THE NEW HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATION

ALTHOUGH IT WOULD BE FEASIBLE FOR THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, WITHIN THE FIELD OF ITS HUMANITARIAN CONSENSUS INITIATIVES, TO IMPLEMENT THIS PLAN, IT IS MOST LIKELY THAT POLITICAL PROBLEMS WOULD MAKE THIS UNFEASIBLE

IT WOULD BE NECESSARY TO CREATE A NEW SOCIAL HUMANITARIAN MOVEMENT TO TAKE CHARGE OF THE PROJECT AND INVOLVE THE ACTIVE PARTICIPATION OF AT LEAST HALF A MILLION STRONGLY MOTIVATED AND EXCLUSIVELY DEVOTED PEOPLE.

THE SIZE OF THE WORK TO BE UNDERTAKEN, PARTICULARLY THE FOOD PROCESSING AND PACKAGING PLANTS, IS COMPARABLE TO THE EMERGENRY INDUSTRIAL EFFORTS UNDERTAKEN DURING WORLD WAR II IN TERMS OF MACHINE BUILDING AND TRAINING OF TECHNICAL PERSONNEL. NOR SHOULD THE SOVIET EFFORT TO RELAUNCH HEAVY INDUSTRY AROUND 1930 BE FORGOTTEN. 

THE PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTOR CAPABLE OF TRYING SUCH A COORDINATED EFFORT MUST THEREFORE BE CONSIDERED AS ESSENTIAL AND IS HARDLY COMPARABLE TO THE CONVENTIONAL DYNAMIC OF TODAY´S HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS. IT IS ABOUT FREELY AND PRODUCTIVELY ASSOCIATING A SUM OF STRONGLY MOTIVATED INDIVIDUALS WITH PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR WHOSE CHARACTERISTICS WOULD ALLOW PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS OF EXTREME TRUST, WITH ZERO AGGRESSIVENESS AND MAXIMUM ECONOMIC FUNCTIONALITY (DECISION-MAKING, TASK ASSIGNMENT, TRAINING, EASE OF COORDINATION AND PERFORMANCE CONTROL). LET US REMEMBER THE DIFFERENCES ALREADY EXISTING BETWEEN DIFFERENT CULTURES IN TERMS OF LABOR PRODUCTIVITY. THE MEMBERS OF THIS NEW HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATION WOULD DEVELOP AN ECONOMY OF VERY HIGH LABOR PRODUCTIVITY IN THE CONTEXT OF A SUBCULTURE OF EXTREME PROSOCIAL MORALITY.

THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM BASED ON PRIVATE PROFIT AND STATE CONTROL, WHILE IT HAS ALLOWED FOR GREAT TECHNOLOGICAL AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT, HAS NOT BEEN ABLE TO END MALNUTRITION IN THE POOREST REGIONS OF THE PLANET. THE ENORMOUS ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IS A MORAL PROBLEM OF SUCH DIMENSION THAT IT DEMANDS INNOVATIVE, RUPTURIST PROPOSALS. EQUALIST POLITICAL MOVEMENTS OF CLASS STRUGGLE ARE RULED OUT DUE TO THEIR INTRINSIC IMMORALITY - "THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS" - AND THEIR POOR HISTORICAL RECORD. AN EFFECTIVE EQUALITARIAN ALTRUIST MOVEMENT MUST BE BASED ON COMPASSIONATE, ALTRUISTIC AND BENEVOLENT MORAL PRINCIPLES.

AS FAR AS WE KNOW, THE PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS THAT ENABLE LARGE-SCALE COORDINATED ECONOMIC ACHIEVEMENTS - HIGH PRODUCTIVITY - DEVELOP A DYNAMIC THAT HAS BEEN UNPREDISCIPHERABLE UNTIL NOW. IT SEEMS EVIDENT THAT SYMBOLIC LANGUAGE PLAYS A FUNDAMENTAL ROLE IN SETTING INTO ACTION AN AFFECTIVE EMOTIONALITY THAT GENERATES MUTUAL TRUST THAT ENCOURAGES EFFORT, PREDISPOSITION TO LEARNING AND SACRIFICE. SOME INTERPRET THIS AS "RELIGIOUS BEHAVIOR" BUT SUCH LARGE-SCALE EMOTIONAL PHENOMENA HAVE ALSO OCCURRED IN POLITICAL MOVEMENTS (NATIONALIST AND/OR CLASS STRUGGLE TYPES). ALTHOUGH THROUGHOUT THE CIVILIZATION PROCESS THEY HAVE USUALLY BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH PHENOMENA OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE, THERE ARE SOME PRECEDENTS ASSOCIATED WITH NON-VIOLENT MOVEMENTS. IN SHORT, WE SHOULD CONSIDER "THE RELIGIOUS" AS A PSYCHOSOCIAL MECHANISM FOR THE CONTROL OF BEHAVIOR THAT HAS EVOLVED THROUGHOUT HISTORY LINKED TO SUPPOSEDLY ANCESTRAL TRADITIONS. THE ESSENCE OF THIS MECHANISM OF SOCIAL INNOVATION MUST BE PRESERVED AND DISTILLED, IN A SIMILAR WAY TO WHAT WAS ALREADY DONE WITH DISCIPLINES SUCH AS ASTROLOGY AND ALCHEMY, WHICH ENDED UP GIVING RISE TO MODERN ASTRONOMY AND CHEMISTRY.

ACHIEVING THE LAUNCH OF AN ALTRUISTIC AND PEACEFUL IDEOLOGICAL MOVEMENT, NON-AUTHORITATIVE OR NON-HIERARCHICAL, NON-POLITICAL, RATIONALLY ORGANIZED AND CAPABLE OF ACTIVATING THE PSYCHOSOCIAL MECHANISMS OF HIGH ECONOMIC PRODUCTIVITY COULD REPRESENT THE CULMINATION OF THE CIVILIZING PROCESS. NO ONE CAN EXPECT SUCH A CHANGE TO OCCUR SUDDENLY AND MASSIVELY ON A PLANETARY SCALE, BUT IT MAY BE VIABLE AS A MONASTIC STRUCTURE, UNDERSTANDING THIS PHENOMENON - MONASTICITY - OF RELIGIOUS ORIGIN AS THE SELF-SELECTION OF INDIVIDUALS STRONGLY MOTIVATED TO UNDERGO BEHAVIOR CONTROL IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE A SPECIFIC IDEALITY OF SOCIAL EXCELLENCE IN A RESTRICTED ENVIRONMENT. IF A PHENOMENON OF THIS TYPE MANAGES TO BECOME EMOTIONALLY ATTRACTIVE TO A SUFFICIENT NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS, THE START-UP OF THE EVOLUTIONARY-CIVILIZATION PROCESS WOULD BE APPRECIABLE FOR CONVENTIONAL SOCIETY AS A WHOLE AND COULD INFLUENCE IT IN A PRO-SOCIAL SENSE.

FOR A HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATION REALLY COMMITTED TO EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM, THIS ALTRUISTIC WORK IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA WOULD BE A PROJECT OF THE HIGHEST VALUE, EQUIVALENT TO THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE PAST, AND OF A MATERIAL SPECTACULARITY COMPARABLE TO THE ARRIVAL OF MAN ON THE MOON.

IT IS HARDLY BELIEVABLE THAT, ONCE THE RESULTS OF THE TASK ARE CONSIDERED (THE ARRIVAL IN AFRICA OF THE FIRST SHIPMENTS OF THOUSANDS OF TONS OF FOOD), THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY WOULD NOT BE RECEPTIVE TO THE VALUE OF THIS EFFORT AND TO ITS CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE. OBTAINING FINANCING DOES NOT SEEM TO BE THE BIGGEST PROBLEM (THE MAIN PROBLEM IS THE BEHAVIOURAL DESIGN OF THE ALTRUIST SUBCULTURE).

BY SOLVING AN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL PROBLEM, ONE ALSO CONTRIBUTES TO SOLVING THE CIVILIZATIONAL CONFLICT (CONTROL OF AGGRESSION AND ANTI-SOCIALITY; COHERENT STIMULUS OF PROSOCIALITY). IT WOULD BE THE ECONOMIC MANIFESTATION OF A DEFINITIVE CULTURAL ADVANCE.

800,000 MEN AND WOMEN ARE ENOUGH FOR THE PROJECT OF ENDING HUNGER IN AFRICA, AND THIS WOULD ONLY REPRESENT ONE PERSON IN TEN THOUSAND OF THE TOTAL PEOPLE ON THE PLANET. IT IS A FIGURE COMPARABLE TO THAT OF SOME EXISTING MINORITIES THAT LEAD AN UNCONVENTIONAL LIFESTYLE, SUCH AS CATHOLIC CLERGY.

THIS MOVEMENT COULD RECEIVE SUFFICIENT SUPPORT FROM OTHER SOCIAL FACTORS ONCE ITS EFFECTIVENESS HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED. IT IS UNLIKELY THAT IT WOULD HAVE EMERGED INITIALLY FOR THIS PARTICULAR PLAN, GIVEN ITS MATERIAL SCOPE. IT WOULD BE MORE LIKELY THAT THE MOVEMENT WOULD BEGIN TO CARRY OUT MORE AFFORDABLE BUT EQUALLY UNEQUIVOCAL ALTRUISTIC WORKS, AND THAT THE PLAN FOR SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA WOULD APPEAR TO BE A LOGICAL CONSEQUENCE OF ITS MEDIUM-TERM ALTRUISTIC APPROACHES.

NON-HIERARCHICAL ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION COULD BE STRUCTURED INTO PLANNING CENTERS MANAGED BY SPECIALISTS, FINANCIAL FOUNDATIONS, TECHNICAL TRAINING CENTERS AND ACTION GROUPS ON THE GROUND, ALWAYS IN COORDINATION, TO THE EXTENT POSSIBLE, WITH CONVENTIONAL POLITICAL AND NON-GOVERNMENTAL HUMANITARIAN ACTION ORGANIZATIONS.

GIVEN ITS IDEOLOGICAL AND SUBCULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS - A LIFESTYLE FOCUSED ON CONTROLLING AGGRESSION, PROMOTING COOPERATION AND ALTRUISM - IT WOULD BE LOGICAL FOR IT TO DEVELOP NETWORKS OF ACTIVE SYMPATHIZERS WITHIN CONVENTIONAL SOCIETY WHO COULD PROVIDE FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS AND MANY OTHER SERVICES NECESSARY TO CARRY OUT THE ALTRUISTIC WORK.

THE MATERIAL BASIS OF THE NEW HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATION WOULD BE AN ECONOMY BASED ON ALTRUISM.

A LARGE-SCALE "ALTRUISTIC PRODUCTION SYSTEM" WOULD WORK BASED ON THE FACT THAT, TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE HIGH LEVEL REACHED BY TECHNOLOGY, A MINORITY OF TECHNICALLY TRAINED AND SUBCULTURALLY MOTIVATED INDIVIDUALS - A DIRECT OR INDIRECT PART OF THE HUMANITARIAN SOCIAL MOVEMENT - WOULD PRODUCE FREE OF CHARGE ALL THE GOODS AND SERVICES NECESSARY TO MAINTAIN A GOOD QUALITY OF LIFE: FOOD, HOUSING, MEDICAL CARE, EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. LET US REMEMBER THAT, TODAY, THE PRODUCTIVE ECONOMY IS ONLY A SMALL PART OF THE GENERATION OF EMPLOYMENT AND INCOME.

WHETHER THE ALTRUISTIC PRODUCTION SYSTEM IS VIABLE WILL DEPEND ON THE NEW HUMANITARIAN MOVEMENT BEING ATTRACTIVE TO A SUFFICIENT NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS. ONE PERSON WHO IS A BELIEVER IN THIS NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENT FOR EVERY 10,000 PEOPLE WOULD BE ENOUGH TO START THE FEED AFRICA PROJECT WITH HIS/HER WORK. ONE PERSON WHO IS A BELIEVER FOR EVERY 1,000 PEOPLE WOULD BE ENOUGH TO END ECONOMIC PRECARITY ON THE ENTIRE PLANET. ONE PERSON WHO IS A BELIEVER FOR EVERY 100 PEOPLE WOULD GUARANTEE A GOOD QUALITY OF LIFE FOR THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF THE PLANET.

THIS SYSTEM OF PRODUCTION SHOULD NOT BE CONFUSED WITH SOCIALISM, WHICH IS BASED ON THE POLITICAL IMPOSITION OF ECONOMIC DIRECTIVES SUPPOSEDLY AIMED AT THE COMMON GOOD ON ALL OF SOCIETY, THROUGH LAWS AND COERCION. THE ALTRUISTIC SYSTEM WOULD OPERATE ON THE BASIS OF A MINORITY OF VOLUNTEERS AND DOES NOT SEEK TO INTERVENE IN CONVENTIONAL SOCIETY ANY MORE THAN GENUINE MONASTIC STRUCTURES COULD DO IN THE PAST (INDIRECT CULTURAL INFLUENCE). AND AS IN THE MONASTIC STRUCTURES OF THE PAST, THE MOTIVATION TO PARTICIPATE IN A NON-CONVENTIONAL LIFESTYLE MUST BE OF A PRIVATE KIND.

HOWEVER, IT IS ASSUMED THAT THE MOBILIZATION OF THIS NUMBER OF BELIEVERS, ASSOCIATED WITH ITS UNEQUIVOCAL ECONOMIC EFFECTS, WILL POSITIVELY AFFECT THE CIVILIZATION PROCESS AS A WHOLE.