Humanity-Is It for Real?

By Garry Davis

The writers of this episode, however, were grievously mistaken. Humanity per se cannot be aggressive. Only would-be humans can be. As a whole, humanity cannot aggress against itself or indeed against another species. Humanity is a complex, holistic system that has, by dint of intelligence, finally realized its universal mission. But unrealized humans are not yet parts of that whole.

Given the dictionary definition of human-"any individual of the genus Homo, esp. a member of the species Homo sapiens"-these simple creatures evidently are not yet formally human! Why not? Well, sapient means "having or showing great wisdom or sound judgment." If you accept the dictionary definition of humanity, a realized (or wise) human would not fight with a member of his/her own species.

Maybe in the 24th century, when the Enterprise ventures "where no one has gone before," humanity has already been "born." Mother Earth is home. World Government exists. War has been outlawed. Poverty is eliminated. Energy sources are renewable. Eureka!

Let's imagine that we, as "aliens" from the Galactic Federation, are exploring this fringe solar system and landed on Mars for a closer gander at its neighboring planets and potential members. What's this? A whole planet next door, covered with about 70% H2O and 30% land masses! The presence of massive water has given rise to myriad forms of living creatures. Remarkable and unique. A closer look reveals a dominant species: on the land masses are bipeds at various stages of development. They are a species and breed true to form. Yet, strangely and sadly, the billions of members of that species have not yet realized that if joined simultaneously, they would make up, well, a unit-a being in itself which for convenience we will call "humanity." That it does not yet exist is apparent since its potential members, which have congregated into exclusive tribal units called "nations," many with religious overtones, have continually fought amongst themselves and even now are preparing to annihilate the species itself by means of nuclear power.

No way would we allow these primitives into the Galactic Federation! Too dangerous. They would be a menace. They have not even recognized that they are, indeed, a species, the fundamental sign of intelligence! Well, they will obviously destroy themselves in due course. Too bad; they had great potential.

Apparently, certain of humanity's more advanced members ally themselves to the concept of humanity, if not to it itself, using adjectives such as "kind," "benevolet," "good," and "humane" to describe the collective species. Once the unit, "humanity," actually comes into being, tribal units will disappear or be merged, the result being peace between species members...an organic whole. But more-and what only a gifted few realize-the being called "humanity" will add a new cosmic dimension to the very existence of all its "cells," or humans. Perhaps its earthly mission is to be the "brains" of the planet, preserving rather than destroying it.

No, Captain Picard was falsely charged by "Q."

To return to earth, how can there be "crimes against humanity" when there is no legal definition of humanity? I herewith challenge the International Law Commission of Jurists, who originally devised the Nuremberg Principles, to publish the legal definition of "humanity." These architects of the Nuremberg Principles, in attempting to put a legal framework on war, in which all national tribes acquiesced, nay, legitimized in all their constitutions, came up with an ingenious solution: use the conceptual "humanity" itself as the "plaintiff," thus making the war losers "defendants." Once "humanity" was used as "plaintiff" in a court of supposed international law, no defense based on national law was possible, even relevant.

The Nazis claimed they were only obeying national law (as indeed were the Allies). But the court rejected this defense as not applicable to "crimes against humanity." Case closed. How can you defend yourself against a myth made legal? Had the Allies lost to Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito, then Eisenhower, Montgomery, Patton and the CEOs of GM, Ford, McDonnell-Douglas and Boeing, not to mention Oppenheimer, Rotblat and all the Los Alamos crowd, could all have been indicted under "crimes against humanity" by the Nazis and Japan. The utter destruction of Cologne, Brandenberg (in which I participated), Berlin and Tokyo, not to mention Hiroshima and Nagasaki, would have furnished ample evidence of the justification of the indictment.

Who then claimed to represent "humanity" in the Nuremberg Trials? None other than lawyers appointed by the winning tribes. No lawyer on the losing side exposed the obvious truth that there is no "humanity" to assault legally. Because if there were, wars between contingent parts would be outlawed, unnecessary and unwise. Indeed, the four judges from the USA, France, England and the former Soviet Union did not presume to speak for humanity. Their oath of office never imposed such a representation. That would have compounded the travesty.

The proof of the willful hypocrisy of the winning tribes is that in later years this same charge-"crimes against humanity"-has been used even in national courts to indict, try, convict and punish Nazi "war criminals" of that period, while killing and even threats of nuclear annihilation are perpetrated by the very same tribes throughout the world-ironically not in the name of humanity, rather under the guise of "national security."

Today, in the Hague, the first so-called international war crimes trials are taking place against those responsible for "war crimes" in Bosnia. The tribunal, created by the U.N. Security Council in May 1993 to try those responsible for the atrocities committed in the Balkans conflict, has "indicted" 57 suspects. Only three, however, are in custody. But with no law to adjudicate and no enforcement power, this pseudo court again alleges "crimes against humanity" in connection with the torture and death of 16 Bosnian Muslims in July 1995. The judicial farce continues.

War is not yet a crime. For humanity is not yet real. Whether a realized humanity will one day exist is highly speculative given today's political breakdown and environmental hazards.

We World Citizens are the midwives of a future humanity when war on the home planet is no more. The mythical Captain Picard and his crew are dramatic metaphors of that perhaps-deserving future.