In his work of political fiction, "1984", George
Orwell described a totalitarian regime ruling "Oceania",
which managed to exist because the men involved obeyed
only one rule : Power, for its own sake and without any
other aim, be in comfort, happiness, freedom, order or
the pursuit of an ideal.
The "Unesco Courrier" of januaro 1984 features an
article on Orwell by the essayist Jacques Chartier. In
reminding us of that revolutionary author, Chartier notes
that in Oceania there was a totalitarian oligarchy
resting on a sort of institutionalized schizophrenia,
since non objektive world outside the monolithic State
was considered to exist.
The 163 states of the planet, including among them the
thirty or so described as democratic, are governed by
"oligarchies" that is, by political group that may or may
not accept institutionalized opposition but which
invariably obey the imperative of power, installing and
"especially) maintaining themselves through, among other
rules, that of an absolute national sovereignty.
The failure of the Athens summit is a perfect
illustration of this phenomenon : 10 states, albeit
democratic ones proved incapable of transcending the
national concept so as to deal with a problem, the answer
to which was self-evident : too much wealth,, too much
mild, too much butter, too many chickens, too many cars,
too many ships, while on our doorstep millions are dying
of hunger.
Yet, to keep a hold on power, some are prepared to run
the risks - this time on a world scale - of an attitude
of national selfishness identical to that which has led
Europe into two civil wars, with their accompaniment of
hate, suffering and death.
It is plain that the ruling circles in Europe have not
reached the age of discretion, but one should not believe
that in the Third World things are so vere different, in
spite of the lesson of two European disasters. Is not the
Middle East a striking proof of this ?
For the ruling elites, recent results obtained through
a policy of militan nationalism, as in the Falklands,
Grenada or Baalbek interventions, have shown that this,
combined with patriotism, is an effective way to increase
one's popularity in the opinion polls.
The totalitarian world feared by Orwell will be
irredeemably upon us unless political workers take an
interest in that objective world "outside" which World
Citizens are trying to bring into political thinking and
morality.
