From the ashes of World War II rose the United Nations. The UN building in New York stands as a monument to a beautiful dream, the flags of the member states waving easily in the breeze. The organization was vilified by many because of its failures to answer the pleas for help of the oppressed and those on the verge of liquidation around the world.
During the last 15 years, the United Nations has failed miserably in dealing with many of the more acute crises. Bosnia-Herzegovina and Rwanda with its barbaric, racially motivated massacres were more black marks for the UN. The Palestinian issue of course abounds with failures, the last of which was recorded when the organization failed to send an inspection team to uncover the truth of the massacre in Jenin. The war on Iraq has come to sound the UN’s death knell; it knocked the organization off its feet and left it gasping for breath. Perhaps it is time to prepare the coffin and the last rites.
A popular American saying goes: “You can fool some of the people some of the time but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” American politicians have done exactly that. The war on Iraq is the greatest witness to this. It clearly embodies this policy of deception and scorn for all to see. Killing people every day then lying, fabricating and making up stories has become common practice for the American administration. The daily idiocies and falsehoods committed on Iraqi soil swept the experts down into a swamp that covered them with mud and made them reek of its stench.
Yet somewhere in this darkness, a ray of light filters through. Governments that don’t represent the will of the people will be silenced and forced to pack their bags and leave. For what is happening in cities around the world today is a clear indication that the world is coming together on humanitarian issues. The imaginary divides of color, race and religion are slowly fading away.
It is high time to call things by their correct names. Justice, equality, freedom and security are basic needs and are the rights of every human being. The people united by the love of the land and embracing the idea that it is “all for one and one for all” must be heard. The forces created by politicians in order to achieve their goals of control and economic power will become more and more ineffective when true love ignites. That love will ensure that humanity endures and that civilizations will persist throughout the ages if they hold onto that love... because those who love this earth will never die.
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(Wajeha Al-Howaider is a program analyst at Aramco. She holds an MA in Reading Management from George Washington University.)
Arab News Features 11 April 2003