WHAT IS THE REASON people fear a united world in which solidarity, rather than greed, is the driving force? In such a world the Covid-19 Pandemic would have been handled collectively, without regard to either the narrow interests of nation states, or the hunger for corporate profit. In such a world the response to global warming would have been instantaneous, decisive, successful, and set in motion 50 years ago. In such a world no one would be permitted to remain in need, and obscene wealth would be unthinkable. That such a world would be the preference of just about every human-being seems indisputable – and yet it exists only in the imagination of utopian dreamers.
Why is that?
My question is prompted by some of the placards I saw being carried by participants in the recent anti-vaccination protests. Some of these referencedAgenda 21, others Agenda 30. According to Wikipedia, Agenda 21 is “a non-binding action plan of the United Nations with regard to sustainable development. It is a product of the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992.” Agenda 30 is another UN initiative which, similarly, offers a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all people and the world by 2030.” What could possibly prompt people to object to these self-evidently beneficial goals?
The answer, of course, is Fear. Fear of in some way being made subordinate to foreigners. No, let’s be honest here. Fear of people with dark skins requiring people with white skins to share the world’s resources more equitably. Fear of losing the last remaining privilege still available to the poorest and most despised of white people: their supposed racial superiority. Fear of no longer belonging to the collectivity of masters. Fear of joining the collectivity of servants and slaves.
How else to explain the extraordinary reaction of the White World to the identification of the Omicron Variant of Covid-19 by South African scientists? Rather than thank the South Africans for alerting the world to this new potential threat to global health, the nations of Europe, North America and Australasia immediately banned all flights from the southern third of the African continent. Never mind that the Omicron Variant had already arrived in locations all over the planet, including Europe, the nations of the West reflexively, almost casually, delivered yet another devastating blow to the fragile economies of South Africa and her neighbours.
Not fair! Cry the governments of the West. We are only doing what is necessary to protect our people from this new Covid threat. Which is true, but which also brings us back to where we began.
In a solidaristic world: one without borders and self-protective nation states; the extraordinary, publicly resourced, scientific effort that created a plethora of Covid-19 vaccines in record time, could not have been privatised by vast pharmaceutical corporations and transformed into super-profits. On the contrary, the resources of the entire planet would have been mobilised to produce sufficient vaccine to inoculate the entire human population in the shortest possible time. The idea of leaving hundreds-of-millions of people unvaccinated – and, by doing so, allowing the virus to mutate at will – would have been dismissed as not only scientifically imbecilic, but also morally indefensible.
A similar regard for global well-being and justice, backed up by a global police force recruited from ethnic and linguistic communities from across the planet, would have brought a swift halt to the indefensible destruction of the Amazonian rain forest by Brazilian farming and mining interests.
That same international police force would long ago have indicted the major oil corporations for conspiring to keep hidden from the global public the deadly threat posed to the planet by rising fossil-fuel pollution. (Always assuming that such dangerous concentrations of private power would even be allowed to exist in a world committed to and driven by the obligations of global solidarity.)
It is here, of course, that we run headlong into the other reason why the self-evident benefits of a “one world government” arouse such visceral opposition from those with a vested interest in both the local and the global status quo. A world run for the benefit of all human-beings strikes at the very heart of the idea that there is something both admirable and efficient about an economic and social system which allows individuals and their families to accumulate and pass on great wealth – at the expense of others.
The very thought that this system might be superseded terrifies even those who do not possess great wealth. For these benighted souls, an indestructible aspiration to somehow join the ranks of the rich and powerful has lighted their way through all the dark vicissitudes of life. Selfish dreamers, their stunted existence at the bottom is made bearable by the (mistaken) assumption that there is always room at the top. Threaten this, their most precious dream, and their reaction will be as vigorous as it is vicious.
Paradoxically, the only effective evolutionary responses to a global pandemic – collectivism and solidarity – are also the most effective means of inspiring ferocious resistance to all the measures required to give them practical effect. The same is true of the economic, social and political policies required to eliminate poverty, racism and sexism. Indeed, all the evils which beset human societies may ultimately be traced to a common hatred of anything and everything that draws people together in freely-given love and trust.
Nowhere is the natural inclination of human-beings to come together in friendship and confidence illustrated more vividly than in the story about the first Christmas of World War I. How the German and English soldiers, hearing the carol-singing of their enemies drifting across no-man’s land, climbed cautiously out of their trenches and met them halfway. Alcohol, cigarettes and Christmas rations were exchanged, along with the soldiers’ low opinion of the war. Shocked and alarmed, their officers soon put an end to this unauthorised fraternisation. Within hours, these ordinary Germans and Englishmen were back in their trenches and doing their best to kill one another. It was the one and only “Christmas Truce” of the war.
How close those soldiers came to the essential truth of the tragedy in which they were all submerged: that it simply didn’t have to be that way. Abandon the mythologies of race and nationality, and embrace the reality of our common humanity, and war is only one of the evils that will disappear.
As the German poet, playwright, and communist, Bertolt Brecht, put it:
It is reasonable. You can grasp it. It’s simple.
You’re no exploiter, so you’ll understand.
It is good for you. Look into it.
Stupid men call it stupid, and the dirty call it dirty.
It is against dirt and against stupidity.
The exploiters call it a crime.
But we know:
It is the end of all crime.
It is not madness but
The end of madness.
It is not chaos,
But order.
It is the simple thing
That’s hard to do.
“In a world without borders…” says the guy who supports the government that won’t let me visit my son in Bay of Plenty.
me-me-me-me-my-my-my-my-I-I-I-I-I
(I can;
‘t can’t visit some of my rellies either)
So the fact that you are happy for Labour (with National wholehearted approval, let’s be honest) to extinguish your civil liberties means that everyone else must be likewise happy?
Labour, National and the majority of political parties around the world are acting in an entirely fascistic manner.
“So the fact that you are happy for Labour…….”
Assumption much?
It must be fairly boring seeing everything in black and white with a strange definition of what is “fact”
Facetime him or something …stop whining
I think you missed the point bro. CT likes hard borders when it suits him
Wooooosh! The sound of a point being missed.
(It could be he likes hard borders when science suggest it might be the best option to protect humanity).
But go for ya life maaaaaaate!
The same scientists that proposed level one for the rest of the country in September but ignored by the govt…because it was listening to the “health advice”?
whhhaaaaa whhaaaaa whaaaaa, I want ma cheezy puffz
If you think a one world government leads to a world run for the benefit of all human-beings then you are totally deluded.
Well said Chris… the only difference between us is our level of melanin and whatever culture we are imbued with from birth… unfortunately those cultures tend to be based on “life is not about how it it is lived, but who it is lived against”
@CT. Wonderful Chris.
Do you lock your house when you fo out Chris? Or are open borders only for other people?
*go out
Imagine….
We are not good angels, that is the problem.
Get on with it, we are all global peasants now. Citizenry is something of the past.
Great post Chris.
One other myth I think desperately needs busting is ,’ The Myth Of Human Supremacy.’
Derrick Jensen wrote a book on this subject.
I’m sensing a lot here don’t buy into the globalist rhetoric. Me neither. I yearn for a fairer and happier world for all, but we are not heading that way
F.E.A.R.
F alse
E vidence
A ppearing
R eal
That’s pretty cool!
Is that an acrostic poem Bertie? very Simon Bridges 🙂
No it’s based on education. Read the words slowly and you”ll realise why the likes of Tamaki”s messaging is a false narrative. He plants fear into people’s minds.
Why do those fear the vaccine? What evidence do they base not getting the vaccine on, millions of vaccine related deaths, being vegan and the vaccine was tested on animals? Someone give me researched evidence backed by the numbers having died from the vaccine compared to those who have died from covid?
If you wish to educate people, more importantly, allay the fears of the vaccine hesitant, then you should provide the relevant safety data. You should provide the verifiable evidence that proves your point, simply because providing any information to the contrary, rarely gets accepted. You are on the accepted side of this argument, therefore any information you choose to post, has a high likelihood of getting through. Thus, the onus, is on you. Put to bed the fear – once and for all…..
Education and study is based on challenging the information. So I challenge the antivaccinated to provide the evidence that that vaccine kills or does irreversible damage to one’s body? There is worldwide evidence to say covid kills and evidence to say that the vaccine like vaccines through the generations before it, helps to keep deaths door away. Now I am.still awaiting an antivaxxers answer other than the fear of how the vaccine ACTUALLY harms you? Or is it like the vaccines that you recieved as a baby that were given to keep you alive?
Bert, you should be aware by now, that it is a challenge, to say the very least, for those not on the accepted side of this argument to link to any type of evidence…..
Here’s just two examples of the antivax type.
“I’m not getting the.vaccine because I hate Ardern” my brother.
“I will not get the vaccine because I am vegan and it was tested on animals” A Dutch psychiatrist in our team whom has since returned to Holland.
Add to that “it’s no worse than the flu” yet no one has provided evidence of that.
https://covid.immune.org.nz/faq/what-are-ingredients-covid-19-vaccines
90% plus are happy to take the risk of the vaccine because they wish to keep themselves and others around them safe. Antivaxxers appear to have a hesitation based on insular thinking. A pandemic is not something you wish to ponder it is already here.
Your turn AO
…therefore, you have the floor. You could prove that the fears of the vaccine hesitant are unfounded, you could provide evidence that supports your own claims, or…..
I’ll keep it simple for you.
I am double vaccinated alongside my wife and 3 children. We are all alive, the vaccine hesitant are unfounded… that is all the evidence I need but why do I feel like I’m repeating myself.
Summary of reported deaths
Up to and including 11 September 2021, a total of 60 deaths were reported to CARM after the administration of the Comirnaty vaccine. Following medical assessments by CARM and Medsafe it has been determined that:
27 of these deaths are unlikely related to the COVID-19 vaccine
10 deaths could not be assessed due to insufficient information
22 cases are still under investigation.
1 death was likely due to vaccine induced myocarditis (awaiting Coroner’s determination)
By chance, some people will experience new illnesses or die from a pre-existing condition shortly after vaccination, especially if they are elderly. Therefore, part of our review process includes comparing natural death rates to observed death rates following vaccination, to determine if there are any specific trends or patterns that might indicate a vaccine safety concern. See below for more information about these observed-versus-expected analyses.
To date, the observed number of deaths reported after vaccination is actually less than the expected number of natural deaths.
Mortalities by age group up to and including 11 September 2021 reported to CARM
Age Mortalities
10 – 29 years 1
30 – 59 years 8
60 – 79 years 27
80+ years 24
https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/safety-report-28.asp
Singapore…With 94 per cent of its eligible population fully vaccinated and another 26 per cent already with booster shots, even when the number of infected people started to rise, about 99 per cent had no symptoms or only mild symptoms, meaning health care systems were under pressure but never overwhelmed.
The ideal world…a world without poverty, discrimination, so on and so on. Fear is not the reason why we have not achieved this world, or for that matter, even bothered to pursue it! We have the world that those with the most money have shaped. That’s it. And now, those with the most money are looking to reshape the world, build back better, so to speak. Here is the end game. Most people are for this new world, or new normal, some are not. I am against this new world simply because I want a world that, we the people, have a say in. We barely have say in this world, I believe that we will have less of a say in this new world. And that, is something to fear, for sure.
Nice philosophical post Chris. The two truths I see are firstly, To solve the worlds problems, the co operation needed could only come from a “one world government”
The second truth is, that government would have the potential to be just as corrupted as all our separate governments appear to be. Especially if the world had deteriorated to such a state that all the populations were struggling to survive. There would be huge benefits in becoming an administrator to improve ones lot and get out of the group that would be the rest of us. We would all fear the unquestionable power of such a group even if selected in an acceptable manor. Human nature is to fear the unknown and the foreigner as Chris has described. I am now re imagining the world of the old movie Soylent Green.
Hmmm. This fine ideal takes no account of human nature.
World government even less likely, surely, than Esperanto becoming the lingua franca.
Tribalism, Christopher T, tribalism.
Our ape-descended brain is hard wired to break down into the smallest tribal units.
We can create artificial tribes such as New Zealand, but see how quickly that breaks down to ‘bloody Aucklanders’ or ‘stuffy Cantabrians’.
From there it’s just a hop-step-and-jump to ‘bloody Ponsonby’ or ‘bloody Cashmere’ right down to ‘bloody Portsmouth St’ or ‘bloody Karangahape Rd’.
Then onward down to individual families. (Just ask a Police Officer about ‘families’…)
And this doesn’t even include racial and cultural tribes…
So yeah, good luck with a one tribe planet.
Thats what the Fauci ouchie is for…. group think and common dna
Alright, one more time. You are 100% correct – fear is the key driver here. But it is not fear from the people, it is fear of a united people. “A world run for the benefit of all human-beings” is my type of world. But this is not the world I have ever lived in. And my fellow citizen is not the reason for this. We need solidarity more than ever…..
Brecht’s poem was titled “In Praise of Communism”. That’s what the “it” refers to.
Hi Chris,
Move to any inner city within Europe for about 6 months, and then tell us about the miracle of open borders…Nearly all Europeans, except the Political Elite, and other scum bags, want closed borders ASAP…
At the end of the Book of Revelation, a part of ‘god’s plan’ appears to be the end of nation states
Far right christian nationalists seem to be incorrect and are more aligned with the intentions of the ‘dragon’
Chapter 21 does actually mention there are nations still. So maybe it would be better to say that governments and people will probably cease to be nationalistic
‘God’ doesn’t appear to be any of the current superpowers
Well , we could go back to the League of nations,…. this shows that human beings, cannot and never will fully co operate. It is inbuilt in our natures to be that way. Instead of co operating and saying please we fight and kill to take what isn’t ours. The entire history of our species shows how fractious we are. Even within nation states we have bloody revolutions. Even within family’s are sometimes violent altercations. So to think of a one world govt under the guise of a new styled ‘U.N’ , of peaceful co operation, is really a dream. And so most people realize this deep down. Some of it is fear, but I would say a big part of it is the pessimistic view that it just aint gonna happen. That there is something intrinsically wrong with being governed and ‘ told what to do’ by some council thousands of kilometers away.
If white people so truly evil why does everyone want to risk their life getting into Europa illegally? Running towards oppression?
Chris this is the most idealistic load of nonsense i have read in ages.
Human nature is the way it is unfortunately..
“– and yet it exists only in the imagination of utopian dreamers”.
Where ‘it’ refers to “a united world in which solidarity, rather than greed, is the driving force”.
You ask Chris why such a vision has not come to pass, is simply a mirage in the imagination of utopian dreamers. Has your sense of history abandoned you? I can’t really think of any millennium where self-interest hasn’t been a motive, individually, tribally, nationally. Yes, there are in practice rare exceptions. But in the big picture it seems we are what we are. Far from the ideals of collectivism and solidarity, in your own words, the failings of every human society indeed can be traced to a common hatred of anything and everything that draws people together in freely-given love and trust.
You can probably fill a library on that theme.
But therein lies the rub, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Imagine communism (not the ideal but the lived reality under Stalin, Xi etc) on a global scale and there is nowhere to run. Across the entire world, you are told what to do, how to live, what to think. I think it is reductive to say that fear of NWO is about racism. It is a gut wrenching fear of loss of freedom, loss of expression and of relative control over our own lives. Above that, is the absolute certainty that those in charge will be (or become) corrupt or at the best misguided.
or alternatively imagine the neo-lib surveillance states we all live in….
our spooks make the stasi look like boy scouts
Yep, which is why the Bible talks about the final world leader, the anti christ being a brilliant yet insane tyrant. Who among other things, implements a cashless society ( they already have the process in existence all set to go) whereby no one can buy or sell unless they have the ‘mark’. Probably a small chip inserted just under the skin like we have for dogs and cats. And that’s how they’ll getcha and know your movements. And btw ?- last few days the Reserve Bank are discussing whether to keep physical cash, apparently they will for those who will endure hardship ( us little people) if it is removed. As banks and financial institutions rarely use it- its all electronic.
actually like most rightard ‘interpretations’ of the alleged scriptures it’s another blasphemy surely if the omnipresent sky pixie with his ineffable plan could forsee chips and describe them as such…..after all like all things on heaven and earth he was responsable for their creation…..wasn’t she?
yes your imaginary friend now identifies as a woman
Sorry Chris I think you’ve not grasped this correctly. By the way I have no fear of Onicrom because it came from Africa, hell I’ve traveled through Africa and caught things that make Covid a walk in the park. It seems you tried to pull the racist card a bit early.
My fear is hidden agendas. And with your greater knowledge of history than I, you know that that those who preach “togetherness and solidarity” turn out to be anything but, so giving up my freedom to anyone who tells me “we’re all in this together” is a no go from me. “Team of 5 million anyone?”
Can we also cut through the bullshit of inequality, I know you’ve read regarding the Pareto Distribution Model, and inequality is inbuilt in nature. To think that anyone (and the 20th century is littered with ideals that believe they could) could circumvent Pareto is delusional. Yes we must try reduce the worst of it, because the model suggests that ‘to its infinite conclusion’ one person will have all, and the rest will have none, but in a global world as you suggest, this will only be exacerbated not improved. At least with the nationhood model we can keep the ‘winners’ somewhat in check. Try doing that on a global scale.
as far as I know no one (who is sane) is asking for equality of outcome but equality of opportunity..
ie a level pitch
Brilliant article. Absolutely nails it.
From 1917 until 1989, one third of the world followed your prescriptions.
The result of communism in terms of human suffering is almost unspeakable. Murder and cruelty on an industrial scale were the norm.
For you to continue to advocate this form of government, despite about 70 years of evidence of the consequences, is simply shameful. Are you ashamed? You should be.
Or perhaps you are simply completely uneducated as to 20th Century history, and the regimes of Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot? How else could you advocate a repeat?
I’m sorry, your life’s work needs to be thrown in the bin. It is much worse than worthless – it is inhuman.
no they didn’t, state capitalism wasn’t socialism but you know that don’t you…
a better analogy would be the europian and in particular the scandi social democracies who despite the inroads of neo lib ideas still have reasonably decent societies despite the constant right wing hyperbole about their evil system.
surprised to see your rant didn’t include ‘nazis were socialists y’know’ is it because even you don’t buy that particular pup.
One world government doesn’t necessarily have to mean one autocratic party, e.g. China’s government. I don’t see why there can’t also be ‘full democracy’ like we have
True communism has never existed, only screwed up autocratic governments that tried to get there
Imagine a world where there are 3 car models, small medium and large.
3 alternators, 3 starter motors, no facelift models every year.
3 fridges, small, medium and large.
Individuality gets the boot and we all wear humble garments that are practical and durable. No more pointless manufacturing and landfilling of irrelevant products.
Imagine the reduction in waste,, as well as wasted time and energy competing in the marketplace, or consumers perplexed and frantic; deciding does it go? does it go? does it go with my hair??
The waste of time and energy trying to get the right replacement alternator, when every service station and dairy has one on the shelf.
Women no longer dollying themselves up, getting plastic lips and tits to compete for males, males no longer being violent dicks.
The end of political rivalry and infighting. Bye bye TDB.
‘Why are we crawling, when the world is at our feet? Righteousness calling in our words, and in our deeds…Brothers and sisters- as nature’s children we came to this life, and nature will carry us home’
from Natures Creed by Lou Rhodes
https://youtu.be/MM7Z1V4xkps
I read 1950’s US Gov behavioural psychologist BF Skinners ‘Walden 2’ in the eighties and have been dreaming of a world like this ever since. Everyone only works 4 hours a day and all bureaucrats and leaders must do 2 hours of physical work everyday. People dwell in village like communes so commuting is avoided, and you know everyone personally and eat together every day. You can move to other collectives if you prefer. Art and love flourishes as everyday competitions for basic needs and properties are no longer necessary or built in to the system.
The environment breathes a sigh of relief as atmospheric CO2 increase is halted by force. Human nature gets rewritten.
We are injected with a new reality.
But if you add complexity. There is money to be made.
Is this Chris Trotter’s equivalent of Brash’s infamous Orewa Speech? Good luck!
When Milton’s Satan falls from heaven, he ends in hell. And what does he say to reassure himself? ‘Here, at least, we shall be free.’ And that, I think, is the fate of the old-fashioned liberal. He’s going to be free, but he’s going to find himself in hell.
— B. F. Skinner
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