'The Nearness of Armageddon'
Falk, Richard A.
'The Nearness of Armageddon' by RICHARD A. FALK Justice William O. Douglas is one of the few public figures in the United States who qualifies as a hero of our times. Almost as an imprimatur of...
...Such an awareness gives a sense of urgency to his prescrip- tions, but he is aware, as well, that the peril of the planet comes from a variety of sources, including the dis- ruption of basic systems of ecological balance...
...and (6) working toward a system of world law that leads to the dissolution of the war system and to the strengthening of procedures, rules, and institutions of peaceful settlement...
...The Nearness of Armageddon' by RICHARD A. FALK Justice William O. Douglas is one of the few public figures in the United States who qualifies as a hero of our times...
...These are wide horizons, judging by the first two- thirds of the enterprise, but it seems possible to pronounce the venture a major success...
...He seems aware of this characteristic of his approach, but he does not do much to overcome skep- tical responses—"Well, these are good ideas, but why is there any reason to believe that governments or their pub- lics, for that matter, would be willing to move in such directions...
...In International Dissent Justice Douglas sets forth his ideas for a new system of world order in the form of six sets of proposals, which he calls "steps" in the title and "propositions" in the text...
...International Dissent: Six Steps To- ward World Peace is the second part of a trilogy that started with an in- quiry into domestic political life called Points of Rebellion and will be con- cluded by a book on U.S...
...Symbolic of this sympathy is the dedication of International Dissent to the six students killed by gunfire at Jackson State College and Kent State University in 1970...
...INTERNATIONAL DISSENT: SIX STEPS TOWARD WORLD PEACE, by W i l l i am O. Douglas...
...To be so marked off from the rest of the ruling classes is the same kind of honor that has bred "peace criminals," men such as Dan- iel and Philip Berrigan, the radical priests who have exhibited their oppo- sition to a criminal war in Indochina by committing acts of criminal non- violence in the United States...
...These are the sorts of orienta- tions that we desperately need now to carry us beyond the well-founded sense of anxiety about the world situation and the well-reasoned presentation of what sorts of improvements should be undertaken...
...Random House...
...We need to form world order collectives throughout the world which are as dedicated to organizing a revolution in international society as the great revolutionary movements in history have been to seizing power on behalf of a new vision of national destiny...
...In other words, like recent move- ments in art and music, you either like them or you don't...
...155 pp...
...3) bringing Chi- na into the family of nations in an active way...
...1 . 9 5 paperback...
...In this respect the limitations of Justice Douglas' helpful book sug- gest the next steps that need to be taken to reach terrain on which the most ambitious of his six changes are imaginable...
...To some extent, Douglas combines reformist next steps in international development with remote steps that can be taken only if prevailing atti- tudes among the leaders of the world change drastically...
...Some of these steps are much more fundamental than others...
...5) making a humane and serious international effort to bring the poor countries of the world into the modern age...
...At no time in human history is it more important to organize breakthroughs that help shift world order discussion from the in- nocuous realms of abstract speculation to the embattled realms of practical politics...
...The book constitutes an important attempt by an intelligent man who has done his homework to deal with the most difficult and menacing problems be- fore mankind...
...In essence, International Dissent amounts to a recommended sequence of adjustments which, if made, would amount to the emergence over time of this more desirable system of world order...
...Justice Douglas com- bines clarity of mind with a coherent moral vision that is particularly sensi- tive to the global needs of the poor and the oppressed...
...There is, in Douglas' view, only two choices: maintain the present world order system built around war and competition and leading to catas- trophe, or rapidly evolve a new system based on peace and cooperation, and leading to gradually improving condi- tions of life for mankind...
...However labeled, Douglas is after six major changes in the pres- ent arrangement of world affairs: (1) Ending military alliances...
...Justice Douglas writes with a sense of "the nearness of Arma- geddon" and of the necessity to evolve a new system of world order in the * next few decades if we are to have any reasonable prospect of avoiding "the nuclear holocaust...
...In this sense, and quite by chance, Douglas' lifelong interests in conservation and wilder- ness prepared him admirably to per- ceive the interplay between man and nature as a political issue years before most of us ever heard the word ecology...
...In some ways the inversion of public virtue in this country is symbolized by those who are singled out for censure and punish- ment and those who are not, and we should take note of the virtual absence of any moral energy within the Govern- ment itself to purge its ranks of those military and political leaders who have sustained for almost a decade our ille- gal, unconstitutional, and criminal war policies in Southeast Asia...
...These six proposals are set forth with sophistication, originality, and a firm command of the complex facts...
...I respond in this way to what Jus- tice Douglas has written not in the spirit of criticism, but with a feeling of camaraderie...
...2) ending colonialism...
...I am re- minded of Frederick the Great's scath- ing comment to Voltaire about the famous Eighteenth Century peace plan of the Abbe Saint-Pierre: "The thing is most practicable...
...1.95 paperback...
...Douglas writes to demonstrate the reasonableness of his proposals, but if the actors in the state system were reasonable then the proposals would hardly have been necessary in the first place...
...you either read the literature of world order advocacy from the perspective of one who al- ready is at least receptive, if not per- suaded, or one reads from a perspec- tive of doubt that will be reinforced, not removed, by the gap between what is proposed and what is realistic to expect...
...4 . 9 5 cloth...
...Random House...
...It is the authenticity of his feeling for the land as both a natural habitat and as an idealistic polity that has con- stantly deepened his patriotism into a posture of growing sympathy with the more radical tendencies in American society...
...International Dissent: Six Steps toward World Peace, by William O. Douglas...
...4.95 cloth...
...What groups on the world scene can act as the agents of change, what tactics can they employ to organize an effective transnational movement, and what steps are needed within the spheres of political consciousness and public ac- tion...
...No one has yet satisfied the urgent cultural needs I am calling for...
...for its success all that is lacking is the consent of Europe and a few other trifles...
...In addition to being the most progressive voice on the Su- preme Court and a noted naturalist, he has produced a steady stream of books over the years that recount his experiences and provide a kind of neo- Jeffersonian perspective on the great political and moral issues of the day...
...For instance, normalizing China's place in international life seems far easier than ending military alliances or solving the problems of world poverty...
...Almost as an imprimatur of his stature, he alone among high public officials has been the target of a major impeachment effort that nar- rowly failed...
...155 pp...
...4) creating a corporation owned by all governments of the world to exploit the mineral riches of the oceans...
...Most remarkably, Justice Douglas has managed to excel in several careers simultaneously...
...In this respect, International Dissent gives an up-to-date coherence to the world federalist vision, but it does not help dissolve or tell us how to dissolve the hold of the state system over other instruments of power or the popular imagination...
...The legal orientation dominates Jus- tice Douglas' outlook: "This is a book about law, not law as it can be found in a library but law as it must be and will be if we are to avoid the nuclear holocaust...
...Who can be mobilized by whom with what prospects of success by what date...
...relations with Latin America to be called A Hemispheric Co-op...
...We need to be candid about our failures to depict the basis for change, precisely because the case is so objectively compelling...
...In world order thinking it is critical now to couple proposals of substance for disarmament, welfare, and interna- tional control over the seabed with some theory of constituencies...
Vol. 35 • September 1971 • No. 9
