Introduction The Republic of the Earth is a government
system chosen by those inhabitants of the planet who commit themselves to achieve
the principles of democracy, well-being and solidarity. It was put forward as a proposal in
1994, upon the presentation of the Constitution, and was founded in 2001. All the inhabitants of the Earth can be
part of the Republic as long as in agreement with the Constitution and to the
Dispositions of Performance. The Republic of the Earth is not a state
but a group of people who recognise their differences and the intimate tie
they are bound by. This group of people, the People of the Earth, adapt their
own social, civil and economic organisation to mankind's existing level of
development. The Republic does not and will never own
any tangible assets. It is an instrument for the peaceful living together of
the human beings and will never become a purpose. The Republic will take all the necessary
steps to guarantee the maximum level of material and spiritual freedom to
every inhabitant of the Earth, changing the causes of malaise which are the
result of rules and history. Idea Today, whilst one section of humanity
manages to fulfil all of its needs and nearly all of its desires, the most
conspicuous part of it still struggles to survive. Geographic, political and genetic causes
thwart the ability of most of us to fight for our own happiness. The limited availability of resources,
and the misdistribution of wealth cause poverty, disease, indigence, war, and
unjust deaths every day. Selfishness, ignorance and wickedness
produce falsity, injustices and ugliness of all kinds; and meanwhile, the
conditions of the environment are becoming more and more critical and we -
absorbed as we are in our day-to-day needs and habits - cannot perceive or
realise the risks to which we are exposing ourselves. Everything seems to be beyond repair
now. We are yielding to a feeling of
weakness, disappointment and - often - desperation and impotence. We keep living without thinking about
our rights and duty to shape the future for other people, our children and
ourselves. Despite the efforts made, we still live
in a situation of total unbalance. Nevertheless, this situation can be
improved. At the beginning of the third
millennium, we can imagine a general improvement of relationships, behaviours
and life, because we have the culture, science and technology to do it; we just
have to direct this culture, science and technology to the common good. Before the situation becomes completely
irreversible, it is necessary and possible to make new, bold choices. We have
to start a process that will raise the level of development of human beings,
making equilibrium our base, our fundamental rule, and, finally, our
organisational principle. As an inhabitant of the world, and as a
thinking and responsible being, I feel it is my duty to submit to
individuals, families and people a proposal for combining individual and
group differences to common goal. The drive to change and the idea of the
Republic of the Earth come from the acknowledgement of our role, our ability
and our greater responsibility. Origin The Republic of the Earth
has its origins in existing political structures (Article 1, par. 2 of the Constitution). Today's political structures largely consist of states organised at national
and international levels, decentralised in local networks. States are bodies that govern peoples. At the base of each state there is a population, the inhabitants
living in the territory over which the state exercises its sovereignty. Until now, the idea of a world government has been that of a
government comprising all the states - a super-state. A super-state is an empire led by the most powerful state. A new system of government, proposing to overcome territorial
boundaries and national interests, must be wanted and agreed individually
and straight from the beginning by all the inhabitants of the planet who wish
for it. Therefore, it has to come from the grassroots, from the people. This is the only way it is possible to form the new government of the
people of the Earth, instead of a super-state. The Republic of the Earth is driven by the will of the inhabitants of
the planet. The reason The cause of Republic of the Earth is the necessity
to face material problems (art.1, par.2 of the Constitution).
The reason of the Republic of the Earth
is therefore a need, a material problem. No right can be affirmed unless this
need or material problem is met or solved. Those who cannot meet vital needs do not
know what freedom is. Any declaration about rights and freedom
from need, is bound to remain just words if the necessary structures necessary to solve
material problems are not activated. Why the Republic of the Earth? Over six billion people live on the
Earth. They are organised in nearly two hundred states. One fifth of the
population of the Earth lives in the most economically advanced countries and
consumes four fifths of all the goods produced on the planet. Every head of the poor people consumes
one sixteenth of what every rich person has available. Over the last one
hundred years, the situation has worsened and the poor have increased in
numbers. Why has it gone this way? Why, with the
vast resources available, the high production capacity and the impressive
technological progress have the poor become fivefold their number and four
out of five of us live miserably today? Inequality, ignorance, division,
selfishness, inertia, envy, mistrust and fear are the main causes of the
situation. Inequality of resources inhibits
production growth. Ignorance prevents us from perceiving
and change the reality we live in. Division causes conflicts between
different nations and cultures. Egoism breaks the union between
individuals of the same species and of the humankind as a whole. Inertia reduces the possibility to turn
even the best ideas into concrete action. Envy lowers one's power of initiative
and leads to the taking away of wealth produced by others. Mistrust produces apathy and makes
people subject to habits. Fear weakens and makes people dread
future. The states of the Earth have not been
able to avoid this situation. States came into being about ten thousand years
ago, with the introduction of agriculture, for the purpose of organising
society and protect the people's territories and safety. Kingdoms, empires, colonies, republics,
dictatorships and democracies have all failed to fulfil their principal
function, which is to guarantee a well-balanced, widespread development level for all
the inhabitants of the planet. Why have they failed? Why, despite all the liberation wars
with the involvement of entire populations, despite all the declarations of
inviolable human rights and equality between men and women, why despite all the
moral, spiritual and religious principles of brotherhood, have states not
been able to guarantee acceptable standards of living and development for all
human beings? The interests of the strong, the thirst
for power and wealth, bullying, corruption and the lack of informed
participation of individuals in the solution of general problems are the main
causes of this failure. The strong think for themselves and do
everything in their power to keep and expand what they have. The governors have their own power as
their goal, not the well being of the people. Bullies use their power to protect their interests. Corrupt individuals make moral and civil
principles vain and destroy the rule of law. In such circumstances, the
masses of all countries, divided and amorphous, are driven to conform to
systems and hierarchies which subject their will to the goals of leaders and
prevent them from participating in the future building processes. It is paradoxical that in all ages
rebellion has come from a small, enlightened and well informed minority
representing the interests and aspirations of the majority. If we keep going this way, we will never be
able to combine democracy, development and solidarity. To change the situation, we first have
to acknowledge it, become aware of it, and then we can look for new solutions
and adopt the necessary instruments. What we need, in order to organise the
best possible way for human beings to live together, is a single government
that is actually the expression of the people, not of the states.
We need a new,
universal entity capable of moderating conflicts and of guaranteeing all
basic conditions for living and producing. The Republic of the Earth is a system of
government open to direct participation of all the inhabitants of the globe.
Its territory is the whole planet; it includes several nations, but just one
people - and has one single currency. The Republic of the Earth starts from
the bottom, from the people, from the awareness and unconstrained conviction
of every individual who wants to be part of it. Aim The aim of the Republic of the Earth is
to guarantee the right of every human being to believe in his or her
happiness and to take actions to achieve it within the respect of others and
nature (Article 1, par. 2 of the Constitution). To guarantee means to do what is needed for something to be
accomplished. A social organism is a complex system. In a complex system, the
behaviours of any of its parts will influence the whole, and the
relationships and behaviours of the whole will influence every one of its
parts. An unbreakable bond binds all the parts of the whole. To obtain the
greatest possible balance, all parts within a complex system must have rules;
in addition, the interests of the majority of the parts must prevail over
those of a single part. This is the aim of a democratic government. Plan The Republic of the Earth is a political
initiative. Its programme is outlined in the Constitution. The plan provides that all the
inhabitants of the Earth take part in the formation of a planetary democratic
government through a representative International Assembly directly elected
by them by one, free vote. Instruments The Republic of the Earth will include
an International Assembly, a Government, an Information System and a Public
Resources Body. The International Assembly represents
all those who are part of the Republic of the Earth. The Government organises the social,
civil and economic relationships of those who participate in the Republic. The Information System maintains the
Participants Archive and manages the Republic's organisational and functional
offices. The Public Resources Body issues the
Republic's currency and manages economic and financial relations. Strategy The aim of the Republic of the Earth is
to solve material problems by enhancing democracy, increasing overall
well-being and introducing fair solidarity. Human and material resources form the
instruments to achieve this aim. Human resources are all the people who
take part in the Republic. Material resources are parts of wealth
in these people's possession. Strategy is the organisation of human
and material resources to achieve the aim. The organisation is the set of relations
between the parts of a given organism. The set of relations and the set of
behaviours constitute a system. Every system has a structure. The structure is the set of rules that
keep a system together. The base of a system is the fundamental
rule which gives rise to the structure itself, or rather, any other rules
that produce behaviours and relations between individual parts of the system. To change the relations and behaviours
pertaining to a system, it is necessary to modify the structure of the system
and to modify the structure it is necessary to modify the base, that is the
fundamental rule of the system. We live in a pyramidal system with a
hierarchic and selective base. The strong assert themselves and outlive
the weak. Those who are at the top of the pyramid try
to hold onto the existing base, that is to the fundamental rule of the
system. To change the structure of a system
means to replace the existing base of the system with a new one. The new base must be the union of
diversities. Union gives rise to rules of common
interest and diversities give rise to evolution. Widespread union brings about relations
and behaviours that accelerate evolution, while diversity allows each part of
the system to express the best of it. Spreading Subscription to the Republic of the
Earth must be organised through verbal, personal communication, by word of
mouth - the way used before man could write. Artificial communication tools can
trigger the process of widening participation in the Republic, but this can
only be accomplished through the direct and personal involvement of the
participants. Minimum but adequate geometric
progression is obtained through the 'three-for-one' method, whereby each
participant finds three other participants. Anybody asking to be part of the
Republic of the Earth will have to find three or more participants. The process is accomplished in 32
phases. If every phase took three days, in the space of little more than
three months over 4 billion people could be subscribers to the Republic of
the Earth. |