RECTOR'S ADDRESS OF APRIL 2024

It’s been a while since my last Rectors upodate for the Global Green University, but I have been somewhat busy with my many duties and it is not often enough that I get time to water the Tree of Knowledge in my own back garden so to speak.

Ever since the unprecedented and unprincipled invasion of Ukraine by Putin and his sidekick Lavrov was unleashed in February 2022, I have been busy trying to work out with colleagues why on earth he felt entitled to make this monstrous mistake. The reasons are complex, but mostly we can summarise them as down to poor education. Although he has a degree, Putin is typical of lesser minds who are trained in law, and who only think about power, profit and personal advancement. This is a failure of higher education, not just in Russia but also in other parts of the world, where the idea of an all-rounded education, including ethics, morality, philosophy, metaphysics, has been largely abandoned and has been replaced by “skills” and “techniques”.  

And yet, for those who know the history of Education, this was precisely and exactly why Universities came into being in the 12th and 13th century in Europe, first in Paris, and Bologna, and Oxford, and before that in the Islamic world and in Nalanda and Taxila in the Buddhist world. All subjects were understood to be part of the wider matrix of knowing which ultimately depends on theological depth to fully understand them. The great 20th century philosopher, Dr. Ivan Illich, wrote a book about these early universities and how the liberal arts were understood to be all inter-related (see Ivan Illich, Du lisible au visible : La Naissance du texte, un commentaire du «Didascalicon» de Hugues de Saint-Victor, 1991)  Abelard, the real founder of the University of Paris, believed profoundly that spirituality and Christianity, were not opposed to logic and science, but in a state of co-dependence with them. The whole point of higher Education was to think critically, logically and in depth about the ethical challenges posed by reality, and to consider ways in which our spiritual traditions, our sacred texts, such as the Bible, can help us navigate a way out of our problems towards a condition of Lysis.

Fast forward to the modern era, when the citizens of Gaza have been subjected to Genocidal mass killing fuelled by AI robotic logarithms called “Lavender” and “the Gospel” and other euphemistic and sinister names, c/o the Israeli Defence forces (see https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/)  hijacked by what Prof. Ilan Pappe of Exeter University calls “The State of Judah”, following the work of Israeli intellectual Yeshayahu Leibowitz  1903-1994. Leibowitz was an Israeli Orthodox Jewish public intellectual and polymath, who served as a professor of biochemistry, organic chemistry, and neurophysiology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and was a prolific writer on Jewish thought and western philosophy. He was known for his profound thoughts on ethics, religion, and also politics. Leibowitz cautioned that to some the state of Israel and the cause of Zionism had become more sacred than Jewish humanist values; he was termed by Sir Isaiah Berlin the “intellectual conscience of Israel”. Pappe agrees that the “state of Judah” whose members have taken a simplistic misreading of Zionism as their foundational creed, have effected a coup against the constitutional government of Israel, thanks to the psychopathology of Netanyahu who has been diverting the intentions of the original founders of Israel away from an interfaith community founded on trust, to a mono-fideist state in which a narrow definition of "Judahism" is favoured above all else, and secularism, science, spirituality, humanism,  philosophy and interfaith harmony and reason have been demoted and branded anti-semitic (sic).

And we see the same weaponisation of reality going on in the “reasons” given by Lavrov and Putin for their attempted destruction of the independence of Ukraine, for reason of attacking “Satanists and Fascists”. This really is an extraordinary example of reverse logic that we have witnessed going on in real time on the world stage. (For a desconstruction of the Satanist claim, see Thomas Daffern's COMPARATIVE DIABOLOGY, WESTERN ESOTERICISM AND CONSCIOUS ILLICITUDE - IIPSGP Pubs, Lulu Press, 2019)

So we can do about this? How can genuine pockets of higher education, such as the Global Green University, which proposes a genuinely rounded and joined up educational mission at its heart, respond to this awful situation in which whole countries have been weaponised to follow lies and dissimulated semi-truths, in which the destruction of “the other” becomes the end game of all human pursuits? (The Global Green Univerity is one of several attempts to get Higher Education back on the track of truth, and away from the disememberment of truth into death by a thousand cuts: see International Directory Of Complementary, Holistic, Peace-Oriented, Ecological, Transpersonal, Integral, Spiritual And Religious Higher Education (2 vols, IIPSGP Pubs, Lulu Press, 2015 www.lulu.com/spotlight/iipsgp)

Perhaps it is time to remember the wise words of Christ, a Rabbi from Galilee, at this time of Easter, who said loud and clear: “Love Your Enemies” (see the commentary on the 6 Gospels elsewhere on this website).

But what on earth did he mean by this? How useful is this teaching  to someone whose home is being bombed and whose family is being killed before their eyes?

Firstly, as Abelard would no doubt remind us – the ability to love our enemies, requires us to practice empathy, and to see things from their perspective. For someone like Putin, who had been born under Stalin, who grew up in the old USSR and who revered order and hierarchical power structures, the ending of the USSR was a catastrophe of existential proportions. His own lack of access to genuine information about the crimes of Stalin and the USSR was shared by millions of other Russians who were denied all knowledge of, say, the Holdomor against Ukraine conducted by Stalin and his innermost cabal, or the mass crimes that Stalin carried out in his purges. Putin has never learned about anything of this fully or had time to refelect on its signifance. So to love our enemies means, first to have compassion on them, and so we can lament that Putin has been kept in epistemological poverty. He hated Gorbachev, without realising that Gorbachev was a far wiser and better educated man than him, who like Khruschev knew full well about the monstrous crimes of Stalin.

To have compassion on our enemies does not mean that we endorse their own ignorance, but that we understand where it is coming from, and how it has arisen.

A great Russian philosopher and spiritual thinker, Leo Tolstoy, once said: “Be perfect, as your father in heaven is perfect”. This means that you must try to free the divine origin of life in yourself”.  (see A Calendar of Wisdom, by Leo Tolstoy, for April 6).

So another meaning of “Love your enemies” means to try to help those who mistakenly think you are their enemy towards “freeing the divine origin of life in themselves”.  

This means that deep within the mind and heart of Putin and Lavrov and their ilk, and Netanyahu and his genocidal co-operatives who call on their idea of “God” or “the state” to endorse their vengeful actions, is hiddfen away an Arche, a spark of reason, which knows that what they are doing is ethically wrong, and also epistemologically ignorant, as well as illegal.

Therefore loving our enemies, ie those who mistakenly think that we are their enemies, requires that we help them find that spark of reason within themselves.

And that, surely, is the purpose of all real higher education. That journey means to move beyond mere cleverness towards true wisdom, towards the finding of the inner heart within us all, and the logos within reason.

And so, the work of all educators goes on. The work of the Global Green University goes on. Let us therefore use this Easter break to reflect on the deep mysteries of transformative learning, and realise that our planet is indeed going through its own “Easter experience”, a time of testing, in which our capacity to distinguish between right and wrong, truth and lies, peace and violence, is being called upon like never before in our lifetimes.

But with the force of Sophiaphobia (see Daffern, Thomas, Sophiaphobia, IIPSGP Publications, Lulu Press, 2008)  so rampant in today's world, what can we draw on to counter this orgy of self-destruction and self-ignorance? If Delphi asks us to know ourselves, and the Delphic Games have been reborn to help remind the planet that our duty as artists, cultural creatives, and intellectuals is to steer art and culture in the direction of self-knowledge, (see www.delphic.org) perhaps we would do well to reflect on the definition of Ignorance given in the non-dual tantra of Kashmir Shaivism, espoused by Ksemaraja, who wrote the Recognition Sutras over 1000 years ago, to reminds us all that only the single light of awareness has real ontological veracity. Recently translated by Dr Christopher D Wallis, The Recognition Sutras: Illuminating a 1,000-Year-Old Spiritual Masterpiece (Mattamayura Press, Boulder, USA, 2017)  it is worth remembering that Ksemaraja’s definition of ignorance is that it is caused by the inability of embodied souls to remember that we are in fact all Shiva and Shakti at play.

“For this very reason place, time, and form are not able to divide the fundamental nature of Awareness, for they are emitted from it and are sustained & animated by it. Thus, this Awareness equally pervades all places, arises at all times, and encompasses all forms”

In other words, subjectivity and objectivity are both grounded in the ultimate reality of the One, which vibrates and shines in myriads of different forms, and thus the whole project of “othering” which is embodied in the warlike blood lust of both Netanyahu’s Israel, Putin’s Russia and indeed Hamas’s own triggering assault on Israel which precipitated the tragedy of October 7, let along the mental warfare practiced by the Brexiteers who pulled the UK out of the European Union in 2017, by a campaign premised on lies and falsities, and co-sponsored by Putin, are all premised on “othering”. Yet as Ksemaraja teaches, in his Nondual Kashmir Saivite tradition, there is in reality no self and no "other" separate from one another, which are not in fact both manifest forms of the One Shiva-Shakti Source or Arche, to use the Ancient Greek philosophical term.

So the work of finding this self-and other embodied in all aspects of reality, in each of the knowledge divisions of the natural sciences, humanities, social sciences, theologies, philosophies etc. remains at the core of the vision of the Global Green University.

We need to stop this Othering nonsense and get on with the actual work of enjoying, saving and appreciating this planet for all its rounded beauty, for the greenness of grass, the wetness of water, the clean smell of the pages of new books, the exciting crystal-like energy of entering a new library for the first time. We need to become, each of us, like children just beginning to (re)learn the magic of knowledge, and the taste of snow. Only when we realise this world, in all its beauty and complexity, is indeed the Shambhala world, and the Kingdom of God made manifest, will we be able to relinquish our egostical desire to “win” or “conquer” the other. Instead, as Christ asked of us, among countless other teachers, we can remember that loving is indeed our first duty as human beings, as Shiva-Shakti in embodiment.

Dr. Thomas C. Daffern, April 6, 2024

 

 

 

Rector’s Blog Update for Green University, June 10, 2022

 

COVID 19

In May 2021 we set up the ICIAOC (INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO THE AETIOLOGY OF COVID 19). ICIAOC has circulated information document to dozens of top researchers worldwide asking them to submit evidence to the ICIAOC. Our research is ongoing on this matter. Now Robert F,. Kennedy Jr. has written an important book The Real Anthoy Fauci (2022) which points to the problems with the military-industrial medical hidden empire and the paradigm of healing that it embraces, above all with vaccines. We have suggested to Kennedy that a new bill needs to be approved in congress ensuring that all ancillary scientists either as front line research sceintists or medial bureacrts (like Fauci) have to swear a form of the Hippocratic Oath. This would in our view remove the problems evidenced in Kennedy's research into how the pandemic has been mismanaged. 

 

BREXIT AND THE EUROPEAN UNION:

The GGU stil feels this was a catastrophic error on the part of UK foreign policy. The work by Prof Timothy Snyder (The Road to Unfreedom), has now revealed that it was a direct result of Rusisan military intelligence interference in UK democracy. The capture of the UK parliament by an extreme right wing Conservative party, in turn captured by Russin business interests, baffles the moral imagaination of observers as to how much longer it will be allowed to get away with this coup. The supine silence of much of the UK media and the UK's academia is also part of this same problem. Silence is collusion. This is something that the GGU does not endorse. Thus we have given our support to the work of INTELLECTUALS FOR FREE SCOTLAND – SAOR ALBA (IffS)

 

MONTHLY BROADCASTS: 

Colleagues may be aware that since the catastrophic implications of Brexit became obvious, your Rector has been involved in a weekly series of fasts, every Sunday. During which he records a film broadcast giving a survey of World Events from a largely Spiritual, Philosophical and Metaphysical perspectives. Over 60 such broadcasts have been made and they can all be watched on our YouTube Channel- IIPSGP1. A list of the weekly broadcasts made so far is available from the Rector. We have decided in 2022 to continue with these broadcasts only on a monthly basis, although weekly fasts are continuing as per usual.

 

GLOBAL GOOD GOVERNANCE-

In the midst of the pandemic of lies generated by Catastrocapitalism, the GGU continues to do its bit to create an oasis of critical reason for peace.  We’ve also proposed, through the World Intellectual Forum, a ‘Global Good Governance Council’ should be brought into being. These are dark times the planet is facing and we need above all rational and serious intellectual debate about the way forward. The GGU stands ready to assist with that work on the academic front. This topic will be discussed at our World Intellectual Forum meeting on June 20-24, 2022.  

 

Hannah Arendt

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975)  is widely considered to be one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century.Arendt was born in Linden, which later became a district of Hanover, in 1906, to a Jewish family. At the age of three, her family moved to Königsberg, the capital of East Prussia, so that her father's syphilis could be treated. Paul Arendt had contracted the disease in his youth, and it was thought to be in remission when Arendt was born. He died when she was seven. Arendt was raised in a politically progressive, secular family. Her mother was an ardent supporter of the Social Democrats. After completing her secondary education in Berlin, she studied at the University of Marburg under philosopher Martin Heidegger, with whom she had a four-year affair. She obtained her doctorate in philosophy writing on Love and Saint Augustine at the University of Heidelberg in 1929 under the direction of the existentialist philosopher Karl Jaspers. Hannah Arendt married Günther Stern in 1929, but soon began to encounter increasing anti-Jewish discrimination in 1930s Nazi Germany. In 1933, the year Adolf Hitler came to power, Arendt was arrested and briefly imprisoned by the Gestapo for performing illegal research into antisemitism in Nazi Germany. On release, she fled Germany, living in Czechoslovakia and Switzerland before settling in Paris. There she worked for Youth Aliyah, assisting young Jews to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine. Divorcing Stern in 1937, she married Heinrich Blücher in 1940, but when Germany invaded France in 1940 she was detained by the French as an alien, despite having been stripped of her German citizenship in 1937. She escaped and made her way to the United States in 1941 via Portugal. She settled in New York, which remained her principal residence for the rest of her life. She became a writer and editor and worked for the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, becoming an American citizen in 1950. With the publication of The Origins of Totalitarianism in 1951, her reputation as a thinker and writer was established and a series of works followed. These included the books The Human Condition in 1958, as well as Eichmann in Jerusalem and On Revolution in 1963. She taught at many American universities, while declining tenure-track appointments. She died suddenly of a heart attack in 1975, at the age of 69, leaving her last work, The Life of the Mind, unfinished. Hannah Arendt's mother, who considered herself progressive, sought to raise her daughter along strict Goethean lines, which amongst other things, involved the reading of the complete works of Goethe, often summed up in the phrase from Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship (1796) as – Was aber ist deine Pflicht? Die Forderung des Tages (And just what is your duty? The demands of the day). Goethe, at the time, was considered the essential mentor of Bildung (education), the conscious formation of mind, body and spirit. The key elements were considered to be self-discipline, constructive channeling of passion, renunciation and responsibility for others. Hannah's developmental progress (Entwicklung) was carefully documented by her mother in a book, which she titled Unser Kind (Our Child) and measured her against the benchmark of what was then considered normale Entwicklung ("normal development").Arendt attended kindergarten from 1910 where her precocity impressed her teachers and enrolled in the Szittnich School, Königsberg (Hufen-Oberlyzeum), on Bahnstraße in August 1913,[48] but her studies there were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I, forcing the family to temporarily flee to Berlin on 23 August 1914, in the face of the advancing Russian army. There they stayed with her mother's younger sister, Margarethe Fürst (1884–1942), and her three children, while Hannah attended a girl's Lyzeum school in Berlin-Charlottenburg. After ten weeks, when Königsberg appeared to be no longer threatened, the Arendts were able to return, where they spent the remaining war years at her grandfather's house. Arendt's precocity continued, learning ancient Greek as a child, writing poetry in her teenage years, and starting both a philosophy club and Greek Graecae at her school. She was fiercely independent in her schooling and a voracious reader, absorbing French and German literature and poetry (committing large amounts to heart) and philosophy. By the age of 14, she had read Kierkegaard, Jaspers' Psychologie der Weltanschauungen and Kant's Kritik der reinen Vernunft (Critique of Pure Reason). Kant, whose home town was also Königsberg, was an important influence on her thinking, and it was Kant who had written about Königsberg that "such a town is the right place for gaining knowledge concerning men and the world even without travelling". Her later encounter with Heidegger represented a dramatic departure from the past. He was handsome, a genius, romantic, and taught that thinking and "aliveness" were but one. The 17-year-old Arendt then began a long romantic relationship with the 35-year-old Heidegger, who was married with two young sons. He remained one of the most profound influences on her thinking, and he would later relate that she had been the inspiration for his work on passionate thinking in those days. They agreed to keep the details of the relationship a secret, preserving their letters but keeping them unavailable. The relationship was not known until Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's biography of Arendt appeared in 1982. On completing her dissertation, Arendt turned to her Habilitationsschrift, initially on German Romanticism, and thereafter an academic teaching career. However 1929 was also the year of the Depression and the end of the golden years (Goldene Zwanziger) of the Weimar Republic, which was to become increasingly unstable over its remaining four years. Arendt, as a Jew, had little if any chance of obtaining an academic appointment in Germany. Nevertheless, she completed most of the work before she was forced to leave Germany. In her disseration on Love and St Augustine,  she would discover the limitations of transcendent love in explaining the historical events that later pushed her into political action. Another theme from Rilke that she would develop was the despair of not being heard. Reflecting on Rilke's opening lines, 

Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?
(Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angel's hierarchies?)

Escaping from the Nazis she managed to escape to the USA. Arendt taught at many institutions of higher learning from 1951 onwards, but, preserving her independence, consistently refused tenure-track positions. She served as a visiting scholar at the University of Notre Dame; University of California, Berkeley; Princeton University (where she was the first woman to be appointed a full professor in 1959); and Northwestern University. She also taught at the University of Chicago from 1963 to 1967, where she was a member of the Committee on Social Thought; The New School in Manhattan where she taught as a university professor from 1967; Yale University, where she was a fellow; and the Center for Advanced Studies at Wesleyan University (1961–62, 1962–63). She was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1962 and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1964. In 1974, Arendt was instrumental in the creation of Structured Liberal Education (SLE) at Stanford University. She wrote a letter to the president of Stanford to persuade the university to enact Stanford history professor Mark Mancall's vision of a residentially-based humanities program. At the time of her death, she was University Professor of Political Philosophy at the New School in New York. 

What would Hannah Arendt make of the current politics in the USA and the ongoing hearings on the 6 Jan riot against the Capital by rioters inspired by Trump to "take democracy down". She would be appalled. Not least because of the latent anti semitism hiding in much of the political right's discourse, from Steve Bannon to Trump, to Brexiteers and Putin. If she were still alive, no doubt she would be teaching a course on political philosphy for the Global Green University. 

Although Arendt remained a Zionist both during and after World War II, she made it clear that she favored the creation of a Jewish-Arab federated state in British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel and the Palestinian territories), rather than a purely Jewish state. She believed that this was a way to address Jewish statelessness and to avoid the pitfalls of nationalism.

She would undoubtedly therefore have signed the IIGSP / WIF Declaration on Peace between Istael and Palestine, as follows:

A Declaration For Peace Between  the Palestinian and Israeli People

Issued on behalf of the World Intellectual Forum, and the International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy (IIPSGP) May  2022

 

1. The Conflict between Israelis and Palestinians has been going on unchecked ever since World War One and it is high time to resolve it
2. WIF / IIPSGP wishes to see a secure and protected two state solution to this ongoing problem that has been causing tragedy to countless people for far too long
3. Israeli and Palestinian are both highly educated and sophisticated peoples who ought to be able to live side by side in two states with a signed peace agreement eschewing violence against each other
4. The World Intellectual Forum has members from Israel and also from Palestine and wishes to use its own intellectual contacts, influence and ideas to help facilitate a long term solution to this issue
5. We do not believe it is beyond human minds to come up with a solution that satisfies everyone’s needs in this matter
6. Israelis want to be able to go on living in their small state that was founded in 1948 after the horrors of the holocaust wiped out millions of Jews in Nazi run death camps; many of the current people living in Israel are direct descendants of those who survived
7. Israel asks for two things above all if they are going to agree to a sovereign Palestinian state coming into being on the West Bank and Gaza: a) that such a state should pursue non-violent co-existence with Israel henceforth and b) all Arab, Muslim, Christian and Palestinian leaders and activists  from the Middle East and North Africa region should sign a treaty of Peace with Israel acknowledging her right to exist under international law as a modern democratic sovereign state
8. In return Israel must also pledge two things: 1) that they will pursue non-violent co-existence with Palestine and 2) all Israeli political and religious leaders, and supporters of Israel in the wider Jewish diaspora, should likewise acknowledge Palestine’s right to exist under international law as a modern democratic sovereign state.
9. In return Israel and Palestine would co-sign a peace settlement bringing the independent Sovereign State of Democratic Palestine into existence in international law, with a lasting Israeli-Palestinian Treaty of Nonviolent Co-Recognition and Peace signed between Palestine and Israel. At this point, and as part of the treaty process, Israel would promptly end all movement controls and other repressive policies as agreed and stipulated in the Peace Treaty.
10. Political parties in Palestine that currently include in their constitutions a pledge to see the state of Israel conquered, destroyed or removed would promptly delete all such references. Likewise political parties in Israel that currently include in their platforms the denial of Palestine’s right to exist or which support Israeli perpetual control over any part of the West Bank must likewise promptly delete all such references as well.
11. The World Intellectual Forum refers for the details of any two-state solution to the detailed Commentary On the Peace to Prosperity Peace Plan, launched in Washington DC, Jan 28, 2020, which has many useful ideas: eg. A Seaport for Palestine, an airport for Palestine, a high speed rail connection between Gaza and the West Bank, a massive economic aid plan for investment into Palestine, a redrawing of the boundaries of the two states to take into account details on the ground, etc. all of which are only possible once Israel and Palestine sign an Israeli-Palestinian Treaty of Nonviolent Co-Recognition and Peace. We also refer to the Oslo agreements and all existing Israeli-Palestinian agreements made hitherto as well as UN agreements and protocols as a basis for discussion, including the recent Abraham Accords between Israel, The United Arab Republic, Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco, Oman and Jordan renormalising relations. We ask the Iraqi parliament to rescind its recent legislation making it illegal to normalise relations with Israel, as part of this Peace process, and any similar such legislation in the Islamic world. .
12. We note that whereas Israel's document 'A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm' proposed overturning the Oslo Accords, no equivalent Palestinian, Arab or Muslim document has done so. We call therefore for a clean break with the clean break, a return to the spirit of Oslo and an international forensic commission into the murder of Yasser Arafat, Nobel Peace Prize winner and co-architect of the Oslo Peace Accords. He and the murdered Itzhak Rabin deserve to give their names to the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Museum mentioned in paragraph 23 below.
13. Israeli intellectuals and Palestinian intellectuals should restart talks on the basis of this our Declaration and our Commentary On The Peace to Prosperity Plan, with the World intellectual Forum and IIPSGP helping, along with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the Middle East,  and other appropriate non-state actors and NGO’s independent of the (non)dialogue of politicians – we need to outline the basic architectonic of such a peace plan, which we believe could be arrived at by altering and adapting the Netanyahu/Trump Peace Plan as a basis, subject to agreed revisions and reworkings. For instance the Peace to Prosperity Plan contains detailed maps of a proposed Palestine state, which will need detailed revision by a Revision Board given that to enable a viable Palestinian state to come into being, Israel will need to withdraw from all  occupied territory in accordance with international law. Israeli settlers who wish to remain in independent Palestine will have their full human rights and security guaranteed by the Palestine state, just as Palestinians who choose to live in Israel currently do. Imagining creative  solutions to seemingly impassable obstacles must also be tried, and thought up. That is our work as creative intellectuals. 
14. A simultaneous Iranian-Israeli Peace Treaty needs signing between Iran and Israel, whereby Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei  withdraws tweet of 2018, and apologises. confesses it was neither helpful nor realistic, and the Treaty  sets up an Iranian-Israeli Theologico-Philosophical  Peace Forum in which leading Shi’ah and Sunni Islamic Theologians, Christians and Jews and secularists would be asked to put together a working document giving theological and philosophical support for a two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, explaining how the Bible, the Jewish Scriptures and the Koran can and should all in fact be read as peace documents. The recently completed Commentary on the Holy Quran (Daffern, 20 Volumes, 2011-2021) and similar works can be used as part of the  basis for this work
15. Neighbouring states to the region, such as Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia etc. should agree to co-sponsor the proposed Israeli-Palestinian Treaty of Nonviolent Co-Recognition and Peace and not to send arms or weapons to either Israel or Palestine henceforth once the peace treaty is signed. Both Israel and Palestine should be able to look forward to a future in which war is a thing of the past and security is built by trust, cooperation, sharing and cultural co-creativity. We envision a Middle east where poets will one day earn more than arms dealers, and where a nuclear free zone will stretch all the way from Herzliya to Islamabad.
16. The UK as the former mandate government for Palestine, should take a lead in promoting this Declaration given that the original Balfour Declaration stated that "Nothing shall be done which may jeopardize the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine..." Likewise we would welcome an application by Palestine once independent to join the Commonwealth, and pledge the support of the Commonwealth Interfaith Network to helping bring this possibility forward. Israel of course is welcome to join too.
17. Major international powers such as the USA, the European Union, the United Nations, the UK and Commonwealth, the Russian Federation, China, the African Union,  etc. should likewise also all formally support the Israeli-Palestinian Treaty of Nonviolent Co-Recognition and Peace. Instead of giving military aid to the region, they should henceforth give peace aid to both Israel and Palestine jointly to enable both states to flourish side by side in peace. An INTERNATIONAL PEACE DIVIDEND should be payable jointly to both states by the international community in all years when no serious violence has broken out between them.
18. Likewise, as part of the Israeli-Palestinian Treaty of Nonviolent Co-Recognition and Peace Israel and Palestine all other involved states would agree to cease all covert acts of aggression, war and violence against one another including defamation, verbal cyber warfare, assassinations, acts of sabotage, and all other acts of killing and aggression, and to prevent any covert groups, political organisations or militant factions on their territories from engaging in such acts, and also outlaw fundraising to enable such acts of violence to be carried out.
19. Peace Studies departments should be set up in all Palestinian and Israeli universities where peace can be studied in detail, from all sides and points of view, fairly and truthfully; IIPSGP stands ready to assist in this work. We feel particularly that the origins of the conflict should be more fully addressed from all perspectives.
20. Schools in both Israel and Palestine should develop curricula which tell the tragedy of their long conflict from all perspectives, giving full and truthful information about the Holocaust against the Jews in 1941-1945, the long cycles of anti-semitic pogroms in Europe, as well as telling the story of the Naqba and the subsequent wars between Palestinian and Jewish people in an unbiased and factual manner. Violence done to both Israelis and Palestinians on both sides should also be recounted truthfully and objectively. Intellectuals should help devise school curricular introducing peace education into both Israeli and Palestinian schools so that hatred and fear are replaced by knowledge, understanding, hope and love
21. We urge that intellectuals, academics, thinkers, cultural figures, poets, musicians, writers, artists, philosophers,  media personalities and community leaders from both Israeli and Palestinian society, whether living in the two states or abroad, come forwards and take up their pens, brushes, violins, and instruments of cultural and intellectual creativity, and in so doing, encourage their fellow citizens to put down their “swords”, and prove together that the “pen is truly mightier than the sword” and that “the ink of the scholar is worth more than the blood of martyrs”.
22. In response to the killing of Palestinian Christian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, we call for an Independent International Commission Of Inquiry under UN, EU and Arab League auspices into the circumstances of this killing, and also the violence that was perpetrated at her funeral; we also call for the release of names and circumstance of all killings of Palestinians in the last 25 years to be made public to the Independent International Commission Of Inquiry, the names of all Palestinians currently being held in Israeli prisons and the crimes they are charged with to be likewise made public, the names of all Israelis killed by Palestinians in the last 25 years, and any Israelis currently being held in prisons outside of Israel. All of these names to be entered into the Book of Lost Lives: The Stories of the men, women and children who have lost their lives as a result of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, a book to be co-written by a team of Israeli and Palestinian and European historians, and modelled on the book Lost Lives: The Stories Of The Men, Women And Children Who Died As A Result Of The Northern Ireland Troubles (2004)
23. We call for an eventual Israeli-Palestinian Peace Museum to be established once a lasting peace is signed, documenting the long saga of this conflict from both sides, and that it be staffed by senior Israeli and Palestinian museologists and its contents be agreed by an international committee of academic experts on the history of this long conflict dating right back to the earliest times starting with the conflicts of the Philistines and the Hebrews in the Bible and even before that.
24. Details of eventual arrangements between the two states and how issues such as refugees, mutual rights, co-citizenship, the right to work and travel, inter-marriage, compensation, dual-citizenship,  etc. will all be addressed longer term, and can certainly be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction once the hearts and minds of Israeli and Palestinian political, cultural and intellectual leaders are aligned in the common pursuit of peace and mutual understanding, equity, reason, truth and nonviolence. We call for an Independent Judicial and Humanitarian Inquiry orchestrated by the UN and the International court of Justice to resolve all these issues.
25. We pray for the reconciliation of faiths and nations in the Middle East as the symbolic origination matrix of many of the world’s spiritual faith traditions including Zoroastrianism Judaism, Christianity, Islam (Sunnism, Shiism, Ismailism, Sufism, Alawites etc), Bahaism, Classical Paganism (Sumerian, Egyptian, Babylonia, Assyrian, Phoenician) etc. and we pray for a peace based on the reconciliation of hearts and we commend the work of the Abraham Accords as the start of a deeper peacemaking and we salute the ongoing work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the Middle East and pray that hope, dialogue, and peace theology triumph over division, dogmatism and discord.
26. Once a lasting Israeli-Palestinian Treaty of Nonviolent Co-Recognition and Peace Israel and Palestine is signed by the independent Palestinian State and the State of Israel, we call for the official re-opening of the Golden Gate in the wall of the Eastern side of Temple mount, the building of a durable large Peace Tent on the Temple Mount itself open to all peace pilgrims from throughout the planet, and the promotion of Jerusalem as a site for peace tourism to all religions worldwide, with official support and backing from both the Israeli and Palestinian governments. We call for a special “martial arts trained” non-violent peace force to patrol the Temple Mount and the Golden Gate  and for the area  to be entirely de-militarised with no weapons allowed on the mount whatsoever.

 

Signed:

 

Dr Thomas Clough Daffern, Director, International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy, European coordinator, World Intellectual Forum; Convenor, Commonwealth Interfaith Network.

 

Dr K.P.Mishra, Ph.D. - President, Asian Association for Radiation Research (AARR), 2017-2021; Former Vice Chancellor,NGB University, Allahabad
Ex Head, RB&HSD,Bhabha Atomic Res. Center,Mumbai; President, Foundation for Education and Research, India (FERI)

 

Prof D. Swaminadhan, Hyderabad, India, Global Chairman, World Intellectual Forum

 

Satyen Raja, Founder and Director, Warrior Sage, and Canadian coordinator for the International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy, Langley, British Columbia, Canada.

 

Dr. Ian Rex Fry,  Founder and President, Independent Global Faiths Research Group, and Coordinator, World Intellectual Forum, Australia

 

René Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens, France and Switzerland.

 

David Lorimer, Scientific and Medical Network Programme Director, Editor, Paradigm Explorer, Chair, the Galileo Commission, France.

 

The above declaration is given for discussion and submitted to WIF / IIPSGP members and other colleagues for signature.  Please submit your name, titles and designations if you wish to add your name as a signatory,  to the main author, Dr Thomas Clough Daffern on iipsgp@gmail.com  Thanks to all those who have made useful suggestions to improve the wording and make it even fairer to both sides.

 

MOHAMMAD ARKOUN (1928-2010) 

This leading Islamic Francophone intellecutal from Algeria was an Algerian scholar and thinker. He was considered to have been one of the most influential secular scholars in Islamic studies contributing to contemporary intellectual Islamic reform. In a career of more than 30 years, he had been a critic of the tensions embedded in his field of study, advocating Islamic modernism, secularism, and humanism. During his academic career, he wrote his numerous books mostly in French, and occasionally in English and Arabic. Arkoun was born in 1928 in Taourirt Mimoun, a Berber village in Great Kabylia in northern Algeria. His family was traditional, religious and relatively poor. His father was a shopkeeper in Ain al-Arba'a, a wealthy French settlement in east of Oran. He attended primary school in his Berber-speaking home village until he was nine-years-old. As the eldest son, he was expected to learn his father's trade, while continuing to attend primary school. He studied at the Faculty of Literature of the University of Algiers and at the Sorbonne in Paris (agrégé in Arabic language and Literature, 1956 and Ph.D., 1968). He established his academic reputation with his studies of the history and philosophy of Ibn Miskawayh. As he began to consider how one might rethink Islam in the contemporary world, his questioning provided a counterpoint to the predominant interpretations of both the Muslim world and the non-Muslim West. As the editor of Arabica, he broadened the journal's scope, and played a significant role in shaping Western-language scholarship on Islam. He is the author of numerous books in French, English and Arabic, including most recently: Rethinking Islam (Boulder, Colorado, 1994), L'immigration: défis et richesses (Paris, 1998) and The Unthought in Contemporary Islamic Thought (London, 2002).[3] His shorter studies have appeared in many academic journals and his works have been translated into several languages.He was decorated as a Commander of the French Legion of Honor in 2004, before that a Chevalier and Officer in 1984 and 1996, respectively. In 2001, Professor Arkoun was asked to deliver the Gifford Lectures, which enable a notable scholar to contribute to the advancement of theological and philosophical thought and was announced as the recipient of the Seventeenth Georgio Levi Della Vida Award for his lifelong contribution to the field of Islamic Studies.NOwadays there is the Mohammed Arkoun Library named after him as part of the excellent Paris public library system, perhaps one of hte best in the world.  Arkoun taught at the Lyon 2 University (1969–1972), as a professor, and at the Paris 8 University, and at the New Sorbonne University of Paris (1972–1992). He was a Fellow at Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin (1986–1987 and 1990) and at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.A (1992–1993), visiting professor at University of California, Los Angeles (1969), Princeton University (1985), Temple University, the University of Louvain-la-Neuve, Wallonia, Belgium, (1977–1979), the Pontifical Institute of Arabic Studies in Rome and the University of Amsterdam (1991–1993) and served as a jury member for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. At the time of his death he was Emeritus Professor at La Sorbonne as well as Senior Research Fellow and member of the Board of Governors of The Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS), At IIS, he has taught various graduate courses including unthought in contemporary Islamic thought, rethinking Islam, contemporary challenges of Muslim world and traditions for almost a decade. He appeared on numerous occasions on French TV and magazines, on Berbère Télévision speaking in Kabyle, his mother tongue, and on Al Jazeera speaking in Arabic.Arkoun died sadly on the evening of September 14, 2010, in Paris. Arkoun advocated a radical paradigm shift that would allow for the rethinking of Islam as a cultural and religious system and subvert ideological and dogmatic constructs with hegemonic claims. He was committed to contribute to an archaeology of the hidden, repressed, and marginalised elements of Islam, in order to uncover, and set free, what he called, 'the exhaustive tradition' of Islam. Most of his work is written in French rather than Arabic. In order to counter-act the philological and historical bias of traditional Islamic studies, he advocated what he called “applied Islamology”—following Roger Bastide's concept of “applied anthropology.” Applied Islamology aims to establish a “disciplinary space between political and historical sciences” (Arkoun, The answers, 25), taking into consideration elements of the courte and longue durée, as well as contemporary social factors. Arkoun has developed an inclusive approach which seeks to deal with Islamic tradition in its entirety, including elements characterised by the representatives of orthodoxy (or official religion) as heterodox, and therefore marginalised and repressed. He has adopted a multifaceted and holistic approach which looks between traditional dogma and axioms. Arkoun's critique of Islamic reason serves as the unifying theme, or leitmotif for the different concepts he elaborated over the course of time. his main publications In English are:
Arab Thought, ed. S.Chand, New Delhi, 1988.
Rethinking Islam : Common questions, Uncommon answers, today, Westview Press, Boulder, 1994.
The concept of revelation : from the people of the book to the societies of the book, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California, 1988.
The Unthought in Contemporary Islamic Thought, London, 2002.
Islam: To Reform or to Subvert, Saqi Books, London, 2006.
In French
Deux Epîtres de Miskawayh, édition critique, ed. B.E.O, Damas, 1961.
Aspects de la pensée islamique classique, ed. IPN, Paris, 1963.
L'humanisme arabe au 4e/10e siècle, ed. Vrin, Paris, 1973.
Traité d'Ethique, Trad., introd., notes du Tahdhîb al-akhlâq de Miskawayh, 1e éd.1969 (2e éd.1988).
Essais sur la pensée islamique, 1e ed. Maisonneuve & Larose, Paris, 1973 (2e éd. 1984).
La Pensée arabe, 1e éd. P.U.F., Paris, 1975 (6e éd. 2002).
L'Islam, hier, demain, (with Louis Gardet), 2e ed. Buchet-Chastel, Paris, 1982 (translation in Arabic, Beyrouth 1983).
L'Islam, religion et société, ed. Cerf, Paris, 1982 (translated in Italia, RAI 1980).
Lectures du Coran, 1e ed. Albin Michel, Paris, 1982 (2e Aleef, Tunis 1991).
Pour une critique de la Raison islamique, Paris, 1984.
L'Islam, morale et politique, UNESCO-Desclée, Paris, 1986.
Religion et laïcité: Une approche laïque de l'Islam, ed. L'Arbrelle, Paris, 1989.
Ouvertures sur l'Islam, 1e ed. J. Grancher, Paris, 1989.
L'Islam, approche critique, Paris, 1989.
Ouvertures sur l'islam, Paris, 1992.
L´Islam et les musulmans dans le monde, Paris, 1993.
Penser l'islam aujourd'hui, Alger, 1993.
L’Islam. Approche critique, Le livre du mois, Paris, 2002.
Combats pour l’Humanisme en contextes islamiques, Paris, 2002.
De Manhattan à Bagdad: Au-delà du Bien et du Mal, Paris, 2003.
ABC de l'islam, Paris, 2007.
La question éthique et juridique dans la pensée islamique, Paris, 2010.
La Construction humaine de l'islam, Paris, 2012.
Quand l’islam s’éveillera, Paris, 2018.

It can be said that he had not a litlte inflluence on inspiring the foundation of the Global Green University. in the mid 1990's the Rector of the GGU taught at the Muslim College in London, as a friend and colleague of the late Dr Zaki Badawi. Thomas met Mohammad Arkoun in these circles and was asked by him to become European rector of the Euro-Arab Itinerant University, which he had founded as an intellectual vehicle for symbiotic discussions between leading Islamic, European and secular thinkers, and Thomas was pleased to accept. In a sense, with Arkoun now dead, the GGU, now based in his beloved France, is part of the continuation of his work as a global educator. Furthermore, Thomas's detailed Commentary on the Holy Quran, completed from 2020-2021, is a project that Arkoun would undoubtedly have approved of. It is availble as a talking book exclusively on this website and for students of the Global Green University. 

There is also a foundation dedicated to his memory which keeps his work alive and in the public attentions. http://www.fondation-arkoun.org/anglais.html

 

The ongoing war betwen Ukraine and Russia, in which Russia invaded an autonomous and soverign nation against all international law and UN principles, has led to our issuing a declaration, as follows:

 

WORLD INTELLECTUAL FORUM (Europe) / INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF PEACE STUDIES AND GLOBAL PHILOSOPHY (IIPSGP) APPEAL

 

As intellectuals, philosophers, academics, scientists & teachers we issue this peace appeal to all the citizens of Russia, Ukraine and other countries from today, February 25, 2022, we call for:

 

1. An immediate ceasefire in Ukraine from all sides

 

2. The immediate withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine back to borders of Ukraine as on 14 Feb, 2022 (St Valentines Day)

 

3. Peace talks to get immediately underway without preconditions in a nonviolent atmosphere

 

4. Intellectuals, psychologists,  historians and philosophers to examine all sides of the issues involved, all claims and counter-claims, and examine them logically, truthfully and fairly

 

5. Faith leaders from all sides to support peace talks with prayer and theological and interfaith studies - call for all involved to sign THE INTERFAITH PEACE TREATY

 

6. Ukrainian Institute of Philosophy in Kiev to offer to host talks on the Philosophy of Peace with their Russian colleagues, and Russian Institute of Philosophy in Moscow to invite their Ukrainian colleagues

 

7. End to defamatory speeches against each other's leaders eg Putin calling the Ukranian government led by Zelensky (a Jewish Ukrainian citizen) a “gang of Nazis and drug addicts”

 

8. Release of people arrested in Russia for demonstrating against the invasion of Ukraine and permitting responsible public opposition demonstrations for peace

 

9. The rights for conscientious objectors not to have to fight in wars on moral and spiritual grounds to be respected in Ukraine and Russia also and in all countries worldwide

 

10. Mutual co-neutrality of Russia and Ukraine and NATO and EU.. All sides to suspend fighting and war activities in the region.. All sides to suspend judgment and practice ahimsa and nonviolence and anekantvada, epoche, love and enlightenment,  so as to discern the truth of all competing claims, using our seminar rooms instead of our battlefields

 

11. Politicians everywhere to have to tell the truth on all official and public matters, and to avoid all lying in parliamentary and all other democratic assemblies worldwide

 

12. Politicians to be required by law to: a) take regular mental health check ups and be required by parliaments to attend confidential counselling for personal issues, depression, paranoia etc. b) To take required trainings in conflict resolution skills, anger management, conflict management courses, spiritual and psychological development, leadership integrity skills etc.

 

13. Each country in NATO and the EU and UN to be required to establish a Ministry of Peace in their governments so as to conduct peace negotiations , mediations and conflict resolution procedures with technical competence and skill; such Ministries to be funded to the same degree as the Ministries of War or Defence in each country

 

14. The European Union to establish an EU Mediation Service and to help design a formal Peace Treaty with Russia, Ukraine and NATO and the EU all sworn to mutual nonviolence

 

15. We urge that women come forward to play key roles in the peacemaking process on all sides

 

Signed: Dr Thomas C Daffern (WIF European Coordinator, IIPSGP Director, Delphic Games Education Coordinator, European Council of Druids, Convenor)

Signed: Morag Fairley: Secretary to Intellectuals for a Free Scotland, (World Intellectual Forum), Dame Officer of the Order of St. George, Archivist and Undersecretary to the Patriarch of the Catholic Church of England and Wales,

Signed: Rosalba Nattero, President Eco-Spiritualty Foundation, Italy; IIPSGP Member, Italy; World Intellectual Forum Coordinator, Italy

Signed: Almira Rzehak, Philosopher,  IIPSGP Coordinator, USA

Signed: Dr Sean English, IIPSGP and WIF Coordinator, Republic of Ireland.

Signed: Helena Lorentzen MA IIPSGP and WIF Coordinator, Monaco

Signed: Annalisa Derr PhD. USA, Co-convenor of Mary Magdalene Studies Association

Signed: Gevork Manoukian, IIPSGP and WIF Coordinator, Armenia.

Signed: Bharti Jain Founder Namokaar Gym, Udaanbharti Sky Foundation, Intl Coordinator WIF, Youth Wing

Signed: Sue Bayliss,  Holistic Therapist, CEO Sulis Consulting, Norfolk, England, UK

 Signed: Mandy Kahn,  Writer in Residence, Philosophical Research Society, Los Angeles, USA

Dr Jeff Merrifield: Founder, Playback Arts Limited, Shetland Islands, UK.

Prof. Dr. Igor Kąkolewski, Direktor des Zentrums für Historische Forschung Berlin der Polnischen Akademie der Wissenschaften

Dr. Alan Sanderson, Psychiatrist, MRCP, MRCPsych. London, England, UK

Signed:  James Spencer Seymour II, B.A. Astrologer, Advisor, Writer, A.C.BSP Bhakti Yoga Instructor and founder of Starduster Services

 Signed:  Isabel Yaun, Artist and dance expert, Edinburgh, Scotland

 Signed:  Philip Carr-Gomm, Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, Lewes, England, UK

Signed:  David Lorimer,  Chair, The Galileo Commission, Programme Director, The Scientific and medical network, France

Signed: Una Rebic, Artist, academic and writer, Ljiubliana, Slovenia

Signed: Prince Frederick von Saxe-Lauenburg, President, Children of the World 2000, Patron of World Peace Gardens Network, England, UK

Signed: Nicola Hague, Documentary Film Maker, IIPSGP Media Coordinator, Torquay, Devon, UK

Signed: Frigga Asraaf, frithweaver, earth activist, founder of the Flame of Frith, Dordrecht, Netherlands

Signed: Dr Katyayni Singh, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Jagran Lakecity University, Bhopal, India,   Member of Nonkilling Leadership Research Committee, Center for Global Nonkilling, Hawaii.

Signed: Gretchen Cornwall, Author, historian, archaeologist, singer-songwriter, world traveller and expert on the history of the Knights Templars, member at the  British Archaeological Association, England, UK

Signed: Lucy Lidell, writer, healer, singer and Rosen Method Bodywork practitioner in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England, UK

.Signed: René Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens

Signed: Dr. George Mutalemwa, Executive Secretary of the Association of Catholic Universities and Higher Institutes of Africa and Madagascar, Tanzania.

Signed:  Dr. Arun Pratap Sikarwar, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Dayalbagh Educational Institute (Deemed University), Agra- 282005 (India)

Signed:  Lester Kurtz, Professor, George Mason University, Virginia, USA, Editor-in-Chief, Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, and Conflict (Elsevier, 3rd edition 4 volumes, 2022)

Signed:  Julia Bolton Holloway, Ph.D., President, Aureo Anello Associazione, Professor Emerita, Custode, Florence's 'English' Cemetery

 

To add your name to this list of signatories, please do so in the same format, with your titles and designations, and email the text back to us at iipsgp@gmail.com

– further details on the work of the World Intellectual Forum can be seen at https://worldintellectualforumeurope.weebly.com

 details on The International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy (IIPSGP) are at www.educationaid.net

 

We hope that you will help advance the work of the Global Green Univerity, stay devoted to the thought that we can create a world of peace and justice, notwithstanding all the madness that anti-intellecutal populists who have seized power in several societies seem to be promoting. The rioters who attacked Washington DC on Jan 6, 2019; the Putin funded Brexiteer Tory Party; the Trump supporters in the USA Republican Party, the Putin supporters who say his invasion of Ukraine either isnt happening, or is justified - these are the people we are up against. Time to sharpen those pens, friends; remember, the Pen is Mightier than the Sword... 

 

Dr Thomas Clough Daffern

Rector, Global Green University

June 10, 2022

 

 

 

 

 

Rector’s Blog Update for Green University for 2021

 

COVID 19

Since our last blog, the COVID pandemic has continued unchecked in many parts of the World. Over 2 million people have died Worldwide and the numbers are increasing- in some countries, exponentially. India is particularly badly hurt at the moment. Where did all this come from? Is it nature’s wake up call to humanity? Or is it something bio-weapons experts deliberately manufactured, and then it leaked?

In France, 99,480 people have died. In the UK, 127,123 people have died. In the USA, 576,567 people have died. In China, only 4636 have died. In India, 171,929 people have died. In Russia 103, 601 people have died. In Italy 115, 088 people have died. In Iran 65,055 people have died. And so on…

 

Worldwide some 3.4 million people have already died from this pandemic. 

These numbers change every day and you can find them on here: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/?utm_campaign=homeAdUOA?Si%3Ca%20href=

 

By any accounting, this is a global catastrophe and one whose real origins are still unknown. There are only two possible explanations; either it was an accidental fluke of nature - a Bat Virus married up with a Pangolin Virus and somehow got loose in Wuhan.  Or the other explanation is that it was engineered in a bio weapons lab deliberately. Probably in Wuhan but with funding from the USA, as well as China, and then escaped by accident. Recently, Jamie Metzel told 60 Minutes that the recent WHO team sent to China to investigate the cause of the outbreak had no one on the team trained in how to formally investigate a lab leak. Metzel is part of an international group that on March the 4th issued an open letter calling for a full and unrestricted forensic investigation into the origins of the pandemic. Metzel told 60 minutes that the lab leak theory is equally plausible as the ‘nature’s accident theory’ and deserves investigation. Robert Redfield, former director of the centres for disease control and prevention, told CNN he believes the Corona Virus escaped from a lab in Wuhan. An article published in Newsweek on March 25th 2021 also questioned the Animal-Human theory stating “it’s not impossible, it’s just getting-struck-by-lightening-while-being-eaten-by-a-shark unlikely”.

 

From the perspective of the Global Green University, it is outrageous that we are still sitting here in lockdown all over the world and nobody is really asking the right questions. We have discovered that the International Bio-Warfare Convention (1975), which outlaws all biological warfare, provides a mechanism that tests conclusively either way. Is this a manmade bio weapon that has escaped or is it a freak of nature? Incredibly, not a single country which is a signatory of this convention, has as yet actioned the mechanism under international law to activate the investigation. The director of the GGU has written to several international countries urging them to initiate the procedure but as yet, this has still not been done. It is a matter of planetary shame that the intellectuals and academics of the world seem to have been silenced into accepting the ‘shark and lightning theory’ without even calling for a proper investigation. It breaks all the rules of forensic medicine. Better late than ever is what we say. So we have now (May 2021) taken a further step, and set up the ICIAOC (INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO THE AETIOLOGY OF COVID 19). ICIAOC is circulating an information document to dozens of top researchers worldwide asking them to submit evidence to the ICIAOC. Anyone who can recommend other experts adn interested parties to give evidence, please get in touch. Our remit is solely to investigate the aetiology (cause) of this disease and also to remain objective, scientific and intellectually fair in our dealings while doing so, examining all evidence submitted impartially.  The brochure’s contents are as follows (please email us if you would like a copy):

 

 

INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO THE AETIOLOGY OF COVID 19

 

1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION………………………………………………………………………………………..1
2. WHO IS BEHIND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO THE AETIOLOGY OF COVID 19 (ICIAOC)?.....................................................................................................................3
3. ONGOING RESEARCH UNDERWAY INTO THE AETIOLOGY OF THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC.6
4. COMMUNICATIONS AND STATEMENTS ALREADY MADE BY WIF AND IIPSGP………………….33
5. HOW THE WORK OF ICIAOC WILL PROCEED…………………………………………………….37
6. HOW YOU CAN SUBMIT EVIDENCE TO THE  ICIAOC ..…………………………………………37

 

BIDEN / AMERICAN POLITICS-

The World held its breath as Trump supporters attacked the Capitol on January 6th 2021 and a fascist, white racist military coup against American democracy was prevented by the courage of a handful of police officers on duty. Trump gloated in his power to cause mayhem and chaos- like the chaos magician that he is, along with his sidekick Steve Bannon. Fortunately, Biden went on to win to be inaugurated as the American President. One of his first actions was to resign the Paris Climate Change Treaty. Biden is aware of the importance of Environmental Action to prevent more climate catastrophe. Whereas Trump was a climate change denier acting as a mouthpiece of the Big Energy Giants who regard the Green Movement as an annoying flea to be squashed by their control of the mass media. This was all documented in the book ‘Green Backlash’ by Andrew Rowell who explained how the corporate sector have been trying to infiltrate the green movement for the last 30 years, to lessen its impact. Therefore, from the perspective of the GGU Biden’s victory is a welcome relief and we wish him the best of luck along with Kamala Harris and the rest of their team, in trying to roll back the destructive impact of Trump’s half-baked policies. However his lack of fairness in mediation the flare up of conflict between israel and Gaza & Palestine is worrying. Is he not aware that HAMNAS was funded adn sponsored and created by Israeli intelligence? Anyone doubting this should watch this report by journalist Mehdi Hasan on https://theintercept.com/2018/02/19/hamas-israel-palestine-conflict/

 

BREXIT:

As some colleagues will be aware, the Rector has been engaged in a concerted campaign to reverse the madness of Brexit. Along with many other reasons, the environmental case for staying in the EU and working with other countries to highlight environmental policies makes the case for re-joining crystal clear in our opinion. Of course, the EU isn’t perfect but it is the best attempt to get the Nations of Europe working together in harmony on Peace, Environmentalism, Human Rights, Education, Prosperity, International Solidarity etc. in all of history. For the UK to turn its back on it at this critical time in World Affairs, having been sold lies and misinformation by the BBC and populist media in the pay of super rich tax-dodgers and corporate billionaires is a sheer derogation of duty that is embarrassing to watch for anyone who loves the once ‘Great Britain’. It’s shocking ignorance of the wishes of the people of Northern Ireland and Scotland is a travesty against the internal “unwritten” democratic constitution of the UK. The GGU, for seven years was based in Scotland and learnt to love and appreciate the fire, vision and passion of the Scottish people. They are fiercely proud of their beautiful environment with its immense natural resources. Therefore, we support their wish for independence, their desire to kick out nuclear weapons from Scotland and their determination to re-join the EU, as they rightly say, Scotland is a European Nation in its own right. Many of the greatest of modern European philosophers have been touched or influenced by Scottish thinkers. Kant, was part Scottish himself. Marx was supported by his beloved wife, Jenny, without whom Marxism wouldn’t exist and who was herself part Scottish. Therefore, we look forward as the GGU to the wheels of karmic history turning in the way of Wyrd and Scotland, a once more independent nation, re-joining Europe where she belongs.

 

 

WEEKLY BROADCASTS AND FASTINGS-

Colleauges may be aware that since the catastrophic implications of Brexit became obvious, your Rector has been involved in a weekly series of fasts, every Sunday. During which he records a film broadcast giving a survey of World Events from a largely Spiritual, Philosophical and Metaphysical perspectives. Over 60 such broadcasts have been made and they can all be watched on our YouTube Channel- IPPSGIP1 or click on this link https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWyEBLOmXy1B4fnGIFN7UHA

 

INTELLECTUALS FOR FREE SCOTLAND-

Given what we have said above about the importance of Scottish Independence, it is not enough that we should hope for Scottish Independence but we should help actively work for it. Thus, the rector of the GGU has got involved with NOW SCOTLAND, a new trans-party pressure group to campaign and lobby for Scottish independence as a successor state within the UK. The details of all this need working out. How exactly will nuclear weapons be removed from Scotland? Who exactly owns which parts of North Sea Oil? How will British Military Intelligence divide up its assets? Will there be customs checks on the M6? How will the archives and official papers of the UK be divided equitably among its successor states (Scotland and Englandandwales)? These are the sorts of complicated questions that Intellectuals for Free Scotland will be looking at. Anyone interested in getting involved, please contact us for further details. The Green Party in Scotland is very much in favour of Scottish Independence is actively campaigning for a new Scottish Independence Referendum. We are glad that  the vote on May 6th  resulted in a convincing victory for pro-independence parties who now have the mandate to initiate the second independence referendum during the latter part of 2021. We will be watching this space with interest.

 

TPNW- THE TREATY FOR THE PROHIBITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

The Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has come into law in January 2021. This is a milestone in human history. For the first time an internationally binding treaty has come into operation, signed already by over 70 countries who have pledged never to hold, develop, stockpile, use or threaten to use nuclear weapons under any circumstances whatsoever. Ireland, Austria, most Latin American Countries, Palestine, Jordan and many other countries worldwide- including the Vatican. The task for the coming phase is to get the countries that own and develop nuclear weapons to sign the treaty. As yet, not a single one has done so. Why the Scottish issue is so important from the GGU perspective is that the Scottish independence movement has said that the minute they get independence they will sign this treaty as a free sovereign country and require all nuclear weapons to leave Scottish soil. Our prayer is that this could be a trigger for the UK as a whole to renounce nuclear weapons and to sign the treaty. We believe the Scottish People can show the way forward and become the first nuclear weapons holding power to sign the treaty. This is surely a cause worth campaigning for.

 

WORLD INTELLECTUAL FORUM- (WIF)

As well as running the Global Green University, your Rector has taken on the duty of coordinating the World Intellectual Forum for Europe. As well as writing a number of blogs and newsletters for members we have published a journal, developed a website and organised a monthly zoom conference since September 2020. This has enabled leading intellectuals from all over the World to speak together about important matters including Peace, Environmental Issues, Human Rights, and Education etc. We have undertaken these meetings with Trans-Brahma, an Indian Think Tank and IPPSGP. All of these events have been recorded and can be watched on the IPPSGP YouTube Channel. Check out the websites of the WIF here: https://worldintellectualforumeurope.weebly.com & http://www.wiforg.in

 

REFUGEES-

The world’s situation with refugees at the moment, and for the past few years, has been pretty horrendous. Wars and destabilisation in many parts of the world, lead to people fleeing for their lives and often having to give up everything they possess to do so. Worldwide it is estimated there are 26 million refugees of whom 50% are under the age of 18. There are also millions of stateless people, denied a Nationality and basic human rights such as education, healthcare, employment, freedom of movement etc. Adding all of these together, the UNHCR estimates there are 79.5 million forcibly displaced people worldwide including 45 million internally displaced people i.e. people for whatever reason being kept in camps even in their own countries. There are many reasons for huge numbers of refugees, including environmental catastrophes (which overlaps with economic reasons), but also religious persecution and civil war and international wars. The Global Green University is a project initiated by IPPSGP in the year 2000 to try to focus academic minds on preventing war and conflict worldwide, not least, recent wars like those in the Middle East, which are also disastrous for the Environment. Oxford University’s Refugee Studies Centre, the LSE and other such research centres have long documented the impact of war on instability of human populations. The LSE has a Migration Studies Unit which runs an MSC in International Migration and Public Policy. They also run courses on International Migration, Social Conflict and Public Policy under Dr Patrick McGovern and Dr Thielmann as well as publishing a series of working papers and the Journal of Refugee Studies.

With the outbreak of conflict in Syria many refugees came to Europe, and likewise from Libya, which caused anxiety and internal conflict between and among European nations: How should we deal with massive influx of refugees? The people that banged the Brexit drum in the UK used this as a propaganda tool to argue for Brexit. The EU was castigated for being too soft on refugees and campaign posters for Brexit promoted by Farage and co showed long lines of refugees crossing the Balkans as if Europe was about to be ‘swamped’ uncontrollably. This propaganda undoubtedly contributed to Brexit’s fake victory. The posters themselves were later shown to be fakes made up of photoshopped elements, but they had done their trick by spreading fear. You can get domestic populations to turn into racist xenophobes virtually overnight it seems.

Now, we have a situation where there are still some 2000 refugees in Northern France trying (ironically) to get into the UK but being blocked from doing so by the xenophobic Brexit Government that has seized power. The lifestyles of these people are not easy, to put it mildly, and every day they risk their lives, trying on trains, lorries and boats to get across the channel and sadly fatalities occur on a regular basis. Many of the refugees in Northern France have come from war torn countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Yemen, Libya, Iraq, Kurdistan, Palestine, South Sudan, Ethiopia etc. In our view, the only long term sustainable solution to the problem of refugees Worldwide, including Europe is for the World’s Political and Intellectual Leadership to make a concerted and comprehensive effort to heal the conflicts raging in many parts of the world at source. For mediating these civil war type conflicts in a holistic, sympathetic and imaginative way. all international governance agencies such as the UN and the EU, should collaborate on this work as a matter of priority. This is why we have called for the European Union to create the European Union Mediation Service (EUMS)  without delay. When you see buildings on fire in a city, the fire brigade rushes to the scene. Even in classical and medieval times, towns organised local fire brigade services. It is a basic feature of human nature to be sociable, caring and compassionate for one another. Therefore, the World must up its ante on conflict resolution work and work creatively with all partners involved. We must put an end to these tragic conflicts underway worldwide. At present, too often governance structures meddle, interfere, exacerbate and increase the conflicts through covert and overt action using propaganda, assassinations, infiltrations and the powers of the dark web to make situations worse rather than better. It is as if a mixture of incompetent and morally delinquent adolescents have seized control of the academy and are governing us. The Global Green University is part of the fight back against the epidemic of ignorance that has swept over the world in the last 20 years since our founding. We all thought the ending of the cold war in Europe would lead to peace and reconciliation on Earth, but instead opportunists and supporters of military capitalism have done a diabolic pact with right wing political parties in order to subvert social stability and the peace consensus that had developed in the wake of WW2. Enough is enough, perhaps the world’s academics should consider going on strike one day a month worldwide (and fasting) until we get proper institutional mechanisms to resolve these conflicts. What is the point of education if all we are doing is papering over the cracks in a broken and failing world system? The vision of hte GGU was from the beginning that of a parallel university, one that is truly global in scope adn supportive of values of peace, justice, equality, non-violence and a demilitarised world. We are all truly refugees from the Kingdom of Heaven, and we are all pilgrims in a difficult world and ought to be helping each other home through the light of intellect, the power of faith and the ink of scholarship.

 

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE-

If you read all the above carefully, you will be led to the inescapable conclusion that the problems of the world cannot be solved on a piecemeal basis, bit by bit, but rather they need some joined up thinking. So many of the problems being faced in different parts of the world e.g. war and peace, refugees, poverty, civil wars, environmental destruction, banditry etc. are caused by similar forms of societal breakdown, lack of trust in authorities and social conflict. Not surprisingly, International bodies are struggling to cope. The latest challenge has come from the COVID pandemic, which few of us could have foreseen and the uncertainty of its cause only adds to our difficulties. And now, in May 2021, we have the latest outbreak of fighting in the asymmetrical Gaza-Palestine-Israel conflict.  The Global Green University has been actively in touch therefore with several Global Governance initiatives and has, through the auspices of the World Intellectual Forum, been trying to get them to collaborate and work out a consensus on the way forward. The World Constitution and Parliament Association is presided over by Philosopher Professor Glen T Martin who spoke at our last WIF zoom conference on the 30th March. His organisation holds regular World Parliament Meetings and has an elaborate constitution worked out which has been in the process of evolution since the 1960s being initially spearheaded by Philip Isely. They believe that a World Parliamentary system of delegated MPs should be brought together with authority to discuss common global problems and to propose solutions that would greatly advance our resilience as a planet to cope with planetary meltdown. The difference between this project and the United Nations is that under its World Constitution- armies would be abolished, intelligence agencies disbanded, all nuclear weapons removed from the planet and nation states would gradually become redundant as people transferred their loyalties to the world federal authority. Professor Martin spoke movingly at our zoom conference on why he believes philosophically this step is not only desirable but also inevitable. At the same time, we also have on the World Intellectual Forum the project of ‘The Universal State of the Earth’ initiated by Dr Nicolas Haggar and Dr Igor Kondrashin and other luminaries. They have a more aristocratic approach to global governance and think that the luminaries of the world should simply come together and form a world government ab initio. If only… Your Rector has also worked with Dr Kondrashin on a proposal to have Socrates declared innocent by the City Government of Athens and the National Government of Greece in retrospect. Some 2400 years since he was sentenced to death in 399BC for thinking too much in public. We’ve also proposed, through the World Intellectual Forum, a ‘Global Good Governance Council’ should be brought into being. Comprising all the parallel bodies working on this topic not just the USE and the World Constitution and Parliament Association but also the Global Policy Institute, the Madrid Council, the Elder’s Group, the Global Thinkers Forum, the Paris Peace Forum, UN Alliance for Civilisations and many other bodies worldwide should cooperate together towards the common goal of building a peaceful, just, humane and sustainable world order in which human solidarity and love replace conflict and greed as the main modalities of group behaviour Worldwide. But the ongoing work of the UN is also important and nothing int eh above should take away a strengthening of its own mandate and its important work for peace. Now the UN is the only thing that prevents a total collapse into moral barbarism. Its needs stronger teeth and the ability to impose sanctions on countries that flout international law, as Israel has been doing over Gaza and the Palestine situation for years, not less. Netayahu’s rudeness when he has addressed recent UN General Assemblies is indicative of his cruelty as a person, who seems to think the UN are the bad guys of history. Talk about revisionism ! His views are also shared by the lunatic wing of the Christian-Zionist movement that supported Trump and marched on the Capitol on Jan 6. These people believe in an imminent coming of a vengeful Judaeo-Christian messiah who will zap all his enemies (including all the Muslims and Roman Catholics)and leave the earth a stinking ruin, and the UN will also be destroyed by this army of avenging angels.. Well, sorry, these kinds of ideas belong in the lunatic wing of history along with the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. These are dark times the planet is facing and we need above all rational adn serious intellectual debate about the way forward. The GGU stands ready to assist with that work on the academic front.

 

CONCLUSION:

In all of the above areas, the Global Green University has been active during this last 16 month period of the COVID pandemic, and we are determined to go on playing our role alongside other visionary education projects, to put our shoulder to the wheel blocking the cave  entrance to our collective resurrection and enlightenment. The job of academics and intellectuals should not be underestimated. Everyone involved with education knows how valuable it is but those of us who have opened our eyes to the possibilities of a better world realise that higher education in many parts of the world is part of the problem rather than of the solution. The GGU will continue to try and marshal the forces of intellectual resistance who are seeking genuine solutions to our unprecedented challenges and who are seeking inspiration from the numberless sources of higher knowledge that are now available to us in our time. We hope sincerely, that you will enjoy the resources made available here on our flagship website where many of the great Spiritual and Intellectual traditions of Humanity are analysed and discussed in great detail. One of the most important documents to have been uploaded is our Comprehensive Transpersonal Historical Commentary on the Quran, which has taken nearly 10 years to finish and which is still being completed with commentary on new Verses & Surahs being added to all the time. Given the fighting in Palestine and Gaza it is perhaps of great interest to study anew this founding document of Islam and to ask how it can be reconciled with other sacred scriptures around the world. The Rector has drawn on his extensive knowledge of Sufism to undertake this Commentary. It is perhaps also worth pointing out that green is the colour both of Islam and also El Khidr, a mysterious source of much esoteric knowledge in Sufism. More on the implications of this in the next Rectors Blog.

 

TcDAffern

Rector, Global Green University

May 20, 2021

 

 

June 17, 2020.

The world is facing some very strange and difficult crises all at once. One hardly knows where to start: the Covid 19 lockdown is one of the most challenging, as it has affected everyone, literally, on planet earth. And to date some 400,000 people have died from this tragedy. From a green perspective, it has either been caused by catastrophic research on tampering around with already deadly viruses to make them even more deadly (quite likely say some scientists) or it has been caused by humans invading niches in the ecosphere where we don’t really belong and getting too up-close to exotic bats. Either way, it’s a catastrophe for humanity with vast implications. At the same time we are now suffering from an outbreak of racist violence in the USA and vivid reminders of how ante-diluvian the policing methods are in the land of Jim Crow. The people who shot Abraham Lincoln (in a conspiracy never really brought to justice, like so many others) seem to be intent on carrying on as if the Confederacy won the civil war. They are also engaged in massive fraudulent misinformation via the internet through Steve Bannon and his data manipulation empire of Cambridge Analytica and their surrogates that makes Goebbels’ propaganda look puny and amateurish. This is something that makes you want to rest the clocks and wonder if we are living in 2020 or 1820 ! Then the ever present dangers of runaway global warming are continuing to exercise great minds around the planet, and the UN Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change is issuing guidance on this front, now from lock down. At the same time there remains the ever present fear or possibility of accidental nuclear weapons discharge leading to a third world nuclear war, and the self destruction of humanity. If you don’t believe me, watch the documentary movie The Man Who Saved the Earth, about a humble Russian army Colonel who literally did that. So these are just some of the many reasons to look at things from a green perspective. If you do, and you listen to just some of the amazing intellectual and spiritual resources available here on this website, you will find moral, and rational and scientific intelligence enough to carry on with the struggle. Today we have to solve all these problems, simultaneously - and for that we need joined up thinking. But that is exactly what the esoteric traditions of humanity (Kabbalah,. Sufism, Gnosis) etc. provided to our forebears. It gave them hope and a trial to peace in the midst of chaos and war. It can do the same for us. So listen in, drink your fill. And get on with planetary salvation. We have a world to save together - no more, no less. And it is worth it - because it is full of such beauty, such courage and such imagination, and such love. Adn don’t fogrte the 4 volume Little Book of Peace Declarations that has juist been published – that is anothdr extraordainry resource we can all use to hold our rulers to account. After all there is no point in reinventing the wheel – the are declarations our governments have signed, so let us hold them to account, and we can start by learning about them. Strange these things are not taught in normal schools or normal university degree courses. Strange nobody before your Rector has ever thought to compile all these vital treaties into place. Funny that isn’t it ? Makes you wonder what the Statue of Liberty is holding that Torch for all these years ! You can find these 4 volumes here www.lulu.com/spotlight/iipsgp.

TCDaffern