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Build
the "Global Village"
on
Ground Zero, Literally!
By
Evelin
Gerda Lindner
Dr. psychol., Dr. med., University of
Oslo, Norway, Institute of Psychology
TFF
associate
Ground Zero is a place of profound sadness and heart
breaking sorrow. Its earth is filled with the blood of
thousands who lost their lives. For what did these people
die? Their deaths seem so meaningless. Could we, the
living, give their deaths meaning, even if only
postmortem?
What would the dead want us, the living, to build on
their graves? What would they reply, if they could speak?
Would they want us to leave Ground Zero empty, literally
"zero"? Or would they want us, the living, build a
memorial for the unspeakable tragedy that happened?
I believe the dead would want to offer life, they
would be delighted by symbols of liveliness and joy, and
not be willing to invest in past sufferings. The dead
would wish to dedicate their deaths to be the seeds for
future peace, not for future divisions. To die for peace
provides ultimate sublime and divine meaning, much more
meaning than to die for future war and hatred.
Therefore I propose to build the "Global Village,"
build it literally, on Ground Zero. How often do we use
the term "global village," we use it as a symbol, a
dream, a myth, why not build it? Why not envision its
materialization on Ground Zero? Why not think up a
conglomerate of styles and architectural ideas from
around the globe, brought together under One roof, a
conglomerate that symbolizes our hopes for a peaceful
future of our planet? Why not forge into bricks, glass,
and steel, concrete and wood, a vision of a future where
neighbors live amicably together in the global village?
Why not give tangibility to this dream? Offices,
apartments, restaurants, theatres, everything could be
imagined and built within the idea that the Global
Village is to be expressed.
The "Global Village" area should not only house a
global trade center but also global centers of culture
with music, art, dance, and literature, as well as
centers of food, of religion, of the environment, of
medicine and science, and of local governments. It could
be a complement to the UN. A place in which people of
different foci of interest, from different national and
cultural backgrounds, would be able to interact about
their common interests in an area where they would
inevitably come into contact with people with different
interests. William Hartung from the World Policy
Institute at the New School University in New York, told
me that Lewis Mumford (1895-1990), a philosopher, writer,
architectural critic and urban planner, reflected on the
UN building in New York and that it symbolized hierarchy
instead of a more egalitarian vision of the future of the
global village. The new "Global Village" could remedy
that!
Which place would be more predestined for such a
powerful symbol than Ground Zero? The World Trade Towers
housed people from around the globe. In other words,
those who died were already messengers of the dream of a
global village that cooperates and works together. Why
not fulfill their unfinished message? On Ground Zero, we
should not increase the rifts of the past; we should
increase bridges for the future.
In 1991, when I came to Europe after having worked as
a psychological counselor in Egypt for seven years (among
others at the American University in Cairo), I was
alarmed by the blindness and egocentric illusion of
security among the rich. In 1993 I organized a festival
under the motto "better global understanding" and "global
responsibility," where I asked a whole city, the German
city of Hamburg, with 1.5 million inhabitants, to reflect
on the contributions every individual could provide to
build a "global village" that really deserves this name.
About 20 000 people came, 4000 of them brought objects
that they had prepared, such as, for example, sheets of
paper with texts of ideas, speeches, or reflections, or
canvases with drawings of imagined futures for the globe.
This very special festival was called "Hamburg's Chain of
Ideas."
Subsequent to this festival, inspired by the thousands
of ideas that had streamed in, I developed and discussed
with architects the idea of the Global Village being
built as a conglomerate of houses coming together under
One large roof. I contacted architects who experimented
with large and innovative roof constructions that could
span many buildings and give material expression to the
idea that humankind, as diverse as it may be, has to
learn to enjoy its diversity peacefully under One
Roof.
Upon returning to Europe after many years of
experience in Asia and the Middle East, European
attitudes reminded me of Marie Antoinette, a member of
the French aristocracy at the outset of the French
revolution, who displayed heartless naivety when she
chose to stay uninformed about the poverty of her
underlings; she is reported to have asked why the poor
did not eat cake when they ran out of bread. She had to
pay with her life for her naivety: the guillotine cut off
her head.
The problem was that the French aristocracy was used
to underlings who accepted humiliation, and these
aristocrats were therefore unprepared, when their
underlings "woke up." The English aristocracy, in
comparison, did not face the guillotine, a fact that
shows that an elite indeed can contribute to constructive
change, and that feelings of humiliation among
downtrodden underlings do not necessarily lead to either
apathetic submission or violent uprising, but may lead
instead to benign and creative measures of
reconciliation, such as those the name of Nelson Mandela
stands for.
The notion of humiliation has been my topic of
research since 1996. It is common knowledge to assume
that World War II was triggered, at least partly, by the
humiliation that the Versailles Treaties inflicted on
Germany after the First World War. This assumption
represents a social-psychological hypothesis that has
been taken seriously by politicians and historians; the
Marshall Plan, for example, avoided to humiliate Germany
again after the Second World War.
In 1996 I asked myself whether this hypothesis has
ever been explored by social psychology proper. A
literature search showed that the answer was no. The
notion of humiliation has hardly ever been researched on
its own account, except by a handful of researchers. The
phenomenon of humiliation clearly is ubiquitous and
permeates research on trauma, violence, or aggression;
however it is usually confounded with the terminus of
shame or other related notions.
In 1996 I designed a doctoral research project with
the aim to focus on the concept of humiliation,
differentiate it from other notions, and explore its
role, not only in the distant past, but also in more
recent events of violence, genocide and war. I
interviewed over 200 people who were either implicated in
or knowledgeable on the genocides in Rwanda and Somalia.
This fieldwork was backed up by interviews with people
involved in German history. From 1997-2001 this project
was financed by the Norwegian Research Council (on behalf
of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs within the
Research Programme on Multilateral Development
Assistance). I concentrated on building a "Psychology and
Theory of Humiliation" and have through this work created
a new multidisciplinary niche in the academic landscape.
(In 2001 I defended my doctoral dissertation on
humiliation at the Department of Psychology at the
University of Oslo, and thus earned my second Ph.D.,
subsequent to a doctorate in Psychological Medicine in
1994 in Germany).
The phenomenon of humiliation seems to be at the core
of current global and local conflicts, be it the global
threat of terrorism, or urban or family violence.
Humiliation seems to be the mediating link that turns
grievances, such as poverty or abuse, into "nuclear bombs
of emotions." Poverty, for example, as well as abuse,
does not unavoidably trigger violence, on the contrary,
living under harsh circumstances may lead to apathy,
depression, submission, or even heroism. A Nelson Mandela
gives unsurpassed guidance on the latter. Yet, as soon as
such sufferings are translated into overarching
narratives of illegitimate lowering and humiliation, the
desire for retaliation may emerge. Victims may yearn for
and plan acts of humiliation against perceived
humiliators (real or imagined) and thus victims may
become perpetrators. If this happens at the group level,
such plans may be channeled into group violence, as has
happened in Rwanda and other places. A Mandela could have
become a Hitler. And an Osama bin Laden may not be the
last aspirant.
At present we live in a world that invites humankind
into embracing the human rights message that every human
being, by virtue of being born as a human being,
possesses an inner core of dignity that ought not to be
humiliated. This invitation is indeed heard and listened
to around the globe, and it is understood as an
invitation into dignifying quality of life for all.
Poverty, under this new paradigm, is no longer fate or
bad luck or "my own fault only;" poverty acquires the
status of a violation of human rights, perpetrated by the
rich on the poor. Environments that are disabling are no
longer accepted, they are seen as massive acts of
humiliation. To create "enabling environments" for all,
this is the call of the day. Only under the paradigm of
enabling environments for all in the global village can
diversity flourish without any undercurrent of
oppression. This is because there are two notions of
freedom around and the world yearns for "freedom for
all," as opposed to "freedom for elites to humiliate the
rest."
Let us build a symbol of a free and democratic Global
Village in which neighbors live together in dignity and
mutual respect, without humiliation. Let us build this
symbol on Ground Zero. There is no better opportunity for
the healing of the world's wounds and demonstrating our
dedication to future peace. The world needs to be united
in this vision. Ground Zero should serve this noble goal.
Building the Global Village on Ground Zero is a unique
chance for America to invite the world into its dream of
freedom, democracy, and happiness for all.
I am currently concentrating on writing a book on
humiliation and founding an institute or center for the
studies of humiliation. Columbia University, especially
Professors at Teachers College such as Morton Deutsch, or
Clifford Hill who is the guardian of this text, have been
of immeasurable inspiration to my work.
©
TFF & the author 2002
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