A few weeks ago, I wrote an op-ed called
“Disband the UN.” A former senior UN official wrote to me and said he disagreed
with my thesis. Had I looked at the possibilities of reform within the UN? I
explained that my reasoning went beyond looking at the possibilities of change
within the UN—the time for that is long past.
What I am asking for is a radical rehaul of
our contemporary financial system. This system is based on colonial
underpinnings of Western countries exploiting the economies of the East, and
forms a complex, invisible mesh of international financial modalities which
underpins the present inequality of nations.
This drama of inequality is kept in place
by a “Fourth Wall” which maintains the illusion, rather than a theatrical play,
of a just international system. This play is embodied by the UN (“the actors on
the stage”), and the reality of twenty-first century poverty (“the
spectators”). Much like a play, it is funded by benefactors which have
political leverage and financial clout, as we saw in the COP25 meet in Madrid
this week. Protesters and advocates against climate change were the spectators,
while the actors on stage maintained the Fourth Wall with the illusion of
international legality.
As the COP25 drama unfolded, oil producing
state Qatar proudly tweeted its support of the UN, saying it is one of its
biggest financial contributors. How can a system whose survival depends upon
the financial support of oil-producing states be expected to pass a global
fossil-fuel ban? Which is what the COP25 should have done—hand down a 2030
deadline for the phaseout of exploration, extraction and distribution of all
fossil fuel worldwide.
Yale University’s 360 website published
“The Plastics Pipeline” by Beth Gardiner on December 19, 2019. The article
discusses how Exxon, Shell, Saudi Aramco and other big petroleum companies are
gearing up for massive plastic production in expectation of lower demand for
fossil fuel. A fracking boom has led to high production of ethane, and they
need a way to dispose of this feedstock. Millions of tons of new plastic is in
the pipeline.
Plastic is the most destructive product we
have ever invented. It clogs up our waterways, soil and air. It is found in
every living being on earth. Birds, whales and deer are found dead with their
stomachs full of plastic. Plastic should be phased out as soon as possible. We
should not be talking about “recycling,” a feel good euphemism that rich people
in the West use for dumping their trash.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres
expressed disappointment in the COP25 outcomes—but disappointment is an
inadequate response for a crisis in which the survival of humankind as well as
all of life on the planet is at stake.
It is clear that the planet can no longer
be governed in this manner—with opaque financial networks, TNCs and special
interest nation-states dictating the terms of international policy and law.
With the effects of climate change exploding across the planet and tearing
through the lives of millions of people, we can no longer ignore the reality of
a handful of destructive corporations which have chosen to deceive people and
destroy the planet.
Australia has been burning with bushfires
for the past few months. About 7 million acres of land have burnt in 2019. Lyn
Bender, a 72 year old psychologist from Australia writing in Independent
Australia.net, says “The human race is engaged in a murder-suicide pact of
gigantic proportions.” She states the old methods of grief management is no
longer adequate for this moment: “As someone who has worked with grief and
trauma, I now find the age-old concepts of grief management hopelessly puny and
inadequate. The enormity of the growing evidence of environmental destruction
is now unfolding worldwide.”
In Nepal, the Himalayas are melting with
each passing year. Each winter is warmer than it used to be. A billion and more
people depend upon spring melt water from the Himalayas for drinking water,
cooking, irrigation, washing, laundry, animal husbandry, and other daily needs.
When snow no longer covers the mountains, there will be mass migration of
people seeking more livable environments, as Marty Logan (“Mt. Everest is
Melting: Are you Moved?” December 20, 2019) pointed out in the Nepali Times. We
are already starting to see this in our lifetime.
With certain environmental apocalypse
awaiting us in 30-50 years time, it is genocidal to allow a capitalist system
which sees petroleum profit as “wealth” to dictate what money is, what value it
should have, how it circulates, and where it ultimately ends up. As a post in
the Extinction Rebellion blog recently pointed out, the valuation of Saudi
Aramco as the world’s most valuable company literally equates planetary
destruction as capitalism’s most profitable endeavor.
We need a radical overhaul of the financial
mechanisms that underpin the inequality of nations. The Bank of International
Settlements, the World Bank and IMF, the opaque financial committees and
gatherings, all of this needs to be examined and disbanded. Why do some nations
get to print trillions for war and trillions for their citizens, while other
countries can only print enough to sustain starvation and death? Surely there
is a Fouth Wall between “actors” and “spectators” here that we need to dismantle.
Only then will we be able to halt our current lethal apocalyptic stride towards
planetary destruction.
Annapurna Express, December 27, 2019
https://theannapurnaexpress.com/news/disband-the-fourth-wall-2127
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