(Ed note: This article was forwarded to me by my cousins Fran and Frank, longtime peace activists. There was no attribution or copyright notice on the article. I am taking a chance that the author would not object to its being reprinted here.)
Dr. Robert Muller, former assistant secretary general
of the United Nations, now Chancellor emeritus of the
University of Peace in Costa Rica was one of the
people who witnessed the founding of the U.N. and has
worked in support of or inside the U.N. ever since.
Recently he was in San Francisco to be honored for his
service to the world through the U.N. and through his
writings and teachings for peace. At age eighty, Dr.
Muller surprised, even stunned, many in the audience
that day with his most positive assessment of where
the world stands now regarding war and peace.
I was there at the gathering and I myself was stunned
by his remarks. What he said turned my head around and
offered me a new way to see what is going on in the
world. My synopsis of his remarks is below: I'm so
honored to be here," he said. "I'm so honored to be
alive at such a miraculous time in history. I'm so
moved by what's going on in our world today." I was
shocked. I thought -- Where has he been? What has he
been reading? Has he seen the newspapers? Is he
senile? Has he lost it? What is he talking about?)
Dr. Muller proceeded to say, "Never before in the
history of the world has there been a global, visible,
public, viable, open dialogue and conversation about
the very legitimacy of war". The whole world is in now
having this critical and historic dialogue--listening
to all kinds of points of view and positions about
going to war or not going to war. In a huge global
public conversation the world is asking-"Is war
legitimate? Is it illegitimate? Is there enough
evidence to warrant an attack? Is there not enough
evidence to warrant an attack? What will be the
consequences? The costs? What will happen after a war?
How will this set off other conflicts? What might be
peaceful alternatives? What kind of negotiations are
we not thinking of? What are the real intentions for
declaring war?" All of this, he noted, is taking
place in the context of the United Nations Security
Council, the body that was established in 1949 for
exactly this purpose. He pointed out that it has taken
us more than fifty years to realize that function, the
real function of the U.N. And at this moment in
history--the United Nations is at the center of the
stage. It is the place where these conversations are
happening, and it has become in these last months and
weeks, the most powerful governing body on earth, the
most powerful container for the world's effort to wage
peace rather than war. Dr. Muller was almost in tears
in recognition of the fulfillment of this dream. "We
are not at war," he kept saying. We, the world
community, are WAGING peace. It is difficult, hard
work. It is constant and we must not let up. It is
working and it is an historic milestone of immense
proportions. It has never happened before-never in
human history-and it is happening now-every day every
hour-waging peace through a global conversation. He
pointed out that the conversation questioning the
validity of going to war has gone on for hours, days,
weeks, months and now more than a year, and it may go
on and on. "We're in peacetime," he kept saying. "Yes,
troops are being moved. Yes, warheads are being lined
up. Yes, the aggressor is angry and upset and spending
a billion dollars a day preparing to attack. But not
one shot has
been fired. Not one life has been lost. There is no
war. It's all a conversation." It is tense, it is
tough, it is challenging, AND we are in the most
significant and potent global conversation and public
dialogue in the history of the world. This has not
happened before on this scale ever before-not before
WWI or WWII, not before Vietnam or Korea, this is new
and it is a stunning new era of Global listening,
speaking, and responsibility. In the process, he
pointed out, new alliances are being formed. Russia
and China on the same side of an issue is an
unprecedented outcome. France and Germany working
together to wake up the world to a new way of seeing
the situation. The largest peace demonstrations in the
history of the world are taking place--and we are not
at war! Most peace demonstrations in recent history
took place when a war was already waging, sometimes
for years, as in the case of Vietnam. "So this," he
said, "is a miracle. This is what "waging peace "
looks like."No matter what happens, history will
record that this is a new era, and that the 21st
century has been initiated with the world in a global
dialogue looking deeply, profoundly and responsibly as
a global community at the legitimacy of the actions of
a nation that is desperate to go to war. Through these
global peace-waging efforts, the leaders of that
nation are being engaged in further dialogue, forcing
them to rethink, and allowing all nations to
participate in the serious and horrific decision to go
to war or not.
Dr. Muller also made reference to a recent New York
Times article that pointed out that up until now there
has been just one superpower-the United States, and
that that has created a kind of blindness in the
vision of the U.S. But now, Dr. Muller asserts, there
are two superpowers: the United States and the
merging, surging voice of the people of the world. All
around the world, people are waging peace. To Robert
Muller, one of the great advocates of the United
Nations, it is nothing short of a miracle and it is
working.
http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/wca/robert_muller_bio.htm
Born in Belgium in 1923, and raised in France, Robert
Muller experienced constant political and cultural
turmoil during his youth. He knew the horrors of World
War II, of being a refugee, of Nazi occupation and
imprisonment. During the war he was a member of the
French Resistance. Afterward, he returned home and
earned a Doctorate of Law from the University of
Strasbourg. In 1948 he entered and won an essay
contest on how to govern the world, the prize of which
was an internship at the newly created United Nations.
Dr. Muller devoted the next 38 years of his life at
the United Nations, until his retirement in 1986. He
rose through the ranks at the UN to the position of
Assistant Secretary-General. He worked directly with
three secretaries-general, U Thant, Kurt Waldheim and
Javier Perez de Cuellar, as director of the secretary
general's office, as secretary of the Economic and
Social Council and as deputy under-secretary-general
for coordination and interagency affairs in the
secretary-general's office. In this capacity he helped
coordinate the work of the thirty-two U.N. specialized
agencies and world programs. He was also in charge of
launching several world conferences and international
years. Appointed Assistant Secretary-General by Perez
de Cuellar, his last assignment at the U.N. was to
organize the fortieth anniversary of the U.N. in 1985.
Robert Muller is considered the "father of global
education," and his World Core Curriculum is used in
an increasing number of schools around the world and
serves as the educational structure of the 34 Robert
Muller Schools.
Dr. Muller is the author of fourteen books which have
been published in several languages. In recognition of
his work, he received the UNESCO Peace Education Prize
in 1989, the Albert Schweitzer International Prize for
the Humanities in 1993 and the Eleanor Roosevelt Man
of Vision Award in1994. He has also been nominated for
the Nobel Peace Prize.
Now in "active retirement," Dr. Muller is Chancellor
Emeritus of the United Nations University for Peace in
Costa Rica. He is in great demand as an international
speaker and concentrates his efforts on promoting
greater human understanding and global awareness.
8:39:18 PM 
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