Aired 31 July 2018 – 5:00 PM EDT
A Conversation with Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute
“If war is a ‘necessary evil’ why not establish peace as a necessary good?” — Swami Beyondananda
Globalism.
Over the past two decades, the word has devolved from the ideal of a “Spaceship Earth” where the peoples of the world transcend national borders to work and act for the common good of all, to a nefarious totalitarian “new world order” imposed by the ruling elite.
Indeed, the neo-conservatism of the Bush-Cheney years, and the neo-liberalism of Obama and the Clintons certainly seem to have institutionalized corporatism as our planetary ruler. Playing on the understandable mistrust of the corporate state, Donald Trump vowed to liberate America from non-beneficial agreements globally, and “drain the swamp” at home.
Drain the swamp he has, and now the liberated alligators are everywhere.
Meanwhile, Trump’s National (In)Security Advisor, John Bolton has taken on the task of abrogating the Iran Nuclear Treaty and setting us on a path toward war.
Our guest this week, Jonathan Granoff, is an attorney, author and international advocate emphasizing the legal and ethical dimensions of human development and security, with a specific focus on advancing the rule of law to address international security and the threats posed by nuclear weapons. He serves on numerous governing and advisory boards including: Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, Fortune Forum, Jane Goodall Institute, the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament, and Middle Powers Initiative. He is a recipient of the Rutgers University School of Law’s Arthur E. Armitage Distinguished Alumni Award and a 2014 nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Our conversation will be about how to take the word “globalism” back, and take the cause of global peace forward. Many years ago, Dwight D. Eisenhower famously said, “I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it.”
Have we finally reached that “Eisenhower moment” where the truth of unity will overgrow the illusion of separation, and where we can evolve past tribalism to recognize ourselves as cells in a super-organism called “humankind”? And … how can what our colleague Caroline Casey calls “the sane and reverent” among us create a spiritual firewall to overgrow Trumpism AND the corporate state?
Here is Jonathan Granoff’s vision for how we can collectively “go sane” and establish a NEWER world order.
Call to Love In Action
This is a call to all who love the planet and all its inhabitants. Let us together bring love into action.
This is a call to bring that love that has no borders, that emerges from the heart and soul, into personal, local, national and global action.
Love is a power and source, easily understood yet forever deep and mysterious. Its profound ability to open meaning, heal, awaken insight, and gift life with grace is beyond any measurements. It is priceless and cannot be bought or sold.
In the modern world, we see violence, injustice, threats of nuclear annihilation, prejudice, careless disregard for the suffering of others, and the destruction of the web of life. We recognize that this can easily lead to cynicism, selfishness or apathy. We choose a more powerful alternative: love is real, essential, powerful, and supreme. When awakened it can change everything.
It awakens in authenticity. Everyday we can awaken its charge by asking ourselves how to live within its light, allow it to guide us, and never forget its presence. How each person finds this treasure and manifests it is unique. The truth of its value is universal and applies at all levels of our lives.
The personal involves the intimacy of our very soul with the power that gives us life and how we treat one another every day. It is the foundation of every healthy family and policies of nations that incorporate its value thrive. The world’s policies must soon encompass its truth to save the planet today and to fulfill our responsibility to future generations.
It is our commitment to make that happen.
One Question That Must Be Asked:
I must ask myself if my love is generous, open, filled with compassion, and alive. I must ask myself if my love is selfish or real. I must ask myself to be true.
Two Questions That Must Be Asked:
Have I done everything I can to improve myself? Have I used my talents to serve my love of the planet and all its inhabitants?
Three Questions That Must Be Asked:
If we act wisely today our love will be expressed far and wide and deep into the future.
Whether we effectively address crushing poverty, adequately organize ourselves to protect the global commons such as the oceans, the climate, and the rainforest—living systems upon which civilization depends—and eliminate nuclear weapons before they eliminate us, defines not only what our destiny will be. These issues determine whether we even have a destiny.
Globalization reminds us that we are in fact one human family and the living ecosystem of the planet is our shared home. We cannot find security by attempting to dominate each other, nor by trying to dominate nature. Learning to live in harmony with each other and nature is not an ideal; it is both a moral and practical imperative.
Protecting Global Commons: No nation can be secure when the living systems upon which everyone depends are at risk. Climate change will lead to radical changes in food production, intensity of weather patterns, and increase the likelihood of pandemics. The rainforests and the ocean’s phytoplankton produce the very oxygen our lives require. Forests are being destroyed and dead zones are appearing in the oceans. Oceanic acidic- alkaline balance is at risk. Is there anyone so naive as to think that global warming will exempt any country from its destructive forces? Will we achieve the necessary cooperation in a world with nuclear weapons in the hands of a few who make claims to superior security interests? Is it reasonable to expect that we can destroy over 10,000 species per year, more than 1,000 times more than natural rate extinction, and not adversely impact the planet? Is this how we love the planet?
Poverty and Sustainable Development: It is both immoral and impractical to ignore the suffering caused by poverty when we know there are solutions achievable at low cost. Crushing poverty is an injustice that breeds the instabilities and suffering wherein hopelessness turns to terrorism. Immigration becomes a problem because people cannot sustain their families by staying home. The world is now our collective home. We have to make every room in the home hospitable.
Nuclear Disarmament: There are over 14,000 nuclear weapons. They are far more powerful than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima. By accident design or madness they will be used. Any use is unacceptably destructive. A mere 100 could spread debris into the stratosphere lowering the earth’s temperature by over 1 degree Celsius for at least ten years, causing massive starvation of billions of people. Ridding the world of this threat is vital. Nuclear weapons are unworthy of civilization and the only security against their spread and use is their universal, legally verifiable elimination. Every step towards the elimination of nuclear weapons must reduce threats, enhance security, and promote the rule of law. Nuclear weapons are more dangerous than any problem they seek to solve. President Reagan called for the abolition of “all nuclear weapons” which he considered to be “totally irrational, totally inhumane, good for nothing but killing, possibly destructive of life on Earth and civilization” and pointed out that a nuclear war cannot be won and thus must never be fought.
We might know effective steps to answer these questions, but realize that others may have better approaches. But having no coherent approach spells irresponsibility.
We can change the entire way nations act by demanding that every person running for office answer these questions. How they are answered will impact every life, every family, every nation, and every community.
If several billion people demand answers to these questions the political actions of the nations of the world will change.
1) What are your plans to address crushing poverty and ensure sustainable livelihoods and productive, just employment?
2) What are your plans to protect the global commons such as the oceans, the climate, and the rainforests—the living systems upon which all civilization depends?
3) What are your plans to eliminate nuclear weapons?
If we answer these questions correctly, our responsibilities to generations to come will be fulfilled. This is an authentic expression of love in action.
We ask you to share this Call to Bring Love Into Action!
