Considering Antonio Guterres
June 12, 2024
by William P. Meyers

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Looking for a Leader for a Government of Earth

Earth needs a government, and not just any government. We need a government that will quickly address the environmental catastrophe we and our fellow creatures are already experiencing.

We need a government that can overrule nations, localities, governments, corporations, and individuals that act in way that are destroying the earth.

United Nations (U.N.) Secretary General Antonio Guterres, at a speech on June 5, 2024, took a strong stance against complacency. Among other things, he called for a ban on fossil fuel advertisements, saying "Fossil fuels are not only poisoning our planet. They are toxic for your brand. I call on these companies to stop acting as enablers to planetary destruction."

The U.N. is a quasi global government. It has little real power. No one would mistake it for a government of earth. The ability of the United States of America and Russia (among other nations) to veto almost anything that is proposed, and the control of each of those governments by the oil industry, means the Secretary General has no power to enforce his suggestion, even if the vast majority of people on earth, or of the nations sitting at the U.N., supported him.

I have already posted initial essays on the need for a global green provisional government [Thoughts on the Provisional Government of Earth] and how we might build one [Paths to a Provisional Government of Earth]. I use the term provisional because we need to organize a movement and begin practicing good governance before we can hope to actually achieve a Government of Earth.

Here I will not discuss the bottom-up path. Rather I will use the possibility that Antonio Guterres, or someone like him, could lead the U.N., or a subset of nations within the U.N., to illustrate what I think a good leader (or set of leaders) would look like.

Antonio Guterres is 75 years old and about to turn 76, so he has been through a lot. Born in Portugal and raised in Lisbon, he studied physics and electrical engineering in college. Then he decided on a political career and joined the Socialist Party. He served in many positions in both the party and the Portuguese national assembly. Strangely, despite being a socialist, in a party where most people are atheists, he is known as a devout Catholic. He became the Prime Minister of Portugal in 1995 and held the office until 2002. At the United Nations he was the High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 until 2015. He became Secretary General in 2017.

So very experienced in governance. Then in 2019 Antonio indicated he believe the U.N. should assume global leadership in tackling climate change. He won a second term as Secretary General in 2021.

But is he willing to turn the United Nations into a genuine world government? Despite the opposition that would create? I do not know. It would be most likely if enough nations demanded it. Enough nations would demand it if enough people demanded it of them.

The United State has a special responsibility to demand a government of earth and subject itself to that government. Out industrial machine has been the single biggest contributor to global destruction. Our abstention from World War II, while the other industrial nations saw most of their factories destroyed, allowed us to become the global superpower. We helped set up the United Nations in order to boss other nations around. We grew cautious as many former colonies gained independence and ended up with a majority of seats in the U.N. We have many times vetoed resolutions that were for the good of the world. We need to act like responsible adults and make the sacrifices necessary to save the world from ecological collapse, and that includes becoming subjects of a Government of Earth. To get there, we need to organize a Provisional Government of Earth, because the Security Council nations are not likely to give up their power voluntarily.

I would add that there are many people who I think would be capable of leading us to, and eventually leading, a Government of Earth. That government should be organized as a democratic republic, much as the U.S. is organized as a federal republic.