Category: February 2009

Iranian, American and Serbian families enjoyed the benefits of favoritism towards ones own family and friends in times of need. Nepotism continues to be the social glue that has helped us survive through the tough times. In the last depression in the 1930’s, it was not the goverment intervention that made the individual survive through economical crisis, but support from ones social community.
During the Iran-Iraq war, the family unit was where folks seeked shelter from the economic punishment sanctions of the West. In my family for example, it was important for my aunts and uncles to provide support, so that you can survive the government’s measly coupons at rations. The extra ration of sugar and rice that we received because two of my brothers had been abroad was helpful, and we could share with the less fortunate family next door.

Relationship built with your neighbor and family provides a sense of economic and mental security that no government can provide, while trying to defend the country from Iraq and its allies, the western governments. It was during these hard times that family, friends and neighbors are forced to share the very little that they have for mutual survival.

I always remember my cousin being sent down by my aunt, asking for things like butter or rice, and since he was five years younger then me, my brother and I would give him onions as a practical joke and tease him with his request for other items. Now that he is in his late 20’s he hates onions. You’re welcome cousin!

“Relationship built with your neighbor and family provides a sense of economic and mental security that no government can provide”

Other times when we could not purchase American cigarettes at the stores, it was through the neighbor or the cousin that we would find out who is selling cheap foreign cigarettes. We would get our information as to what the local grocers are offering. When the local grocer was out of butter, it was our neighbor that offered a helping hand so we could meet our sustenance. You would know by your neighbor’s son as to the location of the store, the length of time that it would take to wait in line, and the quantity that you would receive based on rations. You would then go to the store knowing that you can spend all day in line waiting to get that ration of rice or meat. In order to save time, we would look for a familiar face of a neighbor or friend that we would make chit chat with, and then be able to cut in line to avoid the long lines while being cursed by folks at the end of the line.

Serbs, Americans and Iranians do not respect the World Court for various reasons. The Americans think that justice is only good if it is by their laws, and all other civilizations’ legal systems are corrupt and a failure. The Serbs and the Iranians do not respect the court since it cannot enforce justice on all; let it be the injustice in Tibet, or the abuse of war prisoners in Guantanamo.

The Hague and the World Court are setup to deal with the underlings that no longer serve the needs of their masters in the west or the east. Yet, these master criminals like Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Dick Cheney will never be subjected to the same justice that the folks that they empowered have faced. The World Court needs to be more than a judicial system that punishes genocide.

It must be strengthened and used to keep leaders accountable to the course of actions that they take in history, to ensure that it takes into account the will of the masses that they represent. It is not that the UN needs to change. It needs to be abolished and replaced by human values that it has lost. The UN needs to resemble the democratic values that the Great Persian King Cyrus established as its pillars.

Any future organization that replaces the UN needs to take into account the same democratic value that represents the bases of United States Congress. With a parliamentary system that effectively represents masses of population, the United States House of Representatives, and a senate, in which each country has a say regardless of its size. It charter needs to treat men of all nations equally in rights and in pursue of justice. Without such an organization, the only thing that is certain is more grid lock, more political regaling between the five permanent members, and the continued proliferation of conventional and non-conventional arms to rogue and undemocratic nations that each support in its sphere of influence. Such an organization needs a doctrine of human rights and equality that can be found in constitutions of most countries of the world, and unfortunately is practiced in only few nations.

We have created a global, trillion dollar arms race, that is in need of major conflict every decade

What we can agree on with my fellow Serbs and Americans in places like San Francisco, is that we have created a global, trillion dollar arms race, that is in need of major conflict every decade. This work power needs to be used for the better means of mankind. It must be subsidized, trained, and retooled on a global level to provide positive
impact to our global society. This global political gridlock and arms race needs the leadership of the global powers to lead the way in creating true democratic world organizations that respect human rights and the rule of international law for all world citizens, and not a class system based on what the Western European powers have created up to this point.