Across Frontiers - Fall 2004

URGENCY FOR THE STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH’S CHARTER
Charles Merciace Ph.D.
President of International Association of Educators for World Peace

There was a time when people traveled from one place to another with great difficulty. They had to travel mostly on foot or in carts driven by horses, mules and other type of animals depending of one’s global area. Over the past couple of hundred years, improvement in transportation began to bring the people of various regions closer together then ever before. This was due to the invention of trains, automobiles and airplanes in particular.

Creation of a Bright Future

As a result, the various regions of the world began to feel the need for greater cooperation between them on basis of mutual beneficial interests. They tend now to transcend the boundaries of past divisions that led to conflicts and wars with tragic consequences. Such divisions stem from a variety of differences ranging from emerged to create an Earth Charter that may serve as a constitution for planet earth.

Since World War II ended in 1945, there were several organizations that come forward to create some sort of document that would eventually serve as a basis to give all nations a sense of unity and security at the same time. One of such documents was the Constitution for the Federation of Earth. A copy of this excellent document may be secured from the World Constitution and Parliament association, 8800 West 14th Avenue, Lakewood, CO 80215, USA, or if you visit the web site www.wcpagren.com .

It would certainly be advisable for those who look forward to seeing the structure of the Earth’s Charter to get hold of this well written Constitution. THE Federation Of Earth does not make any nation lose its identity. In fact, every nation can retain its flag, its language, its culture, and its religious practices in addition to numerous other things. Such a Federation would help eliminate the remote fear and possibility of struggle and war.

To understand this reality, the Federation of Earth would be similar to the 50 states of the United States of America. Each state has its own flag, its own history, its own constitution, its own government, and its own ways of doing things. Yet, the idea that one state cam wage a war against another state does not exist even remotely. Besides, there is a great cooperation between such states economically, culturally, educationally, religiously and otherwise. In this regard, the United States may represent a federated planet in miniature.

Crucial and Important Steps

There several steps that could be taken toward the eventual formation of an effective and beneficial earth’s charter. Such a charter must be structured in a way that it would benefit all people from every walk of life and profession in every country without exception. It should reveal deep concern toward creating a new generation of peace through well constructed educational programs and studies for all schools without exception. It should make absolutely sure that the environment everywhere is fully well protected from air and water pollution, which is killing quite a few millions every year through cancer.
Besides, such an Earth Chapter must make sure that violations against human rights would come to an end by all means. In addition, this world document should include ways for the development of an international program of disarmament and arms control. And last but not least, the human resources should be used exclusively for positive and constructive purposes and never for negative and destructive purposes. This means that the human brains should seek remedies for the solution of such deadly elements as cancer, leukemia, and organized crime the mafia type. People should be viewed as members of the same body: humanity. If one segment suffers, the entire body is thrown in agony.
In addition, the Earth Charter must make sure that drastic steps are taken properly on the elimination of world hunger, the provision of homes to the homeless, and the prevention of exploitation by big business of the natural resources of developing nations. This exploitation is often done at the expense of the native population, like it has been observed in African, Southeast Asian and Latin American nations. We are familiar of the traditional saying that the big fish always swallows the small fish. Traditionally, the rich as a whole always tended to exploit, even mercilessly at times, the poor people. The rich must realize that what goes around comes around. When the poor suffer, in long range the rich are bound to suffer too.

Such an Earth Chapter needs to take into consideration that people from very walk of life and profession are represented, that the government of the respective nations exists not to be served by the people but the other way around. This means the government is there for one purpose only: to serve the people. Hence, the real power, in terms of the structure of needs and priorities, remains the people. Unfortunately, history has thought us that, in spite of a written constitutions to this end, people have been used a guinea pigs for the benefit of the few in the government. Of course, this explains why peace in every era of history has been so difficult to achieve.

Looking into a Hopeful Future

In his farewell address to the United States Congress, President Eisenhower stated to the US government: “Remember that all people of all countries want peace, only their government wants war”. And later he remarked saying: “People want peace so badly that one daythe governments of the world will have no choice but to give it to them”. The statement and question that needs to be raised is this: People have waited for centuries to have peace and to cherish it fully throughout their lifetime. How long are people going to wait to get what they want and what they deserve considering that peace is a sacrosanct human right?
In view of what we have learned from history, it is quite obvious that the structure and implementation of an Earth’s Chapter is of paramount importance and it is indispensable. The fact that we have so many hungry and poor people in the world, the fact that the leading governments of the world still seek solutions to world problems through weapons of mass destruction and constant wars, and the fact that people’s health and education are no longer, on the whole, given top priority reveals a serious threat to human survival. The structure and formation of an Earth’s Chapter would eventually take care of these sad facts.
The hope of the world lies in the younger generation of our time. The future members of every government across every continent will be composed of today’s younger generation. This generation consists of our present children who are at all levels of education: elementary, secondary, college and universities. It is a generation that is seriously concerned about its future and that it is determined to take any steps needs for a healthy and stable world. The urgency for structure of the Earth’s Chapter is a gigantic step in the right direction. Every nation needs to feel obligated to take all needs steps to make this noble document a tangible reality.

 

 

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