Castro statement to UN Millennium conference

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

REPUBLICA DE CUBA
MISION PERMANENTE ANTE LAS NACIONES UNIDAS
ADDRESS BY DR. FIDEL CASTRO RUZ,
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA
MILLENNIUM SUMMIT

New York, September 6, 2000

Excellencies:

There is chaos in our world, both within the countries' borders and beyond.
Blind laws are offered like divine norms that would bring peace, order,
well being and the security our planet so badly needs. That is what they
would have us believe.

Three dozen developed and wealthy nations that monopolize the economic,
political and technological power have joined us in this gathering to offer
more of the same recipes that have only served to make us poorer, more
exploited and more dependent.

There is not even discussion about a radical reform of this old institution
over a half century ago when there were few independent nations-- to turn
it into a true representative body of the interests of all the peoples on
Earth-, an institution where no one would have the irritating and
anti-democratic right of veto and where a transparent process could be
undertaken to expand membership and representation in the Security Council,
an executive body subordinated to the General Assembly, which should be the
one making the decisions on such crucial issues as intervention and the use
of force.

It should be clearly stated that the principle of sovereignty cannot be
sacrificed to an abusive and unfair order that a hegemonic superpower uses,
together with its own might and strength, to try to decide everything by
itself. That, Cuba will never accept.

The poverty and underdevelopment prevailing in most nations as well as the
inequality in the distribution of wealth and knowledge in the world are
basically at the source of the present conflicts. It cannot be overlooked
that current underdevelopment and poverty have resulted from conquest,
colonization, slavery and plundering in most countries of the planet by the
colonial powers and from the emergence of imperialism and the bloody wars
motivated by new distributions of the world. Today, it is their moral
obligation to compensate our nations for the damages caused throughout
centuries.

Humanity should be aware of what we have been so far and what we cannot
continue to be. Presently, our species has enough accumulated knowledge,
ethical values and scientific resources to move towards a new historical
era of true justice and humanism.

There is nothing in the existing economic and political order that can
serve the interests of Humankind. Thus, it is unsustainable and it must be
changed. Suffice it to say that the world population is already 6 billion,
80% of which live in poverty. Ages-old diseases from Third World nations
such as malaria, tuberculosis and others equally lethal have not been
eradicated while new epidemics like AIDS threaten to exterminate the
population of entire nations. On the other hand, wealthy countries keep
investing enormous amounts of money in the military and in luxurious items
and a voracious plague of speculators exchange currencies, stocks and other
real or fictitious values for trillions of dollars every day.

Nature is being devastated. The climate is changing under our own eyes and
drinking water is increasingly contaminated or scarce. The sources of man's
seafood are being depleted and crucial non-renewable resources are wasted
in luxury and triviality.

Anyone understands that the United Nations basic role in the pressing new
century is to save the world not only from war but also from
underdevelopment, hunger, diseases, poverty and the destruction of the
natural resources indispensable to human life. And it should do so promptly
before it is too late!

The dream of having truly fair and sensible rules to guide human destiny
seems impossible to many. However, we are convinced that the struggle for
the impossible should be the motto of this institution that brings us
together today!

Thank you.

Louis Proyect

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