A humanitarian president

[xmasdale]

There is so much bad news on our site that I thought I would post something positive. Arguably it is peripheral to the 9/11 issue but equally arguably it is central since building a better world is what inspires our efforts.

What do people think?

The following interview appeared in Share International magazine:

Politics in the New Age
Interview with the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Janez Drnovsek
by Saso Segula Prosenc

The following short excerpt of an interview with the President of Slovenia Dr Janez Drnovsek reveals him to be a man of unusual vision. His commitment to the common good informs everything he says.

Dr Janez Drnovsek, President of the Republic of Slovenia, was formerly Prime Minister of Slovenia for 10 years, and from May 1989 to May 1990 Head of the Presidency of the former Yugoslavia. In September 1989, he chaired the 9th Summit of Non-aligned Countries in Belgrade and was the chief negotiator in talks on Slovenian autonomy. He is also an economist, political analyst and promotor of consensus politics. He has received many international awards honouring his political, economic and humanitarian achievements.
At the beginning of 2006 he started the humanitarian and political campaign Movement for Justice and Development to try to solve the crisis in the Sudanese province of Darfur. So far this year he has travelled to France, the USA, Bolivia, Romania, the Qatar Emirate, Sri Lanka, Spain, Portugal, Israel, Palestine and Cyprus. Saso Segula Prosenc interviewed him for Share International.

Share International: Several months ago you changed your attitude, almost overnight, to your role as State President. You have been very actively engaged in endeavours for peace and justice in the world. The media and the general public noticed your sincere commitment. What caused this change?
Dr Janez Drnovsek: Does it matter what caused it? I could answer in this way: at a certain point you reach a level of consciousness which then leads you to abandon former, more usual, patterns, which may be more common in politics. But then you find out that this is not enough, that it is necessary to really start solving the many problems of mankind and that conventional politics with its usual approaches does not solve them, or, at least, not sufficiently. Something more has to be done. It was the realization and awareness of this fact that caused this change.

SI: We can see you are no longer a conventional politician. You have been encouraging and connecting the people of goodwill, supporting their endeavours, acting to make people aware. Recently you founded the Movement for Justice and Development. What does this mean for Slovenia and the world?
JD: It is essential to raise consciousness. The world is out of balance; there are many problems – from the issue of poverty to the fact that many people still die of hunger as well as the destruction of the Earth and climate changes. We must be aware that these imbalances are enormous and that they are on the increase.
Sometimes we humans feel that there is someone who will eventually take care of everything so that it will go in the right direction. I think that – like passengers on a bus who suddenly find out that there is no one steering the bus – we will have to do something ourselves in order to change the direction of human development and the way we act. And that is a matter of consciousness; that we become aware of these problems and of the fact that we ourselves will also have to do something – each of us, whether we are at home, at work, each in his own environment can act. The only way to change anything in the world is to raise the level of consciousness. The attempts in the past, various revolutions, failed for the most part because they used violence, which is a bad foundation. It is not possible to build something good on something bad. However, if we change consciousness and more and more people are aware of the need for changes, then it will be possible to do something on that foundation.

SI: At the beginning of this year you started a humanitarian and diplomatic campaign with which you wished to encourage governments and different organizations in the world to solve the crisis in the Sudanese province of Darfur. Please describe the situation in Darfur and your vision of how to solve the problem?
JD: Darfur is a typically bad situation – a humanitarian catastrophe which some see as genocide. For three years, the international community has been trying, unsuccessfully, to solve the problem. I, too, attempted to help solve the problem of Darfur, if I may say so, at the moment when it seemed that the world had got used to this crisis and that it had become a generally accepted fact, ‘so we don’t need to worry about it any more.’ It seemed necessary to reawaken people’s awareness that something very grave was happening there and that something more should be done.
Before the Darfur crisis, there were other situations where the international community delayed: Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where genocide could have been prevented with more determined international action and by being aware at the right time that something should be done to prevent it. But the international community did not know how to do it.
After Rwanda, after Bosnia and Herzegovina, we international politicians said: “There must never again be a Rwanda, never another Bosnia and Herzegovina.” At the United Nations Summit last September [2005], we agreed that the UN should intervene in cases where national governments were not capable of, or not taking responsibility for, ensuring the survival of their people. The international community undertook to intervene in such situations, not to respect the state’s sovereignty if that sovereignty meant that people were dying there or that the national government was unwilling or unable to protect them. In such cases, the international community is obliged to act. That agreement was reached in September and in all the months since then nothing happened in Darfur.
The situation was getting worse, so I called attention to Darfur with a humanitarian campaign organized in Slovenia. It also seemed important for Slovenia: while we are helping people in Darfur we are also raising awareness in the Slovenian people. We are learning through this case and it reminds us that we are interconnected, that the people there are in distress now, and at some other time it could be us who would need help, and that now we must help. I started a political campaign to focus the attention of the international community and the media on finding a political solution to solve the crisis.

SI: At the beginning of March [2006] you visited the Middle East, where you talked to Israeli political leaders and to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. What was the purpose of that visit and how did Israeli and Palestinian leaders respond to your words?
JD: Yes, I visited Israel at their invitation at quite a specific time – just after Hamas won the elections in Palestine, and when Israel was in a special situation before the elections due to Prime Minister Sharon’s condition. It was a time of considerable uncertainty. It was interesting to exchange views with Israeli and Palestinian political leaders. This is one of those situations that has lasted too long and constantly generates a cycle of violence and hatred. But it is time indeed that they find a solution. I told both the Israelis and the Palestinians that they deserved peace and stability – that they should find a way out of that cycle.
So my approach was not to condemn Hamas in advance but rather that Hamas must be given a chance. For the first time Hamas is in a position of responsibility. By electing Hamas, the Palestinian people put a lot of responsibility on Hamas and the Palestinian people want peace. They don’t want an escalation of violence, I am sure. If Hamas’s leaders are responsible and serious people, they will have to comply with the Palestinian people’s wish.
Sometimes, peace can be attained with radical parties sooner and with more stability than with the more moderate ones. My message to both Israelis and Palestinians was that Hamas had to be given a chance in this situation and that they shouldn’t jump to conclusions too quickly nor fall back into the cycle of violence too rapidly. The cycle must be stopped somewhere. Someone will have to make this move. And if something positive doesn’t come out of this situation now, then I’m afraid Israel and Palestine will again be condemned to years of violence, hatred, uncertainty. That is why something has to be done now, here, and they shouldn’t say too quickly: “Nothing can be done in this situation and with these people.”

SI: The world has become smaller due to information technology and the media, and the poor are directly confronted with the gulf between them and the minority wealthy nations who have far too much and practically all natural resources. Can such a system last?
JD: No, I think it can’t last. This situation is intolerable. It is shameful. The majority of people live in poverty, and a small minority disposes of enormous wealth. This is immoral, unethical and cannot endure in the long run. Sooner or later it will strike back in some way and also affect those who have plenty now. If the majority of people in the world think that this world is unjust, that also the distribution of wealth is extremely unjust, then sooner or later something must happen. This majority will simply not accept the situation quietly. If nothing else, this situation is creating an atmosphere which encourages terrorism. In an environment where people are convinced that the world is unjust, there is, of course, much more basis for terrorism and more people ready to engage in it.
The modern world has the means for mass destruction at its disposal. If terrorists get hold of such means, sooner or later there could be a catastrophe for the whole world from which no one can isolate themselves. The wealthy now think that they can isolate themselves from the rest of the world and ensure their security. They cannot. No one can.
The world will have to be arranged differently and I mean through awareness, not revolution. In the past, problems were solved by revolutions which changed the system with violence and redistributed the wealth. It turned out that this was not right. However, as their level of consciousness rises, more and more people will be aware that this situation is unbearable and those who have a lot will ultimately realize this fact.
It will actually become impossible to look at millions of people dying while someone has billions of dollars and does nothing to change the situation. The biggest countries, including the most powerful country in the world, should do much more to help. If the strongest country in the world committed all the funds that it expends on armaments in one year to solve poverty it would immensely increase its reputation in the world. It would gain moral credit and its popularity would be much greater than now when it expends money on weapons and defence. This, too, is a matter of awareness in politicians and the people.

[Belinda]

Thanks Noel and everyone put Dr Janez Drnovsek on your list of enlightened leaders, rare in the world right now! but they are the future.

[lostpomme]

It seems there is hope yet. Thanks Noel.