The United Nations and the New World Agenda.

AuthorLierop, Robert F. Van
PositionEssay

At the height of the great euphoria and optimism attending the dramatic political changes that swept across Eastern Europe, Vitaly Korotich, editor of the Soviet magazine Ogonyok, commented that, "We the people are the new superpower." One year later, the President of the United States, in his State of the Union Message to the United States Congress, told the American people that they stood "at a defining hour".

Mr. Korotich may be forgiven for his excessive optimism, given the generally euphoric atmosphere which then existed in Eastern Europe. The sudden and very dramatic events which had occurred throughout that part of the world in 1989, and well into 1990, led many to believe that superpower politics would never again be the same. The world, indeed, stood poised on the threshold of a new era, if not of a vaguely defined "new world order".

President George Bush's words, and subsequent events, reveal the truth of the old adage that often "the more things change, the more they remain the same". Words alone do not make a new world order. The President, in all likelihood, would be among the first to agree. This is particularly true when similar words have been invoked in the past and the then-existing world order of inequality, injustice and indignity continued, although with varying degrees of modification.

Rather than view the world through the narrow prism of privilege, it might be more instructive to view the unfinished agenda of the United Nations as a measure of how far the world is from an order that is either "new" or just. A number of compelling new issues are emerging on the world agenda. These issues, which are primarily the result of humanity's own shortsightedness and neglect, as well as its greed and avarice, must be effectively addressed if we are to continue to have a world to inhabit, let alone one to shape in a more equitable and humane fashion.

It would thus appear that before there can be a new world order, there first must be an agreed new world agenda which focuses upon and addresses the substantial problems of the existing world order. This agenda must identify and prioritize the issues which the world community will undertake to resolve in the immediate future as it attempts to shape a better long-term future for all humanity.

An astute observer once remarked that "man's mad vanity is often mocked by life". Thus, while some raced recklessly to build and deploy newer and more powerful weapons of mass destruction, nature repeatedly demonstrated that it could better humanity's efforts. Nature unleashed hurricanes, cyclones, earthquakes, floods and droughts, which provided more than enough death and devastation to prove the point. While some experimented with and developed silent, unseen killers, such as chemical and bacteriological agents, nature gave us more than enough infectious diseases to satisfy any longing we might have to inflict pain and suffering on other human beings. While some obsessively consumed addictive drugs with hedonistic fervor, nature revealed that those consumers would themselves be consumed by their very obsession.

While some raced selfishly to build temples of idolatry to material wealth, with little regard for the future well-being of our planet, nature responded to the repeated violation of our environment by revealing the scarcity of the earth's resources and the precarious balance necessary to support and sustain life. And while some have expended their energy in misguided efforts to deny the humanity of others merely because of their skin pigmentation, religious beliefs, cultural nuances, language or gender, nature has repeatedly demonstrated that if we can not now be united in life, we will most assuredly be forever united in death.

When will the international community develop consistent and effective responses to failures of moral responsibility which lead to widespread inter-ethnic conflict or genocide? History instructs that without such a development there may well be new victims in other places, at other times. It is time for us to realize that unless every one of us has a future, none of us shall have a future. The fate of every nation and the future of all people are more interrelated now than they have ever been.

It is certainly true that not all of the economic ills of the developing countries result from the actions, or lack thereof, of the developed world. Developing countries must also assume responsibility for the general malaise that exists in so many of our own economies. Nonetheless, deteriorating terms of trade - characterized by severely depressed commodity prices...

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