How Do We, The People Of The Globe, Win Battles

How do we, the people of the globe, win battles against our common enemies? Humanity has been victims of calamities from time immemorial. Each leaves behind in its wake a trail of destruction in terms of men and material and long-term human sufferings of varying intensity depending on its magnitude. Besides, threats to our existence come from man-made disasters, environmental degradation, terrorism, diseases, hunger and poverty. All past calamities left behind a coded message and looming threats present the same message that we ought to decipher and heed so as to sharpen our collective wisdom and bolster the chances of our survival. The code is not difficult to decipher. Once decoded, the message is unambiguous and simple. The message may be clearly defined in three sentences: 1) The very existence of humanity, the most intelligent species on earth and endowed with higher cognition and linguistic ability is under constant threats. 2) While the threats are multi-dimensional, vicious and ever-growing, man’s response is shortsighted, inadequate and ad hoc, to say the least. 3) The earth is the only planet in the solar system hospitable to life forms, and probably the only abode in the whole universe to support superior life form like the Homo sapiens. Are we not therefore under moral obligation collectively to ensure safety and security of our planet and create conditions favourable for growth and well-being of succeeding generations? Let us examine the enormity and multi-faceted dimensions of each threat and the response of humanity thereto as well as the prospect of our winning every battle. Natural and man-made disasters Following up on a tip by an amateur astronomer, Anthony Wesley of Australia on 21 July 2009, scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California have confirmed the discovery of a new “scar” the size of the Earth in Jupiter’s South Polar Region, apparently showing that the planet was hit by something large in recent days. The apparent impact comes almost exactly 15 years after a comet named Shoemaker-Levy 9 struck Jupiter, ejecting blazing fireballs, one of them being as large as the earth and churning the Jovian atmosphere into dark storms. Jupiter’s massive gravitational pull is shielding our planet from direct hit by celestial bodies. The possibility that one of thousands of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter rotating round the sun may someday hit the earth is real, however small that possibility maybe as it happened in the distant past. A powerful earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck in the morning of 08 October 2005 many parts of Pakistan and its region of Kashmir and Indian Jammu and Kashmir, claiming tens of thousands of human lives as well as causing immense human sufferings and colossal damage to properties. A few days back in the same year, hurricane Katrina and Rita wreaked havoc in quick succession the southeastern coast of the US. Loss of lives and properties as well as human miseries laid bare the grim reality how vulnerable and illprepared even the most economically and scientifically advanced country in the world was. While natural calamities like earthquake, cyclone or tornado, forest fire etc. are occurring off and on, man-made disasters seem to be happening more frequently. Major man-made disasters that

struck recently like release of toxic fumes in Bhopal in India in 1984, melt-down of Chernobyl nuclear reactor in Kiev, Ukraine in 1986, that in Brazil in 1987 and two in Japan in 1994 and 2004 at Tokaimura and Mihama respectively, and oil-spill from mega oil-tankers like Exxon Valdez in 1989, Mega Borg in 1990 and Erika and Haven more recently are illustrative of man’s inability to ensure full safety and security of nuclear reactors and safe passage of oil tankers and other ships carrying hazardous chemicals across seas. Man’s response to disasters due to its own ignorance and callousness is equally appalling. Global warming due to greenhouse effect, ozonelayer depletion (mitigation process is going on satisfactorily), dumping of toxic wastes including nuclear waste into land, river and sea, deforestation, loss of biodiversity or extinction of species due to human activities, particularly attempts at tampering with nature are depleting as well as degrading natural resource-base like quality of air and water, dwindling of forest, hills and mountains, wetlands and loss of bio-diversity. Over exploration of natural resources and demographic pressure are major contributory factors for dwindling of arable land, forest, fish and other natural resources on which future survival and well being of humanity depend. Diseases and other scourges The most formidable threat to human existence comes from microbes. According to notable scientists in the field of life sciences, the much-touted fight against bacteria that was believed to be won is in fact lost because many hitherto easily treatable bacterial infections are presently hardly responding to common antibiotics. As for example, infections by resistant strains of staphylococcus auras (known as MRSA), one of the most common bacteria, which were treatable previously, even with simple penicillin, do not now respond to available antibiotics except vancomycin. While new antibiotics keep on coming to markets, resistant strains are proliferating almost in equal proportion. It seems it is an arduous and long drawn-out fight where man can be complacent only at its own peril. At a time when World Health Organisation was celebrating at its headquarters its triumph over and complete eradication of small pox caused by vaccinia virus from the surface of earth, new viruses mutated, swapped each others genes, became virulent and jumped over inter-species barriers to claim more human lives, albeit in a moderate scale to date. This may not be the case in future. Since the outbreak of influenza pandemic in 1918, the probability of another one of similar magnitude or more has never been as real as it is today. There has been much talk within the scientific community about a catastrophic pandemic of avian flu by a virus named H5N1 originating from South-east Asia that is estimated to possess the lethal power to kill more than 150 million people because air travel by tens of millions of passengers annually would make contagion extremely difficult to contain. Now the swine flu virus H1N1 poses similar or greater threats because of unpredictability of influenza viruses. In the aftermath of such pandemics as stated above, healthcare infrastructure all over the world will inevitably collapse as we can surmise from past experiences, and overwhelming number of victims will be left writhing in pain, agony and distress, and at the mercy of natural healing process.

Besides the above, hunger, poverty and malnutrition are eating into the vitals of more than half of world’s 6.5 billion people. Deprivation is perhaps the most fertile ground for growth of militancy, terrorism and restive people around the globe. What is humanity doing to meet the challenges posed by all these enemies of mankind? Very little indeed! Moreover, men have been creating conditions where they remain engaged in internecine wars, conflicts and bloodletting communal violence. Nuclear cataclysm in Hiroshima and Nagasaki is a stark reminder of men’s inherent lust for power and hatred against one another. Their activities are contributing even to the intensification and worsening of conditions favourable for intensified and more widespread natural calamities. All human beings are bound by common abode and the same destiny, and share common resources as well as common threats. Why can’t they put up a united front against all enemies instead of putting up disjointed and isolated fights? The answer lies in a grim reality that humanity feels divided by race, religion, cast and creed and gender. The genesis of division along each factor is briefly narrated along with an explanation why the perception of division is misguided. Racism Presently, I am living in the United States of America. Undeniably, it is the greatest power on earth, the largest economy and has the most enlightened society, the glaring proof of which is the election of a non-white male Barack H. Obama the President of the US. Nevertheless, racial discrimination exists in hospitals, educational institutions, in public facilities including swimming pools and social life. Non-white eminent personalities also fall victims of this social scourge. Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was recently arrested for no apparent reason, particularly when the police officer had come to know professor’s identity. Race is still a social and political issue in the US that can draw even the President to controversy as we are witnessing debate in all news media involving President Barack Obama, Professor Gates and police sergeant Crowley and his supporters. In other countries, the situation is far worse. In Australia, Indians, particularly students are being attacked, killed and tortured. It is a pity that despite scientific, economic, social and cultural advancement globally, race is still a powerful destabilising force against world peace and if played up wrongly can generate intolerance and even hatred pitting one race against the other. Leaving aside details, it is generally assumed that people of one race differ from those of another in physical features. Let us compare physical features of American Whites with that of African Americans, and filter out myths from facts. Africans in general have black or dark skin; have wider nose; thick and curly hair follicle and protruding jaw, unlike the whites. Asians barring Mongoloid groups have similar physical features except that their skin is of mixed colour. The average altitude of Africa is about 2,200 ft. above sea-level. Many of the countries in the continent have altitude between 3,000 and 7,000 ft. above sea level and locations near the equator. Air at high altitude, like the one in Africa, is thinner than that at sea-level and as such can filter out less ultraviolet rays. Moreover, sun-rays falling on places at higher altitude and near equator are more piercing or penetrating than they are at sea-level and away from the equator. To

circumvent the harmful effects of ultraviolet rays of the sun, Africans have dark pigmentation called melanin in the layers of their skin. On the other hand, human populations living in plane land at sea-level and particularly away from the equator have fair skin without dark pigment out of survival needs to absorb sun rays to produce vitamin D. Again, chests of Africans are slightly bigger, their noses wider to enable them to inhale more air to get sufficient oxygen to compensate for thin air. Very thick and curly hair provides them protection against sun’s ultraviolet rays. In spite of differences in physical features, humans are still homogeneous genetically. To confirm my statement, I quote Craig Venter of Celera Genomics, who vastly accelerated the process of sequencing ‘human genome’ till its completion in 2000, alongside the multinational human genome project led by Francis Collins. He said, “The genetic variation among human populations (6.5 billion now) is much less than that of a single troop of chimpanzee.” He further said, “Racial superiority is a myth.” One may question why the African Americans living in the US or many Whites living in Africa are not changing in respect of colour of their skin. The answer to this question lies in the fact that evolution takes effect slowly and it may take millennia for visible change to take place. Recognising that human beings are more akin to each other than we tend to think and realising that in some cases genetic variation between two White males may be more than that between one male White and an African American male or an Indian American male, study of evolution, particularly simple facts about race may be made compulsory and part of curriculum of all primary and secondary schools, both public and private so as to dispel gradually racial prejudice. Awareness campaign may be launched in the US. Other countries may follow suit, though it is understood that political and religious considerations may come in the way to thwart such attempts. Religion Religions divide humanity much more than anything else. If the religions are true, eternal and blissful, there should be unanimity among them, not contention and acrimony. Why should the followers of one religion clash with the followers of another to establish one’s superiority over the other when believers are supposed to be peaceful as they proclaim? Are few or all religions God-ordained? Even if a few religions are ordained by God, their followers at least leave any perceived threats to their religions from so-called non-believers to God alone because it is His cause to protect His religions from threats. He is omnipotent as the faithful believe. Why are then some fanatics taking up God’s cause upon them and are taking the innocent’s lives in their attempt to pursue their goals? Why can’t they believe as God had ordained religions, He will undo at the right moment perceived threats to any ordained religion in the twinkling of an eye with the infinite power at His command should He in His infinite wisdom so wishes? Are not the believers therefore misguided to arrogate to themselves the right to preempt actions that God will take in good time? Fanatics are so obsessed with their ill-perceived goals that they cannot realise that their actions only cause blood-letting of innocent people in the name of religion. It would be a travesty of faith, if the faithful cannot tolerate each other irrespective of religious beliefs, let

alone embrace each other, which should have been the norm for devout people purported to be peaceful. I do not wish to give my personal opinion on religions and God, but state some facts for thoughts. Just as Copernicus cast the earth out of the centre of the universe, so the theory of evolution has displaced humans as the epicenter of the physical world and rejected the dictum that every living and non-living beings were created for the benefit of and use by humans. Darwin's work had a tremendous impact on religious thought. Many people strongly opposed the idea of evolution because it conflicted with their religious convictions. Even now, many people refuse to accept that out of vast hereditary diversity within a given species, natural selection blindly weeds out those individuals who have less favourable traits for survival. Many scientists researching on genetics, cell biology and molecular biology and virology etc. say evolution is true science based on scientific investigations and term ‘biology’ without evolution is like physics before Newton. God God is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. Can God do everything even being omnipotent? Can He tell a lie? Can He retract his promises? Can He be evil? Can He create a stone that He can’t lift? Religious books and believers say the answers to the first three questions are simply no. However, they are silent about the last question and some other questions that generally come to our mind. Being omnipresent, is He present inside the devil and evil spirits? He is the creator of all things in the universe both good and bad, good spirits and evil spirits, truths and lies and all pairs of positives and negatives attributes. Then why can’t He tell a lie when He himself created it. When He created both pledge and denunciation, why can’t He denounce His pledges? Being omniscient, He knows everything, every event, past, present and future, and He is also the most understanding. Does He understand that creating all virtues and vices, good and evil and preordaining every event, particularly destiny of every human, it is against the natural justice to create heaven and hell so as to reward the pious making their after-life abode in heaven for eternity and condemn the sinful to eternal damnation in hell? He created the devil with all the attributes of evil- dreadful, grotesque, satanic, monstrous and gruesome because He could not be evil. Then why did the faithful assign God with the most horrifying attributes also, which are essentially the attributes of the devil, so that every human being is so terrified that he or she follows injunctions what his religious books say? How can we be sure that religious books are God-ordained? As for example, holy Quran was written after collecting injunctions from utterances of ardent followers many years after Prophet Muhammad had died. The same is true for other religious books. Religions identify God mostly with manly attributes. That is why God is HE. Because God is He, women are discriminated against on earth as well as in heaven, though they are not responsible for their birth, which is purely a probabilistic occurrence or an incident of 50-50 chance.

An alternative perception of God All these simple logical arguments point to a simple conclusion. By assigning God with attributes, we are in fact confining His omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience. We may think of God differently. He is neither good nor bad, neither male nor female nor neutre and neither virtuous nor vicious. He may be thought of as nothing of the sort; He is the combination of everything and is everything individually. Without quoting any religious books or views of philosophers, God may be conceived of an all-pervading power or in scientific term energy, a self-conscious force, which manifested itself in the form of the universe we observe, which is self-conscious. Consciousness is all-pervading; it is everywhere, from human-beings to animals to all living beings down to all non-living beings. Quantum mechanics admits of interconnectedness, which is known as quantum entanglement. All particles behave in a manner that is characteristic of their having some distinct properties, which we may only term as consciousness. God does not intervene because He is the sum total of all events of past, present and future, which includes all objects stationary and moving. Everything is conscious in its own way, we are not aware of. Believers may say this explanation, bereft of religions, particularly heaven and hell (reward and punishment), may encourage humans to resort to all kinds of immoral and sinful acts. Without going through philosophical discourse, it can be emphasised that morality stemming from rational behaviour had existed long before religions stepped in the world stage. The biological mandate of every member of a particular species is to gather food for growth and reproduce. For human species or Homo sapiens, these two fundamental traits now boil down to ‘money’ and ‘sex’ and all crimes result from one or the other or the combination of both. Humans are restrained in their approach to these fundamental traits except for some members who have mutated genes compelling them to act unrestrained. During the long history of hominids’ journey until the advent of city-based civilisations in recent past compared to millions of years of human species’ evolutionary history, cooperation in choosing mates for each other as opposed to animals’ behavior and the collection of food by males for their females who remained busy in giving birth to offsprings gave them huge advantage over other species and helped them increase their number by a huge margin in their evolutionary milieu. The trait ‘restraint’ in sharing food with others and the similar trait in choosing mate which is characteristic of cooperation have been encoded in the genes of Homo sapiens. Therefore, rational behaviours had been the norms in society rather than exception long before religions were preached. Is humanity equal to the challenge? A question may naturally arise against the backdrop of multiplicity of threats. Is the humanity capable of overcoming the threats? The answer is both yes and no, and not either or. Total global wealth has quadrupled in just fifty years. Enormous advancement has been made in science and technology, particularly in understanding the universe, the bevaviour of sub-atomic particles and in the field of life sciences including medicine, surgery, microbiology, biochemistry, and genetics

and such other branches of knowledge as computer science and technology, energy, space exploration and development-related engineering and technology. While 50 billion dollars can lift children of all developing countries from the trap of hunger and poverty, close to 30 times this sum (about $ 1.464 trillion) was spent globally in 2008 for defence. The US spent US dollar 607 billion in defence (its spending increased because of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan), China spent 84.9 coming to second position, France third with 65.7 billion, UK forth with 65.3 and in this order come Russian Federation (58.6 billion), Germany, Japan, Italy, Saudi Arabia and India (30 billion). Pakistan is increasing its spending to US$ 5 billion despite its comparatively small economy and poor economic performance. The amounts account for between 4 and 5 of the GDP of these countries. On the contrary, most of the developed countries are reluctant even to set aside 0.7% of GDP for ODA despite the fact that at the Earth Summit at RIO in 1992, the developed countries pledged to contribute 0.7% of GDP to ODA. The United Nations was created in 1945 replacing the moribund League of Nations with the noble goal of employing collective power and wisdom through the UN in all international affairs to rid the world of Third World War as well as major wars and conflicts. But the goals still remain unmet while the UN is sometimes bypassed by big powers to serve their national interests. Humanity has the wherewithal to employ superior strategies and tactics based on frontiers of knowledge and rich past experiences to meet squarely any kind of challenge provided all nations can muster political will to cooperate closely and draw on each other experiences and best practices, and employ combined wisdom and appropriate technologies setting aside conflicting national interests. I believe humanity can find much more common denominators to unite than it tends to think it has to divide. As for example, all religions propagate the eternal message of love for humanity and compassion for all living beings as well as all other great virtues that humanity embodies. As regards races, there is basically no difference between one race and the other as discussed earlier. It is the conviction of scientists and philosophers alike that humanity is well-placed in terms of resources, experience and expertise to triumph over any imaginable threat, but not yet prepared intellectually as one species to put up a decisive fight because its formidable strength and wisdom have been fragmented due to divisions along race, religion, cast and creed, gender, political power and wealth. However, rational and right-minded people all over the world can persuade their political leaders to muster political will and courage to resolve intra and inter-state differences through dialogue and draw on best scientific knowledge, technologies and expertise from each other experiences and best practices to put up a joint front against the common enemies of humanity, that is, hunger, poverty, malnutrition, diseases, terrorism, natural and manmade disasters and environmental degradation. If the humanity is to survive and progress and prosper together, it has to overcome divisions along race, religion, cast and creed, gender and class based on wealth and political power. With this end in view, I had drafted a UN resolution and forwarded the same to former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for placing it before the UNGA. The resolution is as follows:

We, the people of the globe, Reiterating that humanity or Homo sapiens is one species and that it had evolved in Africa and split off to various parts of the world, Recognizing that 99.9 % of human genes are identical, Noting that the very small variation in physical features is due to geographical locations with diverse environmental conditions where our ancestors settled in various parts of the world in search of food and gradual mutations, Drawing on experiences from episodes around the globe and history that although religious doctrines were preached for the good of humanity, they were somewhat divisive in practice and they were often exploited by shortsighted people to achieve their own selfish and parochial goals leading to bloodshed, Admitting that all faiths and established religions are personal beliefs and that atheism and agnosticism, which are also personal beliefs, should coexist with religious beliefs peacefully as do monotheism and polytheism, Determining that egoistic and selfish attitude emanating from base instincts of the id and lack of respect and consideration for one another is one of the major causes of wars among nations, internal conflicts and personal animosity among political leaders, Further recognizing that mankind has a common destiny and a celestial object like an asteroid can wipe out its existence, Further noting that a human being cannot be an enemy of another human being and that humanity’s common enemies are hunger, poverty, malnutrition, diseases, natural and man-made disasters, terrorism and environmental degradation, Acknowledging that no one is responsible for his birth, which, however, determines his race, ethnicity, cast and creed and gender, and in almost all cases his or her religious belief, Believing that gender equality is the most essential and achievable goal of the humanity, particularly to empower women and make them self-reliant, Further believing that it is not only an indispensable prerequisite to exploit the best potentials of the women, but also a vital instrument to fight terrorism through their active participation in motivating their vulnerable children and achieve a peaceful world, Further admitting that homosexuality like heterosexuality and bisexuality is a natural trait built in our genes and as such should not be discriminated against, Realizing that apart from divisions among human beings based on religion, race, ethnicity, cast and creed and gender, class exists in societies based on wealth and political power, Further realizing that rule of law, protection of human rights, social justice and democracy are major practical steps to achieve the goal of providing equal opportunity to every mankind,

Taking into account that terrorism, conflicts and social unrest emanate from deprivation, social injustice, sense of insecurity and inequality of all kinds, Further taking into account that all three kinds of freedom as adopted in the Millennium Declaration: freedom from want, freedom from fear and freedom of the succeeding generations to lead a sustainable living: and better standard of living are the best safeguards against rising tide of movement for self determination around the globe, Further acknowledging that globalization, if properly managed, can gradually dilute the strong sense of nationalism and bring the international community closer together, Visualizing that clash of perceived national interests and lack of full understanding of each others civilizations are contributing to growing tension among nations and destabilizing world peace and order, Hereby agreed as follows: •

Renounce superiority of all kinds in terms of race, religion, ethnicity, caste and creed and gender as well as class based on wealth and riches and political power.

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Establish equality of status and opportunity for every mankind in all spheres of society, recognizing cultural and social diversity.

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Must refrain from engaging in discriminatory behavior and activities prejudicial to the concept of equality of mankind.

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Work together to fight our common enemies – hunger, poverty, malnutrition, diseases, natural and man-made disasters, terrorism, environmental degradation and common threats to our very existence.

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Take a fresh vow to work together to make this earth an ideal place by establishing rule of law, social justice and protecting human rights, where succeeding generations can make a sustainable, wonderful, happy and satisfying living and where full potential of every human-being can be exploited.

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Encourage and support for the emergence of watchdog bodies in every country to ensure eradication by phases of all barriers against the equality of mankind.

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Enact laws in every country not to discriminate anyone for his or her sexual orientation and to give equal opportunities to all irrespective of sexual orientation including rights of homosexual couples.

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Empower women and create congenial environment for women to become self-reliant economically, and involve them in the decision making process in the family so as to influence the youth, particularly the boys to refrain from self-destructive activities.

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Remove gradually religious and social barriers and annul in all countries all municipal and international laws, including all personal laws that are extra-constitutional and discriminatory to women.

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Enact laws in every country not to discriminate anyone because of his or her faith and treat all equally even he or she professes atheism and agnosticism.

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Introduce liberal and secular education at kindergarten and primary levels, particularly emphasizing the equality of mankind and that religious belief is personal and should not be politicized.

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Resort to a new kind of approach and a fresh round of dialogue among nations and societies, the main thrust of which should be focused on recognizing the equality of mankind, appreciating diversity of culture and tradition and finding commonality of beliefs, values and purposes among civilizations for resolving regional and internal conflicts.

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Apply the norms of globalization for the common good of humanity, not as a basis of furthering national interests only.

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Construct shrines or monuments in such sites as Lake Turkana in Kenya, Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and Bleak Afar Triangle and Middle Awash region in Ethiopia where skeletal remains of early hominids, that is, of our common ancestors were found.

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Create a special development fund for Africa to fulfill global obligation towards our common ancestral home that is Africa.