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The Campaign For Earth Federation Through "A New Philadelphia"

The Campaign for Earth Federation (CEF) has been associated with AWF since 1974. Now a publishing house, the current focus of the CEF is to promote the idea of "A New Philadelphia" - an international convention to be called to draft a provisional constitution for a democratic partner (or replacement) for the UN, just as the 1787 Philadelphia Convention drafted a constitution for the USA to replace the inadequate Articles of Confederation that were then allowing the states' newly-won independence to drift toward chaos.

Conceived in 1971 by students at the University of Wales who were unaware (in those pre-Google days) of Federal Union and the World Federalist Movement, the CEF was officially founded at a meeting in the summer of 1972 at the University of Malta, whose campus hosted the CEF's original headquarters. It was in Malta that the CEF published its first book, The Spring of Civilization by Ian Hackett (1973).

Moving off campus to offices donated by Chris Langlands, a Malta-based ex-Indian Army officer, CEF also published a monthly newsletter, Earth - the Alternative Global News Magazine, edited by Hackett and Godfrey Pirotta, until the late seventies, and ran meetings on both sides of the Atlantic. Pirotta subsequently went on to become Professor of Public Policy at the University of Malta, while Hackett, whose activities brought him into contact with the World Federalists of Canada in the spring of 1974, joined the AWF on his return to London later that year and has since spent time as its treasurer (1983-93) and chair (1991-2) and as director of the One World Trust (1994-9). The CEF has recently published two books with world federalist content: One Day Wide (2008) by Ted Wheatley tells of the author's world federalist epiphany while travelling round the world by motor scooter and dhow in the 1950s and weaves a fascinating tapestry of autobiographical anecdotes and world federalist thought; and Succeeding Revolutions (2005, 2006), which promotes the idea of "A New Philadelphia Convention" after looking at parallels between the American Revolution and the birth of US democracy on the one hand, and at the present birth-pangs of the global democracy movement on the other. Both books are available from CEF (see the bottom of this page) and more information on the latter follows.

Ian Hackett

Succeeding Revolutions

18th Century America and the 21st century World

Paperback 112 pages £6.99 CEF Publications 2006 ISBN 0-9552454-0-0

"A brilliant book which I am sure will make a big impact. The concept of parallel histories is very innovative and interesting ...[Hackett] offers a credible hope for the future" ( former UK Cabinet Minister, Tony Benn )

"a rattling good read" ( former UK Government Science Advisor, Dr. Peter Baker ).

The comments quoted above relate to the first printing of Succeeding Revolutions and were received well before the September devastation of New Orleans - the first of the book's many catastrophic predictions to be realised. Hackett's predictive flair began with his first book, The Spring of Civilization (CEF, 1973), which proved prophetic in foretelling the break-up of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Iraq, and in raising the issues of climate change and fundamentalist terror decades before they were first discussed by mainstream analysts.

Ian Hackett is a former director of the One World Trust, recently retired head of the International School of London and an occasional writer on international history and current affairs with particular reference to their significance for our global prospects.

His last book, Transcending Terror (O-Books, 2004) analysed the religious dimensions of the emergence of the current "war on terror" and was hailed by Tony Benn as "a powerful book [that] should be compulsory reading for the presidents and prime ministers of the world".

The contents page, introduction and chapter-by-chapter synopsis of Succeeding Revolutions follow:

SUCCEEDING REVOLUTIONS

Eighteenth Century America and the Twenty-first Century World

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

In these early years of the 21st Century, we are witnessing the start of a global revolution whose eventual significance will dwarf that of anything which has gone before. But the essence of this revolution is not new. The 21st Century’s struggles for global democracy and against US hegemony, are very much a repeat, albeit on a much larger and potentially more horrific scale, of the 18th Century struggles of the English colonists in America against the tyranny of the British Empire. The events of 2001/9/11 can be analysed as this century’s global equivalent of the Boston Tea Party and, as the parallel histories sketched here illustrate, the story of 18th Century America is littered with themes which offer salutary lessons for today.

During the mid-18th Century, the British Empire emerged victorious from a series of imperial wars. In 1763, it seemed destined to maintain the greatest empire the world had ever known, well into the future, but the age of empires was already making way for the age of national democracy, and the key parts of this empire would unravel violently over the next twenty years. The sketches in the left-hand columns that follow trace the American revolution of British colonial rebels seeking to overcome the injustices visited upon them by King George III, his imperial government in London, and their associated institutions and influences, such as the British Board of Trade and the British East India Company.

Since the 18th Century, the USA has emerged from America’s revolution against its British imperial master to become the newest empire on the Earth and now, following the 20th Century’s World Wars and Cold War, it has become an even greater global power than the British Empire ever was – a power that, despite its rhetoric, scorns global democracy and one whose fall will dwarf the falls of all the empires that have gone before. Just how violent this fall will be is in the hands of the decision-makers of both the USA and the emerging global majority. The sketches in the right-hand columns that follow trace the current inchoate global revolution of the people of the emerging majority world, which will one day overcome the injustices visited upon them by the world’s last great empire and usher in a new age of global democracy. The terror campaign of Islamic fundamentalism is just a passing phase in something much bigger. The book shows that the current stirrings of resistance against occupation in Palestine and Iraq represent the start of a global revolution just as surely as the rabble-rousing of a handful of eighteenth century Puritan English colonists in Massachusetts – against the greatest empire the world had ever known at that time – represented the start of the successful American revolution.

The sketches on the left show how wise counsel was ignored then, and how short-sighted decisions, initially just those of the British, but later those of the rebels too, made an inevitable transition far more bloody and dangerous than it needed to be. They also show that, throughout the run-up to the final showdown of British forces against American, French and Spanish forces, there was no shortage of wise counsel. Unfortunately, it did not prevail – not only did it fail to avoid a war, but its rejection allowed the war to drag on for over 8 years before the British king accepted the inevitable – and the revolution led to far worse long-term consequences than may have followed had wiser counsel not been ignored.

The sketches on the right consider decisions already taken and choices yet to be made by those in control of the United States’ current global hegemony, its allies and its rivals, and speculate about the possible outcomes of those choices. The final outcome must be the eventual victory of global democracy over the imperialist hegemony of the USA, but the decisions taken by the Americans and their friends today, and the nature of the global opposition to US hegemony, will determine how long, bloody and destructive the global revolution will become, and how difficult it will be for our descendants to live with its aftermath.

Will wise counsel prevail this time?

Just as the American War of Independence was the culmination of a false British belief in the beneficial nature of its imperial rule, the current war in Iraq – and all the “US v the rest” wars to come – are based on an unsustainable fiction that The American Way of Life is a beneficial model for the world. The wars of The New American Century will postpone the achievement of a civilized, democratic world order – perhaps for generations – if the US persists with its policies of maintaining global hegemony, impoverishing the helpless, polluting the planet and exacerbating climate change. But the ineluctable processes of history cannot be thwarted indefinitely. We may be living in a century that opened as the New American Century, but history will look back on it as The Last American Century, or, more positively, as The First Global Century. The most the USA can do – and seems set upon doing – is to make the achievement of a just and sustainable world order much more costly than necessary in terms of lost time, lost lives and lost freedoms.

CHAPTER BY CHAPTER SYNOPSIS

1. Imperial Dreams 4
Great Britain 1577-1763 presents a brief history of the emergence of British imperialism with particular reference to the colonisation of North America from its inception to the victories of the 7 years war.
The USA 1776-2001 presents a history of the expansion of the USA, highlighting its imperial ambitions from the start and culminating in its hegemony following the collapse of the Soviet Union - from the "end of history" euphoria of Cold War victory to the shock of 9/11.

2. Stark Realities 7
Distant Colonials and The Wretched of the Earth look at the same periods from the points of view of the victims and opponents of British colonial power and of modern globalization.

3. Wise Counsel from Home 9
Pitt, Wilkes, Barré, Burke & Fox - contemporay quotations and actions warning of the unsustainability of King George III's imperial policies and suggesting alternatives.
Noam Chomsky and Ralph Nader - quotations and actions warning of the unsustainability the USA's imperial policies and suggesting alternatives.

4. Wise Counsel from Abroad 13
The Life & Dreams of Ben Franklin - a biographical sketch including the emergence of Franklin's ideas for a trans-Atlantic commonwealth as presented and rejected at the 1754 Albany Conference.
Some Global Heirs of Ben Franklin - quotations from world leaders who have articulated the need for international cooperation and democracy and criticised recent US foreign policy.

5. Loose Cannons 20
Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty - a biographical sketch highlighting the difference between the approaches of Adams and Franklin and leading up to the Boston Tea Party.
Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda - a biographical and historical sketch showing how bin Laden became radicalised.

6. Iconic Preliminaries 27
The Boston Tea Party tells the tale of the warning signs and the event, and recalls the way it was seen by both sides.
9/11 - ditto.

7. Obsolete Reactionaries 30
King George III - A biographical sketch of a key protagonist and his dynastic roots, with an attempt to show how he came to adopt his imperial policies and failed to see their inevitable consequences.
President George Bush II - ditto

8. First Reactions 35
Redcoats in Boston - British reaction to the Boston Tea Party and its counterproductive effects.
The USA in Afghanistan and Iraq - US reaction to 9/11 and its counterproductive effects.

9. Seeds of Resistance 38
The Minutemen - A brief history of their emergence.
Iraqi Militias - ditto.

10. First Sites of Resistance 42
Lexington and Concord - The story of how the terrorism and protests of a small minority was transformed to warfare by "the shot heard around the world"
Najaf and Falluja - The story of how US action in these towns helped lead to the current situation.

11. Radicalising Images 47
Tall Tales from Boston - The way the radical colonists' media reported the situation, including contemporary quotations.
Photos from Abu Ghraib - The story of how the photos emerged, Arab and world reaction, and the way the US authorities dealt with the perpetrators.

12. Radicalising Documents 50
Tom Paine’s Common Sense - A biographical sketch and critical review, including quotations and contemporary reactions.
Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 911 - ditto.

13. Revolutionary Leaders 59
The Emergence of George Washington - A sketch of his early life in Virginia, making the point that he was a loyalist and moderate until after the war had broken out in Massachusetts.
Where to Watch Today makes the point that the leaders that can stop the current situation degenerating into global chaos will emerge not from the Arab or Islamic world, but from countries closer to the US (a case is made to persuade Gordon Brown and/or Dominique de Villepin to follow in the footsteps of Franklin and/or Washington) or, if they fail, from the emerging giants - China and India.

14. Revolutionary Documents 65
The Declaration of Independence - The story of its emergence and inevitability.
The Porto Alegre Manifesto - The story of the 2001-5 World Social Forums in Porto Alegre and Mumbai and a summary of the manifesto that was presented to the 2005 Forum, seen as a modern equivalent of the Declaration.

15. Revolutionary Wars 70
The War of Independence - A historical sketch of its escalation and the attempts to end it.
The Wars of The Last American Century - Speculation about escalation in and beyond Iraq and Afghanistan and the threats posed by climate change, identifying global warming by CO2 as the greatest enemy.

16. Inevitable End Games 77
France & Spain Save the Rebels - The story of how the growing involvement of France and Spain tipped the balance and shortened the war.
Europe & Asia Save the World - A brief sketch of the development and expansion of the EU, contrasting the way countries aspire to join it with the failure of US foreign policy to win friends; criticism of the CAP and the current draft EU constitution, and speculation on the potentially beneficial influence of a more aware and democratic EU on US foreign and environmental policy, especially if it works in concert with Asian countries.

17. Forward Planning 91
The Philadelphia Convention - An explanation of the failure of the Articles of Confederation in the post-war USA, the calling of the Philadelphia Convention and the production and ratification of the US Constitution.
A Philadelphia for the 21st Century - A critical review of the flawed nature of the UN, IMF, World Bank, WTO and G8, and their failure to deliver a safe, sustainable world; a suggestion that we should recognise this (just as the early Americans recognised the failure of their Articles of Confederation) and work towards a Convention to replace rather than just reform these institutions.

18. The Aftermath 101
The Last Empire - A brief sketch showing that the US Constitution retained some of the society's flaws, and that these flaws led to the Civil War, the genocide of westward expansion and the current flaws that still stain US society and foreign policy; and another sketch speculating about what may have emerged had the Wise Counsel recalled in Chapters 3 & 4 (left side), above, been heeded.
Phoenix Earth - Speculation about alternative futures, calling for us to heed the wise counsel now available (Chapters 3 & 4, right side) and concluding that "The global revolution arising from the world’s current contradictions must end one day, and a global convention will be needed to pick up the pieces and to organise a new framework for global democracy. All that remains in doubt is how soon it will happen and what will be left to organise when it does."

© Ian Hackett 2005

Published by the CEF Publications, 1 Kenilworth Road, Ealing, London W5 5PB, UK.

Listed price £6.99. Yours for £5 inc. p&p.

One Day Wide by Ted Wheatley, £10.

To order either book, email ianhackett@tinyworld.co.uk or phone 020 8579 7706.

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