Globalization's dark side _ Michel Schooyans.pdf

Globalization’s dark side

Would a one-world government protect real human rights?

Not if it is organized along the lines of the UN world

government currently emerging.

A leading Catholic thinker’s cry of alarm

Inside the Vatican/October 2001

The Latin words "sed contra" mean "but on the contrary." They were

used most memorably by St. Thomas Aquinas (1226-1274) when the great

Dominican philosopher and theologian wrote his Summa theologica.

In that work, Aquinas presented very strong arguments against certain

points of Christian philosophy and theology (the strongest arguments he could

find, since he held that the best way to make the truth shine brightly is to

challenge it with the most compelling contrary arguments) then disproved

those arguments. The sentence in which he began to disprove the arguments

would thus begin something like this: ''It would seem that these arguments are

persuasive, but on the contrary (sed contra) , they are not..." And then he

would give devastating counter-arguments in support of the true faith.

Today, at the beginning of the 21st century, we are in need of minds like

that of Aquinas - minds able to weigh the very best arguments and proposals

of "this world," and, having considered all aspects of those arguments with

great seriousness, able to explain where those arguments and proposals run

counter to Christian teaching, and, indeed, to the true moral and social

happiness of men and women - minds like Schooyans' mind.

One of the great "proposals" of our time is a proposal for what would in

essence become a single world government, building on the model of the

United Nations and radically redefining the rights and sovereignty of

traditional nation states. In one extrapolation of this proposal, which is being

implemented in part by institutions like the United Nations and the European

Community, this government would regulate world trade and travel, enforced

by world laws and a world army. And one of the great analysts and critics of

this proposal and its likely consequences - and possible dangers - is a Belgian

priest, Father Michel Schooyans.

We present his reflections here in excerpts from one of his essays.

The Editor

The term “globalization” has become part of our current vocabulary

today. On a very general level, the term has, so to speak, two meanings:

political and economic. The two meanings indicate that, on the world level,

exchange - something that has existed for a long time - has increased and

that growth has taken place rapidly. Such is manifestly the case in the

scientific, technical and cultural domains. This expansion of exchange has

been made possible thanks to systems of communication that are more and

more effective and often instantaneous. These systems provide a prospect of

information growing without end and ready to be employed.

This first current meaning evokes the interdependence of human

societies. An economic crisis in the US, the decisions of OPEC about the

price of petroleum, the tensions between the Israelis and Palestinians - to

cite but three examples - have repercussions of worldwide import.

We are concerned, challenged and even affected by the catastrophes

that occur far from us; we feel our responsibility for hunger and sickness

everywhere in the world.

GLOBALIZATION AND HOLISM

In recent documents of the UN, the economic meaning of globalization

appears more frequently than the political, without, however, these themes

running in competition. In 1955, for example, "The Report on Global

Governance" was already published (see Our Global Neighborhood: The Report

of the Commission on Global Governance , Oxford University Press, 1995).

The UN incorporates the current conceptions of the two-fold

economical and political theme we've just recalled. However, expanding on

the current conception of globalization, it subjects this word to a semantic

alteration.

Globalization is now reinterpreted in the light of a new vision of the

world and/or of man's place in it. This new vision goes by the name of

holism .

Of Greek origin, this word means that the world constitutes a whole

having more reality and value than the parts that make it up. In all of this,

man is but an embodiment of the evolution of matter. Man has no "reality"

except by reason of his belonging to matter and, upon death, he will return

definitively to matter. The destiny of man is to be doomed to death, that is,

to disappear inevitably into "Mother Earth" whence he came.

The big whole, then (let us call it, for the sake of simplification, Mother

Earth or Gaïa), transcends man. He must bend himself to the imperatives of

ecology, to that which suits Nature.

The influence of the New Age Movement is evident here. Man must

accept, not only no longer emerging from the world about him, but also

accept no longer being the center of the world. Judeo-Christian

anthropocentrism, reinforced by that of the Renaissance, must be not only

abandoned but combated.

According to this reading of Nature and man, the "natural" law is no

longer what is inscribed in the intelligence and heart of man: it is the

implacable and violent law imposed by Nature on man. The ecological

"vulgate" even presents man as a predator, and like all groups of predators,

the human population must, they say, be contained within the limits of

sustainable development. Man must, then, not only be sacrificed to the

imperatives of Mother Gaïa: he also must agree to sacrifice himself to the

imperative of the time to come. He must efface himself before the constraints

of "sustainable development."

THE EARTH CHARTER

The UN is in the process of concocting a very important document

systematizing this holistic interpretation of globalization. It is the Earth

Charter, of which several drafts have already been disseminated, and whose

editing is in its final stage. This document would not only be called to trump

the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, but, according to some,

it would have to supplant the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments) itself!

Here are some passages taken from the Charter:

- "We are at a critical moment in the history of the Earth, the moment

to choose its future... We must unite in order to found a sustainable global

society, based on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic

justice and the culture of peace....

- "Humanity is a part of a vast evolving universe... The global

environment, with its finite resources. is a concern common to all peoples.

The protection of the vitality, the diversity and the beauty of the Earth is a

sacred duty....

- "An increase of human population without precedent has overloaded

the economic and social systems....

- "Here is our choice: to form a global society to take care of the Earth

and one another, or to expose ourselves to the risk of destroying ourselves

and the diversity of life....

- "We have urgent need of a shared vision about the basic values that

offer an ethical foundation to the emerging world community…"

RELIGIONS AND GLOBALISM

In order to consolidate this holistic vision of globalism, certain

obstacles have to be smoothed out and instruments put to work.

Religions in general, and above all the Catholic religion, figure among

the obstacles that have to be neutralized.

It was toward this end that, among the celebrations of the Millennium

during the year 2000, the Summit of Spiritual and Religious leaders was

organized. This summit was concerned with launching the "United Initiative

of Religions" which has among its objectives that of watching over the health

of the Earth and that of all living beings.

Strongly influenced by the New Age, this project aims, in the end, at

the creation of one unique new world religion that would entail right away

the prohibition of proselytism on the part of all other religions.

In sum, the UN is taking up a project similar to that of Goethe, who

wanted to impose the cult of ancient Greece as the new religion of the West

(on this subject see David Gress, From Plato to Nato: The Idea of the West and

its Opponents , New York: The Free Press, 1998, especially p. 86).

In brief, according to the UN, globalization must not be concerned

merely with the spheres of politics, economics and law: it must be concerned

with the global soul.

Representing the Holy See, Cardinal Francis Arinze could not sign the

final document that placed all religions on the same footing.

THE PARADIGM Of HEALTH

There is also developing a new way of conceiving health, elaborated by

the World Health Organization. This new "model" of health is also in line

with the holistic perspective. It is a matter of spreading new models of health

activity that permit the implementation of the health programs decided upon

by the UN.

The primary objective consists in watching over the health of the social

body. And so, the Hippocratic model is abandoned that gave absolute

primacy to the care of individuals, irrespective of their social condition.

According to the new paradigm, the objective is "health for all." But

this expression means that the sick will be treated according to two

complementary criteria. On the one hand, the sick will be treated according

to their purchasing power. On the other hand, the new paradigm will take

into account the individual's life expectancy without handicap or further

sickness. In no case can the sick person be a burden to society.

Thus, a sick person suffering from malaria runs a great risk of being a

victim of this new paradigm. Since this illness often strikes poor populations

of extremely limited purchasing power, and, with its unforeseen crises,

renders the suffering person of little use in the labor market, the malaria will

not be treated as are other illnesses more economically profitable and less

burdensome to society. The criteria that will have been used to determine

the treatment will also be used to determine the research that should be

undertaken.

THE WORLD ECONOMIC PACT

Among the numerous instruments employed by the UN with a view to

globalization, the World Pact should be mentioned here. At the time of his

opening address for the Millennium Forum, Kofi Annan repeated the

invitation given in 1999 to the Economic Forum of Davos. He proposed

"adherence to certain essential values in the domains of norms for labor,

human rights, and the environment." The UN's secretary-general gave the

assurance that thereby the negative effects of globalization would be

reduced. More precisely, according to Annan, to narrow the gap between

North and South, the UN would have to make a broad appeal to the private

sector.

This would involve obtaining adherence to the Pact of a great number

of economic and social institutions: companies, businesses, unions, non-

governmental organizations.

This Global or World Pact would be needed to regulate world markets,

to broaden access to vital technologies, to distribute information and know-

how, to disseminate basic care in the field of health, etc.

This Pact has already received considerable supporters from, among

others, the Shell Oil company, Ted Turner (founder of CNN), and Bill Gates

(founder of Microsoft) and many international associations. The World Pact

endorses the reinforcement and control of the media for the purpose of

making "politically and economically correct thought" triumph.

The World Pact gives rise to some serious questions. Can we count on

the large worldwide companies to resolve the problems which they could

have helped resolve a long time ago had they wanted to?

Does the increase of international economic exchanges justify the

progressive establishment of a centralized authority charged with regulating

world economic activity?

What kind of freedom would the unions still enjoy, if labor legislation,

incorporated into international law, has to submit to the "global" economic

"imperatives"'?

What kind of power of intervention would, in the name of justice, the

government of sovereign states still have in economic, monetary and social

questions?

More serious still, since the UN is always narrowly escaping

bankruptcy, doesn't it risk becoming the victim of a take-over by a

consortium of big worldwide companies?

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: