in Esperanto
Chapter 10: Towards the World Commonwealth
3.1. The human-historical experience of the United Nations
I mentioned earlier that the World Commonwealth has some similarities with the United Nations (UN), but in reality, the World Commonwealth can be said to be a communist model of dismantling and reconstructing the UN, and that it does not simply negates the UN.
However, the UN will never be able to escape the essence of an international order which was formed under the leadership of the victorious Allied Powers in World War II and centered on them. Moreover, the division between East and West within the five major powers of the UN throughout the Cold War and post-Cold War periods has hindered its functioning.
Despite these flaws, the UN system is a unique experience in human history and deserves to be more highly valued. This is because there is no precedent in human history for a federation like the UN, which covers almost the entire globe, to have survived for more than half a century. Even in the midst of the Cold War, which divided the world into two, the UN withstood the elements without completely collapsing.
The World Commonwealth is built on the valuable human-historical experience of the UN. However, due to its inherent limitations, the UN is bound to reach an impasse. Through dismantling and reorganization of the UN, the World Commonwealth will emerge. Below, I would like to take a look at the structure of the World Commonwealth in comparison with the existing UN.
3.2. A community of humanity
First, we must strengthen our ties as a community of humanity, not just a federation of nations.
As a terminological guarantee for such a community, Esperanto will be made the temporary official language, and Monda Komunumo will be the official name of the World Commonwealth in Esperanto.
Furthermore, in place of the Gregorian calendar, which has traditionally been the de facto common calendar throughout the world, a new calendar system (World Commonwealth calendar) will be used, with the year in which the World Commonwealth Charter takes effect as the first year. However, each constituent entity of the World Commonwealth is free to adopt its own calendar system, including the Gregorian calendar.
3.3. Five grand zones
Second, the management centered on the five major powers (US, UK, France, Russia, and China) should be abolished.
In place of the rule of the five great powers, the World Commonwealth will have the Five Grand-zonal Representatives Conference as its permanent executive organ. Here, the five grand zones refer to the following five connected regions on the earth.
○Pan-African-South Atlantic zone
:Includes the sphere of the African continent and surrounding Atlantic islands
○Pan-European-Siberian zone
:Includes all of Europe and the sphere belonging to the current Russian Federation, excluding Far East Siberia.
○Pan-Western Asia-Indian Ocean zone
:Includes the spheres of West Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia
○Pan-Eastern Asia-Oceania zone
:Includes the spheres of Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Oceania.
○Pan-American-Caribbean zone
:Includes the spheres of North America, Central and South America, and the Caribbean
A grand-zonal Commons' Convention will be established in each of the five grand zones mentioned above, and will serve as a forum for determining regional political and economic policies within the grand zone and for intra-regional cooperation.
Delegates to the grand-zonal Commons' Convention are from the local areas or the quasi-zones within the zones included in the grand zone. The Commons' Convention of the local areas or the quasi-zones shall elect one person as a delegate to the grand-zonal Commons' Convention from among its own delegates.
Although it may seem complicated to elect delegates to the grand-zonal Commons' Convention not for each zone but for each local area or the quasi-zone, it is important to note that the five grand zones are a regional alliance of inclusive zones. This is a device to prevent the region from becoming a mutually competitive political and economic bloc, while at the same time deepening cooperative relationships within the region at a more local level.
Unlike the Commons' Conventions within the zones, this grand-zonal Commons' Convention adopts a session system, so a chairperson is elected for each session, but apart from that, the Permanent Representative Plenipotentiary who represents each grand zone externally is elected.
This position is not a so-called head of state, and is only a representative of each grand zone in external relations, but unlike the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary position, this is a permanent position elected for a term of approximately four years.
These five grand-zonal Permanent Representatives Plenipotentiary constitute the Five Grand-zonal Representatives Conference, and all important global policies are discussed at this conference. As a result, the international oligarchy system in which decisions are made only by a small number of leaders of major countries over the head of the UN, such as the current summit of leaders of major countries, will be abolished.
3.4. Management focused on the southern hemispher
Third, economic and political management centered on the Northern Hemisphere can be revised.
The current UN headquarters and core organs, including the Security Council, are located in New York, and the Human Rights Council is located in Geneva, with all of its central functions concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in the United States and Europe. In contrast, The World Commonwealth will become more focused on the Southern Hemisphere, which historically has tended to be subordinate to the Northern Hemisphere.
Specifically, the headquarters of the World Commonwealth and central functions, including the Peace Council involved in peacemaking, will be located in one of the cities within the Pan-African-South Atlantic zone. The reason for placing the site in Africa is that Africa has long been a symbol of the North-South problem, and while it is also a conflict-prone region, and that the fact that there are no nuclear weapons on the entire african continent makes it appropriate to be the center of the World Commonwealth.
On the other hand, functions related to human rights will be located in a city in the Pan-American-Caribbean zone, especially in South America. The reason for placing it in South America is to avoid the prejudice that "human rights = Western-centric values," which has often been used as an excuse to justify human rights violations in Asia and Africa. This is because, in addition to the subtleties of South America, which has both Western and non-Western culture, the region's historical experience of voluntarily overcoming the violent military dictatorships that once prevailed makes it suitable as a base for human rights.
3.5. Discussion of world official languages
Fourth, we should change the international language situation, which is biased towards English in fact, and start a discussion about adopting a single, neutral world official language.
Currently, the UN has adopted the policy of plural official languages, which designates six languages as official languages: English, French, Russian, and Chinese, which are the official languages of the five major powers, plus Spanish and Arabic, which are widely spoken. However, it is clear that English is de facto given the status of the basic official language.
On the other hand, the World Commonwealth does not exclude the idiomatic use of English, which has a high prevalence rate, but as a linguistic guarantee of the global human community, it is necessary to create a single, more neutral official language throughout the world. Esperanto, which has the highest prevalence among the planned languages that have been developed as a world language, will be designated as the temporary single official world language in order to open up the possibility for the ethnic groups of the world to communicate on an equal basis. (*)
*The reason why I keep this as a provisional statement is that there remains room for debate as to whether Esperanto, which was developed in Europe, can truly be said to be neutral not only politically but also linguistically. Therefore, the World Commonwealth shall begin discussing whether to confirm Esperanto as the world's official language or to develop a new, linguistically neutral planned language. This may be a difficult question that cannot be easily concluded, but under the current UN system, which is heavily biased toward English, any discussion of the world's official languages is dismissed as a taboo or fantasy.
