The right to dream of a better world - Front Burner

Catholic New Times, Nov 3, 2002 by Eduardo Galeano

In 1948, and again in 1976, the United Nations proclaimed long lists of human rights, but most of the world's people still enjoy only the rights to see, hear and remain silent.

Suppose we exercise the never-proclaimed right to dream? Let's set our sights above and beyond the abominations of today to divine another possible world:

* The air shall be cleansed of all poisons.

* People shall not be driven by cars, or programmed by computers, or bought by supermarkets, or watched by television sets.

* People shall work for a living instead of living for work.

* In no country shall young men who refuse to go to war go to jail.

* Economists shall not measure living standards by consumption levels or the quality of life by the quantity of things.

* Historians shall not believe that countries love to be invaded.

* Politicians shall not believe that the poor love to eat promises.

* Cooks shall not believe that lobsters like to be boiled alive.

* No one shall be taken seriously who can't make fun of himself.

* Death and money shall lose their magical powers, and neither demise nor fortune shall make a virtuous gentleman of a rat.

* No one shall be considered either a hero or a fool for doing what he believes is right instead of what serves him best.

* The world shall wage war on poverty rather than the poor and the arms industry shall have to declare bankruptcy.

* Food shall not be a commodity, nor shall communications be a business, because food and communication are human rights.

* No one shall die of hunger, or of overeating.

* Rich kids shall not be treated like gold, because there shall be no rich kids.

* Education shall be the right of everyone, not the privilege of those who can pay for it.

* The police shall not be the curse of those who cannot pay.

* Justice and liberty, now condemned to live apart, shall be reunited.

* A black woman shall be president of the United States and women shall also lead governments in Brazil, Guatemala and Peru.

* Holy Mother Church shall correct the typos on the tablets of Moses.

* The church shall also proclaim another commandment--the one God forgot: You shall love Nature, to which you belong.

* The deserts of the world--and the soul--shall be clothed with forests.

* We shall be compatriots and contemporaries for all who have a yearning for justice and beauty, no matter where they were born or where they lived, because the borders of geography and time shall cease to exist.

* Perfection shall remain the boring privilege of the gods, while in our bungling, messy world every night shall be lived as if it were the last, and every day as if it were the first.

Eduardo Galeano is a Uruguayan writer on political and economic issues and the author of Upside Down. Reprinted with permission from the CCPA Monitor.