The Three Oceans Initiative

In a note in the One World Digest of October 20, there was talk of a "Three Seas Initiative" of Eastern European member states of the European Union. Without commenting on the political goals of the initiative, I have taken the liberty of picking up the symbolic way of naming it by the "three seas". Freely based on the motto "It's time for visions" a "Three Oceans Initiative" came to my mind.

This is not about the political perspectives of a limited region, but about global problems for which global solutions are urgently needed. For this we need the unification of mankind, preferably in a federal World Union.

Today is United Nations Day. The UN Charter came into force 75 years ago. On this anniversary there were many expectations and hopes, many promises were made. However, it does not look as if anything significant will change in this system in the foreseeable future. And the San Francisco Promise is still waiting to be fulfilled.

Just as the 12 states of the Three Seas Initiative want to shorten the EU administration, which is too reserved for their purposes, one could also imagine a Three Oceans Initiative within the UN. An initiative of nations on all three oceans of the world who are in favor of a reformed UN as we need it.

Since it is currently unlikely that the major powers or one of the leading industrialized countries will be interested, I would like to return to our contribution from December 2019: Start the World Union small. The first step would be to find states that would be suitable for it.

I would like to reiterate the mondialists' proposal for a Model World Federation. Unfortunately, the modest beginning of the project had run into sand. The world federalist groups I know of found no interest, so the matter was put on ice for the time being. Perhaps the plan is unrealistic. But there was no criticism either. Maybe I just approached the wrong people.

For such a project you need a serious organization that is able to develop a strategy and put it into action. Active groups of supporters must be built up in the countries in question, which reach the national political levels. This would of course also be an opportunity to give more attention to world federalism in general.

If it were possible to start a World Federation on a small scale, a beginning would be made and the World Federation would be a reality. In it World Citizens could be actual World Citizens who also possess a valid World Passport. There would be elections for a World Parliament and the World Union could give itself a World Constitution. Then the United Nations would have a strong Avantgarde, which would be able to eliminate the outdated structures for the benefit of all mankind and to create a binding, solidary world community.

Perhaps the World Federalist Movement – if it really exists – after the disillusions of this year and the hopefully soon abating Coronavirus Pandemic will find the will and the strength to start such a Three Oceans Initiative.

 

On the situation of the World Citizens' Movement

The last article highlighted the role of Garry Davis, who is still considered the founder of the World Citizens' Movement. However, his real legacy today consists only of the myth about his person, which is repeatedly copied by the media without criticism, and the World Service Authority he founded, a company that continues to run the dubious World Passport business. The Wikipedia articles on the complex are sometimes incomplete and contain errors. But what has become of this World Citizens' Movement from back then?

Flag with World Citizens' Symbol

With the participation of Garry Davis, the Register of World Citizens was founded in Paris in early 1949. This was followed by the campaign for the "mondialisation" of so-called world territories. A summarised overview of this was published in German by the World Citizens Information Service. I myself had temporarily taken over the representation of the World Citizens Registry in Germany, but then resigned. There is a critical thread about the whole process in the World Citizens Forum (unfortunately only in German).

There were several reasons for me to turn my back on the World Citizens Registry. One of them was the toleration of irrational propaganda and conspiracy theories. The amateurish planning and execution of the events for the 70th anniversary was another reason for me to leave. What was celebrated as a complete success was in reality a fiasco.

During the time of my contacts, no one kept to agreements. There were no progressive impulses. There was no interest in fresh ideas. The simplest initiatives were nipped in the bud. Most of the correspondents listed on the World Citizens Registry website are inactive or have died in between. There is still a bit of bureaucracy when someone registers as a World Citizen from time to time, but then does nothing more. Politically, the matter is dead.

There was another separate initiative at the same address in Paris: The March of World Citizens. The three initiators wanted to give the cause to younger people because of their age, but so far nobody has agreed to do so.

The campaign to "mondialise" so-called world territories was an idea that spread quickly and forcefully, but disappeared just as quickly. Today, all that is left of it is a large list of places where hardly anyone can remember the activities of that time. Only in the town of Cahors in the south of France does a small association of World Citizens keep alive the memory of the "time when the American came to the town".

Michel Auvray's book, "Histoire des Citoyens du Monde - Un idéal en action de 1945 à nos jours", published in September, will also serve this purpose. But that is all history. As with the World Citizens Register in Paris, there is a lack of future initiatives and younger people who are committed to them. There would be enough opportunities.

It can be said that the World Citizens' Movement that emerged from the events in Paris in 1948 no longer exists today. There are only isolated associations and groups which can no longer be considered a movement. But there is certainly the potential for a new World Citizens' Movement. This results from the absolute necessity of the political unification of mankind in a democratic and federal World Union, as well as from the many organisations and individuals who are already working for it with their specific issues without directly calling themselves World Citizens.

Concrete World Citizens' actions are also underway. I only mention here the UNPA Campaign and the international Campaign for a UN World Citizens' Initiative WE THE PEOPLES. This is all more important than symbolic registrations and worthless identity papers. This also brings us a step closer to the real meaning of the demonstration organised by Garry Davis and his comrades-in-arms in Paris on 19 November 1948.

 

The eternal World Passport of Garry Davis

The origin of the fantasy passport known as the World Passport is in Paris in the autumn of 1948. It was there that Garry Davis, an American actor who had been a bomber pilot during the Second World War and was hardly known until then, ended up. On Broadway in New York - not in Hollywood - his art was not in demand at that time.

Seriously impressed by Emery Reves' book "The Anatomy of Peace", Davis decided to renounce all nationality for world peace and renounced his American citizenship at the US Consulate in Paris. In the course of his subsequent actions at the extraterritorial venue of the third UN General Assembly, he made himself a world citizen's card with the serial number 1 and promptly a resourceful reporter gave him the title "World Citizen No. 1".

Then as now, the press gratefully accepted such curiosities. His tent on the grounds of the Palais de Chaillot attracted onlookers and sympathisers. A group of Parisian intellectuals who lingered in the shadows of the events of the time - including Albert Camus, who later won the Nobel Prize for Literature - sensed the dawn and joined Garry Davis in solidarity. Their media highlight was a performance on 19 November 1948 during the UN General Assembly. The assertion that this inspired the adoption of the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" on 10 December can be seen as retrospective pomposity. Statements such as: "Garry Davis, the man who fought for human rights" are absolute nonsense.

Although the Paris action had no discernible effect on world politics and was viewed with scepticism by World Federalists who had been active for some time, it did attract considerable public interest. A world citizens' movement emerged, whose initiator was Garry Davis. An unverifiable number of people all over Europe, up to 700,000, were registered as world citizens. The bureaucratic effort required to do so overtaxed most of the world citizens' organisations entrusted with this task and led to their insolvency.

In 1949 Garry Davis made a lecture tour through the South of France for the World Citizens Movement. Within the framework of a so-called "Mondialisation", the town of Trouillas near Perpignan declared itself a "World Territory". Hundreds of such symbolic declarations followed in French communities and in other countries. Albert Einstein, who had telegraphically congratulated Davis the year before for his action in Paris, commented on the invitation to support the "Mondialisation" of the town of Cahors:

" ... It gives the impression that the leaders of the movement are serious about their proposal; but it seems to be a soap bubble. If you advocate such airy ventures, you will soon be taken seriously and will be of no use at all. (Source: Einstein, On Peace)

Einstein had probably realised by now how the initial flash in the pan of the world citizens' movement was burning out. Davis himself had started to issue world citizenship passports against donations and later fees. It was considered chic in the scene to own such a paper. Because of this, and also because of other arbitrary actions and provocations, a dispute with the French cosmopolitans arose and finally led to a separation. Garry Davis went his own way. These led him first to India, where he studied some oddities.

Back in the USA, Davis regained American citizenship by remarrying. Here he founded his World Service Authority. I have taken the trouble to read the Ellsworth Declaration of 4 September 1953 in its entirety. It is interesting because it documents the mental state of Garry Davis at that time: A hopeless mixture of world-weariness and half-baked ideas for solutions for a humanity that does not exist in this form. A sermon of the "World Citizen No. 1" against reality, like a chaotic philosophy, which completely ignored the already known and logically formulated perspectives and plans of serious world federalists. It culminates in the egocentric fantasy of being the world government itself. The German journalist Peter Coulmas wrote in 1990 in his book "Weltbürger - Geschichte einer Menschheitssehnsucht" (World Citizens - History of a Human Longing):

"His cosmopolitan ideas, however, especially the claim that no single state or government was responsible for him, were seen as the eccentricities of a kinky American, not the visions of the prophet of a new age".

Garry Davis continued to expand his "world service". The World Passport fed his husband. With time, other worthless documents were added. He travelled all over the world for them and handed out free copies of the passports to celebrities, whom he then named as figureheads. As a rule, the press played along for free. And if he got into trouble somewhere now and then, he also used this for publicity. He wrote several small books about this. Davis did nothing else but sell the World Passport. It was the role of a lifetime. I wouldn't say that he only had money in mind. His personal conviction that he was making an important contribution to world peace and the unity of mankind is credible. Otherwise, his optimistic commitment up to his old age would be hard to understand.

Garry Davis died on 24 July 2013, three days before his 92nd birthday. The World Service Authority will be continued by successors. The World Passport business continues and continues to feed its protagonists. Advertising has been intensified and currently takes place on all conceivable channels on the Internet. Twitter uses every possible topic to attract attention.

The centrepiece is the 2017 film "The World is my Country", produced by filmmaker Arthur Kanegis. It is a mixture of documentary film about the life of Garry Davis and typical American advertising for the World Passport. We had discussed it in the World Citizens Forum (German). There is now even a fan club. It is currently reported that the National Educational Telecommunications Association wants to distribute the film to TV stations (PBS) in the USA for possible broadcasting. No problem if the DVDs are made available free of charge. René Wadlow, president of the Association of World Citizens, wrote to a world citizens' meeting in Paris at the end of 2017:

"For those of you who knew Garry, it's worth seeing the film; it would also be useful to buy a copy of the film to show in France. However, I do not believe that this film can be used to recruit new world citizens. There is too much emphasis on the world passport, not as a symbol of world citizenship, but as a valid and recognised travel and identity document. Some people who buy one do so not because they subscribe to a world citizenship ideology, but because they do not have valid identity documents, and if they use the World Service Authority documents as such, it ends badly for them".

This is the main reason why the World Passport business must be criticised and warned against this fake document. When you are told by the World Service Authority that the passport is "factually" recognised by many countries in the world, it is misleading.

The "de facto" recognition of the passport is derived from this, because it is stamped at border controls from time to time. This should not be a problem if you can show a real passport and ask the friendly border official to stamp the second, symbolic passport as well. A bakshish may be helpful. It may also happen that border officials accept the World Passport out of ignorance. In reality, the World Passport is not officially recognised by any country in the world. At best, it has a symbolic character. What one does not learn from the World Service Authority, for example, is the experience of an African who was in prison for several months because of the passport. So it can happen to every bona fide globetrotter that he is allowed to visit one or the other detention cell from the inside.

Since this misleading advertising for the World Password is done knowingly and intentionally by those responsible, I can only regard their actions as dubious. Every serious World Citizen and World Federalist should therefore stay away from this dubious business. Apart from that, I also consider the style of hanging the commitment for a World Federation on such a piece of cardboard to be idiotic. In the meantime, there are other passports circulating on the market of impossibilities that look similar. You only have to google. I very much hope that the insight will prevail that such nonsense does more harm than good to our cause.

Non-violence yes – but please without Gandhi

Last Friday, 2 October, the world of peace-moving people again celebrated the International Day of Non-Violence. At the instigation of the Indian government, this was elevated by the UN General Assembly to the status of a UN Day in 2007. October 2 is the birthday of Indian national hero Mahatma Gandhi.

 

 

Beautified pic of Gandhi

It seems to be the general consensus that this skinny little man ended the British colonial rule of India with hunger strikes and civil disobedience. But that is not exactly what happened. That revolution did not really take place peacefully. There are even reports of downright orgies of violence on the part of the Indians. That does not fit in at all with the peaceful picture that official India – itself a violent, highly armed military power with nuclear weapons – is giving the world.

"I believe in non-violence, but I don't understand how Gandhi could base his doctrine on a system of permanent violence." Author Arundhati Roy

Mrs Roy is referring to the brutal caste system of Hinduism, which for centuries has divided people into castes that determine everything: profession, spouse, status. And at the lowest level are the so-called untouchables, outside the system. Gandhi wanted to integrate them, but he never wanted to abolish the caste system. He did not see a violent and thoroughly inhuman system as a problem, which may have been partly due to the fact that his family came from a high caste. He even explicitly supported the system.

India may be regarded as the world's largest democracy, but as long as the Indian state does not abolish the caste system rigorously and completely, it will remain the biggest shitty country in terms of human rights.

So there is no reasonable reason to venerate this Mahatma Gandhi as an outstanding peace figure. But this is exactly what is happening on the part of gullible and naive peace friends around the world. It is sometimes even frightening how stupid these people are. See my article "Jai Jagat 2020 - unstable nonviolence" of 7 February.

Everyone can get a picture of the actual personality of Gandhi if he wants to and does not want to close his eyes to the truth. You only have to enter "Gandhi criticism" in the search engines, and then quite different things will come to light:

Gandhi was not only a Hindu nationalist, but also a racist who disparaged the natives of South Africa as Kaffirs. He was a perverse psychopath who forced girls from his entourage to sleep naked in bed with him. He was a disgusting sexist who denied raped girls and women their humanity. He was an inhuman sadist who refused medical care to his own wife and left her to die miserably without painkillers. He himself, of course, gladly used the services of his doctor.

In view of these facts, it seems incomprehensible that this man is still considered a spiritual role model and apostle of non-violence. On 2 October, the Internet was once again full of beautified pictures and quotations from him, even on the part of world citizens and world federalists. This can actually only be explained by ignorance or total blindness. You cannot build a better world on such stupidity. I can only call on everyone to do so: Inform yourself and throw this Mahatma Gandhi into the junkyard of history!

New: One World Digest

The One World Digest, with news and analyses from a world federalist perspective, has been available online and in English for a month. The editor is former journalist, media analyst and world federalist Peter Orvetti, who lives in Washington D.C. The daily digest is published five times a week, Monday to Friday. Comments and analyses are published in the viewpoint section.

In his opening statement "worldfederalism? now?" Peter Orvetti gives a realistic overview of the current world situation. His assessments coincide with those of our small group of Mondialists.

"At this moment in time, the notion of the world’s 195 sovereign states coming together in a planetwide version of the EU seems fantastical - the further dissolution of the EU, and even a break-up of the United States, seem more likely. ... But world federation is inevitable. ... This site aims to provide news on the steps being taken toward world union and greater international cooperation, as well as the unfortunate steps backward. It will also provide commentary and analysis on the same. I hope you find it worthwhile."

The content is a very useful resource for politically interested World Citizens, World Federalists and Mondialists - especially because of the links to the original sources. It is also possible to comment on the articles. One can only be grateful to the editor for this service. The One World Digest is linked on all the Mondialists' theme pages under the earth flag.

The "We will ..." of the United Nations

In a declaration adopted in New York on 21 September to the commemoration the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, the representatives of the UN member states affirmed their intention "to continue to promote respect for democracy and human rights and to strengthen democratic governance and the rule of law".

"We will ..." take care of conflict prevention, peace, the rights of women and girls, sustainable financing and reform of the UN, global crisis prevention, also because of the current pandemic, the climate and the protection of the planet and much more. To this end, the UN should "become more inclusive and consult with all relevant stakeholders". It should work with partners to strengthen coordination and global governance for the common future of present and future generations. If the UN member states are in such a good mood after all, why has all this not happened yet?

This "We will ...", repeated like a prayer wheel, can be safely forgotten. The United Nations has not yet succeeded in implementing the firm decision to save future generations from the scourge of war, as expressed 75 years ago in the preamble of the UN Charter. Compared to the current real world situation, the text of the Declaration sounds like the background noise of a parallel universe.

Of course, the real merits of the UN must not be diminished, because they are, despite all the difficulties, enormous. The world would be worse off without it today. The reason why the world community does not function as it should, why it is not yet the UN we urgently need, is clearly the full sovereignty of its members. The United Nations is indeed not united. Moreover, a large proportion of national leaders would be better off in a prison or a closed psychiatric hospital than at the levers of power.

It remains to be seen what proposals the UN Secretary-General will submit to the General Assembly under point 20 of the Declaration. Permanent UN peacekeeping forces? An independent UN sovereignty? A Parliamentary Assembly at the UN? So far there has been no news of this from official sources, but one should never give up hope.