanka have become for MAP a very positive inspiration for the establishment of such functioning centers elsewhere. Sited in strategic locations, such centers could act as acupressure points, relieving the pressure upon the surrounding mangrove forests. SFFL's existing centers now serve as good working models from which MAP can demonstrate positive alternatives for both local NGO's and coastal communities. As a direct result of viewing these centers during past IHOF workshops, several participants are now actively pursuing the establishment of mangrove resource centers in their own nations. Network members are now actively preparing for the building of what MAP is now calling Coastal Communities Resource Centers (CCRC's). With grants from both the Seacology Foundation and Goldman Foundation, MAP is now partnering with KELOLA in North Sulawesi, Indonesia to build a CCRC at Tiwoho --a small fishing village located in the mangrove region near the city of Manado and adjacent to Bunaken National Park.. Other CCRC's are being considered for specific locations near the Bhitara Kanika mangrove forest and wildlife reserve in Orrisa, India to help restore the mangrove coastal buffer zone against future hurrican damage, for the Sundarban region of Bangladesh, for the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, for the mangrove forest near Dakar, Senegal, and for set up along the Gulf of Fonseca in Honduras. In 2001, MAP, with funding support from the IUCN, TRP in the Netherlands, successfully completed its 10th Anniversary 2002 Calendar Children's Art and Poetry Competition, producing a beautiful calendar filled with colorful paintings and poetry about what the mangroves mean to the participating students. Submissions of art and poetry came in from 16 nations. The original artwork and poems are now on display for five months in the Children's Museum in Seattle. MAP now publishes two important news bulletins: --The Late Friday News is a bi-weekly electronic news bulletin which reaches over a thousand subscribers worldwide. --The MAP News is a hard copy of the related news which we mail out to over 2500 of our members in 60 nations. Please check out the Mangrove Action Project's webb site: http://www.earthisland.org/map/map.html. This site is an excellent informational resource, with many informative articles. Also, please become a subscribing member of MAP, and receive our quarterly newsletter. Annual membership is $35 for families, $25 for individuals, $15 for students and low income, and $100 for organizations. Mangrove Action Project P.O. Box 1854 Port Angeles, WA 98362-0279 USA mangroveap@olympus.net
Midsummer Night's Massacre: Controversial 304-page A 'Trade' Bill Few Have Read Is Rammed Through Congress at 3:30 AM by Razor Thin Margin Statement of Lori Wallach, Director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch: This travesty of a vote will be remembered as the Midsummer Night's Massacre, where growing popular concern about corporate-led globalization was shot down in favor of a backwards policy combining corporate managed trade and global deregulation of basic consumer, environmental and other public interest standards. Over the past decade, public opposition to NAFTA-style trade deals has grown so strong that now the only way to move this policy is to ram through at 3:00 a.m. in the dark of night 304 pages of legislation combining five different trade bills which was unavailable for public or congressional review until hours before the vote. This Fast Track bill is supposed to set the next five years of U.S. trade and globalization policy. If U.S. negotiators follow the outrageous agenda in this bill, including a 31-nation NAFTA expansion and global deregulation of food safety, accounting, energy and other standards, the resulting agreements would be dead on arrival in Congress and in the court of public opinion. A tidal wave of hypocrisy ripped through Washington's wee hours. It has been a tawdry spectacle to watch the GOP House leadership and President Bush ramming through a 'trade' bill which has as its main agenda promoting massive global corporate deregulation just hours after crowing about passage of new regulations aimed at the corporate crime wave caused by the very sort of deregulation this bill promotes globally. The trade package included authorization to negotiate a 31-nation Free Trade Area of the Americas NAFTA expansion, new limits on enforcement of labor or environmental standards in trade agreements, a modest Trade Adjustment Assistance program, and an expansion to more nations of the investor-to-state lawsuits of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which allows foreign corporations to challenge domestic regulatory standards before trade tribunals if they limit future expected profits.
The Earth Community Organization was looking for a method of raising global taxes, of redistributing incomes to the poorest communities, of providing debt-free technical assistance to non-industrial and developing countries to help them out of poverty and to meet environmental and social standards, but there it was all along right on our eyes. The Earth Court of Justice will be asked to decide on the debt be changed into an actual tax to be paid by the rich nations to the poor nations, and to decide on the amount of tax to be paid. Developing nations will then be able to start rebuilding their communities as per the Scale of Human and Earth Rights and the Charter of the Earth Community. They will not have to satisfy the economic needs and wishes of the rich nations. The Earth Court of Justice will also be asked to rule illegal the activities of the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO unless they become a part of a greater whole such as the Earth Ministry of Financial Institutions, a part of the future Earth Government. These institutions will be controlled by the greater whole. The WTO, the World Bank, the IMF and the UN are worldwide organizations that can and should be used to raise global taxes to redistribute to the poorest and developing nations. The Earth Court of Justice will see to that. The Earth Community Organization found evident that the ecological base is the essential prerequisite for the effectiveness and exercise of all rights recognized for human beings. The stewardship of the ecological base has to be given priority before the fulfilment of various religious, political, economical, cultural and social wishes. Demands resulting from the socio-economic system of a particular country have to find their limits in the protection of the global ecosystem. Vital interests of future generations have to be considered as having priority before less vital interests of the present generation. Supply chains have to be designed in a way, that the goods can enter after usage or consumption into natural or industrial recycling processes. If serious damages to persons, animals, plants and the ecosystem cannot be excluded, an action or pattern of behaviour should be refrained from. A measure for supplying goods or services should choose a path which entails the least possible impact on the ecological and social system concerned. This way functioning proven systems will not be disturbed, and unnecessary risks will not be taken. Supply strategies consuming less resources should have preference before those enhancing more resource consumption. The Earth Community Organization has also extended the idea of sustainability to be a moral and ethical state, as well as an economic and environmental state, wherein sustainable consumption patterns respect the universal values of peace, security, justice and equity within the human relationships that exist in Earth Community, the Human Family. When there is a need to find a solution to a problem or a concern, a sound solution would be to choose a measure or conduct an action, if possible, which causes reversible damage as opposed to a measure or an action causing an irreversible loss. The existing and future uses of water are constantly challenged; balancing supply and demand is made even harder by the amounts of pollution found in the air, land and waters. A large part of our body is made of water, and we cannot live without water; therefore water is a primordial human right by our very nature. In order to avoid conflicts and wars over drinking (fresh)water, fresh water has been categorized as a primordial human right. Industrial pollution plays a major role in the deterioration of nature but this time the level of pollution is above the carrying capacity of the ecosystem. Pollution also affects significantly human health and all lifeforms on Earth. Every person needs Oxygen to live so clean air is certainly also a primordial human right by our very nature. The Earth Community Organization asks how
meaningful is the right to life or to participation in political life if
poverty, gender inequality, destitution and epidemics prevent individuals
from enjoying freedom of movement, freedom to vote, to marry and so on?
The Earth Community Organization found evident that economic
and social rights are the essential prerequisite for the effectiveness
and exercise of all other rights (other than ecological rights and primordial human rights, and those same rights of the next
generations) recognized
for human beings. This was the reason for organizing the World Congress:
to find the best ways to sustain us all. The developing countries are having
a harder time than others to achieve the exercise of these rights on a
lasting basis, with the problems of economic globalization presenting new
challenges. We must therefore beware of enforcing economic rights alone
to the detriment of individual civil rights and the rights of all individuals
to decide their own fate and the future of their country, their political
rights. The universality of human rights recognizes the right of all individuals
to participate in the cultural life of their community and of other country,
to receive education and training, and to be informed. During the World
Congress, you were asked to list universal values that were the
most important, very important, important, not so important, and values
that should be let go in order to sustain all life on Earth. The Earth
Community Organization is aware that traditional customs and standards
could burden the sustainability of all life on Earth. They could burden
Earth society or any society forever, and holds individuals in a straitjacket.
We cannot accept that. No one can! There are choices to be made and you
must make them. Cultures can develop and can go on developing. Even religious
beliefs may evolve (read the article 'Religious beliefs, Peace in the world and Earth management'). We are living now and we are able to
create these changes. We are at least as bright, most certainly brighter,
than the people who were living thousand of years ago. As far as
the Earth Community Organization is concerned, cultural and
religious differences cannot be a reason or an excuse or a pretext for
not respecting human rights including and most importantly the ecological
rights. Quite the contrary, all kinds of cultures may promote human rights
and especially cultural and religious rights. They are different in their achievements,
but they are equal in dignity where they are expressions of freedom.
At any time or in any given place, men, women and children use their culture
to invent new ways of making human rights a living reality. Diversity enriches
us if it respects the dignity of each individual, and if it takes account
of human rights as a whole.
Politicians create wars. They send the military to solve their problems, satisfy their interest and needs, and destroy the problems or create new ones to be in line with the war industry lobbying. The political game is as deadly as the military game. Peace is the worst enemy to both the potical and military people as peace does not pay for monthly mortgage bills, car payments and lust of the people living off the war industry. It was estimated that in the United States alone the war industry feed over fifty million Americans and has a monthly budget of more than ten trillion american dollars. These people are evils. All of their Souls have already been purified. They will never see the light again. The Earth Community Organization is promoting the settling of disputes between nations through the process of the Earth Court of Justice. Justice for all is what we want. Ever since the end of World War I the British tried to colonize the arabs and Moslems of the Middle East and surroundings. Over the past two years, we have proven in articles of several of our Newsletters that the British and American peoples have tried to invade and colonize the Arabs and Moslems of the Middle East. Israel is the Trojan Horse to achieve their goal. Back in 1947, the US have coerced the United Nations to create the State of Israel. It was an illegal and arbitrary process (or the lack of it) that created the State of Israel. There was never a Referendum conducted in the region to find out if there were any reason at all for the creation of Israel (at the time there were only a few Jews in the region) against the will of over one billion Arabs and Moslems. The reason was colonization and invasion of the Middle East for profit and self-interests. Brut and simple exploitation of the people of the Middle East and of their resources. Another invasion but different than the invasion of Vietnam and of other Peoples by the same invaders. After World War II, at the UN, it was easy for the US to get all the allies on their side. The Five Permanent Members of the UN (Great Britain, France, China, US, Russia) had no objection and all passed the resolution that created the state of Israel. That was all that was required. No process! All political! Politicians created the State of Israel without any reason except preparing grounds for a systematic invasion of the Middle East and the exploitation of the Arabs and Moslems and of their resources. In Canada, every province have jurisdiction over their resources. Ask to the Premier of Alberta what he would say if Ottawa was to create a new agency to manage or take over the resources within his province. He would probably seperate from the rest of Canada and join the US. So why would it be any different in the Middle East? Dont people from other nations have the rights to own and control their resources? The US do not think so. We are asking the US to justify their action in the Earth Court of Justice (not in the news media which they own and control). We want Justice for all and universal. We want a process for the creation of new nations. We want the Earth Court of Justice to be an independent and impartial body that will create the process and verify it for the case of the creation of the State of Israel. The Earth Community Organization is promoting that the creation of a new nation does not have to be at the expenses of human lives and destruction of an entire world. It can and should always be done through a decision made by a higher Court. We are promoting the immediate formation of this higher Court, the Earth Court of Justice to hear cases and to prosecute those nations, corporations, communities, individuals who commit crimes such as:
The Court will also be asked to decide on * the formation of a new nation in the world, The Court decides in accordance with: * the Scale of Human and Earth Rights, There are many instances where the Earth Court of Justice could be successful. The Earth Community Organization is inviting the peoples of Kashmir, India and Pakistan to dialogue about the disputed territory of Kashmir by settling the disputed land through the process of the Earth Court of Justice. The Earth Court of Justice will be created for the purpose of deciding on the future of Kashmir. Members of this higher Court will be chosen to reflect the Peoples involved here. The Earth Community Organization is inviting Palestinians and Jews of Israel to the global dialogue to create sustainable communities and a permanent peace movement in the land through the process of the Earth Court of Justice. In 1947, the United States found it easy to coerce the United Nations in creating the State of Israel. The UN had no right to create the State of Israel. They forced their way into a one billion Moslems and have done ever since. The UN along with the United States and Israel, are an invading force, a colonization drive in the same way as the British have done after World War I. The UN committed an illegal and arbitrary act by creating the State of Israel. The Earth Court of Justice will be created for the purpose of deciding on the legality of the state of Israel and the creation of the state of Palestine. Members of this higher Court will be chosen to reflect the Peoples involved here. War is the greatest violation of human rights that one people can inflict on another. It brings deaths and injuries, starvation, diseases, millions of people losing their homes and livelihoods, and massive destruction of property. Children and teenagers are placed in internment camps, and several are often forced to serve as soldiers. War not only corrupts the morals of soldiers, it leads to a decline in the morality of the whole nation. Political and military leaders are always convinced that their particular war is justified. From their point of view, there are several reasons to go to war: loyalty to allies, religion, a thirst for power, greed, ancient grievances to be settled, or the desire to alleviate suffering among their people. A nonviolent settlement to a conflict would always be more advantageous. War is self-defeating because it cannot secure what it sets out to achieve, protection against attack. The hatred for the enemy whipped up by war and the desire for revenge among the losers leads to an accursed vicious circle from which there is no escape. The difference between agressive and defensive, or just and unjust wars, is ridiculous. They are tags each side adopted to suit its interests. War and militarism destroy civil liberties within a nation. What happens to a person's conscience when he/she wears the uniform of the soldier? It is enslaved to the state. He must kill when ordered. No government, whether democratic or despotic, can allow the soldier to decide what to do according to his conscience. That would undermine discipline and the power to fight. The Earth Community claims that everyone on Earth should be able to live in peace. This peace mouvement is about courage. Not the courage it takes to go into battle but the courage to organize resistance to war when a bloody taste for it inflames the world, and the threat of prison in a nation where the human rights and freedom of expression have diminished significantly. It is about the courage to say NO to the war industry. It is an industry that destroys life on Earth, corrupts society, and violates morality. Military intervention in the affairs of other nations is wrong. There are other ways, there are peaceful ways, ways that are not based on profit-making and the gain of power for itself. We are conscientious objectors, "nonresistants". That word comes from Jesus, opposing the use of violence: "Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." The evil is the war industry. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus develops the ethic of nonviolence and love of the enemies. Early Christians were probably the first individuals to renounce participation in war unconditionally. "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." And he told Peter, "All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." Christ has taught us to show mercy, to forgive enemies, to put up patiently with oppression, to return only good for evil and love for hatred and, therefore, war is inconsistent with the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This shows that a Christian should take no part in war, never, in any way. This all means that violence is futile in the long run. To respond to violence with violence is only perpetuating a vicious cycle of violence. God prohibits killing, and no exception at all ought to be made to the commandment that it is always wrong to kill. The sanctity of human life is unconditional. A short while ago God, Allah, has spoken to humanity once more. The New Age Revelations are His Word. His Revelations are to be added to previous ones revealed thousands of years ago. Together they are God's Word, and they will guide humanity for the thousands of years to come. His Word reinforce His compassion and love for humanity and His care for all living inhabitants on Earth and of Earth itself. God has said: "Thou shall banish war as a solution to problems between communities. All Souls involved with war, directly or indirectly, shall face the Soul of Humanity to be purified. All Souls involved in the making of weapons, war product and equipment shall be facing the Soul of Humanity." There are several reasons for objecting to war: religious, moral and political. People have different degrees of refusal to go to war. Absolute pacifists such as the Earth Community will not cooperate with any preparation for war as decided by the war industry, let alone war itself. Others will accept some kinds of service so long as they are not forced to fight. And others are willing to fight in "just wars." The idea of the "just war" began with St. Augustine. Late in the fourth century he argued that the good Christian, barred from doing violence on his own behalf, could take arms in a war that was just. Several theologians now say that the standards for a just war are: a) War must be the last resort and used only after other means have failed. b) War must be declared to redress rights actually violated or for defense against unjust demands backed by the threat of force. It must not be fought simply to satisfy national pride or to further economic or territorial gain. c) The war must be openly and legally declared by a legal government. d) There must be a reasonable chance of winning. e) The means used must be in proportion to the ends sought. f) Soldiers must distinguish between armies and civilians and not killed civilians in purpose. g) The winner must not required the utter humiliation of the loser. It can be debated whether any war has ever satisfied all these reasonable conditions. There werer always Christians who rejected violence. They believed Christ's way was the pursuit of peace. During the Crusades, from the eleventh to fourteenth centuries, Christians fought to recover the Holy Land from Islam, and the Church plunged into extreme violence and cruelty. Even then there were some who had the courage to criticize the theory and practice of their time. They were like the early Christians in denouncing war. Only now they were not rebelling against a heathen empire but against the wordly Church. In their opposition they formed sects, separate from the official Church. Their pacifist convictions found their source in a return to the Bible. These awakened Christians went back to the fundamental ideas of Christianity, to the New Testament, and took the Sermon on the Mount as their ideal. The people of the Earth Community are dedicated in using our resources to resolve conflict, promote democracy, and fight hunger, terrorism, disease, and human rights abuses. In order to bring about the event of peace, the Earth Community is offering other good organizations around the world to work together to bring warring parties to peace. We can accomplish this task by concrete actions such as: a) Tracking armed conflicts within and between nations around the world and offering assistance in dispute resolution; b) Promoting human rights and democracy; c) Monitoring democratic elections;and d) Educating the public about the advantages of a peaceful solution to any conflict. The Earth Community Organization (ECO) has given back responsibility to every citizen on Earth. Everyone shares responsibility for the present and future well-being of life within Earth Community. We will work together in working out sound solutions to local and global problems. It would be wrong and dishonest to blame it all on the leader of a country. Most problems in the world must find solutions at the local and global community levels (and not assume that the leader alone is responsible and will handle it). There is a wisdom in the ways of very humble people that needs to be utilized. Every humble person deserves to have ideas respected, and encouraged to develop his or her own life for the better. Sound solutions to help manage and sustain Earth will very likely be found this way. Everyone can help assess the needs of the planet and propose sound solutions for its proper management, present and future. Everyone can think of better ideas to sustain all life on Earth and realize these ideas by conducting positive and constructive actions. When there is a need to find a solution to a problem or a concern, a sound solution would be to choose a measure or conduct an action, if possible, which causes reversible damage as opposed to a measure or an action causing an irreversible loss; that is the grassroots process. The Earth Community Organization can help people realized their actions by coordinating efforts efficiently together. The responsibility of a peacemaker is to settle differences through compromise and negotiation before they erupt into violence. Conflicting views do not have to bring about fighting. War is an irreversible solution to a problem. War is never an appropriate solution to resolve a conflict. The worst environmental degradation happens in wars. Farm products in fields and livestock are abandoned, there is no more control on toxic wastes, and water, air, and land are polluted. People are displaced and feel no longer responsible for the quality of life in their communities. Historically, the industrialized nations have caused the most damage to the environment, with their careless technology and policies. Emissions from factories and vehicles have caused ozone depletion and acid rain. Leaders of the wealthier nations must be willing to accept responsibility for past mistakes and to help pay the financial burden for environmental protection of the developing nations. This is the most damaging conflict of interests between the rich industrialized countries and those that are poor and struggling just for existence. The Earth Community must help wealthy and poorer nations reach a better understanding of each other's needs. All aspects are interrelated: peace, human rights and the environment. The poor is more concerned with ending starvation, finding a proper shelter and employment, and helping their children to survive. Environmental issues become meaningless to the poor. In reality, all concerns are interrelated. As soon as the environment is destroyed beyond repair, human suffering is next. Ecology has no boundaries. All nations suffer the effects of air pollution, global warming, loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, acid rain, ozone depletion, silting of streams, and countless of other environmental problems. This was the reason for proposing to the Earth Community the Scale of Human and Earth Rights. The Earth Community wants to provide a forum where international conflicts could be argued and resolved peacefully. Because of hatred and mistrust, disputing parties always find it difficult to express constructive ideas or proposals. A face-to-face meeting may not even be possible. The Earth Community offers to be a trusted third party that would carry ideas back and forth, put forward new proposals until both sides agree. When both parties feel they have gained more than they have lost from the process, the outcome is a win-win settlement for peace. Declaration of Beliefs of the Earth Community We utterly deny all outward wars and strife and fightings with outward weapons, for any end or under any pretence whatever, and we do certainly know, and so testify to the world, that the Spirit of Allah, God, which leads us to all truth, will never move us to fight and war against any human being with outward weapons, neither for the kingdom of Allah, God, not for the kingdom of this world. The Will of God is for life to reach God in the best possible ways. Life is the most precious gift ever given by God to the Universe. Life allows Souls to be conscious of God in as many different ways as possible. Life is the building block through which Souls can have a meaningful relationship with God. By observing the Universe, the galaxies, we are observing and studying God. We are seeing His magnificence, His greatness, and His complex making. There is more to the Universe we observe today, that is there is more to God, much more. God is self-existent, eternal and infinite in space and time Follow God's Word. God's Plan was revealed to humanity a short while ago. The Divine Plan for humanity is: a) for everyone to manage Earth responsibly, and b) about to reach the stars and spread Life throughout the universe and thus help other Souls to evolve and serve God in the best possible ways.
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