Nobel peace prize-winning Mikhail Gorbachev recently told that globally, there is a need to reallocate funds from military to human securities amid coronavirus pandemic. He also called for revising the entire global agenda.
Utmost responsibility and discipline is essential, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, the last leader of USSR who ended socialism in the Soviet Union said in an interview to World BEYOND War on Sunday. He said he had hopes that coronavirus pandemic could be controlled before it took a different turn putting leaders, organizations and the people in a difficult situation, while a lot of it depended on people's behaviour.
He cited the time when "the Soviet Union and the United States declared that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought," by what resulted in a change with 85 percent of nuclear arsenals being eliminated, while such lessons to face new challenges have to be learnt, he opined.
Appeal letter
He also recalled an appeal letter adopted in 2005 by Forum of Nobel Peace Laureates for rethinking on global politics that reads
Focusing on meeting human needs and having a reverence for life are the foundation of human security. Excessive military expenditures actually breeds insecurity. Two areas where funds need to be channeled by the international community are education and health, particularly regarding the scourges of AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis through both protection and prevention.
He said, just name of novel coronavirus causing COVID-19 is to be added to the letter.
People's health: Top priority
The contemporary arms race might not solve global problems, "war is a defeat, a failure of politics," while there is need to demilitarize global affairs and for this there has to be a reallocation of funds from military to serve human security, which he meant as providing basic necessities such as food, water, clean environment while the top priority was to care for people's health.
In achieving such security, Gorbachev called for national and global leaders to develop strategies with plans and preparations by creating reserves. This has to start as soon as the coronavirus crisis is stabilized, with an emergency session of the UN General Assembly for "revising the entire global agenda."
New addition to his book
He said that Gorbachev Foundation has started to adapt to the new coronavirus situation, by communicating via phone and has created a platform for online discussions. Gorbachev was also asked to write an additional chapter for the English version of his book 'What Is At Stake Now' accounting for newer world developments. He said that he has agreed to work on it.
Gorbachev served as the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991.
