The following declaration was approved by the Central Political Committee of SYNASPISMOS and was sent to the UN Gen. Sec. Kofi Annan through the UN Information Center in Athens on the occasion of the 56th anniversary of the founding of the world organisation (24.10.2001).
The new international situation created after Sept. 11, which has as its main features the escalation of violence and widespread worldwide insecurity, shows that the founding aims of the UN, towards the achievement of a world "free of fear and want" and "from the scourge of war" are dramatically timely. In a par with them come onto the scene, more urgently than ever, the demands for further upgrading and democratizing this world organization, demands which had been supported for a long time by the Left and especially by the European New Left Forum.
Today, 56 years after its birth, the UN goes through a great contradiction. On the one hand, its role becomes irreplaceable since none of humanity's great problems can be solved without worldwide collaboration while, on the other, the UN appear weakened and discredited in the eyes of the world's public opinion. The expectation that, with the end of bipolarism, the role of the UN would be upgraded unfortunately did not materialize. The so-called "winners of the cold war" assumed that the UN was mirroring another international status quo, the one arising from the outcome of WW II and that, therefore, the UN was now an obstacle in their unrestrained hegemony over the world, via the "new world order" and the new role of NATO. It is not a matter of coincidence that similar treatment awaited the Organization for the Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
That development was a blow not only to the prospect of an autonomous role of Europe in world affairs in favour of peace and stability. In addition, it marginalized the "third world", since the UN is the main forum for the promotion of its requests and for the adoption of many of them (e.g. the abolition of external debt).
At this crucial moment, SYNASPISMOS, the Coalition of the Left and Progress, declares that the UN remains a hope for humanity, regardless of its failures which should not be blamed on the UN as an institution but on the policies of the member - states, especially those states which influence heavily its functions and decisions. We believe that world cooperation and multifaceted security approach becomes a prerequisite for the survival of humanity in the dawn of the 21st century.
With its current membership of 189 states compared to that of 51 it had when created, the UN is by far the most representative global institution and can serve well the aim of a more just, peaceful, democratic, ecologically oriented, compassionate world. This task the UN will be achieved to the extent that the current international balances shift under the influence of movements and struggles such as the ones that started in Seattle reaching an apex in Genoa.
Today, more than ever, there is an urgent need for upgrading and democratizing of the UN, so as to become the main lever for the creation of a decentralized system of world security, based on the modern concepts of "common security", "co-development" and "human development". Concepts which require the rejection of war as a means of resolution of international problems, the demilitarization and democratization of international life, the abolition of nuclear and other mass destruction weapons, the defeat of neo-liberal globalization and the development of democratic institutions on an international level.
The Left supports democratic reformations of the operation of the UN. Specifically, we propose:
It is our steadfast conviction that the UN will not manage to achieve the eradication of conflicts, if the great inequalities of our world are not dealt with. Without the bridging of the explosive North -South divide no global security can be achieved and no solution to the great worldwide problems.
Having this aim in mind, we support the abolition of the Third World debt, a substantial increase in developmental assistance, so as to reach the 0,7% of the GNP of the donor countries, the establishment of the "Tobin tax" and the control of the arms exports towards Third World countries.
We call upon the Greek government and upon the E.U. to support the above proposals and to apply the decisions of the World Conferences of the UN on Development, Environment, Disarmament, Human Rights, Women's rights, on the abolition of Child Labor, and on combatting poverty and racism.
Concerning the E.U., in particular, we believe that the UN should become the main framework for new relations with the "Third World".
We commit ourselves to act in unison with the other components of the European and international Left to promote the above aims, and to contribute to the creation of a broad movement for the democratic change of the UN and of the entire system of international relations.
A better world is possible!
Athens, October 21, 2001