OCTOBER 2003 NEWSLETTER
WORLD BEYOND BORDERS
NEWSLETTER
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This is the official newsletter of World
Beyond Borders (www.worldbeyondborders.org).
It reports site news and world events that
affect our quest for a united Earth. To
subscribe, send a blank email to
wbbnews-subscribe@topica.com.
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Volume 1, Issue 2
October 6, 2003
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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1. Quote of the Month
2. What's New at World Beyond Borders?
3. Utopia Beyond Borders
4. What You Can Do
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1. QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"A federation of all humanity, together with a sufficient measure of social
justice, to ensure health, education, and a rough equality of opportunity to
most of the children born into the world, would mean such a release and increase
of human energy as to open a new phase in human history." --H.G. Wells
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2. WHAT'S NEW AT WORLD BEYOND BORDERS?
World Beyond Borders has grown tremendously in the past month. We have new articles,
new features and new projects and we're eager to tell you about them.
If you've visited our site recently, you've probably seen the new "Make a Donation"
buttons. We have no shortage of cool ideas, but it takes money to make some
of them happen. Right now, we want to sponsor The Hunger Site. If you've never
visited The Hunger Site (www.hungersite.com), it's a click-to-donate website
where you click a button and sponsors pay for food for the hungry. America's
Second Harvest and Mercy Corps distribute the food. Why not go over there now
and click?
Are you back? Did you see those sponsor advertisements? Well, we want to have
a World Beyond Borders ad up there so it will reach caring, globally minded
folks like you. And all of the money goes to buy food for people who really
need it.
If you normally give money to groups fighting hunger, why not donate to World
Beyond Borders this month instead? We use PayPal, so everything is secure. If
you want your whole donation to go to sponsoring The Hunger Site, say so when
you fill out the donation form. Otherwise, we may keep up to $10 for future
projects. Thank you!
OK, so what else is going on? We've added two discussion boards to the Interactive
Activities and Communication section. One is for debating the pros and cons
of global government and the other is for general talk. So go over there and
meet some of your fellow world citizens!
We're sponsoring a contest to design a flag and anthem for planet Earth. The
contest page is in the "Interactive Activities and Communication" section. We
have printable PDF flyers you can distribute. And please consider entering yourself.
We also have a bunch of new articles. Here they are, by section.
Why Global Government?
• "Petitioning a Government That Does Not Yet Exist" by Beth Sawin
looks at those fake UN anti-war petitions you all got a few months ago. People
are realizing that the Earth is deeply interconnected and, Sawin writes, "More
and more of us are going to be turning to something that we have yet to create
- a government that can hear all of us, all of the people of a world that is
whole."
• "Confessions of a Passionate World Citizen" by Jane Shevtsov reflects
on what it means to live as a global citizen. Where does a belief that humanity
is more than the sum of its 6.3 billion parts take you in the present world?
This piece has more questions than answers and we hope you'll share your thoughts
on our discussion board.
How Might We Get There?
• "To Sear the Collective Soul: The Big Vision and Why We Should
Talk About It" by Tad Daley is both a discussion of strategy and a beautifully
written, inspirational view of the Big Vision of democratic global government
and a united Earth. Highly recommended.
• Ronald Glossop has contributed two articles on (but not in) Esperanto.
"Why We Should All Learn Esperanto" is pretty much what its title says. "Why
We All Should Be Esperantists" takes a more academic look at some political
and historical aspects of Esperanto. Hey, it's worth a try!
• "Leaders, Celebrities, Organizations Call for World Government"...
or do they?
That's all until next month. Please send article submissions to Jane Shevtsov,
jaia@ucla.edu.
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3. UTOPIA BEYOND BORDERS
by Eli Williamson-Jones
One of the most powerful forces that has shaped human social evolution for thousands
of years is the utopian drive. Everyone seeks to find seemingly perfect conditions
in which they can thrive and live out their existence in happiness. The places
in our world where obstacles inhibit or deny this drive are the places with
the most brutal conflicts and intense human suffering. The recent headlines
of our news attest to this reality in the Middle East, where Palestinians will
go so far as to blow themselves up with their enemies in the cause of restoring
their old way of life and the freedoms now denied them.
"Utopian" and "utopianism" are words associated with impossibly idealistic,
visionary reform. It may be impossible to have a perfect world but it is also
impossible to keep people from trying to build one. America can be seen as one
of the largest products of this evolutionary force and as the largest and longest-lasting
utopian bubble humanity has ever built. Behind it, we can see a past succession
of lesser utopian bubbles from the British to the Roman Empire, all the way
back to the lavish lives of the emperors of China and kings of ancient Egypt.
The life span of a utopian bubble is usually short because it is often built
on the oppression and exploitation of vast numbers of individuals. We have yet
to figure out a way to build a sustainable utopia that isn't exclusive and constructed
on the misfortune of others, creating enemies and provoking attacks by them.
Although we have a ways to go before we build a sustainable civilization, most
believe they can buy a taste of utopia if they have enough money. We know that
money may not buy us happiness, but most believe it can pull their yacht right
up next to it. There is a utopian magazine called Architectural Digest that
provides great examples of this utopian drive at work in the world. It is filled
with pictures and accounts of those who have attempted to create their own personal
utopia. Every article in this magazine examines a bubble utopia, with its near
perfect world or attempt at building one within a mundane, incoherent, or distopian
setting.
To many people, the articles and advertisements in this magazine appear unreal
because we seldom see such a perfect reality with unblemished humans, objects
and environments. But if one enters the world of absolute excess, the playgrounds
of millionaires and billionaires, one will find their efforts and vast resources
being channeled towards this goal of building and sustaining personal utopias.
The science of the utopian drive is something that filmmakers and screenwriters
have tapped into to boost their revenues and ensure a successful movie. Their
utopian equation is expressed through mythological structure with the hero as
a representative or citizen of utopia or guardian of a utopian bubble. Evil
or distopia exists as those who attack utopias from the outside or corrupt them
from within. Audiences will pay a lot of money to escape the distopian setting
of their lives and feed their hunger for utopia. That's why during the distopian
times of the Great Depression, the film industry did extraordinarily well.
If we look at the top ten highest grossing movies of all time, we see the utopian
equation at work in each of them. The utopian heroes are the "good guys" and
represent citizens of utopia. In The Lord of the Rings, the Hobbits exist in
a utopian setting of the Shire, with its plentiful sustenance and high standard
of living for all. It is here that the hero, Frodo, takes up his hero's journey
to protect his world and way of life. In Star Wars, the Rebellion is made up
of heroes fighting for a utopian future, free from the bondage and tyranny of
the distopian Empire. Lord of the Rings and Star Wars occupy four out of the
top ten spaces below.
1. Titanic - $1,835,300,000 worldwide sales (utopian heroes trying to escape
a doomed utopia bubble)
2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - $968,600,000 worldwide sales (utopian
heroes fighting distopian threats)
3. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace - $922,300,000 worldwide sales (utopian
heroes fighting distopian threats)
4. Jurassic Park - $919,700,000 worldwide sales (utopian heroes narrowly escaping
a utopian tragedy)
5. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - $918,600,000 worldwide sales (utopian
heroes fighting distopian threats)
6. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets $866,300,000 worldwide sales (utopian
heroes fighting distopian threats)
7. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring $860,200,000 worldwide sales
(utopian heroes fighting distopian threats)
8. Independence Day - $811,200,000 worldwide sales (utopian heroes fighting
distopian threats)
9. Spider-Man $806,700,000 worldwide sales (utopian heroes fighting distopian
threats)
10. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope - $797,900,000 worldwide sales (utopian
heroes fighting distopian threats)
Aside from the film industry, countless others use visions of utopia to boost
their sales. The advertisement industry, which uses utopian imagery to attract
us and make us purchase products, is one of them. Ads make people believe they
can experience a bit of utopia in their lives. Other industries are entirely
devoted to protecting utopian bubbles from outside threats. One large-scale
manifestation of these efforts in the real world can be found in the trillion
dollar security industry that surfaces in everything from home security systems
and guns to the military-industrial complex with missile defense and weapons
of mass destruction. All these resources are poured into the efforts of protecting
utopian bubbles from distopian threats.
Now the question we must ask ourselves is, where will this utopian drive within
lead us? Our energies may be directed towards building a personal utopian bubble
like in Architectural Digest. Perhaps a beautiful million dollar mansion in
the country with brilliant interior decorating and hanging gardens outside.
Maybe our energy is directed towards saving money for a utopian car or wardrobe.
Or perhaps we use our resources for plastic surgery to make ourselves look more
utopian and more likely to attract that utopian man or woman of our dreams.
The applications of this utopian drive is limited only by our determination
and the obstacles keeping us from tasting success.
There is one important thing to consider before we run off and continue with
business as usual and our everyday pursuit of utopia. We must become aware of
the places in the world where the people have been completely shut off from
any possibility of utopian fulfillment. There are nations on Earth whose citizens
live hand to mouth and have no way to rise above the distopian nightmares of
poverty, civil war and endemic diseases running rampant. It is places like these
where terrorists are most likely to be raised and taught to hate and attack
the utopian bubbles of the West that control 65% of the world's resources, yet
have only 14% of the population.
Perhaps we should direct some of our utopian drive towards trying to start plans
and construction on a utopia that encompasses the whole Earth, and not just
an elite percentage of the population. How practical is it to keep building
utopian bubbles if they are constantly inciting individuals to destroy them?
How practical is it to try to live with business as usual in a nation hated
by the distopian Al-Qaeda that will stop at nothing to arm themselves with nuclear
weapons and sacrifice their lives in the cause of bursting our utopian bubbles?
America is a utopian bubble in danger of popping precisely because it is failing
to take into account the utopian drives and aspirations held by the other two
billion people on the planet, living on $2 or less a day. As long as this cavernous
gap between utopia and distopia grows wider, dualistic polar energies will continue
to incite terrorists to attack our utopian bubbles, just as they did on September
11, 2001.
We must use our utopian drives and extend them further than the traditionally
limited scope of individual, family, and nation to encompass a sustainable civilization
of all humanity. The world will never achieve the Utopian ideal of liberty and
justice for all unless the world's citizens unite and embrace a Constitution
for all peoples of planet Earth. If we recognize this next needed step in our
evolution, we are potential citizens of the united world or Omega Utopia. This
is a civilization that has reached homeostasis and is no longer in danger of
self-destructing through fragmented parts waging war on each other.
Although we don't live in this world yet, we can see what must be done to get
us to our destination. A global utopia would have few enemies among us and the
only real threats we would face would come from distopian extra-terrestrials
who have yet to reveal themselves. Until we work towards these ends, we will
continue to sustain a world of imbalance and suffering whose correction will
come in the horrendous form of World War III. To the burned and mutilated survivors
of this nightmare nuclear holocaust will come the great sorrow and realization
that we could have prevented it, but did not.
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4. WHAT YOU CAN DO
*Forward this email to at least two people. Yes, we asked you to do that last
time, but email is a free and effective way to spread the word about World Beyond
Borders, so we are asking you again.
*Support our flag and anthem contests. Enter yourself. Get kids at a local school
or library to create designs. Put up flyers where they'll be noticed. Translate
the flyers into other languages and send them to us. Send contest info around
by email. We welcome your energy and creativity.
*Give money for our Hunger Site ad. Yes, there's probably no shortage of groups
asking for your hard-earned cash, but here your donation will do good twice
-- first by promoting the vision of a world beyond borders and then by feeding
hungry people around the world. Thanks in advance!
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We want your stories! Email Jane Shevtsov at jaia@ucla.edu.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons license. See
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0/
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