‽istis ponders
points of no return and a common agenda (weekending October 29th 2022)
In a week when a former UK Prime Minister[i] realised that a point of at
least ‘not yet return’ had been reached; when a former sacked (and what might
have been a once-disgraced) Home Secretary forged a way back[ii]; when the Russian war-waging
against Ukraine reached the level of rumours of a ‘dirty bomb’[iii] alongside the appalling
loss of lives and homes and livelihoods and every type of well-being… the UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ addressed
the UN General Assembly’s fifth consultation on Our Common Agenda[iv]
- from the introduction:
‘We face a fraught and complex world; a five-alarm fire in which
geopolitical, technological, environmental and other pressures are driving us
apart when we most urgently need to come together. I am acutely aware
that we are discussing these major challenges against the backdrop of the war
in Ukraine. Peace is the most important global public good the United
Nations was created to deliver. War brings death, human suffering and
unimaginable destruction, at a time when we cannot afford to add to the major global
challenges we face.
This conflict also calls on us to come together in cooperation
and solidarity to support everyone affected, and to overcome this clear
violation of international law. If we are to bequeath to future
generations a world free from want and fear, and full of opportunities to
fulfil their potential, we must focus urgently on building and strengthening
the foundations of the multilateral system. We must rise to this enormous
historical responsibility.’
And here are some of the points that jumped out for
‽istis – from a speech that perhaps needs to be broadcast via every TV and
radio channel and via every social media across the world, to be on the agenda
of every Cabinet meeting of every government, to be studied in every school, to
be discussed in every home…
‽ accelerating and scaling
Up the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), leaving no-one behind
‽ support for an intergovernmental World Social Summit
‽ support for greater engagement with young people, including
through a proposed Youth Office
‽ One goal… would be to reform our morally bankrupt global
financial system and reduce systemic inequality between North and South
‽ We need a New Global Deal to rebalance power and financial
resources
‽ we need to articulate a new Agenda for Peace that takes
account of the many ways in which our concept of security has changed since the
United Nations was founded
‽ the fundamental importance of international law, including
the United Nations Charter, international humanitarian and human rights law,
and the need to work towards consistent implementation.
‽ The climate emergency and unchecked environmental degradation
represent an existential threat to the world as we know it.
‽ We need urgent, transformative efforts to reduce and
eliminate emissions, keep warming to 1.5°C, and build resilience against the
impacts that are already happening through effective adaptation. G20
countries account for 80 per cent of global emissions and have a
special responsibility to lead. We need a massive boost in technical and
financial support to accelerate the phase-out of coal and create a just
transition to renewable energy and green jobs. Wealthier countries must
make good on their $100 billion climate finance commitment; adaptation
finance must be doubled; and we must reform the eligibility system so the most
vulnerable communities can access it.
‽ We also considered the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic for
our global health architecture, and for the response to future large-scale
crises. It is well past time to embed long-term thinking into our
systems, to improve global risk anticipation and foresight, and to take the
interests of future generations seriously.
‽ We have been brought back to the foundational promise of the
United Nations Charter — to save succeeding generations from the scourge of
war. Many people around the world are asking how this could happen in the
twenty-first century. How are we still staring into the nuclear abyss, as
millions of people flee across borders and the most fundamental tenets of
international law are trampled?
‽ there is renewed pressure to consider whether global
governance systems are fit for purpose, and how they could be improved.
‽ The climate crisis
has passed the point of no return — even though we had plenty of warning and
could have acted earlier. Much of the
impact of the COVID‑19
pandemic could have been prevented or mitigated. Instead, millions of people have died, hunger
and poverty are rising, and the economic impact of the pandemic is still
playing out.
‽ A multifaceted war is raging in the heart of Europe, in
violation of the United Nations Charter. We need a serious effort to
improve global governance, manage risks and safeguard the global commons and
global public goods. This is not only about the United Nations, or any
other institution. It is about working together to solve our biggest
problems, through existing structures if they are fit for purpose, and new or
reinvigorated frameworks where needed.
‽ Ultimately, our
efforts are aimed not only at averting catastrophe, but improving the lives and
prospects of billions of people who are left behind: children who have missed
years of schooling; women whose precarious livelihoods have disappeared;
refugees and migrants forced on dangerous journeys.
Yet meanwhile, the so-called ‘psychodrama’[v] of the Tory party in the
UK, the ambitions and egos of some, the manoeuvrings of many, the degree of floridity
and pretention of a resignation letter[vi], the focus-narrowing
dread of the rising cost of living - and all the other sheer daily stuff that preoccupies
and distracts, and the utter rubbish that squashes and quashes and excludes and
oppresses - carries on…
Existential threat that the climate emergency and unchecked environmental degradation represents? Staring in to a nuclear abyss? Oh António, don’t be so dramatic – now what position can I gain in the Cabinet? which Strictly[vii] ‘celeb’ will be out this week? who has flown to Australia potentially to wear a 'phone number and eat kangaroo testicles[viii]; how can I pay for this week’s food and heating…
A point of no return or the point of no return - for if this is really the point of no return, then...
The End.
©
‽istis
NB: further reflections and comments linked to this week’s theme and
past blog entries to be found on Twitter: replies, retweets (which don’t
necessarily indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’:
@Pistis_wonders. ‘Follows’ and respectful comment and dialogue welcome...
[i]
Boris Johnson – flying home from the Dominican Republic to try to refill the vacuum
at the top of the Tory party‽
[ii]
Suella Braverman
[iii] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/23/false-flag-russia-says-ukraine-plans-to-detonate-a-dirty-bomb
[v] https://www.irishtimes.com/world/uk/2022/10/24/at-the-second-time-of-asking-the-tory-party-rishi-sunak-becomes-prime-minister/
[vi] https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/25/jacob-rees-moggs-hand-written-resignation-letter-is-slathered-with-pretention-17633956/#:~:text=What%20Jacob%20Rees%20Mogg%27s%20letter%20actually%20said%20Dear,Business%2C%20Energy%20and%20Industrial%20Strategy%20to%20The%20King.
[vii] ‘Strictly
Come Dancing’ BBC programme https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b006m8dq/strictly-come-dancing
