'Government is Force'
(E-mail letter)
Dear David,
I have read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I come from as point of view rooted in history and law. My gravest concern is that persons of high responsibility, not unlike yourself will over look the most important aspects in the establishment of any government, but most especially, a world government.
It is as truism that when a man is given authority, , he straight way goes to abuse it. I see no protective provisions against this fatal human flaw. Government is force, nothing less. I see no counter balance laid in the hands of the people.
The UDHR is legal positivism at its best. I speak not of positive law, but of a philosophy. I know not your legal background, other than you signed "Esquire." Does the WGWC espouse titles of nobility also?
There are many problems in the American legal system. Perhaps the most important one is the counsel issue. Have you seen the movie, Brazil? You should be able to pick it up at any video store. Please watch this movie; we need to talk about it. It is a British comedy, so of course it is full of satire, but it brings home many important points that I would like to discuss with you.
Paul Richter
'WGWC Is Your Government'
(WSA e-mail response)
Dear Paul,
Thank you for communicating your concerns to the World Service Authority regarding the World Citizen Web page and the World Government of World Citizens.
The WSA does not espouse the idea that governments grants rights to persons. Human rights are not grants by nation-states. Human rights are our rights which we have innately by being human. We as individual human beings are sovereign and so is humanity as a whole.
The World Government of World Citizens is YOUR government. YOU as governor must decide, along with the 6 or so billion other humans, what you want this world government to do. Currently, national governments are the biggest abusers/violators of human rights. We are living in anarchy and disorder because we, as humans have not established the world legal foundation (i.e., a global social contract) to prevent the violations and come to grips with the sources of violence and impoverishment that lead to these violations.
By establishing world law, as positive law, we, as human beings, will affirm, secure and protect our rights that we naturally have. But it is up to us to establish these world laws. The WSA and the WGWC are providing tools and education to humans for all of us to be able to participate in governing our world.
On our web page, you will find a World Citizen Referendum in which you may choose to participate to discuss your concerns. We may also soon be initiating a bulletin board where humans can discuss world citizenship and world government issues. Please check back with me for updates in the progress of this effort.
David Gallup, General Counsel, WSA
'Glad to See You on the Web'
(E-mail letter)
Hi,
Years ago, I was introduced to Garry's book by a friend of mine. I was as much touched and delighted by Garry's sense of mission as my friend was. Later, Garry attended some Esperanto meeting that I was at (maybe in San Francisco) and he autographed a brochure that spoke about World Citizenship. Glad to see you on the Web. Most Esperantists feel pretty much the same as you do about national boundaries, and universal brotherhood and human rights.
Allen Fineberg
Adjudication International
Dear Garry,
Following is a copy of a letter I recently sent to The New Internationalist, a magazine that covers Third World problems.
Dear Mmes & Sirs: Your Jan. 1996 dockless prosecution of world power abusers could start an ongoing non-governmental alternative for world citizens. A growing grass-roots movement might press for "police" to locate and arrest, "judges" to indict, and "bailiffs" to exact compensation from convicted breakers and ignorers of treaties on human rights and the environment.
Existing institutions rarely identify and deal with international perpetrators. The U.N. Court arbitrates only between contending nations on disputes they take to it. It can give only advisory opinions.
The only penalties available to the U.N. are economic sanctions or war. And it can apply the penalties only via the Security Council, which is dominated by the national interests of superpowers.
Ad hoc tribunals, official or not, condemn a selected few for selected war crimes. The Bertrand Russell War Crimes Tribunal on the Vietnam war, along with the Berlin and Tokyo trials, were all one-sided. Trials in the former Yugoslavia may be a small step forward, like your own efforts.
Perhaps what we lack is an Adjudication International, or to take a more preventive approach, a Conflict Resolution International. It could shame officials, as Amnesty does, and intervene like consumer advocates and administrative review tribunals. Other roles would involve campaigning for nations to implement treaties; encouraging the unempowered, as women's international organizations do; sustaining peace workers as the Red Cross does with soldiers; confronting exploiters in the manner Greenpeace; and generally strengthening civil society and challenging social injustice.
The overall aim should be to build a coordinating, watchdog, promotional structure to link a critical mass of citizens and NGOs, leading to a world democracy of peace under law and with a human face.
Sincerely,
Doug Everingham
World Passport Inquiries
Dear Friends,
We frequently get requests for the World Passport. We refer them to you.
To expedite service on this matter, if you willkindly send us a dozen copies of the World Passport application form, then we can send this directly to persons who inquire. For humanity,
Philip Isely
Global Ratification and Elections Network
History Will Remember
Stockholm, Sweden
Dear Garry Davis,
During my entire life, I have had a strong feeling of being born in the wrong time. I am thinking about the nation-states of the world, with their national pride and military forces. It feels so wrong, so old-fashioned. As the astronauts do, I look at our planet as a single, bluish world in a vast universe-our common home. This is the view of the future, and that's where I feel at home.
You, sir, are one of the most persistent and determined promoters of this world view. For many decades, you have worked toward the goal of transforming the nation-state system into a united Earth. This is also one of my goals. With this letter, I would like to thank you for your life-long efforts. I want you to know that you have a friend and supporter thinking about you even here in Sweden.
Sad to say, I think it will take some time to fulfill our common dream. I am afraid we will be stuck with a slowly evolving United Nations for many decades to come.
However, we will go in the right direction, and I am sure we will finally have a united humanity with a world government. And at that time, they will remember and celebrate you as one of the early pioneers. Good luck with your work!
Sincerely,
Hans Starlife
Proud Infosetter
Accra, Ghana
World Citizen Foundation:
I am a sovereign citizen of the world presently living at the Liberian Refugee Camp in Ghana. I fled from my home in Liberia after the execution of my father and other close relatives by rebels of the National Patriotic Front. I am a Christian, the husband of one wife, and the founder of Zamfa (Zion Action Mission for Africa), an evangelical and charity Christian movement based in the refugee camp.
I am a proud participant of the 1995 World Syntegrity Project held in Accra.
Rev. Nathan D. Russ, Jr.
'Father, Please!'
Dima Refugee Camp, Ethiopia
Dear Garry Davis,
Please! Sympathize and share with me the difficult conditions I am facing at present. I am a registered world citizen.
I am telling you frankly that there is recent diplomacy between the government of Ethiopia and the Sudanese Peoples' Liberation Army (SPLA). Members of the guerrilla group entered this camp on 28 September 1995. There is a fear that there will be a forced recruitment into the SPLA which is fighting against Sudan's Islamic fundamentalist government. I want to move out from Dima Refugee Camp.
Davis, you are the Father of Peace. Father! Rescue me from the misery of this difficult time.
Davis, I admitted myself to world citizenship not to celebrate war deaths but natural ones. Here I am helpless; they will force me to go to war but I remain your son under the slogan of one world.
Sir, I will not commit suicide, but until you answer me this letter then I will forget everything of the world. And thanks.
Faithfully yours,
Name Withheld