EUROPE MUST REACT

By Mario Soares Reprint | | Print |

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LISBON, Feb 2 2007 (IPS) - The world remains dangerous and exasperating in this first phase of 2007. Violence in its many manifestations continues to dominate daily life on every continent, as consumerism, even in extremely poor and disadvantaged countries, is expanding, and with it irresponsibility, the loss of values, corruption at every level, and a mode of life in the mere present, without reference to the past or a path forward into the future, writes Mario Soares, ex-president and ex-prime minister of Portugal. In this analysis Soares writes that global public opinion, the universal awareness of the threats that hang over our planet, and the international disorder that has taken root and proliferated before our very eyes, are beginning to seriously worry the people on every continent. The war in Iraq, which sharply divided the conscience of the world, finally dealt an irreversible shock to US public opinion. President Bush, now on the defensive on the domestic front, seems intent on driving forward with the war in Iraq and hopes to send more troops. Nothing has changed in his belligerent stance towards Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is to be hoped that the US Congress, responsive to American opinion, will be able to block his plans and set out a new foreign policy to restore the lost credibility of the US in the world.

There are those who argue that we are undergoing a crisis of civilisation, a process of change that comes at the end of a historic phase. This is true of the West, obviously, but the rest of the world as well, including Russia, neighbour of the European Union, which seems to have entered, as if in some historic flash back, the rule of the Borgias as in its major cities the financial mafias flaunt their wealth.

However, at the same time the will of the citizens is strengthening. In China massive progress is being made despite the existence of a growing plutocracy which co-exists albeit fitfully with a rigidly hierarchical bureaucracy which dominates the party and the state. In India, while everything seems to be flowing magnificently on the technical, scientific, and development planes for a sliver of the population, the majority, locked into castes, remain without access to progress or knowledge.

In the rest of the world, poverty and inequality remain the primary burdens and are not diminishing despite the commitments made in 2000 by the leaders and heads of state of over 150 countries to work towards the generous objectives of the Millennium Development Goals, defined by the United Nations. Unfortunately this effort seems to have had a negligeable effect, as so little has been done to achieve the goals.

Then there is the Middle East, which is dominated by chaos, war, the threat of war, hopelessness, and humiliation.

Globalisation, which has proved to be an excellent deal for the rich, as noted by Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz, has brought little improvement to the condition of the poor. Instead, what we are seeing in the short term are confusion, vague promises that no one with a modicum of common sense believes, and despair of a better future.

Yet beneath the blanket of pessimism something is beginning to stir. Global public opinion –now a reality that must be reckoned with by the powers that be–, the universal awareness of the threats that hang over our planet, and the international disorder that has taken root and proliferated before our very eyes, are beginning to seriously worry the people on every continent.

The war in Iraq, which sharply divided the conscience of the world, finally dealt an irreversible shock to US public opinion. President Bush, now on the defensive on the domestic front –having made significant concessions regarding social and ecological matters– seems intent on driving forward with the war in Iraq and hopes to send more troops.

Nothing has changed in his belligerent stance towards Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is to be hoped that the US Congress, responsive to American opinion, will be able to block his plans and set out a new foreign policy to restore the lost credibility of the US in the world.

The psychological shock from the disaster of the ”war” in Iraq and the disastrous way the fight against terrorism has been waged in general seems to have reached the European Union, accused by public opinion of intolerable paralysis and omission. German chancellor Angela Merkel, since her country assumed EU presidency, has given signals that she wants to react. To this end she has restored to the European agenda the Constitutional Treaty, which some hurriedly pronounced dead and buried, showing that without serious institutional reform, including increasing the financial resources of the community, the government of a Europe of 27 will be impossible. More democracy –and more participation– are what the EU needs. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)