Alexandre Deulofeu: «How shall we get to a universal confederation?».
Chapter XIX from Book «Catalonia and the future of Europe», by Alexandre Deulofeu i Torres, published in 1934 and reprinted in 1978.
How shall we get to a universal confederation?
Which should be the future
world organisation? Of course, a voluntary federation of free peoples,
within
which all of them will have the same rank and, therefore, the same
authority or
importance.
How can we get there? Of
course, by natural evolution, which is already taking place by two
different
ways:
- 1st Through the
disintegration of the empires and the ensuing liberation of the
submitted
nationalities, which will become members of a partial federation. This
is the
case of the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian empire, which had as
a
consequence the freedom of the Czech, the Slovakian and of Hungary. The
first
two united to create a republic, within which each of the two peoples
are fully
free. The Russian revolution gave birth to the Federation of Soviet
Republics.
Other peoples, such as Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, became fully
independent,
but at present it is easy to foresee a future federation of the Baltic
peoples.
In the meantime, Hungary, Poland and Austria remain fully independent.
- 2nd The submitted
peoples attain an autonomous regime within the empire, which slowly
evolves
towards a federal regime until the predominance of the people which up
to then
had exerted hegemony is completely cancelled out. Spain is an example,
as we
observe that, when the king was overthrown, a federable republic was
established where, in the first place Catalonia declared its autonomous
government.
Nowadays, nobody ignores the
Basque nationalistic movement, which will end up with an autonomous,
self-governing regime for the Basque Country and Navarre. The same will
happen
with Galicia, Valencia, Majorca, probably with Aragon, and perhaps with
other
peoples in Spain. This evolution only needs time to come true.
As soon as the autonomous
peoples reach their prime, they will create a federation of Hispanic
republics,
made up by the Catalan, Castilian, Galician, Valencian, Majorcan,
Portuguese
republics, or by sub federations, such as the
Catalan-Valencian-Balearic
federation, in due time federated with the Galician-Portuguese,
Castilian-Leonese, Basque-Navarrese ones, etc. These Sub federations,
within
which the republics will have a freedom limited only by their own will,
will
appoint their own representatives for setting up a general Parliament,
which
will come together alternatively in the different capital cities of the
republics,
and which will deal with the international matters the partial
federations will
confer on them.
Probably the same will be true
for the British Isles with Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland, and
for France
with the federation of the Occitan republics and the republics of
Brittany,
Normandy, Île-de-France, etc. These federations, following the
S.S.R.U., will
have a law article stating that: The federated republics have the right
to
separate at will from the confederation. The old-fashioned notion of
Spanish,
French, etc., patriotism will have disappeared. Spain and France, and
other
decadent powers will be substituted by groups of federated peoples.
Since there
will be no chauvinistic prejudices, logically the peoples will tend to
abolish
customs regulations, and of course the Iberian federation, together
with the
federations of other countries, will tend to establish a common
Parliament,
where each of the federated peoples will be represented.
The enlargement of the
confederation will take us to the highest ideal, which will be made up
of a
multitude of free peoples, each with its own government and parliament,
and
with a super-parliament, which will be made up by a representative of
each of
the small European republics, whose basic scope will be to maintain
peace among
the confederated republics.
How will it be possible to
avoid an armed conflict? Very easily. Each republic will have a law and
order
service which will be under the authority of the general parliament
whenever it
will be needed. It is understood, however, that this will never come to
pass,
for the simple reason that its power will be enormous with respect to
any of
the federated peoples. Any disagreement between two states will be
submitted to
the parliament and will be settled in a democratic way following the
decision
of the majority. It is understood that the decision will be accepted
immediately out of a democratic feeling, and also because there will be
no
single head of state strong enough to go against the whole
international army.
Inevitably an international
language will have to be adopted. In face of the existence of over two
hundred
official languages, it will be absolutely essential to use one single
language
in the general parliament's debates, which will be Esperanto, or any
other
language not belonging to any of the federated peoples, in order to
avoid
mistrust.
Europe is rushing towards a
political regime similar to the one shown in the graph for the years
from 350
to 100 B.C., in the Ancient Age, and from year 800 to 1500 in the
Middle Ages.
The difference is that in these periods there were many partial
federations and
small nationalities which were completely free, without a superior
centre to
settle their disputes, in future Europe there will be a true Society of
Nations,
which will make international armed conflicts impossible.
Related links:
The political planetary pyramid.
The language school of the Bordeaux doctor. Agustí Chalaux de Subirà.
Let us imagine the Iberian Peninsula occupied by the French.
The outstanding challenges of Alexandre Deulofeu and their solutions, according to Agustí Chalaux.
