Establishing a Global Community

One hundred years ago, the concept and prospect of a global community of any sort was both unheard and unlikely. Admittedly, during the last millennia, there have been several attempts to achieve global governance but this has usually been at the cost of life and freedom rather than a concerted effort to achieve cross cultural/social interaction.

Are we any closer to achieving a Global Community now than we were in 1907? And if so how will we do it?

Users of the Internet would probably argue that a global community already exists. Agreed, the Internet already provides a community of sorts but the ethos here is not necessary towards harmony. The Internet is about freedom of access although corporate organisations would argue against this. If used correctly, the internet would be the perfect vehicle for knowledge sharing, going well beyond the power of the Oracle of Greek legend with the added advantage that you don’t have to provide a blood sacrifice to your PC. Unfortunately, the Internet is predominantly a commercial vehicle, where the emphasis is on profit and not on collaboration and community. Even this site has advertising and seeks to generate revenue, although the funds here ensure survival and provision of services rather than a concerted thrust toward financial gain, I know that some may disagree with this but when I created this site it was for collaborative access to valid information, as the site grows, so do the costs, without income, the site dies. It is an interesting catch 22 but we are walking a tangent here, we can of course discuss this on another thread if anyone feels it is necessary.

Back to community…

So how do we achieve a Global community that exists in real terms rather than electronic? This is a question that has been debated long and hard. The tried, tested and failed approach of enforcement by power has failed. Mainly due to the fact that the centre of gravity for empowerment has been a human and history has taught us well about the failings of people and power. The trouble is that in order to establish a shared ethos to enable society, power is necessary. What we must do therefore is divorce the power form the individual and this is very difficult.

The one event of the past 100 years that has provided a true example of creating a Global community has its roots in Europe. The European union has done more for establishing peace and prosperity and centralised collaboration that any direct attempts have ever achieved. The success of the EU can be measured by the ever-increasing number of countries, which are falling in line for membership. Critics may argue against the EU, in fact I do not agree with a number of policies and concepts within the EU, but what you cannot argue with is its success. The EU is doing more for peace and stability than NATO has done since its creation.

There is a lesson here, an external country will always fight against domination and enforced change but will gladly embrace an entity, which provides economic gain and advantage for its population. I view the EU as a team, all of the members are unique and have their own strengths, some will harmonise and some will have direct differences, the important point is that they are united and try to achieve the same central goal. Fortunately the goal here is not domination, but success. The mixture of cultures within the EU and more importantly, the mixture of religions underline this. The unity of Christianity and Islam is something that is not frequently achieved, despite the obvious common elements in both religions.

The EU is well established but remains an infantile organisation. Despite this, it is clear to most that the EU has a clear and definite role to play in the future lives of European and Non European communities alike. The question is: will the EU become the entity that is able to achieve global success? There is certainly room for achieving this but it is unlikely that the other financial giants of the world will bow in its wake. In fact I fear that should trade become a political gambit, there could be serious consequences for people all over the world. This is not necessarily a predetermined event though, so far the EU has grown because it is attractive, admittedly the prospect of paying over-inflated taxes to import into the EU has a good deal to do with this. On the whole, the approach has worked, whether it will continue to work is another question.

The future of the EU will be measured in the near future by how it handles Africa. Africa, a close neighbour in need of support sits on the horizon of the EU and continues to get closer. EU members promises of aid debt relief and even trade are small be steady steps towards achieving a relationship across the 2 continents, but is this enough and can the EU meet the challenge? This is a difficult question, the corruption in Africa is deep and far-reaching, additionally, and the economic prospects are as fickle as the environment that breaks the countries back on an irregular basis. Despite the internal and external challenges both within Africa and the EU, the two must eventually unite or at least establish a common ground. The two united would enable trade and growth, the two opposed is not worth considering

But how does all this affect a global community? The sorry truth is that in the world there is only one common element that seems to unite man, money. Trade does more for stability every day that a hundred years of war will ever achieve. It today’s world, I see a number of countries that have economic power all of which seem focused internally rather than on the global picture. My hope lays with the EU due to its youth (there is still time to change and embrace new ideas) and due to its locality to the biggest challenge on this planet… Africa. Africa serves as testimony to our lack of global community. If we truly lived, breathed and existed on a global scale, we could not allow the terrible situation to perpetually remain and occur as it does there. Added to this is the inevitability of increased terrorism, borne of Africans who have few choices in life. The ability to have food, water, sanitation and a dry bed is a small price to pay for conflict and suicidal martyrdom, particularly if you are giving life to the ones you love.

So are we closer to a Global Community?

I think so but we have a long, painful way to go.