Never before has there been a greater need than there is today for fundamental change in the way we make decisions and run our affairs.  At the global level, our technology choices imperil the life support systems of our planet, our political ambitions threaten the survival of nations and our economic systems undermine the lives of ordinary people.  At the local level, corruption, terrorism and other forms of social violence destroy the social fabric that makes life healthy and meaningful.

The attention of the media – and therefore of the world — is riveted on a war on terrorism and a campaign to eliminate weapons of mass destruction (WMD).  24-hour news channels bring a never-ending cycle of graphic, live and horrific pictures – battles and conquests involving the highest technological creations of “civilization” in an inexorable march of killing and destruction.

Hundreds of billions of dollars are spent moving men, machines and material half way across the world to bring freedom and democracy to peoples ruled by oppressive regimes.  At the same time, democratic processes and multilateral institutions, carefully and painstakingly nurtured over decades are discarded overnight in the name of making the world a safer place “for all”.

Certainly, terrorism in an age where nasty despots have access to nasty weapons is a frightening prospect for all of humanity.  Whatever is necessary to prevent the inevitable outcomes of such a combination is worth doing.  But what we have is a superficial, piecemeal attempt to treat the symptoms rather than the causes, an attempt doomed to failure in terms of achieving its own stated objectives.

In an age when there exists, for the first time, more than enough to satisfy the basic needs of everyone on the planet, supported by hugely powerful and affordable means for communication (air transport, low cost shipping, satellite television, Internet), one should be able to ask for more.  To deal with the world’s ills and to make our planet a safer place to live on, it must be made a safer place for all to live on. 

For this, we do need to go to war, but a war of another kind: a war on poverty, inequity and environmental destruction.

And the weapons we need to deploy are the weapons of mass empowerment (WME) – grassroots democracy and sustainable livelihoods for all.  Only thus can the basic needs of all be fulfilled and the dignity of the individual be restored, the fundamental pre-requisite for reducing the alienation and animosity that drives most terrorists.

The interesting thing about WMEs is that they are much cheaper than WMDs – and much less harmful when they fall into the wrong hands.  In the right hands, they are potent agents for the change that is needed most throughout the world: local self government and appropriate technologies leading to sustainable livelihoods, sustainable livelihoods leading to sustainable consumption patterns and sustainable production systems, and these in turn leading to sustainable societies, living in peace with each other and in harmony with nature.

Since it does not appear that the sectors that currently help decide on these issues – governments, private sector or the media – will find it in their interest to promote WMEs at the expense of WMDs, it now falls on the civil society as a whole – NGOs, faith groups, educational institutions and others – to take the responsibility to do so.   q

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