What follow is one undated chapter of Rotary's 1959 book "Seven Paths to Peace". Knowing how much modern living floods us with reading and most people are too impatient to read long essays, each chapter update will begin with five-word wisdoms to capture the chapter's essence.
Chapter 5 The Path of Justice now The Bridge
of Global Justice
(cw started editing 5-16-25.
- Think Globally and Act
Justly
- Global sustainability
through Local Justice
- Goodwill begins with global
fairness
- Local justice ripples through nations.
- Justice can sustain peace
worldwide.
- We cannot afford to fail.
In
1959 The Path of Justice was rightly framed
in terms of legal fairness and human rights.
In 2025 a Bridge of Planetary Justice is
needed by connecting nature’s rights to human Justice. Like connecting
climate protection/restoration with corporate accountability and AI ethics. New threats linking AI bias with environmental
destruction, corporate legal loopholes, plus tax evasion in offshore accounts by
billionaires, crime cartels, violent extremists, oligarchs, kleptocrats, and
arms suppliers will be essential for funding and achieving the United Nations 17
Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
Rotary opportunities include international climate courts (e.g.,
lawsuits against fossil fuel companies), ethical AI standards (e.g., EU AI
Act), and new human rights frameworks (e.g., Universal Declaration of Digital
Rights) including the direct purchasing of most unalienable human rights.
“At his best, man is the noblest of all animals;
separated from law and justice he is the worst.” Aristotle
"If we do not maintain Justice, Justice will
not maintain us.": Francis
Bacon
We will uphold the principles of justice for mankind,
recognizing that these are fundamental and must be worldwide. (From the Outline of Policy in International
Service.)
More than 700 years ago, the Magna Carta, or Great
Charter, established the concept that kings must answer to the law. King John
of England and a group of rebel barons agreed to terms in the document on June
15, 1215. The king had raised taxes and
the barons rebelled insisting he was violating established custom. The barons
armed themselves. Then two armed groups
met at Runnymede, where the King’s negotiators and the barons created a
document with 63 clauses, primarily relating to feudal customs and the way the
justice system would operate. It put
into writing: “No free man shall be seized, imprisoned, dispossessed, outlawed,
exiled or ruined in any way, nor in any way proceeded against, except by the
lawful judgement of his peers and the law of the land.” It also specified that
“To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice.”
“...the truth
is that men's ambition and their desire to make money are among the most
frequent causes of deliberate acts of injustice.” - ― Aristotle, Politics
But both the King and the barons were unaware of the
costly and inevitable consequences of injustices to follow. But justice is hardwired into genes. Likely a group of genes for justice in most
animal DNA. Without this would the
species would have gone extinct long ago.
There are multiple examples with different species in the animal kingdom
uniting and risking their own life to protect another species. While competition within animal species is
certainly present, it’s rarely deadly. In
fact, animal species uniting and using cooperation and coordination to survive
and thrive on this amazing planet dominate earth in shear body mass.
With humans the need for
justice is increasingly essential for our own survival. Any nation or group now has the capacity to
make, purchase, or trade multiple forms of weapons of mass destruction. And only nuclear weapons offer the best chance
of detection given they ‘radiate’ a presence.
But even that can be shielded from detection. And identifying a reliable
source of origin and speed of delivery makes the concept of deterrence, except for
Mutually Assured Destruction (WMD) basically irrelevant.
So far, at least two Popes
have suggested ‘no justice, no peace’. And this wisdom is ancient.
"Iniquity
[gross injustice], committed in this world, produces not fruit immediately,
but, like the earth, in due season, and advancing by little and little, it
eradicates the man who committed it. ...justice, being destroyed, will destroy;
being preserved, will preserve; it must never therefore be
violated." Manu 1200 bc.
But humans are yet practice it globally. And the most powerful nations don’t want to. Even those holding the principle of Justice as
a self-evident Truth.
“Justice is the great interest of man on
earth. Wherever her temple stands,
there is a foundation for social security, general happiness and the
improvement and progress of our race.“
Engraved above the entrance to the US
Dept. of Justice in Washington DC.
In business, international relations, personal relationships,
or any segment of life in which children or adults must interact, there is a great
reason to refer to ‘justice’ as the “lesser evil”. The greater evil being vengeful violence. And violence is often justified in the absence
of effective Justice. But violence is rarely just. Thus, the predictable escalation of violence that
is often very hard to stop will persist. And lacking a wise Justice system to end or
remedy injustices - more are inevitable.
This provides obvious job security and justification for sustaining
governments, militaries, and the best weapons systems possible in most nations. And this expense will be unyielding...and ultimately
unsustainable.
This passionate sense of justice is truly fundamental
in human nature. Voltaire said: “The sentiment of justice is so natural
and so universally acquired by all mankind, that it seems to be independent of
all law, all party, all religion.” Here then there is something universal. Reasonably and rationally all humankind
should be able to agree to engineer a global institutional framework to
administer Justice. Some efforts have
been made. But the superiority of
national sovereignty over the unalienable rights of people and protecting
nature remains the greatest barrier.
Under existing circumstances, universal
principles still exist. These are known
as fundamental principles, first principles, self-evident Truths, or common
sense. But it is far more common for humanity’s creative minds to make up
principles. Principles that too often have short term value to an individual,
group, or nation.
What are these principles of justice that the Rotary Outline
of Policy calls upon the Rotarian to uphold?
To be recognized as fundamental and as demanding application worldwide,
these principles must cover every territory, an infinite variety of
values, and a great many opposing points of view which are passionately
held. In a world where many disputes are
settled by robbing Peter to pay Paul, this is not justice. And sometimes justice occupies the mourner’s
bench at peace conferences. Fundamental
principles must have a superior logic to be capable of raising justice from the
level of partisanship to the level of principle.
Can nations be so persuaded? Not without a massive number of citizens persuading their leader without violence. Can the personal relations that Rotary fosters between people of different nations help in the establishment of this universal principle of justice? Absolutely. With non-violent means a massive number of citizens and persuade their leader that justice is a “self-evident” “Truth” as offered about 250 years ago in a 1776 premised on “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”. A premise President Abraham Lincoln claimed was "liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but hope to the world for all future time." And he called it "a rebuke and a stumbling block to tyranny and oppression" everywhere.
He recognized the Declaration of Independence
contained this universal Truth that ‘Nature’s God” is basically the Gold Rule –
the foundation of every religion and indigenous cultures that existed even before
religions. Why is it so hard for the
common person or powerful leader to comprehend humanity’s need to take care of
nature and each other - via the Golden Rule?
What nations of the world need most is to try to look
at every situation from the direction of other citizens’ view.
A proverb from the American Indian suggests: “Do not
condemn the other man until you have worn his moccasins.” The challenge is to
“get into the shoes” of the other person. There are many ways to do this, but
fundamental one needs compassion for others.
With this anyone can find the need for justice by the normal processes
of reading, correspondence, discussions, hearing lectures, and travel. Other steps can involve action. Like putting knowledge to work “role-playing”
– pretending to be someone else or a representative of an organization or nation
which embraces a point of view different from your won.
Many Rotary clubs have used this as a program
technique. Done well thorough preparation by the participants and just as
important preparation of the audience for an open discussion. This technique
might involve the club president or program chairman saying, “If you were an
American, Abdu, how would you feel about the recognition of Israel by the
Palestinians?” It may be a struggle of one’s imagination for an Arab Rotarian
to put themself into the shoes of an American or Israeli – and vice versa – but
such an effort helps them to escape from regional limitations in their
thinking. Most importantly it reveals
that justice has at least two sides.
Going one step further, several communities have
organized ‘into-their shoes conferences’, with local citizens organized into
groups of five to eight, each group to “represent” a nation in an international
conference. These events debated a major world problem. Sometimes in a series
of public meetings in a series over several weeks.
Can someone engaged in such intensive study – writing
to Rotarians in other lands to get firsthand information and defending “his
country’s” policy in public debate – really put themselves “into the shoes” of
another person thousands of miles away? Evidence suggests they can. And that it can build a new concept of
justice and fair play.
*Below this not yet finished with last edit as of 5-17-25)
One American
representing Bolivia in such a project went into his grocery store one morning
and learned that the price of coffee had gone down. “My first reaction,” he
reported, “was – how terrible! South Americans can’t afford to reduce their
coffee price!”
Rotary’s genius
technique, developed by Rotarians – and sometimes used by non-Rotarians, too –
works well as a “yardstick” for justice.
It is “The Four-Way Test of things we think, say, or do”:
Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOOD WILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
Although this test
was devised originally for use in a business faced with crisis and has been
developed in Rotary initially as an adjunct to vocational service, it actually
has a global application in wrestling with Truth decay. Experience has shown time and again that when
someone earnestly uses The Four-Way Test in his business or profession, the
results are also evident in his conduct with others as a friend and citizen.
This simple yardstick of human relations can be useful in international
service. As with the conviction of one Rotarian in The
Philippines:
In the promotion of
Rotary’s fourth avenue of service, the exemplification of The Four Way Test in
the diplomatic relations between nations will certainly exert a tremendous
influence. The world is flooded with so much propaganda that confuses our minds
and distorts our views. There is so much distortion of the Truth that leads to
misunderstanding and mutual animosities. I believe that a challenge is hurled
at Rotary to diffuse the genius of The Four-Way Test through its fourth avenue
of service.
Might not these
four simple questions likewise prove helpful in the quest for universal
principles of justice? Evidence of the
usefulness of The Four-Way Test for this purpose is the fact that it has been
accepted and adopted in most countries where there are Rotary clubs. It is not a code of ethics. No one can object
to it because it merely reminds him to use his own best judgment. It does not
tell him what to do. It merely asks him to look at what he thinks, says, or
does in light of his own standards. A principle of justice which is upheld by
The Four Way Test should, accordingly, be acceptable to all peoples.
The Rotarian who is
exploring the path of justice may wish to undertake the testing for himself. A
critical examination of his own principles of justice is one way of upholding
them, of proving that they are more than high-sounding slogans. It may also reveal
opportunities for him to help in making them world-wide.
To illustrate: Consider
the much-discussed principle of self-determination? How does it meet The
Four-Way Test? The Truth is that this principle has carved for itself a
formidable place in the history of our times. The greatest fact in world
politics for generations has not been the wars which claimed the headlines, but
the achievement of self-rule by nearly half humanity. Fair to all concerned, surely, is the
freedom of all peoples to pursue their own destinies, to make their own
mistakes and their distinctive contributions to mankind.
The principle of
self-determination would seem to meet The Four-Way Test. But to uphold a
principle calls for more than passive approval. Disraeli, once the prime
minister of England said, “Justice is truth in action.” Justice must surmount
the real problems which are involved in making things work world-wide. And
there are many problems. One consequence of self-determination is the
multiplication of nations, a “balkanization” such as occurred in Europe after
the first world war – and held in part responsible for the second.
Today, there’s a
growing gap between how irreversibly interdependent nations are economically
and how much their leaders want to keep separate politically and govern
themselves. This highlights another
insurmountable problem. The monstrous
challenge of whether people are ready to run their own governments. It should be a self-evident Truth that a certain
level of education and wisdom is necessary for a country to work well in
today’s rapidly moving world of events and challenges. Changes driven by the exponential advancement
of technology with its unprecedent power to save and protect life or kill it. In the context of Thomas Paine’s 1776
pamphlet — this is just plain common sense.
For the individual
Rotarian, many opportunities leading to the path of global justice arise in
efforts to overcome both problems. Globally these efforts must be made much
sooner. But given the varying
conditions now in many nations the solutions will be as varied as each nation’s
particular situation. Still, within some
Asian nations, Rotarians wrestle with the problems of achieving responsible
external relations along new frontiers. Individual Rotarians in Europe, understanding
the reality of their economic interdependence, supported unification of their
nations by actively supporting the creation of the European Union. They were empowered by the possibility that a
completely united Europe would greatly reduce the chances of another war on their
soil.
In South Africa,
Rotary club committees were active in assisting people there in developing more
effectiveness in self-government without sacrificing the cultural integrity of citizen
there. And in places like Australia or
New Zealand when individuals showed a desire for self-determination and
immigrated to South Africa - they received a Rotary welcome when arriving there.
It was a Rotary club that invented the description of being “New Australians”
and pledged to welcome them with open arms.
Other principles of
justice can be explored in similar fashion when discovering opportunities for
service in upholding others who often make the same decision to move world-wide.
Throughout this singular
vital topic is woven the urgent need to further develop international law. For it to remain now as it is in the UN Charter
is a great injustice for any society where ‘might makes right’. As Pascal put it, “Justice and power
must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and
whatever is powerful may be just”. The course of civilization has been the
search for a global rule of law to replace the creed of the caveman.
“Where law ends,
tyranny begins.” John Locke
The World Justice
Project https://worldjusticeproject.org/rule-of-law-index/global/2024/ WJP is an independent, multidisciplinary
organization working to create knowledge, build awareness, and stimulate action
to advance the rule of law worldwide.
The effective rule of law reduces corruption, combats poverty and
disease, and protects people from injustices large and small. It is the
foundation for communities of justice, opportunity, and peace—underpinning
development, accountable government, and respect for fundamental rights.
Citizens for Global
Solutions www.globalsolutions.org is working for a Peaceful, Free, Just
and Sustainable World Community.
The global rule of law
requires that there be just laws, fair systems of adjudication, a separate
legal profession, robust civil society, and a dynamic system for revising,
challenging and remaking international law to better serve the needs of the
world today by establishing a reliable means of enforcing the unalienable
rights referenced in the 1776 Declaration of Independence and the 1948
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
www.cigionline.org/articles/introducing-global-rule-law/ 12-1-2014
In a mid-1990s C-Span interview with an international audience U.S.
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy offered a clear definition of the “Rule
of Law”. When asked ‘What makes the
“rule of law” most effective?’ he
answered, ‘it requires three essentials’.
‘First, the laws must be made and enforced by a democratic process. People want to participate in the rules they
live under.’ But warned ‘that’s not
enough! Hitler had that.’ Second, he
asserted that the ‘laws must be applied equally to everyone’. This principle of justice is universal. But even that isn’t enough. People can still be mistreated. Last he said ‘laws must be protective of a
certain set of inalienable rights.
Rights we have just because we’re born.
Not because of immutable characteristics we are born with, like skin
color, sexual variations. Or the group
identity we were born into (ethnic, economic, religious, nationality...). These are mental identities that each person
can freely change.
Most of humankind that
understands this knows what we must do. The validity of Benjamin Franklin’s
argument is now clearer than ever: “Justice is as strictly due between neighbor
nations as between neighbor citizens. A highwayman is as much a robber when he
plunders in a gang as when single; and a nation that makes an unjust war is
only a great gang of robbers.”
Laws can be made to
apply to our nuclear, biological, space, and AI era. Unfortunately, some
nations in the world persist in prioritizing outdated concepts that circumvent
the global rule of law. According to one historian, “the only way to make the
mass of mankind see the beauty of justice is by showing them, in pretty plain
terms, the consequence of injustice …”
But this is easily
witnessed now every day by those with mini screens the carry with them, if they
have free access to reliable sources. Still the most powerful nations and their
leaders don’t agree. And the deadly
consequences have never been clearer.
The massive loss of life and freedom from each pandemic, invasion,
genocide, extreme weather condition, or violent extremist mass murder- has been
preventable. And just accountability for
most of these catastrophic failures is still lacking.
As far back as the
1950s a president of the American Bar Association said, “The atomic and
hydrogen bombs have attuned the people of the world to an overwhelming desire
for peace, stronger than any such desire in all history. Here a great
opportunity will be won or lost. We lawyers must write the necessary legal
machinery to maintain essential national sovereignty, yet provide for the
peaceful settlement of disputes between nations under the rule of law …”
Even before this
urgency the late U.S. Senator Taft saw with almost prophetic insight of what
was coming. “I believe that in the long
run the only way to establish peace is to write a law, agreed to by each of the
nations, to govern the relations of such nations with each other and to obtain
the covenant of all such nations that they will abide by that law and by
decisions made thereunder.”
December 14, 1787,
"Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety,
prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private
interest of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone
have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute
government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their
protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it." -- Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804)
Source: Federalist No. 22.
In 1873 “As
commerce, education and the rapid transition of thought and matter by telegraph
and steam have changed everything, I rather believe that the great Maker is
preparing the world to become one nation, speaking one language, a consummation
which will render armies and navies no longer necessary.” General of the Armies/President Ulysses S. Grant (born in Ohio, buried
in New York City)
In 1945 "We
believe that peace and security can be established and assured only if we, the
sovereign people, who, for our own safety and well-being have delegated parts
of our sovereignty to cities to handle our municipal affairs, to departments,
counties, provinces, cantons or states to take care of departmental, county,
provincial, cantonal or state issues, [and] to our national governments to
attend to national problems -- [in order] to protect ourselves against the
danger of inter-national wars, now delegate part of our respective sovereignty
to bodies capable of creating and applying Law in inter-national
relations."--Emery Reves, The Anatomy of Peace
“World federation
is an idea that will not die. More and
more people are coming to realize that peace must be more than an interlude if
we are to survive. That peace is a product
of law and order; that law is essential
if the force of arms is not to rule the world. “ Justice William O. Douglas
(died 1980)
In 1949 the U.S.
House of Representatives and the Senate in the House Concurrent Resolution 64
stated: Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring, that
it is the sense of the Congress that is should be a fundamental objective of
the foreign policy of the United States to support and strengthen the United
Nations and to seek its development into a world federation, open to all nations, with defined and limited
powers adequate to preserve peace and prevent aggression through the enactment,
interpretation, and enforcement of world law.
And four Republican US Presidents have endorsed “world peace through
law” proposals: Ulysses S. Grant, Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and
Dwight David Eisenhower.
And on September
11, 1990 (11 years before the 9-11 ‘terrorist’ attack on the US) President
George Bush Senior called for a new world order. Imagine where the world would be today if
those in power transitioned to this ‘rule of law instead of the law of force’
global legal system decades earlier.
Sacred belief
systems we still keep today will cause still more mass murder responses that
will persist in threatening global security.
Armageddon is a good example wherein Evangelical Christians side with
Israeli Nationalists in current conflicts in the Middle East. Sometimes with the hope it will lead to a
world war -- so their profit can return to them. Ironically,
these folks aren't really opposed to world government. They are opposed to
a just and democratic world government. What they really seek is a
theocracy -- where their view of God rules everyone’s world.
The world community
may now be witnessing the wisdom of this fundamental necessity for global
justice through the global rule of laws, specifically “the Laws of Nature and
Nature’s God” referenced in 1776, nearly 250 years ago.
February 6, 1788, James
Madison, a signer of America’s 1776 Declaration of Independence intended for
all mankind, wrote in Federalist No. 51 (the most widely cited of the
Federalist Papers) “If men were angels no government would be necessary.” He was explaining the need for checks and
balances in government because people are fallible and self-interested. And government must be structured in a way
that controls both the governed and the governors.
If there is a
problem which should engage the attention of every man, woman, and child in
this generation, it is the need for development and application of just and enforceable
international law. Given the difficulty
of this goal and the urgency of our era it is not just about the prevention of
wars. Nations, extremist groups, and
even individuals can now acquire the means of mass murder, destruction, and/or
disruption creating economic and environmental global chaos, as well as
derailing civilization as we now know it.
Human advancements
in all fields can also now contribute to the establishment of a sound system of
the global rule of law capable of addressing the root causes of most
threats.
Unfortunately, for
most people, international law is a remote subject, with too little reference
to their own survival, prosperity, and the prospects for their children
thriving in this generation. And too
many people have understandably given up on the United Nations with the persistent
escalating global problems and the lack of collective progress in stopping or reducing
them.
Once more, the Rotary’s
Outline of Policy challenges the individual Rotarian to practical endeavor. To
uphold the principles of justice and to make them world-wide.
But without
achieving legal enforcement of international laws to protect human rights and
the environment, the next best thing to do is purchasing them. At least most of them. This can be achieved by sufficiently
investing in and achieving the United Nation’s 17 SDGs as soon as
possible.
And Rotary’s
connections to businesses and Chambers of Commerce globally offer Rotarians a
unique opportunity considering the comments made by Brian Moynihan, Bank
of America’s chair and CEO on C-span June 2023.
In an interview on the state of the economy, the U.S. financial system,
and capitalism hosted by the City Club of Cleveland.
Program ID:
529044-1 https://www.c-span.org/video/?529044-1/bank-america-ceo-remarks-city-club-cleveland
Moynihan said, ‘the
Sustainable Development Goals will cost approximately’ “$6 trillion
annually”. But “governments are too debt
burdened” and “charity is insufficient”. “Business leaders” “like the oil
companies” and others must step up and prioritize a balancing of ‘short-term
gains’ with ‘long term interests’.
‘Profits must be good for business and society all the way down to the
community level’. “Capitalism...requires
a greater purpose than making more profit.”
‘Neither capitalism or profit making are sustainable without these goals
being achieved.'
Rotarians must
inform ourselves and others about this need.
Not only about the present unsustainable status of international law and
the inevitable catastrophic costs in blood and treasure, but on the need for its development and the expenses
that the establishment of the global rule of law and/or generating the resource
it will require.
How can we best
motivate nations to resist using the law of force and to accept the global force
of law? Or directly purchasing the global protection
of the environment and most human rights.
Either carry a hefty price tag.
But failure of either is price that is ultimately unacceptable by any
life and/or God loving soul.
Clearly, many now
in power benefit by maintaining the status quo, by keeping their citizens
fearful, misinformed, and convinced that more walls, a bigger military, and
better weapons will keep them safe. But
this ‘Peace through strength’ mentality is the greatest delusion these leaders
and their followers have. And is
maintained with the illusion of their independence and overlooking their total
and irreversible interdependence and vulnerability.
Does this situation
not suggest a specific and increasingly urgent task which is within the
competence of any Rotary club to act on?
An intensive study under the guidance of members in the legal
classification. Or in home or community meetings, club programs, public forums,
zoom meetings, YouTube videos, blog posts, Facebook/ LinkedIn communications,
or the old ‘into-their-shoes conferences’, or community events every 4th
of July? How can more public interest be created? It is worth the struggle and sacrifice! For our conscience, legacy, and our species
posterity demands it. Everyone has the freedom to obtain or disagree. But no one will avoid the totally
unacceptable costly consequences.
Historian Toynbee,
after examining the history, development, and fall of various civilizations
which have flowered, concludes: “As a
rule the demand for codification (of law) reaches its climax in the penultimate
age before a social catastrophe, long after the peak of achievement in
jurisprudence has been passed, and when the legislators of the day are
irretrievable on the run in a losing battle with ungovernable forces of
destruction …”
Nearly 250 years
ago near the end of the second profound paragraph of the 1776 Declaration of
Independence is another profound warning, “all
Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves
by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed.”
Abraham Lincoln wrote that this document is
our “Apple of Gold”. And the U.S. ‘Constitution
its Silver frame’. What is now urgently
needed is exposing the silver frame’s failure shine light on the enlightenment
of “self-evident” “Truths”. This is now
the job before Rotary, Rotarians, and the rest of humanity if any intend to
achieve the seven intentions within the Preamble of the US Constitution. And the seven paths and bridges to Positive
Peace can be both and inspiration and study guide for the wisdom humanity now
needs, instead of more intelligence.
And combining humanities existing global
communications capacity, with Artificial Intelligence united with human wisdom
and existing resource heaven on this earth can be achieved, with maximum
security, liberty and justice for all.
We must take these
into the backward villages, rural communities, the largest cities, and through
the halls of governments. Hopefully
culminating in a world summit and not more persistent
violence and destruction. Daniel Webster called a “summit”... “the
ligament which holds civilized beings and civilized nations together.” And Justinian, is the great lawgiver, called
justice “the constant desire and effort to render to every man his due.”
SUMMARY Chapter 5:
“Justice is the great interest of man on earth. It is the ligament which
holds civilized nations together.” Daniel Webster
Chapter five Planetary
Justice, is a charter that recognizes justice must now extend beyond national
borders, human generations, and even species. As our home planet faces
overlapping crises—climate disruption, biodiversity loss, global inequality, more
wars, new pandemics, and technological upheaval—traditional notions of justice
are no longer sufficient. This chapter argues that justice must be redefined to
account for intergenerational equity, global fairmindedness, and our
responsibilities to the non-human world.
Humanity’s current
system privileges short-term, local interests at the expense of long-term
planetary well-being. Wealthy nations and elites disproportionately benefit
from resource use while poorer populations, future generations, and ecosystems
bear the brunt of the consequences. Climate change, for instance, is not only a
technical or environmental issue—it is a moral one, rooted in deep imbalances
of power, consumption, and voice.
The lack of justice
within and between existing governance systems, which remain fragmented and
anthropocentric, are ill-equipped to ensure justice across boundaries of time,
geography, and species. It calls for a bold reimagining of legal, political,
and ethical frameworks to support a more inclusive vision of justice that
aligns with Earth’s limits and humankind’s shared fate.
Planetary justice
demands systemic changes. From redefining rights and responsibilities to
reshaping economies and laws it urges a shift from domination to stewardship,
from extraction to regeneration, and from individualism to collective
interdependence. Achieving the SDGs, particularly those tied to climate, violence,
equality, and strong institutions, is presented not just as policy targets but
as moral imperatives in the pursuit of global justice.
"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his
justice cannot sleep forever." - Thomas Jefferson
Truth decay and
untruths remain the ultimate source of accelerating political polarization
(both locally and globally). This
disrupt force is at the heart of the growing chaos and injustices that we must
urgently adjust to or continue suffering the killer consequences. We are not now on that path. We still have a choice. And Rotary is well placed to globally
advocate for the sustainably of our species, and most others (except Polio, and
other pathogens like it).
