PROBLEMS OF THE MIDDLE EAST
PART OF CIVIL WAR OF HUMANITY

The current crisis in the Middle East is no more than the latest episode in the continuing civil war of
humanity.  As long as humans put their religious and national identities ahead of their common
humanity they will continue to go to war with each other. True security comes from protecting our
humanity, not from exalting religious and national identities above our humanity so as to justify
killing our fellow humans.

Hezbollah and Israel are now playing out the latest round of the civil war of humanity. They have
failed to realize that the only true security comes from accepting that we are all human beings and
that we need to build a human political system.

Hezbollah can indeed bomb and kill a million of their fellow humans. But this will not increase the
security of Hezbollah at all because in putting Hezbollah ahead of humanity Hezbollah are killing to
protect a secondary identity rather than their primary human identity. Israel can indeed bomb and kill
a million of their fellow humans. But this will not increase the security of Israel at all because in
putting Israel ahead of humanity Israelis are killing to protect a secondary identity rather than their
primary human identity.

Every great empire in the history of the world has killed and killed and killed its fellow human beings
with tremendous skill and industry, but failed to guarantee its security by so doing. Every empire fell
eventually. It is not force which brings security. It is the building of a legitimate political system. A
legitimate political system is one which offers opportunities to humans, not to a subgroup of humans
such as Israelis, Hezbollah supporters, US citizens, Moslems, Christians and so on.

The answer to the current crisis then will not be found advancing the interest of Hezbollah or Israel,
but in both recognizing their common humanity and seeking to join a human political system. What
would a human political system look like? How could this come about? How can anyone contribute to
it? There are two simple paths:

1.        The European Union changes its name to the Human Union. Israel, Hezbollah, Lebanon and
other Middle Eastern countries could then apply to join as long as they met the membership criteria
including democracy and respect for human rights. The benefits of reforming and joining such an
organization may then eventually appeal to supporters of Israel and Hezbelloh more than the benefits
of perpetual violence against each other. To a historically uninformed contemporary observer this
may appear an unlikely denial of a long history of “irreconcilable” conflict.
But Germans, French and Italians spent centuries at war over supposedly “irreconcilable” and
inherent “national”, “religious”, “racial” and other differences. For centuries all agreed these
differences were insurmountable and reflected the very nature of Germannness, Frenchness,
Protestantism, Catholicism and other secondary political identities.  For centuries “experts” wrote of
the impossibility of peace in Europe due to these “irreconcilable” differences. Despite this the
benefits of putting more emphasis on their human identity and less on their secondary identities were
eventually impressed upon the Europeans. Now many (historically uninformed people) argue that the
current peacefulness of Europe is due to their common history despite the centuries of warfare and
near genocidal conflict which comprise that history!  It will be the same for supporters of Hezbollah
and Israel. They are all also human beings. They actually have a shorter history of “irreconcilable”
conflict to overcome than the Europeans did! Let us reform the European Union, turn it into a Human
Union, and offer all the chance to work with it in building true human security rather than continuing
to seek security through the self perpetuating violence of national and religious warfare.

2.        Exactly the same argument, but create a Human Union from scratch rather than transform the
European Union. This approach allows the mistakes of the European Union to be avoided. It allows
existing democracies outside Europe such as Canada and Australia to join straightaway. It allows a
small group of Countries, as few as two, to start the process straightaway.
Those who claim to be concerned about the violence in the Middle East can do something about it.
They can campaign to build a Human Union which would offer a true solution to the current security
crisis and civil war of humanity. A Human Union can offer a path forward and an incentive to reform
to Lebanon, Israel, and a host of other Countries. It is time to start moving beyond the ideology of
religion and nationalism which only blinds us to our common humanity and makes killing our fellow
human beings appear the correct path to building security.
The Human Union Movement
Putting human identity before national or religious identity
And bringing an end to the civil war of humanity
Bringing an end to the civil war of humanity ...
Putting human identity before national or religious identity