“The globe is no longer owned by the US and Europe, and the UN has more to do with a global marketplace than with Western notions of civilization and the rule of law.”
“Ukraine colonized and tyrannized by Russia for centuries, has the same right to freedom and sovereignty as India, Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, and Argentina with many more, all of whom were colonized and tyrannized for centuries by European powers, and who now deny Ukraine their full support.”
Vienna
Hundreds of heads of state and government, thousands of diplomats, journalists, and other appendages are gathering this week in New York for one of these global events that looks like a mixture of circus and ceremony, but which, for all else, reminds us of a previous generation that would better a better world.
With the establishment of the United Nations in 1945, the idea was that everyone – despite race, religion, and other differences, despite differing economic and political interests and competing ideologies – should and could cooperate for the benefit of fundamental goods such as the preservation of peace, the liberation of oppressed peoples and a healthier and better-educated humanity. It was only partially successful.
It’s easy to write off the ongoing annual general meeting as an ineffective mass meeting, and photo opportunities rather than real progress. Is it too easy? Yes. Of course, it’s a theatre, but it works, it makes us smarter about our surroundings and our leaders. Ukraine’s democratically elected president Zelenskyy shines in his presence, and the fascist and war criminal Putin in his absence.
In the mourning over defeats and losses on the path that the victors of the Second World War indicated at the founding UN conference in San Francisco in the spring of 1945, it must be fairly included that the original membership, comprising half a hundred countries, has grown to the current 193. The process of decolonization has essentially been completed, much extreme poverty has been overcome, and the globe as a whole is better nourished and better educated than before. With security, it is so-so, and neither human rights nor democracy in the Western sense is high on the agenda of the general assembly. The globe is no longer owned by the US and Europe, and the UN has more to do with a global marketplace than with Western notions of civilization and the rule of law.
The earth is populated with just under eight billion people, compared to two or three billion then. Humanity consists of countless cultures and nations with vastly different perceptions of their inner and outer lives. Pure gangster states are included in the membership, among them Russia, China, Iran, and dozens of other, often exotic occurrences. In the UN and similar assemblies, the West must of course insist on its basic values, but without expecting great responsiveness.
Does the UN even make sense? As a marketplace, yes, exactly when, for example, President Zelenskyy with his presence makes it clear that Ukraine, colonized and tyrannized by Russia for centuries, has the same right to freedom and sovereignty as India, Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, and Argentina with many more, all of which were colonized and tyrannized for centuries by European powers, and who are now denying Ukraine their full support.
The UN reminds us that almost 80 years ago, immediately after the most terrible war in history so far, wise leaders tried to think anew — towards a better world, the world of rules, agreements, and good behavior.
This idea has narrow conditions in 2023, at the latest in Europe, but it is still conceivable.
Author: Per Nyholm
Danish journalist since 1960, based in Austria, columnist and foreign correspondent at the liberal Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten. This text was translated and adapted for The Ukrainian Review by Stanislav Kinka.
Per Nyholm´s latest book, “Journeys in the Land of Blood” (Barcelona and Copenhagen, 2023), is freely available to any serious Ukrainian publisher, who might want to publish it.
