One World Democracy:
A Progressive Vision of Enforceable Global Law

Below, you will find the Preface from an exciting new book by D.W.F. Supporters, Jerry Tetalman and Byron Belitsos.

The democratic revolution to create enforceable global law is the greatest political transformation in history.
This epochal change in human affairs will put an end, once and for all, to the war system that is the greatest scourge facing humankind.
In this revolution, ordinary people will take control of this planet from those who foment war and profit from war, who permit environmental destruction, and who have done so little to protect human rights or prevent the crushing poverty of untold millions.
This will be a movement of optimists and visionaries, those who are ready to seize the opportunity to reinvent our world, ready to leave behind the cynics whose real work is to maintain the status quo, from which a few benefit and many lose.
In this movement, world peace is not a vague and utopian goal, but a practical, enduring peace that is achieved through world laws that are passed by a democratic world legislature, interpreted by world courts, and enforced by a global government that represents all of humanity.
We truly can create "the parliament of the world, the government of mankind" as the English poet Tennyson prophetically envisioned in the nineteenth century. The time for this historic task has arrived, here, now, in the twenty-first century.
This global "people's power" movement is already well under way. Worldwide demonstrations like the historic "global day of protest" against the US invasion of Iraq on February 15, 2003 are just one sign.
Yet something more than rejectionism is needed from our progressive leaders. These times require a positive and practical vision for how to solve international conflicts; how to relieve global poverty; and how to end the physical destruction of our precious planet.
We therefore ask you to imagine a world peace movement focused on making the United Nations or some successor to it into a truly representative government of all humanity.
Imagine a global legislature or world parliament whose first order of business is the abolition of war.
Envision a world court whose routine work is to apply global law to individuals, rather than punishing entire nations for the crimes of their leaders.
Visualize a planetary bill of rights that is zealously guarded, and a constitutional balance of power that prevents excesses by any branch of the world government.

Reflect on the satisfaction of living peacefully under the rule of global law where there is less government, lower taxes, better distribution of wealth, no nuclear weapons, open borders, less environmental destruction, no imperial domination, no military-industrial complex, more security, more justice for labor and minorities -- and a global renaissance in the arts, science, religion, and culture.
And imagine yourself a part of this, the greatest political movement ever to occur.
We the people of planet earth are the sovereigns of our
destiny; if we stand together, we can build a just and democratic government that will abolish war forever, and work together with all nations to solve the other pressing problems facing our fragile planet. It really can be that simple --and that exhilarating.
This book is directed especially at progressives and visionary leaders who care deeply about global justice, reduction of
poverty worldwide, the protection of the planet's environment -- but especially those who are working for world peace.
In our view, today's world peace movement is too often marked by a naive utopianism that confuses human nature with angelic nature. Angels can live in peace without law and government -- but humans can't. In our all-too-human world, peace without justice is an illusion -- an uneasy truce until the next war comes along. Global justice, we argue, is simply not achievable without the establishment of law by an elected legislature in combination with juridical institutions that interpret and apply the law. Courts of law are almost useless without enforcement mechanisms -- the notorious impotence of the UN being a case in point. Those who aspire for world peace really have no choice but to work for the achievement of enforceable global law.
"There is no peace without justice, no justice without law, and no law without government" -- according to the formula of the United World Federalists of the late 1940's. The decades since then have only affirmed the truth of this activist slogan. A great day is coming when the world's peace movement and social justice progressives will once again embrace this crucial
syllogism; and that is the day when we shall become empowered to end war and ecocide. Only then will there be an end to the unjust military dominance of America and a genuine solution to terrorism. Only then can we really tackle the daunting problems of global pollution and grinding poverty.
Let us use the 21st Century to create the end of war -- not the end of humankind. To abolish war we will need enforceable global law -- the expansion of civilization to a planetary scale. This book invites you on a lifelong journey to the achievement of planetary peace and prosperity. Let's get there by working
together to build one world democracy.

Order One World Democracy by sending a check for $16 to Origin Press at 5 Welch St., San Rafael, California, 94901

Jerry Tetalman is President of the Citizens For Global Solutions of San Diego. Byron Belitsos is an author, editor, journalist, and poet, and has been a long-time activist for world federalism.