We as human beings are facing a series of crises that will
continue and may get worse until
we establish a global society
of peace and justice that is sustainable.
Already about 8.44
billion people are living on the Earth.
Our numbers are likely
to increase gradually to about ten billion or more
unless a major
disaster, such as a nuclear war or an uncontrollable plague
or
environmental collapse, causes a drastic reduction in population.
Even human extinction is a possibility if we are not wise and
careful.
These disasters may also occur sporadically
without wiping
out a large percentage of the Earth’s people.
Frequent wars have
often devastated human societies since tribes and the early cities
of civilization began coming into conflict about five thousand
years ago.
The rapid acceleration of technological advances in
recent centuries
has brought about many improvements; but at the
same time destructive potentials
have increased, and conflicts
are multiplying as the Earth becomes more crowded.
More than a
hundred million people died in the wars of the twentieth century,
and the twenty-first century has so far allowed the extensive
misery of many to continue.
The global climate is becoming warmer,
and serious concerns about human violence have increased.
About
half the people in the world are living in poverty,
and more than
one billion of them are desperately poor.
Although the end of the cold war brought about some reductions
in the enormous
nuclear arsenals of the former Soviet Union and
the United States,
Russia and the US still have thousands of nuclear
weapons.
Even though article six of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty mandates the complete
disarmament of all nuclear forces,
the nations with nuclear weapons so far are not fulfilling
their
obligation to work toward disarmament.
Instead, the United States
invaded Iraq in 2003 ostensibly to prevent that government
from
developing weapons of mass destruction, a rationale that was proven
to be erroneous.
This aggressive action without the approval of
the United Nations Security Council,
which was overseeing the
disarmament and inspections in Iraq,
has caused some other nations
that feel threatened by the U. S. to pursue their efforts
to gain
nuclear weapons in order to deter such an attack on them.
Biological and chemical weapons also pose immense dangers to humanity
and have not been brought under control either.
The global security
situation has shifted from the bipolar cold war between the capitalist
and communist blocs to the superpowerful hegemony
of the capitalist
nations led by the United States.
The attacks on September 11,
2001 that killed about 3,000 people
were used by the George
W. Bush administration to justify an endless “war on terrorism”
in its quest for global domination by military means.
The oppressive
occupation of Palestinian lands by Israel escalated to genocide in
October 2023 as Israel slaughtered and starved thousands
of Palestinians every month in Gaza.
The occupation
of Afghanistan and Iraq by the US, Britain,
and a few allies
provoked insurgent resistance by Muslim “terrorists.”
Much of the world’s remaining oil supplies are located in countries
that are controlled by
Muslims, and many believe that the military
occupation of these countries by the capitalist,
materialistic,
and mostly Christian nations is offensive to their Islamic faith.
As people become more prosperous in developing nations such as
China, India
and others in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, the
competition for the diminishing oil
and other resources that fuel
industrialization and transportation are bound to cause
increasing
conflicts unless we find better ways
to resolve disputes, share,
and limit our consumption.
The continued use of fossil fuels is
polluting the air
and aggravating the problem of global warming.
The resulting melting of glaciers is diminishing the supply of
fresh water on Earth.
As population increases, fresh water is
becoming more precious
and needs to be shared fairly to avoid
conflicts.
The world has many complicated problems, and the solutions are
neither simple nor easy.
Thousands of books have been written
about the problems, but very few envision
comprehensive solutions
or a visionary plan for global reform.
This book offers such a
vision of what the world could be like if people work together
by democratic means for peace and justice.
I will discuss how
we can transform our current world to bring about such a plan.
Thus this book will not repeat the detailed analyses that are
already available elsewhere
in order to concentrate on how better
ways, policies, and methods can greatly improve
our society and
life on Earth.
Humanity is drifting in a dangerous direction that
is making conditions worse
in many ways and more dangerous for
humanity as a whole.
We need a major course correction to avoid
the disasters
that loom ahead if we do not alter our violent behavior.
Some say that human nature cannot be changed, and that people
will always be violent;
but I believe that inside everyone is
a spiritual reality
that intends to love and be loved.
By acting
according to this love we can purify not only our own lives
but
also affect others with our charity and cooperation.
By working
together we can be strong enough to prevent and restrain
those
who are still violent from having much effect.
I am not saying
that this is going to be easy nor free of sacrifices, losses,
and defeats
along the way, but I believe that people want to survive
and that we can learn
the ways of helping each other in order
to do so.
The solutions are both individual and collective.
In The Art of Gentle Living
I discussed how we can act personally to improve our own lives
and help others.
This book, Best For All, focuses on what
we can do socially and politically to reform
our institutions
and create a world democracy so that we can solve the problems
in ways that are nonviolent and best for all.
In facing the global emergency we need to set priorities and work
on solving the worst
and most dangerous problems first.
Jesus
and many other great spiritual teachers have described how humans
can act
in order to bring about what he called the sovereignty
of God.
The essential principle is loving our neighbors as oneself.
Perhaps the most neglected aspect of this is learning how to love
our enemies.
Many human conflicts have become worse and more deadly
because people
have resisted the violent by fighting back with
more violence.
This approach tends to increase the violence in
the world
as each side continues to fight back against the other.
We need faith and patience but especially the courage to face
conflicts
without resorting to violence.
Nonviolence immediately
reduces the violence because even the violent opponent
usually
does not feel the need to use force against peaceful people.
When
large numbers of people join together in this peaceful approach,
they are strong enough that they do not have to submit to any
injustice.
In this era of global connections people who are peaceful
can communicate with each other,
and I believe that there are
enough of us that no violent group will be able to kill us all.
Thus by using world opinion and this solidarity in the nonviolent
way we can work together
to reduce the violence and reorganize
human politics and society to bring about disarmament,
peaceful
judicial processes for settling disputes, and the sharing of resources
so that
everyone in the world has at least their basic needs fulfilled
and the freedom and opportunities to lift themselves to a higher
standard of living.
If we think of all humanity as one family,
then we can begin by
taking care of those who are most in need.
Helping the poorest
of the poor is the best investment we can make,
both by private
charities and by wealthy national governments making contributions.
Allowing large numbers of people to starve to death is a disgrace
to the human race
and very bad for our self esteem and dignity.
Waiting until the circumstances are desperate and then sending
in food does not solve
the basic problem but treats only the final
result of the neglected situation.
A much more intelligent solution
is to make sure that everyone in the world
is kept from falling
that far into poverty.
By transferring even a small portion of
what the world is currently spending on armaments
we could provide
support for the basic security, health conditions, clean water
supplies,
and agriculture so that such people would be able to
provide for their own needs.
At the same time education could
be subsidized by others more fortunate
until the people in every
country are prepared to be self-sufficient.
Charitable grants are best, and they should not be used to force
governments
to adopt policies such as emphasizing exports that
are against the interests
of their own people in order to favor
the wealthy who are giving the grants or making loans.
The World
Bank and International Monetary Fund policies need to be changed.
Even some of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been
selling food
to governments in order to gain money for their own
work.
Recent history has shown that it is unwise and unfair to
loan money at interest
to the wealthy class in very poor countries,
because the results tend to help the wealthy
and perpetuate the
poverty of others.
Domestic agriculture in these countries needs
to be supported
so that they can become more self-sufficient.
Agribusiness by the US and others should not be allowed to dump
their subsidized
products into poor countries at less than the
cost of production,
which drives local farmers out of business.
Developing local agriculture is more efficient and saves much
on transportation costs.
The process of disarmament also needs to be a high priority because
the military
is the most dangerous and wasteful spending.
We can
begin by eliminating all of the weapons of mass destruction in
the world
because they have no intelligent use.
We can form a
democratic federation that will ban these weapons and all warfare.
Then the military forces can be reduced to local law enforcement
in each country as the nonviolent legislative and judicial processes
of the world democracy settle international disputes.
The conscientious
people of the world can communicate and join together to plan
this
so that it can happen in peaceful and intelligent ways.
People
can be educated and trained in nonviolent conflict resolution
so that
whenever difficulties arise, they will be solved peacefully.
Human rights should be universally protected, and any violations
not corrected
by local or national governments may occasionally
require nonviolent intervention
by authorized representatives
of the world democracy.
Once complete disarmament and demilitarization
have occurred, this will not be as difficult.
Everyone will have
the right to a fair trial and will be held
to account for their
actions that violate others.
The greater challenge is in the disarmament
process
while the massive weapons are still available.
Thus the
disarmament needs to be very carefully planned
and implemented
with thorough inspections.
Those who refuse to relinquish their
weapons
may try to cause some havoc before they submit.
In order to make sure that the process of disarmament is going
to work in a way
that is democratic and fair for all, the people
in the world will need to see
that the global democratic institutions
are working well.
Thus the people need to use their democratic
power so that the national governments
will begin the process
of disarmament by reducing
and eliminating their weapons of mass
destruction.
Success in this effort will give people more confidenc
that further stages of disarmament are practical.
Thus while we
are in the process of communicating and educating each other
on
how we can form a democratic federation, we also need to be using
nonviolent
and democratic processes within each nation to bring
about
the disarmament of the weapons of mass destruction.
People
need to support political leaders who will pursue these goals
while withdrawing support from those who do not.
The governments
of the nuclear nations can also be pressured to disarm
by global
boycotts of their products made by companies
that do not support
disarmament.
Furthermore, citizens in the nuclear nations need
to stop paying the taxes
that pay for the weapons of mass destruction.
Other nations and the wealthy can stop loaning money to such governments
by refusing to buy their bonds.
The United States is the most
powerful nuclear nation;
but its government debt has reached 37.3
trillion dollars in 2025 and is increasing rapidly.
Much of this debt
is held by Japan and China.
If those nations and others were to
stop buying more bonds until
the US Government agreed to disarmament,
the economic pressure
of national bankruptcy could help bring
about the desired result.
We can prevent wars and eliminate weapons and military forces
by using diplomacy,
democratic processes, and judicial decisions
to resolve conflicts in humane ways;
but if we continue to allow
massive violence with large numbers of devastating weapons,
the
human species may destroy itself and become extinct,
throwing
evolution back millions of years.
This is our choice in the twenty-first
century, and humanity has never faced a greater challenge.
Before
this choice is made, humans could go on a while longer with increasing
pollution
and misery that could include radioactivity that might
make large regions
uninhabitable and cancer rates and mutations
epidemic.
I am appealing to what is best in all of us to work
for a better world
for the sake of all future generations.
Once
we have removed the greatest dangers of warfare and the worst
misery of poverty,
we will be able to solve all our other problems
in a free and democratic situation.
Many changes and reforms will
need to be made to make our civilization sustainable
for a healthy
and harmonious life for everyone.
Our challenge is to learn how
to get along with each other and to find peaceful and just
ways
to govern humanity democratically so that no one is allowed to
oppress or harm others.
The purpose of this book is to describe
a plan for how we can do that so that this vision
can be a reference
point to help educate people on the solutions we need to apply.
I do not claim to have all the answers,
and these ideas are subject
to modification and improvement.
Let us work together to find
the ways that will be best for all so that
we will save the world
from the dangers that threaten us and our descendants.
This chapter has been published in the book
BEST FOR ALL: How We Can Save the World.
For information on ordering, please click here.
Global Emergency
Alleviating Poverty
Disarming Weapons of War
Creating Global Democracy
Reforming the US Constitution
Restoring Justice
Sustainable Economics
Freeing Communication
Spiritual Awakening
Nonviolent Strategies
Appendix:
Global Disarmament Treaty (first draft by Beck)
Constitution of the United Nations Democracy (first draft by Beck)
Constitution of the United States Revised (first draft by Beck)