Today the planet is seeing the unprecedented development of economic violence. One Voice is reacting to this planet-wide emergency by launching the One World, One Conscience movement.
Our methods of consumption in question
Consumer habits of populations in the richest countries have developed into mindless hyper-consumption. We would need several planets like our Earth for each human to have the same lifestyle as a European or American. And we can see the result of this: to achieve this, the land is exhausted, the poorest populations are starving, animals are mistreated and massacred and the environment is polluted. Profit and immediate pleasure have become a priority, with no consideration for the ethical dimension. Human beings have become just another part of market share. The individual has been transformed into a "turbo-consumer", blinded by the desires that have been created for him or her, driving the whole planet to ruin.
Eco-citizen gestures to respect al life
Several decades ago, Gandhi said “Live simply that others may simply live”. In the same way, the objective of our movement is that each person quickly takes note of the urgent need to develop a planet-wide brotherhood, one where peace is extended to all living beings. This is the only possible way to ensure a future for the planet and its inhabitants, both human and animal. What’s more, and in keeping with the principle of “voluntary simplicity”, each person will benefit by refusing to be a slave to the ideology of consumption and technology. It is essential to favour the time to live over money and material possessions. If we are to do this we must re-think the way we live and open up to the alternatives that exist by opting for brands, labels and activities that respect all life. In other words, we must live according to our conscience.
A powerful idea: non-violence
One World, One Conscience is a movement based on ethics. The actions it promotes are intended to develop the principle of non-violence, in keeping with the respect for all life, a principle dear to Albert Schweitzer and Théodore Monod.
Non—violence is a path to wisdom and political action, one which is able to meet challenges. Respecting all life, refusing all power for the strong to dominate the weak is a possible path to wisdom to get out of the dead-end where we are leading all living beings. The path of non-violence is the one which was chosen by those who fought for noble causes, modifying the course of History for ever, such as Gandhi or Martin Luther King and currently Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been held for several years under house arrest in Myanmar.
The ethical objector
Because individual actions are increasingly the source of social change, it is within the power of all of us to trigger “the butterfly effect” to reach planet-wide harmony. One World, One Conscience is calling for an ethical objection to economic violence. Th ethical objector refuses to be the passive accomplice in human, animal and environmental exploitation. He or she then affirms their freedom of conscience and their humanity. Achieving a legal status for ethical objectors will enable us to obtain automatic authorisation for the person who holds it to live according to their principles of non-violence.
A first gesture in this planet-wide emergency
In light of this dramatic situation with which the planet is confronted, One World, One Conscience is proposing a first planet-wide gesture of conscience to be implemented immediately: Reduce meat consumption. The most eminent scientific committees in the world, such as the FAO, the WHO or the IPCC (Inter-governmental panel on climate change) have declared intensive animal breeding and meat production as the main causes of global warming. All of them are encouraging us to reduce our meat consumption, or even adopt a vegetarian diet. Jonathan Porritt, chairman of the British government’s sustainable development commission, has indicated excessive meat consumption as one of the most serious threats to the long term survival of humanity…
Being able to make the choice to live according to ethics without breaking the law is a right that prevails over the State. It is a fundamental liberty.
I’m listening to my conscience and I object to the economic violence generated by meat production.
I am moving onto civil action by reducing or removing meat consumption from my diet.
I am therefore launching “the butterfly effect” to provide solutions to global warming, serious environmental problems, the lack and pollution of water, deforestation, hunger in the world and animal suffering.
