193 countries have adopted the Sustainable Development Goals. The COVID-19 pandemic has fuelled a wider awareness of planetary interconnectedness, fragility and risks.
We turned to the first President of Kalmykia, sixth FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov for a comment on this initiative. Here is what he said:
- Of course, I welcome this. The problem is more than urgent. In 1994, when I was still President of Kalmykia, I turned to the member countries of the United Nations in New York. I suggested that every country - from Argentina and Angola to Jamaica and Japan - would stop financing the production of weapons, and all the money that went and goes into arms will be spent on production medicines to fight diseases. It seems to me that only then that the world could have really changed.
Today, we have no choice but to agree on new principles for humankind. For this, and I have already said and proposed this to the Nobel Prize laureates, the leaders of all countries should gather under the auspices of the UN, or, perhaps, a new international organization that has not compromised itself.
The main idea is that not only presidents, kings and prime ministers, but also spiritual leaders, as well as leading scientists of the planet, take full participation in this meeting. It is important that at the end of the discussion the world would receive a new development paradigm. I think that all would agree to put the Right to life at the forefront.
Think for yourself: in the last two or three hundred years, the entire human civilization revolved around one idea - unrestrained consumption. For this goal, scientists work in laboratories, politicians get elected and many films are made. And, alas, wars are fought for this.
In the United States, according to experts, the military budget reached $ 750 billion last year. This is the largest appropriation for the army in the entire history of the USA. Have they become happier, smarter or any better because of this? Maybe they have got rid of terrible diseases like cancer? Rhetorical questions.
If we prioritise the Right to Life, then we shall fight against diseases, increase the global intelligence and create a comfortable environment. The act of war shall be recognized as a crime against humanity with all the ensuing consequences for its initiators and executors.
I think that when the Covid-19 pandemic is over, all leaders, heads of state and Nobel prize winners need to accept the "Declaration on the Right to Life - Vitocracy." We talk a lot about democracy and human rights. But we keep forgetting that the most important right is the Right to Life.
So, instead of arms race we shall invest all the money in medicine, education, environment and, of course, culture.
24.06.2021
Ilyumzhinov: If we prioritize the Right to Life, then we shall fight against diseases, increase the global intelligence and create a comfortable environment
Nobel laureates warned of the destruction of the Earth's ecosystem and the risks of new pandemics. More than thirty laureates, including the 14th Dalai Lama, issued an urgent call to action after Our Planet, Our Future summit in Washington.
Humanity is faced with new challenges on an unprecedented scale that threaten the sustainability of the Earth's biosphere. The next decade is critical. We must halve global greenhouse gas emissions and reverse the destruction of nature.
“We have never had to deal with problems of the scale facing today’s globally interconnected society. No one knows for sure what will work, so it is important to build a system that can evolve and adapt rapidly”, said Elinor Ostrom (Nobel Laureate 2009).
