‘Can you imagine a coven of panda-huggers whaling on the maritime Republic of the Philippines? Which of the presidential wannabes is a real dragon-slayer?’
WHEN the World-Clock went Tick and Tock 76 years ago, the winners of the Anti-Fascist War had gathered in America to work on the Dumbarton Oaks proposals, the Yalta Agreement, the Charter of the United Nations and the Statute of the new International Court of Justice. Those 50 nations represented by their governments (850 delegates at the San Francisco Opera House) considered more than 5,000 documents designed to end war and promote peace, justice and better living for all mankind. When the governments of China, France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States and a majority of the other signatory states had ratified the Charter and deposited notification to this effect with the State Department of USA, the United Nations came into existence. It was 24 October 1945. [https://www.un.org/en/about-us/history-of-the-un/san-francisco-conference]
By that time, Mussolini was dead, Hitler was missing and presumed dead, but Hirohito was still emperor. By that time, the Indonesian National Revolution was on, Charles de Gaulle signed an order introducing mandatory social insurance for all French employees, and the Supreme Court of Norway upheld the death sentence imposed on Vidkun Quisling. Independence, social justice, death to collaborationists.
But when the World-Clock went Ticking and Tocking 80 years ago, Herbert Hoover (ex-President of the United States) was still trying to persuade that “Hitler cannot be defeated by armies of starving children” via broadcast over the Mutual Broadcasting System, October 19, 1941: “Today there are somewhere near 40 millions of children in German-invaded democracies…Their pleas ascend hourly to the free democracies of the West for food.”
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Continental Can Company (Carle C. Conway) had told the Real Estate Board of Kansas City and the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce that “It is time we lifted up our heads” (October 24, 1941): “Let’s look at a record or two–In January 1940, there were 25,000 people employed in the aviation industry. In January 1941, there were 100,000 people employed, and it is estimated that by January 1, 1942, there will be 400,000 people employed in this industry…Show me the totalitarian or dictatorship form of government that can approach these marvelous records of our free enterprise system. It cannot be done. Make no mistake, business, too, is entitled to its Distinguished Service Cross in these perilous times for its services in national defense.”
And the Assistant Attorney General of the United States (Wendell Berge) reminded the Foreign Policy Association Forum how “Our Liberty Provides Our Vitality” (Waldorf Astoria, New York, October 25, 1941): “Today our hard-won freedoms face an unprecedented threat. Nazi methods have raised questions in some minds whether democratic nations can stand up under the new kind of total war.”
We should be asking similar questions and tackling reanimated perils as the World-Clock Ticks and Tocks today. For instance, micro-nutrient under-nutrition is highly prevalent in the Philippines, with 45% of children below five in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao stunted.
[https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/philippines/publication/-key-findings-undernutrition-in-the-philippines] Another failure of the Department of Health and the rebels-turned-politicians/bureaucrats? How about the Philippines’ economic growth? In negative territory for the first time since 1999 and one of the deepest contractions in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2020, the country’s economic model appears more vulnerable to disease outbreak, pandemic handling obviously problematic, and the weary population reeling from a trifecta (deep recession, job displacement, long-term risks). [https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2021/08/02/the-philippine-economy-under-the-pandemic-from-asian-tiger-to-sick-man-again/]
Can the wackos gunning for a Senate seat design policies to pull out Inang Bayan from the economic crisis? “An average 73.1% of MSMEs were forced to close their business a few weeks after the COVID-19 outbreak and the lockdown measures implemented…The top-ranked concern was a lack of working capital, especially for micro-enterprises…The top-ranked policy measure that firms selected was ‘zero interest rate and collateral free loans’ and ‘subsidies and grants for business recovery of MSMEs’.” [Shinozaki, S. and L. N. Rao. 2021. COVID-19 Impact on Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises under the Lockdown: Evidence from a Rapid Survey in the Philippines. ADBI Working Paper 1216. Tokyo: Asian Development Bank Institute. Available:
https://www.adb.org/publications/covid-19-impact-msme-under-lockdown-evidence-rapid-survey-philippines] Do the dynasties and elitists and crony-capitalists even care?
The World-Clock, Ticking and Tocking, the 21st century variant of Fascism is waging a new kind of total war and the ugly carpetbaggers from the Deep South continue to infantilize the Taumbayan, thus, weakening the resolve of Rizal’s paisanos. Can you imagine a coven of panda-huggers whaling on the maritime Republic of the Philippines? Which of the presidential wannabes is a real dragon-slayer?
When can we get the world that we want? The UN hopes for global unity on its Foundation Day of 24 October, marking the anniversary of the day in 1945 when the UN Charter entered into force. Can we truly Build Back Together for Peace and Prosperity when the origins of the Wuhan Outbreak is beset by denialism? A preponderance of evidence proves the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic leaked from a Chinese research facility, said a report by US Republicans, a conclusion that US intelligence agencies have not reached…”ample evidence” that Wuhan Institute of Virology scientists — aided by US experts and Chinese and US government funds — were working to modify coronaviruses to infect humans and such manipulation could be hidden.
[https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-republican-report-says-coronavirus-leaked-chinese-lab-scientists-still-2021-08-02/]
“Critical information about the origins of this pandemic exists in the People’s Republic of China, yet from the beginning, government officials in China have worked to prevent international investigators and members of the global public health community from accessing it…We must have a full and transparent accounting of this global tragedy.
Nothing less is acceptable.” [https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/08/27/statement-by-president-joe-biden-on-the-investigation-into-the-origins-of-covid-%E2%81%A019/]
On this somber note, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the premiere of the Hymn to the United Nations, composed by Pablo Casals and with words by W. H. Auden: “Where even sadness, Is a form of gladness, Where Fate is Freedom, Grace and Surprise.”
[https://www.2020.paucasals.org/en/50th-anniversary-of-the-premiere-of-the-hymn-to-the-united-nations/]
