The speeches given at the opening of the General Assembly each year give an indication of the issues each nation considers important to be pursued during the upcoming session of the General Assembly. Several of the speeches this year presented a critical analysis of the abuses of power in the international arena. Such speeches help to highlight the obligation of the UN set forth in the preamble to the charter. Along with offering an analysis of the problems that are interfering with international peace and security and economic well being, some of these speeches discussed the need for the General Assembly to have more power within the UN structure.
The opening session of the 65th United Nations General Assembly (GA) took place during the last week of September this year. The 192 member nations of the UN were asked to speak in their opening remarks about the role of the UN in global governance . A total of 186 speeches by member nations were presented in the six days of General Assembly meetings on September 23-25 and 27-29. Several of the nations presented remarks explaining their vision for the role of the United Nations in our changing times.
The speech that received the most attention both in the mainstream media and on the Internet was that given by the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He presented the need to look into the events of 9/11 through an independent investigation sponsored by the UN. Such an investigation, the Iranian President proposed, would make it possible to find the source of the attack, as opposed to the actions the US took in the name of 9/11, invading Afghanistan and Iraq. Such a direction, would make it possible for the US to withdraw its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, saving both money and lives. (1)
US delegates and some delegates from EU nations walked out of the General Assembly in response to Ahmadinejad’s remarks that many Americans believe the US government had some responsibility for 9/11. On the Internet, however, articles documented that there were polls by CNN and other organizations which showed that large numbers of Americans believe that the US government had a hand in 9/11.(2)
A number of netizens commented about why they felt the walkout by the US UN delegates was inappropriate. One such comment explained that the walkout was not only an insult to Ahmadinejad, but also to the many American people who believe that the US government had a hand in the 9/11 attack. Another netizen criticized Margaret Aston, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, for claiming she could speak for the American people.(3)
The call for an independent investigation by the UN was welcomed by netizens. Netizens wrote about Ahmadinejad’s speech on their blogs and in discussions online, encouraging other netizens to listen to the speech, rather than relying on the characterization of the speech by the mainstream media.
Other less dramatic but notable speeches included one by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani.(4) He challenged the notion of a so called “War on Terror” that had been declared by the Bush administration. This notion, he explained, “was a phenomenon foreign to international politics.” It “has plunged us into a kind of war with no limits, no end, nor logic, nor legal or moral conditions.” The Emir explained that waging wars against terrorism “has spread destruction everywhere.” In its place, he proposed strengthening the efforts for dialogue among the different cultures.
The speech by Musa Kousa, the head of the Libyian delegation and the Secretary of the General People’s Committee for Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation, referred to the speech delivered last year at the opening of the UN General Assembly by Colonel Muammar Qaddhafi. (5) Qaddhafi had called for an investigation into the “causes and conditions” of the unjust wars and interventions taken “in violation of international covenants and conventions.” Kousa said “the invasion of Iraq is a shameful model for such unjust and horrible wars.” He proposed that, “In the interest of ensuring the application of international justice, the United Nations is called upon to establish an international panel in order to investigate the motives behind the invasion, the mass killings, and the execution of prisoners of wars including also the head of the State.”
Qaddhafi had also called for an investigation into the political assassinations of prominent symbols and personalities, which included, Dag Hammarskjold, John Kennedy, Patrice Lumumba, Martin Luther King, Morris Bishop and leaders of the Palestinian National Liberation front.
Kousa told the UN member nations, “My country calls for the adoption of an effective international mechanism to ensure impartial and serious investigation in order to reveal the conditions, circumstances and the perpetuators behind all these assassinations, and those who stood behind them.”
In his speech to the General Assembly, Samuel Santos Lopez, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nicaragua, raised the issue of how those with power spread a false narrative of events, thus providing a mask to conceal their abuse of power.(6) There is a need to lift the veil to determine the actual details of the abuse of power in order to counter such misrepresentations. He offered as an example, the myth of Iraq’s non-existent weapons of mass destruction (WMD), used as a pretext to legitimate the illegal invasion of Iraq. “The invasion of Iraq by foreign troops under false pretexts has not offered the country peace or stability,” he explained.
“There are several processes that slow down necessary and urgent changes,” explained the Foreign Minister of Nicaragua. “The main one,” he said, “being the suppression of information, and not saying anything [so as –ed] to perpetuate ignorance. And when information is made available, it is distorted and always against the interests of the peoples and their legitimate aspirations and experiences, thus converting lies into truth and vice versa….”
Though most of these speeches received little international media attention, with the exception of Ahmadinejad’s speech, which was condemned by the mainstream English language media, they helped to portray an important vision for the future of the UN.
The vision Qhadaffi presented last year, which was repeated in several talks this year, involves the strengthening of the institutions that support multilateralism. The UN General Assembly is pointed to as one of the rare organizations in the world at the present time which includes 192 member nations.
In his talk representing Libya this year, Kousa explained that, “the United Nations is at a crossroads.” It requires urgent reform. This reform is to significantly strengthen the UN General Assembly, so that its resolutions will be binding, and to make the Security Council into an “operational instrument” for the enforcement of the General Assembly’s resolutions.
The vision, according to Ambassador Jorge Valero of Venezuela, includes replacing the neoliberal policies that are causing the current economic crisis with a different model. (7) The economic and financial alternatives include strengthening south-south cooperation and replacing the credit monopoly maintained by the Bretton Woods institutions which include the World Bank and International Monetary System. Regional alternatives like the Bank of the Bolivian Alternative for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA) were presented as an example.
Other speakers, like H.E. Mr. Hifikepunye Pohamba, the President of Namibia, advocated the need for a role for the UN in the reform of the international financial system. (8) “We believe,” he said, “that because of its universal membership and legitimacy, the UN is well positioned to participate in the reform processes to improve and strengthen the effective functioning of the international financial system.”
The Venezuelan Ambassador presented the need to strengthen the role of “the General Assembly in the field of international peace and security.” He proposed the need to strengthen the voice and independence of the Secretary General, by making it possible for the General Assembly to have a greater role in the selection of the Secretary General. One of the means of strengthening the role of the General Assembly presented by Venezuela, was to “suspend the right of the veto enjoyed by only five members of the United Nations” in the Security Council.
The talk by Pak Kil Yon, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), presented an example of the problem of the weakness of the General Assembly with respect to the Security Council.(9)
Pak described how the “Korean issue” was on the agenda of the UN for over 30 years. In 1975 at the 30th Session of the General Assembly, Resolution 3390 was passed “calling on the dissolution of the ‘UN Command’ in south Korea, the withdrawal of all foreign forces and the replacement of the Armistice Agreement with a peace agreement.”(10)
Though 35 additional years have gone by, “the Korean peninsula is still in a state of armistice which means neither war nor peace,” said Pak. The 1975 resolution has “yet to be implemented.”
Many other issues were raised during the speeches of the heads of state or other government officials presented at the opening of the 65th session of the UN General Assembly. These issues included the reform of the Security Council, settling the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, lifting the US blockade against Cuba, and support for negotiations to solve the Iranian nuclear enrichment issue. The General Assembly is recognized as an important institution as it gives voice and vote to all the member nations of the UN. Yet most often the mainstream media coverage of the UN is of the Security Council, and particularly of the P-5 members, so that the workings of the UN and the issues dealt with by the UN often are unknown or not understood by the peoples of the world.
There is an ongoing struggle at the UN for a more central role for the General Assembly and for a multipolar world. The opening of the 65th General Assembly provided a venue for some of the urgently needed discussion of these problems.
Notes
1)Manzie Vincent Doh “Ahmadinejad’s UN Speech on 9/11 attacks exemplified western media’s distortion of the facts,” M4relay, http://www.m4relay.com/htmls/plitical_agendas_07.htmlSee also http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2010/09/24/ahmadinejad-speech-to-the-united-nation-video-and-full-transcript-un-translation/
2)Steve Watson, “Establishment Reacts to Ahmadinejad 9/11 Controversy Like Kid Caught with Hand in Cookie Jar,” September 23, 2010. http://www.prisonplanet.com/establishment-reacts-to-ahmadinejad-911-controversy-like-kid-caught-with-hand-in-cookie-jar.html
3)Following are a sample of the comments by netizens which critiqued the response of the US and EU officials to w Ahmadinejad’s speech:
“It appears that the mainstream media knows about the wide-spread questioning of the 911 “official” story reflected in the above polls.”,
“I agree with him as well, thank you Ahmadinejad”, “Fantastic – well done Mr. Ahadinejad”
“They can walk out (run) but they can’t hide from the truth!!”,
“Can’t say I’m a fan of his, but he speaks more truth than what I heard from my own government and – media… Truth hurts.”
“How our government expects to enter into any type of meaningful dialog with foreign nations without first addressing the international beliefs that 9/11 was an inside job is beyond me. It’s too easy for the cowardly bastards to just walk out and pretend nothing is happening. Not only an insult to Ahmadinejad but also to the American people.”
”that the majority of people believe this [ that the United States was in any way responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks] to be the case, is outrageous and unacceptable.” said EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Aston today. Wow! So the unelected EU now thinks it can tell the American people what it is and is not accptable for them to believe. What a world we are heading for…”
4)Following are urls for the UN website for GA speeches referred to in this article.
Qatar:
http://gadebate.un.org/View/SpeechView/tabid/85/smid/411/ArticleID/105/Default.aspx
5)Libya
http://gadebate.un.org/View/SpeechView/tabid/85/smid/411/ArticleID/246/Default.aspx
6)Nicaragua
http://gadebate.un.org/View/SpeechView/tabid/85/smid/411/ArticleID/215/Default.aspx
7)Venezuela
http://gadebate.un.org/View/SpeechView/tabid/85/smid/411/ArticleID/297/Default.aspx
8)Namibia
http://gadebate.un.org/View/SpeechView/tabid/85/smid/411/ArticleID/136/Default.aspx
9)Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)
http://gadebate.un.org/View/SpeechView/tabid/85/smid/411/ArticleID/291/Default.aspx
