Global Dilemmas:
Rights for Who, Defined by Whom?
What local (tribal, regional or national?) social, (cultural, political or economic) "freedom" is there in a global system where many actions are severely limited on many different levels (legally, politically, militarily, etc.) for good -or for bad?
- What right has a government to dictate to its people what they should believe and how they should behave?
- What right has the government of one nation to dictate to another
- Why does the US reserve the right to freedom from external interference -while continuing to insist (and enforce where possible) that other countries behave in ways complient with US interests and beliefs?
The International Community -Problem or Solution?
Sometimes problems can get too
difficult for a single person (or group) to deal with. Outside help can
then become very useful (and sometimes essential).
In some cases, common problems can only be solved by cooperative
effort. In which case, the situation becomes more complex because of
the need to take account of the different needs and abilities of all
those involved in the collective effort. This is tricky enough within
small groups, such as a family, a tribe or a village. It becomes even
more difficult (but perhaps more profitable) on a local regional or
"national" level -and perhaps almost impossible on an intra-national
level.
However, the real problems start when the "support system" starts to take over -and dictate to everybody how they must behave.
Organising systems of social cooperation is difficult enough when everybody is well intentioned and everybody is equal.
So
what happens when individual (or group) ambitions start getting in the
way -or some members of the team are much more powerful than others?
Who gets to decide when outide help (or interference) is useful -and when it is harmful?
Time to Stop the Propaganda and Start Thinking Seriously about Problem Solving?
If the problem lies more with the "
international community" than with the "
average man (or woman) in the street" -then don't
intellectuals need to address the question of how
we (
as intellectuals)
respond to the international community -more than concentrating on the
need for the average person to understand something that they have
absolutely no say about, despite the impact it might have on them?
The
struggle for power is ultimately
meaningless -if those who finally gain power have absolutely no idea of how to use it
wisely.
Gaining wisdom is therefore always more important than
gaining power.
Perhaps one can gain "power" through wisdom -but unfortunately, "wisdom" almost never seems to be aquired through power.
Some Specific Examples:
Perhaps the same problem manifests
itself in different ways -but how can we recognise it, if we don't know
what we are looking for?
When
solving problems, it is often the questions that are more important
than the answers -although of course, the questions should also
(at some point) lead to answers -or they too will become meaningless.
Vietnam's new breed of dissident
Perhaps it is important to think about:
- The "western training" of these people.
- The impact of their attitudes on the local society (for good or bad)
- The role the lawyer played in apparently defending locals in the international legal system
-
Questions about the Vietnam war:
- What was it all about (on both sides)
- What was the final result (for Vietnam, the US and perhaps others)
- Who paid the price for the war (in human as well as in economic terms)
- Who who will reap the benifits (in human as well as in economic terms)
- What meaning does the "independant nation state" have -if it has no autonomy?
- What is the actual level of "free choice" given to the
government and the people of Vietnam by the international community?
These questions are not intended to condone or condemn Vietnamese
politics -they are simply intended to show that whatever our answers
are, we are all fundamentally involved in the same questions.
Perhaps it is important to ask:
- Does the US have the right to dictate to China how it should run its own society?
- Can a society be managed effectively and fairly without restrictions?
- Is the Internet really such a valuable tool for learning (learning what
- -or is the internet a tool for (US) political propaganda and commercial exploitation?
- How would the US react to a constant and unregulated stream of poweful propganda from China -or any other country?
-
"I think there's an upper-middle class, urban, Indian sense of humour
emerging," says Anuvab Pal, a successful playwright and screenplay
writer.
-
"Thirty to forty million people, cosmopolitan, well-travelled and fairly exposed to Western comedy."
-
In other words, English language comedy is reflecting a young Indian elite, with plenty of money to spend.
- This is still a conservative country. But in so many ways it's becoming more open to the wider world.
- The decade of YOU -the communication technology and thwarted expectations
- Earlier this year in Iran, you students and housewives used your mobile
phones and computers to record and broadcast footage that almost
toppled the government after disputed elections.
-
In China, you have overcome rural isolation and poverty thanks to the
internet. You may have lost your job in the garment factory in
Guangdong, but you returned to your village armed with a web address
and expectations.
-
In Botswana, mobile phones are now doing what landlines could never do.
And an undersea cable has just brought faster-than-fast broadband to
Kenya.
Perhaps we should also look at the
system that Vietnam and China are apparently trying to protect
themselves from -and which rich Indians are being increaingly exposed
to. Does the US really represent the perfect socio-political
system? Is it the model that we should all be following -or does it
have problems of its own (and a need for outside help from friendly
foreign advisors, perhaps)?
Maybe the US is simply another example of the complexity of the issues
of governance involving legal systems. I strongly believe that these
are the debates that politically concerned people should be having -and
not bothering themselves with (dubious) propaganda for the masses.
La Creme de la Creme?
- #14, fourth down in my selection , points to the relationship
between economic and social pragmatism and the rule of law-and has a
reply in #17, which is fifth down in my selection (see link)
- #34 presents a questioning of the value of fundamental laws. #38
gives a convincing reply -but also roots the problem in the very nature
of the US, and perhaps the systems that it insists on imposing on others
- #43 shows the (Goedelian) problem of the social context changing while the laws remain static
- #46 reflects on the symbiotic nature of the relationship between corparations and (US?) society
- #77 Interstingly, seems to recommend the commercial
implementation of the kind of "pork barrel" politics found in places
such as the Philippines -and which many may interpret as corruption ....
So What is Knowledge?
- Sometimes even simple obvious things
become less simple and obvious when one looks at them closely. Perhaps
that's why many people prefer not to look.
- Open access to knowledge can be so tricky when the knowledge one is promoting is full of hidden bias.
- Perhaps the length of a day is only as long as a piece of string after all.....
The important thing to realise is that calendars are human creations
based on astronomical observations for their form and historical or
cultural landmarks for their start points. These numbers have no
significance in the Universe as a whole. If Charlemagne had not become
king we might still be using the Roman Calendar. If Muslim forces had
conquered Europe then the Muslim calendar might now be the world
standard.
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On one level, the practical problems are merely (possibly extremely painful) symptoms
-it is the cure that we need to look for.
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