Message to the Agora of Inhabitants of the Earth (*)

To the organizers of the Agora of the Inhabitants of the Earth

Speech by Gorbachev at the Saint-Petersburg State Medical University in January 2015 | Prostokvashino | CC BY-SA 4.0

Dear friends,

I was pleased and encouraged to learn about your initiative of convening the unprecedented Agora of the Inhabitants of the Earth.

In the present troubled times when many hardly gained achievements of humanity on its road towards peace and security as well as in promoting the social progress are threatened, while the immediate future of the world looks troublesome and uncertain, it is important that all the human beings raise their voice of concern and alert.

One cannot remain indifferent observing the proliferation of conflicts, the dissemination of violence and use of force for the solution of the political problems, the return of the tension and mistrust in the international relations.

Accelerated and irresponsible militarization of the world politics, sky-rocketing of military budgets and the renewal of the arms race, which we believed to have put under control with the ending of Cold War, destroy the hopes for the necessary mobilization of forces, energy and resources of the international community to fight the challenges that confront humanity in the XXIst century.

To the growing insecurity on the world scene and raising international tension should be added the aggravation of inequality of development, increasing dramatic contrast between the poles of prosperity and poverty that nourish the feelings of injustice, provoke violent protest and promote populism and extremism.

If from the political point of view our world is sick, from the point of view of the environment our planet is in danger. The accelerating pollution, the danger of irreversible decrease of biodiversity and the undeniable climate change provoked and aggravated by the human activity, stress the potentially fatal characteristics of the consumerist model of development imposed on the world economy by the search of profit by all means.

Instead of looking for the ways to find common solutions to these dramatic problems, decrease tensions and diminish social contrasts political leaders as well as economic elites and military industrial lobbies by their irresponsible actions aggravate the planetary crisis, endanger the conditions of life of billions people across the world and put at stake the survival of our civilization.

Yet if the politicians and the government cannot find the way to reason and the common language it does not mean that nothing can be done. Across the world there exist forces that are conscious of their responsibility and are capable of acting together. We urgently need different political, social and moral approaches inspired by the New Political Thinking.

In this critical situation when the future destiny of the world and the securing of our planet are threatened, it is the urgent task of the public opinion, social societies and average inhabitants of the Earth to unite in common action to prevent the sliding of the world towards a catastrophe and elaborate a program of actions on a planetary level in order to find ways out of the present dangerous stalemate.

Your inspiring initiative of elaborating a Charter of Humanity corresponds to this noble goal and might constitute a favorable step in the realization by all human beings of their belonging to the global community responsible for the maintenance of life on the Earth. It receives for this reason my enthusiastic support.

Mikhail Gorbachev

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(*) Security of existence and living well together are a collective and global affair. For this purpose, a group of Europeans recently joined by other people coming from Europe and other countries like Latin America, North America, Africa and Asia, have launched the Action Program “Audacity in the name of humanity” in December 2017.

Its objective is to raise awareness and mobilize citizens on the necessity and urgency to recognize humanity as a key player in the political, economic and social regulation worldwide. Only humanity, as such, can speak and act effectively to change the world in the interest and safeguard of the life on earth and all its inhabitants (including all living species). In this context, the first action started is the Agora of the Inhabitants of the Earth (AHT).

*SOURCE: Other News. Go to ORIGINAL. 2018 Human Wrongs Watch