Professor Glenn T. Martin, who is president of the World Constitution Parliament Association (WCPA), believes that the current system of sovereign militarised nations is antiquated and needs to be replaced with a new world order.
Prof. Martin is pushing for ratification of the Earth Constitution which aims at preventing war, securing disarmament and preventing disputes which endanger human lives.
The Earth Constitution was written through the combined effort and inputs of hundreds of persons from various nations over a period of 23 years from 1968 to 1991. It intends to join all the nations together in a World Federation. “While no government of any country are officially in,” Prof. Martin believes that this is the best option for the future.
Prof. Martin, who was in the Capital for a World Parliament Conference organised by Jindal Global University, said “the system of sovereign militarised nations that we now have in the world is a product of an earlier paradigm going way back to the 17th century”.
“There is no law above the nations that is enforceable, so each nation has to have a military to defend its interest. Maybe, this was fine in the 17th century when they were fighting with swords. But today, we have nuclear weapons and cruise missiles and it is a disaster for the world,” he said.
“The world’s political system is antiquated,” he stressed.
‘India is crucial’
India has six chapters of WCPA in Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Lucknow, Kolkata and Guwahati. Prof. Martin said India is “crucial” and hinted at a developing a global communication centre here in New Delhi.
He fondly remembered one high point in the association’s effort when the second session of the Provisional World Parliament was opened by then-President Zail Singh in New Delhi in 1985. Prof. Martin also said that the association had opposition from “powerful governments, especially behind the scenes”.
“I suspect it is probably the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) in US government which really does not like this idea. But [we] can’t prove anything,” he said adding, “nevertheless, this idea is spreading rapidly especially in the last decade with Facebook and global communications”.
He said that as a philosopher he was interested in world peace and was introduced to the world constitution in 1995. He also emphasised on spreading the idea to youngster.
“Young people are thinking of themselves as global citizens and they are worried about the future,” he said.
