General Election 2010: Gordon Brown sets out vision for global society

Gordon Brown set out his vision for a global society during a speech at the Open University headquarters in Milton Keynes as part of his series of election lectures.

 

By Rebecca Lefort
Published: 4:56PM BST 17 Apr 2010

Gordon Brown takes part in a televised debate Photo: PA

The Prime Minister was speaking to academics, international development campaigners and supporters.

He said he had a vision of creating a global institution to help reconstruct countries where civil society was broken; a global environmental organisation to tackle climate change; and a global financial system which serves the people.

He also said he wanted to provide more support to international development agencies. "What people say is impossible and beyond our reach can happen," he said. Mr Brown used images of World War II, the Holocaust, Apartheid in South Africa, Ethiopia, Rwanda, the Balkans and the Congo to illustrate what he said was a continuing progression of worldwide values towards a more compassionate and 'global society'.

He spoke of his own experience of visiting a 12-year-old orphan in Africa, saying: "There was simply no hope in her eyes," and of his pride that the Labour government had helped 40 million children in developing countries access education.

Mr Brown talked about the vision of former American President John F Kennedy whose enthusiasm and determination spurred his country to the moon. Last week Tory leader David Cameron also referenced the iconic JFK during the Conservative's campaign.

Although the focus was on international development issues Mr Brown also spoke about domestic issues and said the leaders' debate had established the 'choices of the election'.

"I believe that your jobs, your NHS, your schools, your policing, these are what are on the ballot paper when it comes to the election a few weeks from now," he added. He said the Conservatives had made 'strategic mistakes' by 'putting the recovery at risk' and failing to realise the importance of public services to the electorate.

"It looks very much like the same old Conservative party with new public relations but similar policies to the past," he said.

How far does Mr Brown's vision go?

So, how close is Mr Brown's vision to what Baha'is have been working for for over 100 years and are striving to build, neighbourhood by neighbourhood and community by community?

It's good to see a senior politician with the beginnings of a global vision - but the partisan political system will undermine attempts to transcend vested interests.

He needs a spiritual vision of human oneness and solidarity to go with the political vision. This is what 'Abdu'l-Baha said:

O peoples of the world! The Sun of Truth hath risen to illumine the whole earth, and to spiritualize the community of man. Laudable are the results and the fruits thereof, abundant the holy evidences deriving from this grace. This is mercy unalloyed and purest bounty; it is light for the world and all its peoples; it is harmony and fellowship, and love and solidarity; indeed it is compassion and unity, and the end of foreignness; it is the being at one, in complete dignity and freedom, with all on earth.