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it is futile to run after it. Sophocles This time it appears that the tragedy has had a profound impact. The worldwide response has been extraordinary. At the Jakarta Summit decisions have been taken that could change many things. It seems that at last the Indian Ocean tsunami and its terrible consequences of death and suffering will not be forgotten... Nevertheless, a few months after the devastating earthquake in Bam, Iran, a little over a year ago, no one remembered. And Hurricane Mitch? And the resolutions of the Millennium Summit? And the conclusions of the Monterrey Summit? This time may be different if the outcry that the effects of those giant waves has raised throughout the world is heard. Effects that could have been abated if the recommendations of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, prepared by the United Nations system (1989-1999) had been applied, and if the warning signals had worked. Perhaps this time we won't forget, because the tsunamis arrived shortly after UNICEF announced in early December that during 2003 five million children had died for lack of minimal nutrition and the indispensable conditions of health and sanitation; or because UNAIDS had announced that this illness kills a minimum of 8,500 people daily; or because the ILO has warned us that almost a 1,000,000,000 people survive on one dollar a day. These facts, which tug at our heartstrings and keep us awake at night, are compounded by other disasters such as locust plagues, victims of terror and war, refugees, the dramatic scenes of boats bringing emigrants to our shores, etc. "Out of sight, out of mind." Like the fifty thousand (!) human beings, fellow-human beings of ours, who die each day from hunger and neglect. We can't see them. We can't hear them. "I have never seen anything like this," declared the Secretary of State of the United States, Colin Powell. Well now, as the American cardiologist Bernard Lawn said when awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985, "we will have to learn to see the invisible in order to do the impossible." We will have to learn to take action and to change so many habits, and to invest in other ways, without having to wait for shocking events of this nature to occur. The famous Irish rock star Bono and the American entrepreneur Bill Gates have not only made significant donations, but have also urged the leaders of the G-8 countries to rise to the occasion, because their "vision and capacity for action has never been so much at stake." "2005 could be a big year in the fight against poverty," announced "The Economist" in mid-December. "We will make poverty history..." But these well-intended declarations surely wouldn't have been capable of changing the present trends. Now - and this would be the greatest tribute that we could render to the victims of this tsunami of such devastating proportions - world leaders cannot take half-hearted measures and much less attempt to settle other "pending accounts" with their contributions to the most affected countries. Nor can they disguise them in development loans. In that regard we must remember that the amount collected to-date, which undoubtedly reflects the generosity of ordinary people, does not even match the amount spent daily on weapons (US$2,650,000,000). "Inertia is our worse enemy," proclaimed the president of the powerful American Association of Physicists at the inauguration of its annual meeting in Atlanta in early 1999. The inertia to do the same thing today that we did yesterday and the day before. To face today's problems with solutions from the past. To plan the future based on present models. Inertia that prevents us from changing secondary aspects of that model, while maintaining those that are essential. By seeking to maintain our own positions at all cost - whether they be religious, ideological or cultural - we commit excesses and prevent changes that could be quite beneficial. Proposals "from the others" are rejected before they are heard. A constant evolution in which the fundamental elements endure is the best insurance against revolution, in which everyone loses. Knowledge and courage must walk hand in hand. Tomorrow may be too late. But it's not true that it's already too late in some cases. And it is never too late for courage if it wasn't too soon for despair. 2005 commenced in the midst of this state of confusion, bewilderment and sentiment of solidarity. The first step is always to provide support for the disaster victims. But afterwards we must prevent this from reoccurring, or if that is not possible, we must mitigate the effects with all of the means at our disposal. At the end of January the World Social Forum will be held in Porto Alegre. A great peaceful meeting of those who are particularly committed to the generations following in our footsteps. Nothing but demonstrations? No: there will also be proposals, interesting proposals to reduce the economic and social disparities that are continuously on the rise. So that citizens may be aware of the realities of their countries, what is really happening. For example, who really owns countries today? And more specifically, do the American people know that the United States is the only country that has not signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child? To be able to transform reality, we must know what that reality is. And to do so it is likewise necessary for people to participate and not to resign themselves to the status quo. In September, 2004, before commencing the United Nations Assembly, Secretary General Kofi Annan joined hands with President Lula, the great promoter of the campaign, and Presidents Chirac and Rodriguez Zapatero to announce "zero hunger in the world in 2015." To achieve this goal, support will be provided for special taxes on the transfer of capital and weapons sales, "drawing" rights of the International Monetary Fund for development aid; the fight against tax fraud; credit card donations, etc. Despite having achieved macroeconomic progress in certain countries, these improvements have not been reflected in daily well-being of their peoples. A grand global plan for endogenous development is now necessary. We must learn to better conjugate the verb that holds the key to a different future: "to share." Isolated in their neighborhoods of the global village, the rich must learn to look beyond the confines of their wealth. They must learn to compare and to act accordingly. The time has come. We could hardly find - in the midst of this horror - a better one. This is the time for the world solidarity that the UNESCO Constitution of 1945 proclaimed as the final solution, as the best means for "building peace in the minds of men." The great change of course that the present circumstances require and that our children deserve is now possible if we think of others each day, if we learn to appreciate what we have - peace, freedom, material wealth... - and decide, with our actions, to live in harmony at both the local and global levels. If we learn to see the invisible. If we revise the agreements that we established in moments of great human tension with those with whom we now live. Do you remember the 0.7% of the Domestic Product that the rich countries decided to give to the less fortunate in the 1970s? And the 1987 Lome Convention? It will be possible if we believe in the radical equality of all human beings, if we know and observe the Universal Declaration, if the creative capacity that distinguishes each unique human being fills us with hope. Each day it is more patently clear that in order to make this great world solidarity a reality, it is essential to establish an efficient United Nations System, in order to put an end to the present contradiction between local democracy and global plutocracy (G-7/G-8), granting it the powers, moral authority and human and financial resources it requires to become the supranational ethical and legal framework that is so desperately needed. International solidarity will at last become a reality if the United Nations is capable of redefining security, as Sergio Vieira de Mello asked before his precious life was wrenched from him in postwar Iraq: "It seems evident that the time has come for all states to redefine global security, placing human rights at the center of this debate. To do this, each nation must exercise its responsibilities in proportion to its means." International solidarity that requires getting permanently at the roots of violence, which is never justifiable, but which frequently enables us to identify the breeding grounds from which it springs. International solidarity through education for all and throughout life, which promotes world citizenship and a permanent awareness of the world as a whole. "Citizens of the world, unite!, to enable us to turn back from our present course. In that regard, NGOs represent an encouraging new reality, a way, through Internet and other means of communication, to mobilize citizens and prevent them from being silenced and forgotten. Education, as the Jacques Delors Commission has proposed, to learn to live together, for that pluralism which from this day forward is capable of making the world brotherhood established in Article 1 of the Declaration of Human Rights a reality. This will be a decisive moment for a world of solidarity if we are capable of remembering that all inhabitants of the world have a common destiny and that we must leave our children a global and prospective vision of the world, cultural diversity - which is the great wealth of humanity- and universal moral principles. The future is truly theirs and we cannot leave them - in economic, social, environmental, cultural or ethical terms - in a world of shadows without a compass to guide them. To the contrary, we must be able to look them in the eyes and say, "It is your turn. We have prepared the way." Victor Hugo once said that "there is nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come." And this can be the case now with world solidarity and a culture of peace. After centuries of a culture of power, amid so much confusion and pain, a culture of dialogue, conciliation and friendship is emerging. In these times of sympathy we must each individually resolve to take others into account, those who are visible and those who are invisible, those who speak out and those who do not or cannot make themselves heard. And we must decidedly take action on their behalf. Only then can the words of Rigoberta Menchu become a reality: "But the sun will rise and the day will dawn, / and in the highest realms of the clear blue sky / the voice of those who have never spoken shall be heard."
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