The Legacy of 20th Century

WE started by arguing that the past one hundred years or so can be regarded as a distinct period of human history. One of the distinctive features of this period, it has been stated, is that the world has become one. The events and developments dealt with in this book bear this out. The world has become interdependent and events taking place in any one part of the world have their almost immediate repercussions everywhere else.
   However, in one very important sense, the world has not really become one. You have seen that the world of empires has collapsed but the end of empires has not led to the ending of international relations based on exploitation. Much of the world is still a victim of economic exploitation by what are called the rich and economically developed countries. The system of economic exploitation which was established during the period of colonial rule continues in most places as before. It is common to see the present-day world as comprising three different worlds-the First World consisting of advanced capitalist countries of the West and Japan, the Second World consisting of the developed socialist countries (most of which are now in the process of introducing basic changes in their economic system) and the Third World consisting of all the other countries, most of them former colonies and semi-colonies, which are described as developing countries. The Third World continues to be mainly a producer and supplier of raw materials, agricultural and mineral, with vast populations of the starving, the hungry, the unemployed, and the illiterate. This division is also often referred to as North and South-the economically developed North and the under-developed and developing South. The gap between the developed and the developing has not been diminished by the advances in technology. The majority of the world’s population lives in conditions of poverty. The population of the world in 1990 is estimated to be 5.8 billion out of whom about 4 billion (about 70 per cent) lives in the Third World countries. The standard of living of the 4 billion people is between 5 and 10 per cent of the standard of living of the people in the richest countries. While the GNP per capita of what are called high income countries is $ 10,750, the GNP per capita of the low and middle income countries is $ 700 and of South Asian countries $ 240. There are half a billion people in the world today who live in conditions of starvation. While in the developed countries, almost every child who is born survives, in the Third World, out of every 1000 children who are born, 93 die before the end of one year. It has been estimated that the average consumption by a Swiss is 40 times that of a Somalian or that a cat in Britain eats as much protein as an average African. Of the 962 million illiterates in the world today, 920 million (or about 95 per cent) are inhabitants of the Third World.
   These disparities between the North and the South, between the rich and the poor countries, are not accidental. They are the products of the conditions which colonialism and imperialism created over the past one hundred years or more. The United Nations symbolizes the concept of One World. Almost all nations of the world, big and small, having populations ranging from a few hundred thousand to about a billion, are represented in this body as equal members. The charter of the United Nations (quoted in Chapter 4) expresses the determination of the Peoples of the United Nations “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war... to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the individual human person...to “promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom...to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples”. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1948 lays stress on the civil rights and liberties such as freedom of speech and press, freedom of association, freedom of religion, freedom of movement. freedom from arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, and political rights to have a voice in the government of the country as well as economic and social rights which include the right to work, the right to social security, the right to an income consistent with a life of human dignity, the right to rest and leisure, and the right to education. Most people of the South, as also many in the North, continue to be denied the economic and social rights. This is not to say that the situation with regard to civil rights and liberties and political rights the world over is a very happy one. The denial of economic and social rights is a part of the existing international economic order. The creation of the New international Economic Order, to which reference has been made in Chapters 5 and 6, is essential to the creation of One World., This, however, is likely to be a long and not-so-easy process if the record of the past four decades is any indication.
   The development of means of destruction since the end of the Second World War has made One World an imperative. Some scholars have suggested that the starting point of modern civilization should be a new chronology with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima as Year One. The bomb that destroyed that city, known as Little Boy, had explosive power equal to 20,000 tons of TNT. As a result of the mad race for creating more and more destructive weapons, there are about 50,000 nuclear bombs in the world today with the destructive power equivalent to about 21⁄2 millton time’s that of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. It has been estimated that the destructive power of the nuclear weapons stock-piled today divided by the population of the world is 15 tons of TNT. That is, for each man, woman and child, there exists in the nuclear arsenals an equivalent of 15 tons of TNT. All human life can be destroyed many times over.
   Nothing during the past decades has so completely brought forth the indivisibility of the world as the development by our species of the instruments of its total destruction. Those who have developed these instruments axe also agreed that there would be no victors in a nuclear war. In the mid - 1980s, a committee of scientist drawn from a number of countries estimated that in the event of a nuclear war, 2 billion inhabitants of the earth would be immediately killed in the nuclear flames, be atomized or killed in tire and radioactive fall-out. Immediately after, what has been called the ‘nuclear winter' would set in because the surface of the earth would be covered by a blanket of smoke and ashes which would rise from the burning cities, forests, fields, factories, and oil. All higher organisms on earth would die and the history of the planet earth would be pushed back by three to four billion years. The forms of life which have evolved on the earth over a process of hundreds of millions of years, would cease to exist. It is possible that some microorganisms might survive from which other organisms began to evolve hundreds of million years ago. It has been mentioned before that astrophysicist’s have been engaged in a search for life elsewhere in the universe, without any success so far. Some scientists are of the view that there is no possibility of existence of life anywhere else in the universe. It is likely that our planet-Earth-is the only one in the universe which has life. This ‘tiny speck of life in the Universe’, however, will also cease to have life, except perhaps in the form of micro-organisms, in the event of a nuclear war. The destruction caused by a nuclear war would know no boundaries, of North and South, of developed and developing. In spite of this knowledge, the production, testing and storing of these instruments of destruction have gone on.
   Since the end of the Second World War, the world has seen hundreds of wars and armed conflicts in different parts of the world. However, a general war has not taken place. This is sometimes attributed to the existence of these weapons. Some countries justify developing and possessing these weapons as they are supposed to be ‘deterrents’ to any possible aggression against them. They also used to be justified as preservers of peace because of what was called the Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)-they ‘assured’ everyone’s destruction. It is odd that these weapons have continued to be developed, even when it is known that they cannot be used. Also, can one be certain that they will not be used, if not by deliberate decision, by accident? There have been occasions in the past when their use was contemplated. It is only their total elimination and destruction, total nuclear disarmament; .that will ensure continued human survival.
   The question of disarmament is closely connected with the question of development. It has been estimated that a mere five weeks of expenditure on armaments today would be adequate to provide every family in the world sufficient drinking water. Only a part of the resources which are now spent on armaments would help end want and misery everywhere and accelerate the process of the economic development of the Third World.
   Another question which has made One World an imperative is the question of environment. This also is closely connected with the problem of development. The seriousness of the world wide danger to environment is comparable to the danger posed by nuclear weapons. A major issue in this regard is the overpopulation of the world. In 1900, the population of the world was about 1600 million. In 1990, it is about 5.8 billion. At the present expected rate of growth, it is likely to rise to 12 to 14 billion by the middle of the twenty-first century. Today, 20 tons of minerals are mined per person every year and every person throws away one ton of garbage every year. The depletion of the earth’s resources has already reached an alarming proportion. How much of human population can the earth maintain? This is an issue of serious concern and debate. The question of population is closely related to development. About 70 per cent of the world’s population lives in the Third World and it is in the Third World that the bulk of the increase in population is going to be. In the richer countries, the population has stabilized. Population and development are interrelated and call for international efforts to accelerate the process of development of the Third World, The depletion of the earth’s resources, including those of the Third World, is due to the high consumption level of these resources by the rich countries. It has been estimated, for example, that the consumption of energy in North America (5-6 per cent of the world's population) is about 33 per cent of the world’s consumption of energy. The present-day economic order in the world is not only a cause of the existing inequalities in the world but also a major factor in the increasing depletion of the earth’s resources.
   The question of the destruction of environment cuts across national boundanes. Humankind is faced with the “destruction and contamination of everything that makes life possible”. The effects of industrial pollution are not confined only to the countries where it originates. The pollutants are carried by winds, which “have no passports”, across thousands of kilometres, contaminating air and water, and causing damage to plant and animal life in lakes and forests. It has been estimated that 22 per cent of all the forest area in Europe has been damaged by acid rain and thousands of lakes have lost most of their aquatic animals. According to one estimate, the world might have lost about one-fifth of all plant and animal species during the past quarter century. The plant and animal life in the ocean which have become dumping bins of rubbish and pollutants is threatened. Environmental degradation in any one part of the world threatens many species of migratory animals and birds. The pollution of atmosphere is making the ozone layer around the earth thinner, endangering all forms of life on earth. That the ecological disaster, whatever its place of origin, knows no political boundaries is not a matter which concerns any one nation or a group of nations. It affects us all, and not only human life but all life. The effects of radiation caused by an accident at a nuclear power station at Chernobyl in Ukraine in the Soviet Union on 26 April 1986 were felt over 3000 km away.
   All this means that the creation of One World, a world based on international peace and cooperation, is no longer a matter of good intentions but an imperative of existence.
   It is possible to believe that the past two or three years constitute a turning-point in history. The Cold War, which in the mid-1980s seemed to have been reviving, now perhaps has finally ended. There are grounds to hope that the period of detente which has started, will lead to greater entente in the world, to create not only a world without war, but a world based on mutual cooperation to solve all the problems which humankind faces.