An  Appeal to All Leaders of Nations
for their meeting at the United Nations from 4 to 10 September 2000

With excerpts from the four volumes of
Ideas and Dreams for a Better World
available from the UN Bookshop (phone: 1-800-553-3210)
or from Media 21, below

by Dr. Robert Muller

Chancellor Emeritus of the UN University for Peace
Former UN Assistant Secretary General
Lifelong Honorary President of the World Peoples' Assembly

Reproduce freely and distribute widely.

Additional Robert Muller Webpages

MEDIA 21 v Global Public Relations
Barbara Gaughen-Muller
7456 Evergreen Drive, Santa Barbara, CA 93117 USA
Fax:  805 968-5747, E-mail:  Barbara@rain.org

 

My Appeal to All Leaders of Nations

I joined the United Nations world service in 1948 as a young man who had been in a German Gestapo prison, a French Resistance fighter and had seen the most horrible atrocities of war and destructions.  I came from Alsace-Lorraine, a province of France bordering Germany, where my grandparents knew three wars and changed nationality five times between France and Germany, without leaving their village.  I was a very pessimistic young man.  If this had happened between two highly civilized countries, how could I expect white and black countries, communists and capitalists, rich and poor nations, thousands of religions and ethnic groups to be able to live together and cooperate in peace?  Surely there would be an incident which would trigger off another world war within twenty years.  Well, there was no third world war.

In an emptied war factory in Lake Success where the United Nations was first located, a British delegate asked me what I was doing there.  I answered: "I came here to work for peace, because I do not want my children and grandchildren to know the horrors I saw in the war."  He answered: "I pity you, because you will lose your job.  This organization will not last more than five years."  Well, it celebrates in the year 2000 its fifty-fifth anniversary.

I was also told in Lake Success that decolonization was the priority item on the agenda of world affairs and that it would take the United Nations from one hundred to one hundred fifty years to solve the problem.  Well, the UN did it in forty years.  I was told the same about racism, apartheid, women's rights, human rights, indigenous people, the cold war, and I could cite other examples.

I have been involved in the creation of several new specialized agencies and world programs in the economic and social fields, including the world-wide United Nations Development Program where I was one of the first two UN officials working with Paul Hoffman, the former Administrator of the Marshall Plan.  The UN listened to me when I suggested to channel to the poor countries the surplus foods which the rich countries used to burn, and created the World Food Program.  The World Bank listened to my idea to give low-interest loans to infrastructure projects in the poor countries and created the International Development Agency.  When I look at the list of the 32 UN specialized agencies and world programs, I am astonished that I played a role in the creation of eleven of them!

I have seen the UN system assemble information on practically every aspect of our Earth and of the human family.  Who remembers that until 1952 we did not even know how many people lived on this planet?  Today a world population census takes place world-wide in all countries in the same year.  Future generations will appreciate the statistical work and global information of the UN as a true turning point in human history.

Through the United Nations I have seen the seas and oceans, the moon and outer space be declared the commons of humanity.  I have seen the birth of first concerns for the environment, a word coined in the UN when it convened the first world conference on the environment in Sweden in 1972.  And the UN did the same for the world's waters, deserts, oceans, climate, atomic energy, children, women, the aging, the handicapped, etc.

I entered the UN as an intern and was privileged to rise over the years to Assistant Secretary General working directly with three Secretaries General.  When I look back, I feel that I owe the UN a truly magical life.

And retirement was not the end.  It turned into a 'refirement'!  Three days before I retired from the UN in 1986, after 38 years of service, Rodrigo Carazo, the President of Costa Rica, a man whom I greatly admire, proposed that I should become the one-dollar-a-year chancellor of the recently created UN University for Peace in Costa Rica of which I was his co-founder.  I accepted with delight to continue to work for a UN agency and to spend the rest of my life in a demilitarized country to which I would give the highest mark for its initiatives and successes at the UN: the creation of the post of High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Nobel Peace Prize to President Oscar Arias, the celebration of the International Day of Peace and the world cease-fires obtained by Costa Rica for the World Olympics and the week of the fiftieth anniversary of the UN.

And how could I have ever dreamt that I would be some day appointed member of a world commission of eminent persons on the funding of the UN and co-chairman, with Dr. Karan Singh of India, of a World Commission on Global Consciousness and Spirituality?

And that all borders between fifteen western European countries, including in my hometown in Alsace-Lorraine, would be suppressed and a European Union created?

And that there would be in the world 34 Robert Muller Schools providing the right education I received from the United Nations after the nationalistic mis-educations by France, Germany and the United States?

And that the World Peoples' Assembly in Samoa would declare me its Lifelong Honorary President?

Yes, from a very pessimistic young man after World War II, I have been transformed by the UN into an optimistic elder who believes in the success of humanity.  I am infinitely grateful to the UN for having taught me that planet Earth is my home, that humanity is my family and that it was worthwhile to devote my entire life with passion, enthusiasm and faith to the great objectives for which this Organization, a truly unprecedented, ominous meta-biological organism of the Earth and of humanity was created.  In the face of colossal obstacles and the shortsightedness of some nations, the UN has performed many miracles.

And now, as I look to the future and further progress, I am told that proper Earth government is impossible!  I make this prediction: within twenty years we will have a proper government and administration of planet Earth and of humanity.  Why?  Because the current troubles, injustices, wastes and colossal duplications of national expenditures, especially on armaments and the military, of 188 nations will force us to.  It is inevitable.  The salvation of this planet and survival of the human species depend on it.  No one can for long go against evolution.  Nation-states must adapt or they will disintegrate, even the biggest one, the United States. Unknown forces will force them to.

During my long world service I had this habit: whenever I receive numerous letters from people around the world pointing at a new challenge or necessity whose time has come, I open a file: within a few years these signals of humanity's global brain become a major trend.

Well, since the 50th anniversary of the UN, my mail abounds with letters calling for proper Earth government, a world federation of states, proposals of other systems for a better global management of this planet.  I have therefore decided to return to the dream of my youth, when after World War II I wrote an essay on world government which opened to me the doors of the United Nations.  At the age of 77 I have decided to make proper Earth and human government the last and greatest priority of my life.  The Earth's survival requires an enormously strengthened second generation United Nations, or a UN transformed progressively into a world union on the model of the European Union, or a United States of the Earth on the pattern of the great precedent of the United States.  On the eve of a new century and millennium it is a mater of life or death for the Earth and humanity.

May the heads of states meeting in the UN General Assembly 2000 hear this appeal.  I speak in the name of all my school-mates of the class of 1939-40 of the Lycéc of Sarreguemines in Alsace-Lorraine who were killed in French or German uniforms.  I plead with you, I beg you, I implore you to change the course of the world into permanent peace, justice and well-being.  God, all the saints in heaven, all the souls of tens of millions of people, including mothers and children killed in so many wars will thank you.  Please make the World Assembly 2000 one of the most unique, memorable events in all human history.  Please lay the foundations for a permanently peaceful, wonderful, well administered unique planet Earth circling in a fathomless universe of billions of stars and galaxies.

SO HELP US GOD

May 2000, Mt. Rasur, Costa Rica

 

 

Robert Muller began to write 2000 Ideas and Dreams for a Better World  on 11 July 1994, 2000 days before
1 January 2000. The first two thousand ideas are published in four books and an index volume, available from the UN Bookshop and from Media 21.  More volumes will follow.

 
~ Idea 1995 ~

 

I hope that during the UN General Assembly 2000, one head of state will have to courage to stand up and say to his assembled peers:  "The world of sovereign nations has created an unbelievable chaos; the powers given to economists and business are leading us to disaster; the Earth, its vital air, its waters, its nature, its vegetation and many species which it took millions of years to form, our climate are all in jeopardy.  We live in a World War III against the Earth, our home.  All this will end in a global disaster without precedent.

I appeal to you, I beg you, I implore you, let us put aside all other items on our agenda and keep only one fundamental one: to have this General Assembly of heads of states remain in permanent session day and night if necessary, until we give birth to a new political and economic system for this miraculous planet and its sacred human family.  Please stand up, delegates of the world, hold each other's hand and let us swear together that we will accomplish this historical miracle before it is too late: to save this Earth, to save humanity with a new world constitution.  All the rest is secondary.  Let us create a United States of the World or a World Union like the European Union.  Let us perform this miracle in the House of Mica, on the shores of the River of the Rising Sun, wherefrom our indigenous brethren prophecized that a civilization of peace will extend to the entire world."

 
~ Idea 2157 ~

 

In the last two or three decades we had nine World Commissions of Eminent Personalities usually headed by a current or former head of state and dealing with major world subjects.  These commissions complement and often outdistance usefully the work of the United Nations.  The list of these commissions contained in Idea 500 of my 2000 Ideas  is reproduced below.  I have proposed myself several more world commissions (see item World Commissions in Volume V, the Index of the first 2000 Ideas).

I think it would be very useful if these heads of states and personalities would create a common world office to follow the fate of their recommendations, to republish their reports when they are out of print, to look for ways to have their recommendations implemented, to plan reconvenings and to get more world commissions created on vital global human issues.

A summary of all the concrete proposals made by these commissions would be a remarkable, very useful document for the UN General Assembly at the Heads of States Level in fall of 2000, more eminent and useful than these personal ideas of mine.

List of World Commissions of Eminent Personalities held in recent years:


  • The World Commission on North-South Relations headed by former Chancellor Willy Brandt of Germany.
    The World Commission on Disarmament headed by Mr. Olof Palme, former Prime Minister of Sweden.
    The World Commission on the Environment headed by Mrs. Gro Harlan Brundtland, Prime Minister of Norway.The World Commission on Global Governance, headed by Mr. Ingvàr Carlsson, former Prime Minister of Sweden.
    The World Commission on Funding of the United Nations, headed by Ms. Hazel Henderson, US economist,
  • The World Commission on Population and the Quality of Life, headed by Mrs. Maria de Lourdes Pintalsigo, former Prime Minister of Portugal,
  • The World Commission on Art and Culture, headed by former UN Secretary General Javier Pérez de Cuellar,
  • The World Commission on Education in the 21st century, headed by Jacques Delors, former President of the European Economic Community,
  • The World Commission on the Oceans, headed by Mario Soares, Prime Minister of Portugal.
  • The recently created World Commission on Consciousness and Spirituality co-chaired by Dr. Karan Singh (India) and Robert Muller (France).

 
~ Idea 2158 ~

 

 Similarly, there are several former heads of states who individually or in groups mediate conflicts behind the scenes or launch new ideas, for example the InterAction Council of 27 former heads of states headed by Dr. Helmut Schmidt, former Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, which drafted a remarkable Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities.

Why not create a common office for former heads of states similar to the one proposed for the World Commissions of Eminent Personalities?

Again, it would be very remarkable if former heads of states individually or in groups could submit their concrete proposals and ideas to the General Assembly 2000 of the UN at the heads of states level which is "to focus on means of solving our global problems and to reform the means of global governance in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century" (resolution of the 1998 UN General Assembly).

 
~ Idea 2159 ~

 

And why not consider several similar common offices for former Ministers of Foreign Affairs and any other former Ministers?  The world would be greatly enriched by their exchanges of visions, experience, ideas, contributions and by their friendships.

 
~ Idea 2701 ~

 

We have come to the end of a millennium of political turmoils and horrendous wars.  Let us now at long last build a millennium of peace, justice, well-being and loving care for our beautiful, so generous planet Earth on which we have the privilege and luck to live.

May the heads of states UN General Assembly 2000 bless humanity with a great, visionary, audacious plan 3000 to do that.

 
~ Idea 2862 ~

 

If I could address the Millennium UN General Assembly at the heads of states level for five to ten minutes I would say this:

- please decide a basic review of the 55 years old UN Charter;
- please declare the fate of the Earth as one of the highest priorities on the agenda of world affairs;
- please decide the absolute, urgent need for a proper Earth and human government;
- please ensure justice, especially a decent well-being for all humans;
- please abolish all nuclear and other armaments, all militaries and establish a proper world security system;
- please remain in permanent session to decide the transformation of the United Nations into a United Earth on the model of the United States or a World Union on the model of the European Union or an even more audacious models required by our evolution in the cosmos.
- please create as a minimum a United Nations Consultative Parliamentary Assembly, as recommended by the European Parliament.

 
~ Idea 2907 ~

 

 

I pray that President Clinton will leave a great mark on human history and make this brief statement at the Millennium 2000 heads of states UN Assembly:

  • Dear leaders of the peoples of the world,
  •  
  • From the bottom of my heart I recommend most passionately and urgently the transformation of the United Nations into an Earth Federal Republic in order to solve the increasing environmental conflicts which will arise between nations in the 21st century and third millennium.  I simply add my voice to that of another President of my great country, President Harry S. Truman when he said:
  •  
  • "When Kansas and Colorado have a quarrel over the water in the Arkansas River, they don't call out the National Guard in each state and go to war over it.  They bring suit in the Supreme Court of the United States and abide by the decision.  There isn't a reason in the world why we cannot do that internationally.
  •  
  • It will be just as easy for nations to get along in a republic of the world as it is to get along in the republic of the United States."

 
~ Idea 3000 ~

 

I have learned with immense satisfaction that the World Peoples' Assembly held in Samoa adopted overwhelmingly a resolution requesting the United Nations to implement the proposal of the European Parliament to set up a UN Parliamentary Consultative Assembly.  May the heads of states meeting in September 2000 implement that idea.  It would be a great benefit to the world and democracy.

The most urgent and absolute need at the beginning of this new century and millennium is to establish a proper Earth and human government.  The United Nations Parliamentary Consultative Assembly could take this as its main, great historic duty.

Resolution of the European Parliament
on the Role of the Union within the United Nations
and the Problems of Reforming the UN

 Though believing that the duties of the UN should remain the prevention of war and aggression, the promotion of collective security and the peaceful settlement of disputes, Parliament emphasized the need for rapid and efficient reform of the organization, updating its aims and improving its working.  Parliament also considered the Union's involvement in the work of the United Nations and its specialized agencies inadequate.  It saw a vital need to define precisely and unambiguously the principles on which decisions on UN intervention were based, place peace-keeping units under the sole responsibility of the UN Secretary General, change the rules governing the distribution of humanitarian aid, recognize the universal validity of the right to intervene on humanitarian grounds and provide the UN with the human, financial and technical resources needed to implement its decisions effectively.

Parliament also suggested that the General Assembly could be more closely associated with the decisions of the Security Council, which should be made to reflect more accurately the realities of the modern world.  It argued that once all the necessary institutional steps had been taken for the establishment of a common foreign and security policy, consideration should be given to granting the Union the status of full member of the General Assembly and a permanent seat on the Security Council.

Parliament also called for the setting-up, under the auspices of the UN, of an International Environment Court and a World Environment Agency, of which the European Environment Agency would be the regional branch.  It also wanted indigenous peoples to be better represented at the UN and consideration to be given to the possibility of setting up a Parliamentary Consultative Assembly within the UN.*

Adopted on 8 February 1994

* My comment: these very important recommendations from the peoples' representatives of 15 European countries at the European Parliament have received little, if any attention.  They should be communicated officially to all member nations of the UN and considered by the UN General Assembly 2000 particularly by the heads of states meeting.

 
~ Idea 3001 ~

 

This a world where a few have too much and too many have too little.  It is a wrong world.  Planet Earth would be decreed by a celestial outer space council an unproperly managed planet in the universe.

It is high time to declare proper Earth and human government and management the priority item of the UN agenda of world affairs.  Hopefully the heads of states meeting in the year 2000 UN General Assembly will decide that.

 
~ Idea 3005 ~

 

I just cannot understand why the human species is always dominated by the will for power.  We had the emperors, the kings, the czars, slavery, racism, apartheid, colonialism, dictatorship, religious wars, Nazism, nationalism, all kinds of sovereignties, infallibilities and fundamentalisms.  Many of them were defeated but now we have a new one: economic, all human and Earth exploitation by giant world corporations supported by nations which derive benefits from them.  At the end of this millennium we see now a new power association between business, national sovereignty and militaries!  What can we do?

Only a new world political and economic order can get us out of this situation.  I therefore implore the heads of states who will meet at the United Nations General Assembly 2000 to put in motion and implement my ideas on the absolute urgent need for proper Earth government (See Introduction to Part V of Volume IV).  If not, planet Earth might well soon become a wreck as a result of this new power alliance and United Nations non-audacity.

 
~ Idea 3007 ~

 

Why, why, why?

Looking back in a hundred years humanity might say: why were not nations more enlightened in the year 2000?  They had all the needed information about the planet and all life on it.  They had experience, both good and bad, anything they could experience.  They had all the growing lessons needed.

Why did they not create a new, better, just world order when the cold war was over?

Why did they cave in to the United States, the sole remaining big power?

Why didn't the United States give the world a new, inspiring, hopeful vision of the future?

Why didn't nations at least strengthen ten-fold the United Nations which was a good beginning?

Why, why, why?

Well, let us at least use the year 2000 to begin building a new world order.  Let us have a global vision, global concerns, global love for our Earth and all humanity, for a more beautiful, well-preserved planetary home and peaceful, happy, fulfilled human beings living on it.

Let us place ourselves in the year 3000 and do what we would be expected to do as seen by the eyes, the minds, the hearts, the hopes and the souls of our descendants in that year.

May the heads of states meeting in the year 2000 make that UN General Assembly one of the greatest landmarks and achievements in the entire human history.  May they place humanity on the right path to a peaceful, happy, illuminated world.  May they be applauded, honored and thanked by their children's children's grandchildren in the year 3000.

As a minimum, dear heads of state, place yourselves in the year 2100 and see what the world will say about your historic meeting in 2000 in response to your ominous agenda "to hold in the fall of 2000 a heads of states Assembly to focus on means to solve our primary global problems and to reform the means of global governance in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century."

 
~ Idea 3009 ~

 

The evolution of any species does not take place without a partial destruction of nature.  But one species can become so knowledgeable and powerful that it can destroy the entire nature, namely all other species, vegetal, animal and elements.  When it comes to that point, that species with its knowledge and power becomes in charge or responsible of the entire future evolution of that planet.  It can adapt to the new requirements of a continued evolution and find the right solutions or it can continue on the course of its existing beliefs and values embodied in its institutions and laws and will put an end to evolution.  The human species has reached that point.  This is the decisive, rapid choice we must make, which the heads of states at the UN General Assembly 2000 must make (see Introduction to Ideas 2001 to 3000).  Not only new means of governments but new values, new beliefs of the human species are required.

The Heads of State Meeting 2000 has therefore an incredibly important role and responsibility.  Their agenda is nothing less than the future evolution of planet Earth and of the human race.

 
~ Idea 3014 ~

 

 

I see three major events on this planet during the year 2000 which signal great hope for the future:

1. The creation and work of the Foundation of the Future in Bellevue, Washington State, which has taken the year 3000 as the target of our concerns, forwardlooking, thinking, planning and ideas.  In August 2000 it will convene some of the world's best scientists, futurologists, visionaries and prophets in Seattle to give their views to humanity about the next 1000 years.

2. The Summit Meeting of all heads of states of this planet in the United Nations General Assembly 2000 to deal with this agenda, "To focus the means to solve our primary global problems and to reform the means of global governments in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

3. The holding of a World Peoples' Assembly in April in Samoa, to give their views of the future and their expectations from the heads of states UN General Assembly.

As an advisor to the Foundation of the Future I have advised that the views and recommendations of the Seattle conference be submitted to the United Nations and all heads of states.  The first two reports of meetings of thinkers are already available (address of the Foundation: 123-10 5th Avenue, S.E. Bellevue, Washington 98004-6265, Tel: (425) 451-1333, Fax: (425) 451-1238, www.futurefoundation.org.)

Regarding the Heads of States Meeting in 2000 my 3000 ideas will be available to them and I will make an excerpt from them of the most important ideas of decisions they should take at their momentous summit meeting in the world.

Regarding the World People's Assembly, my first 2000 ideas and dreams are available to them as well as an excerpt of the most important ideas of decisions I suggest they should take at their momentous summit meeting in the world.

 
~ Idea 3033 ~

 

A letter to Ted Turner:

Dear Ted,

When both you and I will appear before God, He will tell us we did not do enough despite our belief that we did.  Perhaps someday if you feel like it, come to sacred Mt. Rasur in one of the most beautiful places on Earth overlooking the United Nations University for Peace, a modest, second little wooden house is waiting for you where you will be given the answer to, "What more can I do?"  awakened by the cocks who announce the resurrection of another day.

Do it if possible this year so that you can give your message to the heads of state who will meet at the UN General Assembly 2000 in September of this year.

I'm thinking of you often with all my love,

 
~ Idea 3035 ~

 

The greatest killers on this planet are not individuals but governments.  Just have a look at the Dismal Alphabet from Volume III which I reproduce again here in order not to forget it.  It should be permanently on the desk of every head of state.

ROLL CALL OR THE DISMAL ALPHABET
Antietam Creek, Maryland, September, 1862 (26,050 dead)
Ardennes Forest, France, December, 1944 - January, 1945 (38,000)
Auschwitz, Poland, 1938 - 1945 (3,500,000)
Attu, Alaska, May, 1943 (2,901)
 
Bataan, The Philippines, April, 1942 (10,000) 
Belleau Wood, France, June-July, 1918 (9,777)
Beirut, Lebanon, October, 1983 (321)
Bull Run, Second Battle, Manassas, Virginia, July-August, 1862 (24,000)
 
Chattanooga, Tennessee, November, 1863 (12,492)
Chicamauga Creek, Tennessee, September, 1863 (34,642)
Cho-Sen Reservoir, South Korea, February, 1951 (25,726)
Corregidor, The Philippines, May, 1942 - August, 1945 (90,000)
 
Dachau, Poland, 1939 - 1945 (1,500,000)
Dien Bien Phu, French Indochina, April - May, 1954 (95,000)
Dieppe, France, August, 1942 (7,953)
 
El Alamein, Egypt, July - November, 1942 (13,000)
 
Finland, December, 1939 - February, 1940 (225,000)
Fortress Alamo, San Antonio de Bexar, Texas, March, 1836 (183)
Fredericksburg, Virginia, December, 1862 (15,000)
 
Gallipoli, Turkey, 1915-1916 (250,000)
Germany, Fifty major cities, 1942 - 1944 (458,906)
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July, 1863 (51,000)
 
Hiroshima, Japan, August 6, 1945 (70,000)
Hong Kong, British Crown Colony, December, 1941 (14,602)
Hue City, South Vietnam, January - February, 1968 (10,000)
 
Isonzo River, Italy, 1915 (250,000)
Iwo Jima, February - March, 1945 (6,821)
 
Japanese mainland, six major cities, March - June, 1945 (260,000)
 
 
Kasserine Pass, Tunisia, February, 1943 (3,000)
Khe San, South Vietnam, January - April, 1968 (10,205)
 
Leningrad, Russia, August, 1941 - February, 1944 (1,450,000)
Leyte Gulf, The Philippines, October - December, 1944 (85,000)
 
Malaysia, December, 1941 - February, 1942 (148,532)
Murphreesboro, Tennessee, January, 1863 (25,000)
 
Okinawa, Japan, April - June, 1945 (122,922)
 
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December, 1941 (2,403)
Pusan, South Korea, September, 1950 (3,137)
 
Quang Tri City, South Vietnam, February, 1968 (400)
 
Riga, Latvia, 1941 - 1945 (40,000)
Rome Airport, Italy, December, 1985 (13)
Rumania, December, 1916 - January, 1917 (360,000)
 
Shilo, Tennessee, April, 1862 (24,000)
The Somme River, France, July - November, 1916 (1,090,000)
Stalingrad, Russia, July, 1942 - February, 1943 (1,600,000)
 
Tarawa Atoll, November, 1943 (5,670)
The Tet Offensive, South Vietnam, January - February, 1968 (165,000)
 
Ukraine, USSR, 1941 - 1945 (2,500,000)
 
Verdun, France, 1916 (690,000)
Vicksburg, Mississippi, October, 1862 - July, 1863 (21,141)
 
Warsaw, Poland, April - May, 1943 (70,000)
The Wilderness, Chancellorsville, Virginia, April - May, 1863 (30,051)
The Wilderness, Second Battle, May, 1864 (25,166)
 
Yom Kippur War, October, 1973 (7,537)
Ypres, Belgium, 1914 - 1917 (392,000)
 

Mary Luttig

MAY THE SOULS OF THESE DEPARTED BROTHERS AND SISTERS CONTRIBUTE TO WORLD PEACE AND BETTER FUTURE GENERATIONS.

Millions of people have been killed by governments in the last two centuries.  National governments are not admirable, praiseworthy, love-worthy institutions.  They are often wholesale killers including of women and children.  Even in peacetime they waste more than one-half of the total world resources extorted from their working people on armaments and militaries.  And why are individual killers called criminals, put in prison or condemned to death, while winning generals are called heroes and covered with medals.

People are really sheep to let this happen to them and not to revolt against it.  There is need for a Peoples' Rebellion against the dismal, dangerous political disorder of this planet.  I hope that the heads of states meeting at the UN in September will receive a crystal clear strong message from the World's Peoples' Assembly meeting earlier in Samoa regarding a direct peoples' representation in the United Nations.

 
~ Idea 3039 ~

 

As long as there will be Ministries of War or Defense in most of the 188 nations there will be no peace on Earth.

I suggest that the President of the United States in his speech to the UN General Assembly 2000 will announce that the Pentagon will be supressed and will be replaced by a United States Ministry of Peace as President Eisenhower did after World War II, a ministry whose incumbent was Harold Stassen, the last living signer of the United Nations Charter, still alive today at the age of 94 and who should be honored for having held this position.  The cold war put an end to it.  Now that the cold war is over the United States can resume and reestablish this ministry followed I am sure by many other countries if not all on Earth.

 
~ Idea 3040 ~

 

In his speech to the UN General Assembly the President of the United States should offer also a bold world plan to deal with the extreme poverty of a great part of the world and to stop and reduce the increasing distance between the rich and the poor both within countries and worldwide.  He would thus do this in memory of President Johnson whose main ideal during his presidency was to eliminate poverty.

The President of the United States should also pay tribute to President John Kennedy for having launched the inspiring program of the Peace Corps which was loved by so many American people and should become tantamount to a World Peoples' Marshall Plan.

His speech would therefore be a tribute to General Marshall, to President Eisenhower, to President Johnson and to President John Kennedy.

 
~ Idea 3052 ~

 

I wish sometimes to have a glance at the US world strategy of the Pentagon for the years and decades ahead as well as those of Russia, China and other major countries of the world.  Also, at those of the major arms manufacturers and biggest multi-national corporations.  It would tell us a lot.  As for groups of countries, the strategies of NATO, SEATO and other military alliances would be most interesting too.

There is only one trouble with this planet: at a time of evolution when most serious global problems are confronting us and global solutions are needed, there does not exist a world strategy for the future of the Earth and of humanity.  This could mean disaster.  I recommend therefore that the United Nations General Assembly establish a major Future Strategy Commission serviced by highly qualified staff and by the whole system of United Nations agencies to come forth with such a strategy.

Who indeed speaks for the world and humanity's future?  Who has been commissioned to do it?  The US, Russia, China, NATO, SEATO, the multinational corporations?  On what kind of a planet do we live?

 
~ Idea 3089 ~

 

 

I wonder if there is a Jan Tinbergen Institute or a University in Holland which has kept his papers, or book written by him or on him and outlining his main proposals for a just, orderly world economy?  I think that his proposals should be made known to the UN General Assembly 2000 meeting at the Heads of States Level.  I remember him fondly when he was a consultant to the United Nations.  He had the courage to recommend the creation of a World Treasury financed by international taxes, a World Energy Agency (see my Ideas 46, 293) and the worldialization (world commons ownership) of the raw materials.  He fully deserved the first Nobel Prize in economics awarded to him.  Alas, he is no longer amongst us.

 
~ Idea 3091 ~

 

In a book, Achieving Peace by the Year 2000  John Huddleston, chief of the Budget and Planning Division of the International Monetary Fund offers the following Twelve Proposals for World Peace:

1. A world peace constituency
2. A world peace assembly
3. The outlawing of war*
4. The abolition of offensive weapons
5. Sanctions against aggressors
6. A World Peace Council
7. Compulsory arbitration of disputes
8. An international peace force
9. An independent peace fund
10. An equal role for women in the peace process
11. Education of world citizens
12. Reduction of international tensions
This is a plan worth considering by the heads of states at the United Nations General Assembly 2000 which has its task: "to focus on means of solving our primary global problems and to reform the means of global governance in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century."

* Japan has done it in its post-World War II Constitution.  More countries should follow that example.

 
~ Idea 3093 ~

 

Message to a conference in Australia on the future of humanity

The human species is making enormous progress: it has a world-wide, almost cosmic knowledge, in space and in time: it has acquired incredible global auditory, vision and communications abilities; it has global hands and global feet through industry and transportation; a global brain is being born to it; a global heart is nascent; a global soul or spiritual Renaissance is under way.

Yet, it is still in its kindergarten stage: that of business, of material, immediate satisfactions, goods being its toys, the craving for power, money, possessions, the need to show off like children.

The next stages will be those of morality, ethics, distinction between good and bad, an extraordinary wisdom and fulfillment of life, a right harmony with the Earth, her elements, her nature and other species; with the heavens and with the unfoldment of time, which we call evolution.

The revolt against global business is part of this.  We witness the birth of a new age, the age of right global values, a gigantic step forward in our and the Earth's evolution.

To contribute to that should be the aim of your conference.  Please send your conclusions, views and recommendations to the Prime Minister of Australia so that he can make a memorable contribution to the heads of states meeting held in September of this year at the United Nations General Assembly which is being convened with the following historic agenda:

"to focus on means to solve our primary global problems and to reform the means of global governance in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century."

I wish your conference great success.  May you help our miraculous human species find its right way and more advanced future destiny on this heavenly, life-blessed, very special planet in the universe.

 
~ Idea 3112 ~

 

If the UN General Assembly 2000 at the heads of states level does not agree to a redrafting of the UN Charter written fifty-five years ago I would recommend again that the 134 member states which did not participate in its drafting should draft their own, more modern up to date charter and submit it to the whole United Nations membership for consideration.

Not to do that would be a very dark page and blemish in the history of the nation state system.

 
~ Idea 3113 ~

 

I hope that at the UN General Assembly 2000 the heads of states will decide that each member government will give one or more fellowships to their young people desirous to study at the UN University for Peace in Costa Rica.  Governments should follow the example of the United States where each of the fifty-one states is required to give two fellowships each for students at West Point (army), Annapolis (navy) and Georgetown (air force).

 
~ Idea 3145 ~

 

I recommend that the year 2001 should be proclaimed: International Year of Heads of States either in recognition of the great historical decisions they took at their year 2000 meeting for a peaceful and better world or as an incentive to do so during 2001.  Working together with common ideals for the world they could do wonders.  There should be completely new ways of joining their forces and working together making them the supreme management council of this Earth.  They should create a World Council of Heads of States with their most trusted and brilliant collaborators as its secretariat.

 
~ Idea 3231 ~

 

Comparing our time with all other former times over human history there are many advances made by us but also several very serious regresses.

On the advances side we could mention:

A substantial decrease in children mortality
A substantial increase in human longevity
A tremendous increase of human knowledge from the infinitely large to the infinitely small, of the past, a global knowledge of our entire planet
Tremendous advances in science and technology
Great discoveries on human health
Great advances in human transportation
A world-wide telecommunications system
The birth of the first global organizations
and I could mention many, many others
On the negative side we could list these examples:
Nuclear weapons and nuclear plants
Two world wars in our century
An unprecedented population explosion
An unprecedented consumption explosion
For the first time in human history the beginning of the destruction of our planet
The development of monstrous cities all around the world
A profound lack of spirituality
A still constantly growing, accelerating materialism
Etc., etc.
The heads of states, leaders of the world should sit down in a permanent session of the United Nations to give answers to these problems.  This has become of vital importance for the future of the Earth and of humanity.  I would like to see the UN General Assembly remain in permanent session year round for  all the time necessary.  Also, all governments on Earth should follow the example of the United States and create a Vice-president for Global Affairs.

 
~ Idea 3246 ~

 

I hope that in the year 2000 the United Nations or a philanthropic organization will assemble and publish all the new charters, revised charters of the United Nations and proposed amendments to it.  This might yield a marvelous collection of ideas, many of which would be worthwhile to be examined in the effort to provide this planet with a much needed, better global organization or government.  The results might give birth to a serious effort at the beginning of the 21st century and 3rd millennium to put this planet in better shape as far as human activities, goals, dreams, purposes and responsibilities are concerned.  Such a document would be extremely valuable to the heads of states meeting at the UN General Assembly 2000.

 
~ Idea 3270 ~

 

The preceding leads me to propose that we should chart a vision for as far as the year 3000.  The Foundation for the Future could launch such a first effort at vision and planning for the year 3000.  And the heads of states meeting in September 2000 at the UN could recommend that the United Nations Secretariat and all the 32 specialized agencies and world programs of the UN should submit their visions and plans for the year 3000.  

 
~ Idea 3278 ~

 

With the total saving from armaments and militarization of more than 800 billion dollars a year we can save all nature, feed all the hungry, educate all children and make out of this planet the most stupendous jewel in the universe.  Please, dear heads of state who will meet at the United Nations General Assembly 2000 do this miracle and you will become the greatest most famous leaders in all human history.

 
~ Idea 3279 ~

 

The word 'environment' is not correct.  The Earth nature is not 'around us'.  We are an intrinsic part of her.  All our bodies come from nature.  We live day and night from her elements (air, water and food) and at death we return to her and are recycled by her into soil, vegetation and other species.  I propose therefore that the Ministries of Environment, created since the UN's World Environment Conference in 1972 in Stockholm be renamed and converted into Ministries of Nature and we should rejoice that Natural Law Parties launched by British scientists exist now in more than 100 countries.  They should become the first and foremost political party in the world.

 
~ Idea 3290 ~

 

Often I have the feeling that I represent at the United Nations the innumerable deads caused by the will for power of conquerors, dictators, nations, religions, ethnic groups, wealth holders, etc.  I hear these deads say to me: we were first of all humans.  Why did they do that to us and to our dear ones?

And I answer them: I will do my utmost so that it will never happen again.  I will fight for a new death: the death of all the weapons on this Earth, the death of all institutions where they prepare and train killers of other human beings.

 
~ Idea 3291 ~

 

We had the very important American Revolution for Independence.  We had the very important French Revolution for Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.

We now need a United Nations' or World Peoples' Revolution for a proper government of the Earth and humanity.

 
~ Idea 3292 ~

 

The Earth:

"Dear Robert, I like your Appeal to All Leaders of Nations at their meeting at the UN in September 2000.  Could you give them also this message from me:

Dear Heads of States,

I am so happy that you are meeting during this crucial year 2000, the onset of a new century and millennium, to look at the global problems facing me and humanity, how they could be solved and the changes in the means and instruments required to solve them.

 

This leads me to beg you to be each of you my representative, the representative of your Earth, of your mother, the various provinces of my surface which you administer, not only of the peoples.  To the titles of Chiefs of States, Presidents, heads of governments, leaders of nations, please add also that of Representatives of the Earth, my representatives.  Think of me as much as you think of your people.  When you wake up in the morning and ask yourself what can I do for my people today, ask yourself also the question what can I do for my mother Earth today.

I pray you to do that.  I will love you for it.  I will recompense you for it.  And the children of your children will bless you for it."

 
~ Idea 3293 ~

 

If only the 15 countries of the European Union were joined by a few countries from other regions to consider steps towards a larger Union, possibly ultimately a World Union, then the heads of states meeting in September 2000 would be a tremendous success, a major historic step towards a better world political order.

 

Humanity has an incredibly great, happy, peaceful, prosperous, safe future before it, if we believe in it and work for it will faith and ardor.  Dear heads of states, please believe it, have faith in it and the miracle will happen.  That is the message from God and from evolution to you.

INSTEAD OF A FINAL IDEA,
a note circulated on 11 July 2000
by the Vice Rector of the UN University for Peace,
Mr. Geraldo Budowski

Mr. Douglas Gillies is writing a biography of Robert Muller and he is interviewing many people, among them Ted Turner.  This is what Ted had to say:

"He's an extraordinary man.  He's had a very large positive influence on me.  He has such a wonderful global outlook and attitude ˜ his loving kind-hearted attitude of forgiveness and understanding and patience.  I have great admiration and respect for him.  I read quite a bit of his work and there was hardly a position that he advocated that I didn't' agree with.  He's a devout Christian and I'm somewhere between an agnostic and an atheist.  That's our major difference.  I have a very difficult time believing that we're loved by God as much as Robert thinks we are.  But that's a small thing.  We agree how men should treat one another.  I think he's one of the greatest men to come along in a long time.

 

MY DREAM 3000

By Dr. Robert Muller

(Written for the last summer solstice of the second millennium)

21 June 1999

I dream that we humans,

the most advanced miracle

of life in the universe

will lift our sights, hopes and dreams to the year 3000

and make the third millennium

a tremendous, unbelievable cosmic success.

 

I dream that all governments will join together

to manage this beautiful Earth and its precious humanity

in peace, justice and happiness,

 

That all religions will believe

in a global spirituality,

 

That all people will become

a caring family,

 

That all scientists will join

in a united, ethical science,

 

That all corporations will unite

in a global cooperative

to preserve nature and all humanity.

 

I believe that once and for ever,

we will eliminate all wars, violence and armaments

from this miraculous planet.

 

I dream that the incredible and

growing distance between rich and poor,

between and inside nations

will be eliminated as a blemish

to the miracle of life.

 

I dream that we will stop the destruction

of our miraculous, so richly endowed planetary home.

 

I dream that we will eliminate all lies, corruption

and immoral advertisements for purely monetary purposes.

 

I dream that we will all live

simple, frugal lives in order

not to tax unduly the precious

resources of our planet.

 

I dream that each decade and centennial

will be celebrated as a great

world wide event to take stock of our successes.

 

I dream that we will succeed in making our planet

the ultimate success of God,

or the mysterious forces of a

universe of which each of us

is a miraculous, cosmic unit.

 

Dear brothers and sisters,

dear children, youth, adults and elderly,

dear spirits of all the departed

let us join forces to fulfill this

wonderful miracle intended and expected by God

 

Let us prepare the year 3000

as the most extraordinary celebration

of our grandiose, mysterious journey

in the star studded heavens.

 

Let us make this third millennium

a Jubillennium, a millennium

of peace, love, joy, happiness and beauty.

 

Dr. Robert Muller

Chancellor Emeritus, University for Peace

Former UN Assistant Secretary General


 

Excerpts of Dr. Muller's

2000 Ideas and Dreams for a Better World

Excerpts are available on a vast array of topics covered in the text of 2000 Ideas and Dreams for a Better World.*  Following is a list of topics that have already been computer searched and compiled for dissemination.  They range in length from two to fifty-eight pages of concrete, forward-thinking ideas for definitive action to facilitate the emergence of a peaceful, productive society on a healthy, abundant planet Earth.

Since Dr. Muller is not able to attend all conferences to which he is invited each year he is offering these excerpts pamphlets which may be published as papers to aid particular interests.  Dr. Muller's life is dedicated to helping humanity achieve a better world and to this end he offers his work to be published in whatever manner will best accomplish that end.

*1,000 additional ideas are ready for publication.

Samples of Excerpt Topics

Capitalism
Children
Climate
Costa Rica
Demilitarization/Disarmament
Democracy
Education
Emergencies
Ethics
European Union
Family
Future
Globalization of Business
Human Rights
Natural Law Party
Philanthropy
Philosophy
Religion and Spirituality
Thanksgiving
UN Charter
University for Peace
Violence
Youth
 

 

Ordering Information

 

Excerpts can be requested from Carolyn Hawkins, tel. or fax (805) 568-0909

For existing excerpts: $21.95 ($16.95 per copy plus $5.00 shipping and handling)

For new searches: computer search time, materials and postage (approx.: $25.00 per search)

All searches can be produced on computer disk at your request.

 

MEDIA 21 v Global Public Relations

Barbara Gaughen-Muller

7456 Evergreen Drive, Santa Barbara, CA 93117 USA

Fax:  805 968-5747

E-mail:  Barbara@rain.org

 

No copyright.  On the contrary, copying and networking is exhorted.